SPIRITUAL INTIMACY – POINTERS AND PATTERNS
Selected Scriptures
There is much confusion today about the subject of holiness/ sanctification/ separation.
We’ve been confused by terms that are not Biblical. Terms like:
☛ second work of grace.
☛ second blessing.
These terms can be confusing – whole denominations have been built on these terms. I am not going to argue w/ anyone, but we’re actually dealing with this two distinctly Biblical issues.
ONE - JUSTIFICATION TWO - SANCTIFICATION
It’s not either or – it’s both/and. Both begin at the moment of salvation. THEY ARE DIFFERENT - but the same. Can’t have 1 w/out the other. This isn’t true when you hear people talking about a second work of grace or a second blessing. Typically, those terms are used to define something that some get and some can’t get.
JUSTIFICATION: SANCTIFICATION:
Set free from guilt Set free from desire to sin
spiritual birth spiritual development
event process
were sinners now sons
Holiness – sanctification – isn’t for elite group who have a gift or experience - it is God’s plan for all believers.
I’m skeptical of any believer who asks, ‘Have you got it?’ - NO, BUT I HAVE HIM! Jesus is holiness personified
Holiness & sanctification is simply loving God w/ all my mind, heart, soul and strength and loving my neighbor as myself.
Holiness is not optional – it is a command, ‘Be holy as I am holy..’ GOD’S COMMANDS ARE GOD’S ENABLEMENTS. God calls us to be holy and gives us His Holy Spirit to empower us to be holy.
SANCTIFICATION – everything God does to make us like Jesus. It begins the moment I come to Christ. It continues in a process that results in a changed life.
The Latin santificatio, means the act/ process of making holy, consecrated. Greek - the same root is word is the basis for words like: "holiness," "consecration," "sanctification" "to sanctify," "consecrate," "treat as holy," "purify" "saint."
When we were saved, we were set apart now, day by day – moment by moment – decision by decision - the Holy Spirit helps us, molds us, empowers us to be like Jesus.
We are in a daily battle - struggle - in this area – The Bible assures us of victory - but we have to cooperate so God can operate. This is a growth process - there is no magic formula - instant sanctification.
Typically, there is a crisis point in our lives, we come to a life changing decision – not for salvation, but Lordship.
✖ I realize I can’t control my life. I get sick and tired of being sick and tired.
✖ I quit playing church games and go for it...I sell out. No more resistance. I count the cost and move forward. It’s putting my all on the altar.
✖ I hunger and thirst after righteousness. One passion - to know God, obey Him, seek Him w/ all my heart.
✖ IT’S A MATTER OF DIRECTION MORE THAN PERFECTION.
THE POINT WHERE WE DIE TO SELF – where we fully, willingly, knowingly, say, ‘I want all that God has for me.’
I. OLD TESTAMENT POINTERS TO GUIDE US.
Through the pages of the O.T. we find numerous examples of God calling His people to holiness.
A. ABRAHAM - Abraham had a defining moment in his life. God called him to begin a pilgrimage of faith. He promised Abraham guidance, blessings.
Gen 17:1Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.
Before God ever made the demand, he made a pledge, “I am God Almighty’ – El-Shaddai - the all-sufficient God. The God who enables me.
‘blameless’ - perfect/ complete - adjust your life to my will. A call to consecration and total commitment.
B. JACOB.
We’re all familiar w/ the story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel of God – the divine encounter that changed his life. In this wrestling match, I believe Jacob learned something about God, but he also learned something about himself – he was resisting God, limiting God in his life. Jacob the twister needed to be defeated. The supplanter needed to be supplanted. He had to be crippled so he could be crowned.
C. THE EXODUS.
When you read through Exod., Lev., Numb., Deut. & Joshua you find God’s dealing with his covenant people. These books give us a picture of COMING OUT OF BONDAGE AND ENTERING INTO VICTORY.
It doesn’t do any good to be set free from the penalty of sin if you aren’t willing to walk in victory over sin.
JUSTIFICATION IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT SANCTIFICATION.
Deut. 6:3 ‘He brought us out... so that He might bring us in....’
J. Sidlow Baxter ‘It is one thing to cross the Red Sea out of Egypt as the redeemed of the Lord; it is a very different thing to cross the Jordan into the land of promise, and possess the covenant inheritance and it’s fullness of blessings.
D. MOSES.
On the backside of the desert, God pruned Moses and prepared him for his role as deliverer. The process started when his life was spared – it continued when he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
Things changed when he met God at the burning bush. There he met the all sufficient God and was granted power from on high.
THE PEOPLE GOD USED IN THE O.T. CAME TO A POINT IN THEIR LIFE WHERE THEY WERE WILLING TO FULLY COOPERATE WITH GOD. When confronted by God, they surrendered and obeyed.
II. NEW TESTAMENT PATTERNS TO FOLLOW.
A. A SERIOUS ERROR TO AVOID.
People have used proof texts in the N.T. to defend the idea of a ‘second work of grace’ or a ‘second blessing’ – In my study of Scripture I don’t find this concept consistent with God teaches about sanctification.
ONE OF THE MOST COMMON VERSES USED IS ACTS 19:2
Acts 19:2 He said to them, " Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit."
Certain people emphasize the word ‘when’ – or KJV ‘since’ - as indicating a 2nd blessing. To do this is to chase shadows and miss the substance.
The word ‘since’ or ‘when’ is not even in the original text - it is a word inserted by the translators to make the verse more readable. There is no actual word ‘when’ in the Greek text.
