The Lord’s Prayer - Part 6 - Sanctification

Temple Baptist Church - 7-31-2024

John 17:17; Colossians 3:1-4

 

Introduction:

 

A. Verse 17 is the Lord’s Fourth Petition. The Petition for Sanctification of the Believer.

 

B. Sanctification is a Landmark in Doctrine and also an essential part of the salvation of the believer. God did not save us to go back into the world or allow the world to get into us! He saved us from our sin, not in our sin. But:

 

1. In todays version of Christianity, sanctification has become something to be both feared and denied. Sanctification is an act of God, a continuing act of the child of God, and a blessing to be looked forward to in eternity. Here we find the importance of sanctification to our Lord!

 

2. There are three aspects of sanctification that need to be expressed so that the believer has a good “handle” on what it is and what it is not.

 

3. God’s people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge and this is a basic foundation of truth that religion hides from its followers.

 

4. I want to begin this message by saying, “Thank God for sanctification!” It has to do with our position in Christ, our practice in Christ, and our eternal security in Christ.

 

5. Notice that I mention Christ in all three aspects of sanctification because it is by Christ, through Christ, and to Christ! Sanctification is all about Christ!

 

C. Sanctification - ἁγιάζω hagiazō hag-ee-ad'-zo defined: to make holy, that is, (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate: - hallow, be holy, sanctify. Simplified - to set apart.

 

D. Sanctification is a GOOD word, not a BAD word. It perfectly describes the division of the believer from the unbeliever.

 

E. There are three aspects of Biblical Sanctification and are best explained in **Colossians 3:1-4. Please turn there:

 

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (4) When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

 

1. Positional Sanctification. Positional Sanctification is something that God does! “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

 

1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (“Of Him” tells us that salvation is an act of God, not an act of the believer. The believer brings a “bankrupt sinner” to God in repentance and faith and God saves the believer.)

 

Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (At the moment of salvation, the believer is emersed completely into Christ. Something that God does, not the believer. This is not water baptism! It is the baptism of the Holy Ghost.)

 

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

At the moment of salvation, the believer is set apart from the world positionally through Jesus Christ. “In Christ” is the believer’s sanctification. We are baptized into Christ who is both perfect and eternal and therefore remain secure!

 

Nothing or nobody can find us nor touch us. We are His and He is ours!

 

2. There is Permanent or Perpetual Sanctification. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

 

John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (30) I and my Father are one.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

 

1 John 3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

 

I am not going to spend a lot of time on the Security of the Believer because I believe that everyone here is biblically settled on the fact that salvation, an act of God, is forever.

 

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

 

3. Practical Sanctification. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” This is both an act of God and an act of the believer. This aspect of sanctification is what our Lord asked of God in verse 17 of the Lord’s Prayer.

 

a. Our Partner against Sin. Our Lord wanted the Father to help us to remain in a state of holiness through sanctification!

 

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

 

b. Our Problem with Sin. As long as we live in this wicked flesh with an Adamic nature, the battle rages.

 

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

 

c. Our Propensity to Sin. When you get saved, you are as full of the Holy Ghost as you can get but, as He directs our lives, we often make bad choices that cause us to begin to fill back up with the world and less by the Holy Ghost.

 

Romans 7:21-25 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

 

d. Our Protection from Sin. It is the Truth who died for us; it is the Truth of the Word of God that we hold in our hands; it is the Spirit of Truth who indwells us. WE HAVE ALL THAT WE NEED FOR BOTH LIFE AND GODLINESS.

 

2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

 

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

 

 

e. Our Prerogative concerning Sin. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Free or not to be Free? God has given to us all the tools necessary to life a consistent, not perfect, life for Christ Jesus.

A Righteous King

 Temple Baptist Church - 7-28-2024

Psalm 21

 

Introduction:

 

A.  Psalm 21 is Davidic and gives a description of his reign.  I fully understand the recorded failures of this great king but the last chapter of his life was written by God in the inspired words,

 

“And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” (Acts 13:22)

 

B.  In 2 Samuel, chapter 23 (the last chapter of the book and the last chapter of King David’s life), we find the “last words” of Israel’s greatest king! 

