“Sanctification”
Romans 6:1-18
David P. Nolte
(I thank Dr. Calvin Whitman for the 4 major points)
Many of our veterans died to make America free– those of us who follow Christ need to live to make America great; to make America a nation whose God is the Lord; to sanctify America as a nation under God. That will happen one person at a time. One by one, person by person, our nation can become holy to the Lord.
Holy, sanctification – sainthood – sacred; all mean essentially the same thing. Today I want to explore sanctification as it applies first to individuals and then to the nation as a whole.
WE CAN SANCTIFY AMERICA BY HEEDING: “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 (NASB)
• SANCTIFICATION: set apart for special use; especially for God’s use.
• HOLY / SACRED: Different, special as in the Temple being a holy building because it was for a different and special purpose than other buildings.
If you belong to Jesus Christ you are a sanctified, holy, sacred saint. Sainthood is not conferred by some ecclesiastical council – it is bestowed by God on the very least of those who follow and obey Jesus Christ. God also declares that nation holy that makes Him Lord!
The text says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Romans 6:1-18 (NASB)
There are 4 things I w Want to say about sanctification or holiness.
I. SANCTIFICATION IS PERSONAL:
A. Paul said, “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Each person must do that for themself! That’s personal. Be that change you want to see in America.
1. Nobody else can do that for you, nor you for anyone else.
2. God isn’t going to force you to make that choice nor can Satan stop you!
3. If you quit obeying sin and are sanctified that is your personal freewill decision. He does the work but you make the decision.
B. There are two sides to this coin:
1. One side is that Christian faith is deeply personal – it is between the individual and God.
2. The other side of the coin is that Christianity is intensely corporate and collective – it binds Christian to Christian as the body of Christ.
3. We are at one and the same time individually responsible to live sanctified lives and are corporately responsible for helping and encouraging one another to do so.
C. But, following the Lord to sanctification is a personal thing and the bottom line is that we choose for ourselves.
1. The chorus says, “I have decided to follow Jesus and though none go with me, still I will follow.”
2. Joshua challenged the Israelites, "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:14-15 (NASB).
3. Jesus told Peter to follow Him; Peter looked at John and seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" John 21:21-22 (NASB).
D. Though Jesus represents us before God, who declares us holy, we must still personally choose Him as Lord and Savior!
E. I called on a family once and only the man of the house was home. He told me, “Well, my wife takes are of the religion.” I really want to ask people like that, “Oh, really? And does she also take care of the eating and sleeping and breathing, or do you personally do those things? PERSONAL
II. SANCTIFICATION IS POSITIONAL:
A. We are only holy if we are in Christ. Paul wrote, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
1. Christ is in us and we are in Christ.
2. Someone asked a preacher how that could be. How can Christ be in us and we be in Christ? The preacher went to the sink and filled it with water. Then he took a glass and pushed it into the water -- thus the water was positionally in the glass and the glass was positionally in the water both at the same time.
B. We are either in and set apart for Christ or we are out of and separated from Him. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” John 15:5-6 (NASB).
C. Let me share some Scriptures about being in Christ.
1. “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands — remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:11-13 (NASB).
2. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)
3. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 (NASB).
D. Though much more could be said, I summarize:
1. Baptized into Christ we have new lives.
2. In Christ we are drawn near to God and reconciled to Him.
3. In Christ we are made to be new creations.
4. In Christ we are saved from condemnation.
5. In Christ we are more than conquerors over evil.
E. To illustrate what I mean by positional: A little boy about 5 was being teased and picked on by his 9 year old brother. There was nothing he could do to stop the aggravation, but he knew who could. So he ran to his mom and climbed up onto her lap where he would be protected. She enfolded him in her arms and in her embrace he was positionally in mom’s arms and safe. POSITONAL
III. SANCTIFICATION IS PROGRESSIVE:
A. Paul wrote,
1. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
2. “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
3. The implication is that though they might still to some degree be presenting the members of their bodies to sin, they need to quit that and progress more and more into righteousness and sanctification.
4. The more we progress in sanctification or holiness, the less we commit sin and the less we sin, the more we progress in sanctification.
5. But remember, that’s progressive – we are not at once absolutely victorious over the tempter or the desires of the flesh. We, like Paul experience Romans 7: “ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Romans 7:18-19 (NASB).
B. The Christian life is a walk, a journey, a progression from, one degree and level of maturity to the next.
C. Even the apostles had to progress in their Christian lives:
1. We see an attitude of desire for greatness in the kingdom, and they even quarreled about that before they learned humility.
2. We see James and John wanting to call fire down onto some Samaritan villages because they needed to learn love and mercy.
3. We see Peter making a boast of faithfulness to the death and then denying Jesus three times before he was firmly committed.
4. Not very characteristic of sanctification or holiness.
D. But what they were at the beginning was not what they were in the end. All of the apostles except John were martyred for their faith in Christ – proof positive that they had progressed from one degree of sanctification to another and were willing to die for the sake of Jesus. They were set apart for Christ and w ere faithful to death.
E. To illustrate this progression:
1. It is sort of like planting a seed – germination is a slow process at times; but sometimes we want them o grow like Jack’s beanstalk which grew into the clouds overnight.
2. It is sort of like exercise. It takes time; but we would like to be able to work out one time and be changed from skinny to sculptured.
3. It is sort of like the old fellow who was a drinker, a carouser, a liar and a user, but was soundly converted and he characterized his progress by saying, “I ain’t what I oughter be – and I ain’t what I’m gonner be – but thank the Lord I ain’t what I useter be neither!” So, pbpwmginfwmy! Please Be Patient With Me, God Is Not Finished With Me Yet! PROGRESSIVE
IV. SANCTIFICATION IS PARTICIPATORY:
A. We play a part in sanctification. Paul said, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
1. We participate in sanctification or holiness by daily presenting ourselves to righteousness.
2. We participate in sanctification or holiness by faithful obedience to God.
B. We are told how to do that:
1. “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Philippians 1:27 (NASB).
2. “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.” Colossians 3:5-10 (NASB).
C. Our conduct, our behavior, and our manner of living is ours to control. We are not saved by those things, but it is our part of being set aside for Christ and His purposes. It is our participation in sanctification or holiness.
D. I want to illustrate in this way: A girl once told me that she didn’t need to become a Christian because her grandfather had been a preacher so that took care of her. Sure it did! Like having fun at a party you didn’t attend or participate in; or like enjoying an ice cream Sunday you merely watch someone else consume without tasting any of it yourself. You have to be a participant to know and benefit!
E. We participate in sanctification by putting trusting, obedient faith in Jesus Christ! PRAY / INVITE
“Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervors, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills." John Brown, Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian.
Sanctification begins when we make Jesus Christ Lord of life and surrender our wills, our plans, our lives to Him.
Sanctification continues as long as we remain faithfully consecrated, or set apart for, Jesus. Individuals and nations become holy when they follow Jesus. This is your moment to do that as we sing. I have decided to follow Jesus.