To base a doctrine of "a second blessing" on this verse is wrong. Eph. 1:13,14 tells us the Spirit comes into our lives at the moment of salvation.
These men knew there was a H.S. - because they were disciples of John and John had promised a future baptism of the Spirit.
They didn’t know it had already taken place @ Pentecost. Some scholars believe these were the converts of Apollos and, like Apollos didn’t fully understand what Christ had done.
Literally, ’We did not even hear whether the Holy Spirit was [given],’ that is, at the time of their baptism.
They had apparently not heard about Pentecost -
This passage has stirred controversy through the years and helped to start a few denominations.
The key is, what was the spiritual status of these men?
If they were already Xns, some insist this is a proof text that receiving the Spirit is a subsequent, post salvation, second blessing," experience.
PROBLEM WITH THAT LOGIC:
1. It does not take into account the transitional nature of Acts. You never build doctrine out of Acts, it is a history book. Much of the phenomena of Acts is limited to Acts.
2. It is faulty because it commits the comparative scriptural error. Other verses explicitly tach that we receive the H.S. at salvation. Including but not limited to: 1 Cor 6:19; 12:13; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 1:13). Romans 8:( and Jude 19 teach that those without the Spirit are not saved.
3. It assumes that disciple means Christian. Not all the disciples of Jesus were believers. Some left him when He began to head to the cross. Disciple simply means learner or follower. It does not always refer to a believer. The Pharisees had disciples.
John 6:66 says, "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore."
Paul did not assume these 12 disciples were Christians. He asked the ?? to determine their status.
David Williams, New International Biblical Commentary: His [Paul’s] criterion for what distinguished the Christian is significant. So, too, is the way in which his question is framed. It implies that the Holy Spirit is received at a definite point in time and that that time is the moment of initial belief (the aorist participle....
The same thought is expressed, for example, in Eph 1:13: "Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit" (cf. Acts 11:17). No space of time is envisaged between the two events; nor is the possibility entertained of believing without also receiving the "seal of the Spirit."
John MacArthur “Paul’s next question, "Into what then were you baptized?" further clarified their status. They responded, "Into John’s baptism," showing that they were disciples of John the Baptist. That Paul would encounter followers of John the Baptist nearly a quarter of a century after his death is not unusual. J. B. Lightfoot notes that such groups still existed in the second century. Had these twelve already believed in Jesus Christ, they would have been baptized into His name.”
☛ It is not sound exegesis to ‘see’ a truth in the Bible and then imagine seeing it everywhere in the Bible. That is using Scripture as a proof text.
B. A TRUTH TO EMBRACE.
One of G. Campbell Morgan’s best books, The Crises of the Christ. The book deals w/ 7 pivotal events in the life of Christ. His birth - baptism - temptation - transfiguration - crucifixion - resurrection and ascension. EACH EVENT, COULD BE VIEWED AS A CRISIS – They are benchmarks in the life of Jesus.
As you study the life of Christ, you see how these crisis points, propelled him into greater ministry. They didn’t make him any more spiritual. He didn’t get more of God along the way – He was already God in flesh.
One reason they were given was to picture for us how God uses key moments in our lives to propel us toward His will.
Look briefly at 3 key events in Scripture that paint a picture for us.
BAPTISM: Mark 1:9-In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
There was separation from his life as a carpenter’s son - now he would be about the business of His heavenly Father.
FOR US - THERE’S A TIME WE MUST SAY, I SURRENDER ALL.
10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: " You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."
Through the power of the Spirit we are made sons at our conversion and we are empowered for service.
CALVARY & PENTECOST:
They are inseparable. Although there was a seven week gap between these two historical events, there is nothing magic about 7 weeks – the key is, for the believer, we experience both when we are saved. Again, justification & sanctification - Salvation and Spirit baptism are simultaneous.
CALVARY PENTECOST:
out of sin Into life in the Spirit
Pardon Power to proclaim it
FOR us IN us
condemnation Sanctification
saved from hell Saved from power sin
conversion Consecration
An old Methodist holiness preacher once said, “THOUSANDS HAVE BEEN TO CALVARY WHO HAVE NEVER GONE ON TO PENTECOST.
You can be saved, baptized with the Spirit – but not cooperate with the Spirit. You can resist the Spirit. The result is a carnal Xn who does not seek after God. Their works are wood, hay and stubble. ‘Saved, as by fire...’
LET’S CLOSE W/ LOOKING AT FEW TEXTS THAT HELP US UNDERSTAND GOD’S PATTERN FOR HIS SAINTS, FROM THE EPISTLES OF PAUL.
All were written to the church and to believers. People who were already saved and filled w/ the Spirit. Believers, partakers of the Holy Spirit.
Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
‘transformed’ - word which we get our word metamorphosis. Nothing less than a radical transformation. It happens by the ‘renewing of the mind’ – a choice. An act of the will that leads to a transformation in the way we think, live.
Like any truth of Scripture, there are 2 sides to the coin. There is human responsibility and divine enablement.
DIVINE ENABLEMENT: 1 Thess 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
‘sanctify’ - aorist tense - a single, completed act. The process has a beginning point. The moment of salvation.
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY: 2 Cor. 7:1 ‘let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement...perfecting holiness in the fear of God..’
GOD PUTS THE SPIRIT INTO OPERATION IN MY LIFE AND I AM TO COOPERATE WITH HIM.
What God wants to do in us, after salvation is to empower us to walk in fullness. I’m not into a second blessing - hopefully, as I obey the word and walk in fullness, God is giving me thousands upon thousands of blessings that place within me a desire to live in an intimate relationship with Him.