 

1.  I have often read about the last words recorded of famous men and women. I do not want to give their quotes but do want to look at David’s. 

 

2.  Last words often speak of the way one lived and often the condition in which they died.

 

3.  Last words are important in the Bible as they express a legacy from which others may find both strength and purpose.

 

C.  King David’s last recorded words were given by inspiration of God!  Therefore, they were right words; they were righteous words.

 

D. In the introduction of David’s last words, we find the requirements of righteousness for those who rule.  It is God that puts men in office, and it is God that takes these same men out of office.  Government is of God!

 

Daniel 2:20-21  Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:  (21)  And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

 

Acts 13:21-22  And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.  (22)  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

 

E.  I want to use a three of verses out of the Book of 2 Samuel to introduce this message as they give the Biblical definition of a righteous King.

 

2 Samuel 23:1-3  Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,  (2)  The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.  (3)  The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

 

F.  With this in mind, let us look at Psalm 21.

 

1.  In verse 1, we find the Joy of a Righteous King.

 

a.  The Joy of God’s Strength.  The promise of God given to the man on the throne who is just and fears God.  His strength is ALWAYS sufficient for every task ahead.

 

b.  The Joy of God’s Salvation.  This is both spiritual and temporal.  Spiritual salvation through faith and physical salvation (deliverance) in battles and earthly strife.

 

2.  In verses 2-10.  The Blessings of a Righteous King.

 

a.  Verse 2, The Blessing of Answered Prayer.

 

b.  Verse 3, the Blessing of an Exalted Position.  A king in which the people can be proud.

 

c.  Verse 4, the Blessing of a Long Life.  A life that is not only long but full and blessed.

 

d.  Verse 5, The Blessing of  Glorious Life.  A life that radiates the glory of God.

 

e.  Verse 6, the Blessing of Gladness. A life that is full of joy and happiness.  Happiness is the Lord!

 

f.  Verse 7, the Blessing of Stability. A life that does not change through circumstances.  A life that is stable and consistent.

 

g.  Verse 8, the Blessing of Discernment.  The wisdom to know who is for you and who is against you and how to thwart their purposes.

 

h.  Verse 9-12, the Blessing of Protection and Victory.  No weapon formed against a righteous king will prosper.  God will both be with and guide in battle if the cause is just.

 

i.  Verse 13, the Blessing of Worship. A righteous king will both worship with his live and lips, giving all credit and glory to the One who is altogether worthy of praise.

 

Conclusion:  We live in days of unjust and unrighteous men who have no fear of God.

 

1.  A government that is perfectly good with killing God’s heritage, the fruit of the womb.

 

Psalms 127:3  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

 

2.  A government that is perfectly good with sodomy.

 

Romans 1:26-27  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:  (27)  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

 

3.  A government that is perfectly good with the misuse of power and law.

 

1 Timothy 1:8  But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

 

4.  Can you imagine the blessings, protection, provision, power, and victory that America could experience today with justice and the fear of God in government!

Ignorant - The Spiritual Blindness of Israel

Temple Baptist Church - 7-28-2024

Romans 10:1-10; 11:25

 

Introduction: 

 

A.  Last week, we saw in Romans, chapter 9, God’s Divine Election of the Nation of Israel.  In the absolute sovereignty of God, He chose Israel.  Israel did not choose God!

 

B.  In chapters 10-11, the context has not changed.  Paul is still writing about the nation of Israel, God’s Glory and the Apple of God’s eye!  Today, God continues to love Israel. 

 

Romans 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 

 

Mystery – to silence or to shut the mouth.  A Biblical Mystery can only be understood through the medium of the Scriptures and the discernment of the child of God through the Holy Spirit.

 

C.  This morning, we will see the condition of the Nation of Israel today. 

 

1.  “Spiritual blindness” in part!  Not totally blind.  There are those who believe that Jews in our days cannot be saved.  Chapter 10 deals with that and I will in a minute or two.

 

2.  Israel’s blindness is found in all of chapter 10 and the first 25 verses of chapter 11. 

 

Israel Slipped (Romans 10:2-3; 11:1-7), then Israel Stumbled (Romans 11:9, 11), then Israel Slept (Romans 11:9-17), and now Israel Sleeps On (Romans 11:25).  One day, Israel will See their Messiah (Romans 11:23-24, 26-27).

 

3.  I want to re-emphasize that context in the Scriptures does not always begin or end with the chapter and verse notations found in the Bible.  These were added by the translators to help us find what we are looking for without having to read the entire Bible to do so. 

 

D.  In Romans, chapter 11, A question is asked and answered at the same time.  This is because God does not want to ask us a question and leave it up to us to come to our own conclusion, which may be right or may be wrong.  God answers the question so that we will know the right answer. 

 

1.  Verse 1, The Question:  “Hath God cast away his people?”

 

2.  Verses 1b-2a, The Answer:  “God forbid ... God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.”

 

3.  God’s Election and Love for Israel has not changed but the Nation of Israel and its Condition has changed.

 

E.  Israel, as a nation, has “spiritual blindness” because of their rejection!  I want to look at some of the areas of rejection that has caused the Nation of Israel to be blinded and set aside until the “fulness of the Gentiles (The Ages of the Church) be come in.”  Notice the words “be come in” which is a continuation.

 

F.  Israel’s blindness was “in part,” and this is noted in chapter 10:9-17 as individual Jews can be saved just as we are.  By faith in the gospel!  Their blindness was national, not individual.

 

G.  The Natural Branch (the Nation of Isarel is the branch that belongs to the root) has been broken off and the “wild olive tree” (the Church through the Gentile nations) grafted in.  The Dispensation of the Gentile Church or Bride until the time that the Church will be raptured out.

 

Romans 11:17-24  And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou (Romans-Gentiles), being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;  (18)  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.  (19)  Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.  (20)  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:  (21)  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.  (22)  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.  (23)  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.  (24)  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

 

H.  What Israel rejected that caused their blindness.

 

1.  Israel’s Rejection Of the Word of God.  Zechariah 7:11-12  But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.  (12)  Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

 

Israel rejected the Promised Seed of the Woman, their Messiah, the Lamb of God, the only solution to the problem of sin.

 

2.  Israel’s Rejection Of the Prophets of God.  Matthew 23:37-39  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  (38)  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.  (39)  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

 

Matthew 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

 

God’s men who prophesied God’s Word.  Men of God continue to be despised if they preach the Word of God without compromise.

 

3.  Israel’s Rejection Of the Spirit of God.  Acts 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 

 

Acts 2:12-13  And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?  (13)  Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

 

Though 3,000 men were saved on the Day of Pentecost, millions were not!

 

4.  Israel’s Rejection Of the Son of God—Christ Jesus—Israel’s Messiah.  John 1:10-11  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  (11)  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

                 

Matthew 27:25  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

 

Israel prayed a curse down upon itself and its posterity which remains to this day.

 

5.  Israel’s Rejection Of the Gospel of God.  Romans 10:16  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

 

Acts 7:54-60  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.  (55)  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,  (56)  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.  (57)  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,  (58)  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.  (59)  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.  (60)  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

 

Stephen preached a risen Christ to them!  Gospel—good news—death according to the Scriptures, burial, and resurrection according to the Scriptures.

 

6.  Israel was blinded because of their Self-Righteousness.  Romans 10:3-4  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.  (4)  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 

 

Salvation is to everyone that believeth, not everyone that worketh!  Repentance from dead works and faith toward God is the only way of salvation.

 

7.  Israel was blinded because of National Pride.  Acts 10:28  And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 

 

To the Jew, Gentiles were sub-human and often called Gentile dogs.  Jews do not listen to the witness of Gentile dogs.  They thought that they had to be right with God because they were of His people, Israel.  Many people of our day believe that they are going to heaven based upon their parent’s faith.

 

Conclusion:

 

1.  Israel’s eyes saw but they did not see.  Isaiah 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  

 

They saw Christ but did not see who He was.  They tempted Him, they taunted Him, they tested Him, and crucified Him.

 

2.  Israel’s ears heard but they did not hear.  Jeremiah 17:23  But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.

 

3.  Blindness in part:  though nationally blinded, individual Jews can and are being saved.