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1 John 3:2&3
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.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as he is pure.
I am so glad that one of
these days, I will be like Him; the fight with this flesh to
be Holy will be over. When we enter Heaven, we will be like
Him; He is pure and we will be pure. However, we aren't
there yet!
Now, when we get saved,
we get sanctified. Look at I Corinthians 6:11, And
such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. I Corinthians
1:2, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
Positionally, through the Lord Jesus Christ, we are
sanctified; but practically we are not because we are still
in this rotten flesh that hates holiness, hates purity and
hates anything that is right. There is a war going on
between the Holy Spirit within us and our flesh. Galatians
5:17 says, For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the
one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye
would. This flesh of ours still lusts to sin, it
still desires to be carnal, fleshly. Now, the Lord has saved
our souls, we are sealed unto the day of redemption (Eph.
1:13 & 4:30), never to go to Hell and we have been made a
new creature. That new creature wants to do right and that
old nature wants to do wrong; it is almost like we are
Schizophrenic sometimes. Now, the Lord wants to help you
with this and will help you, and the way that He does that
is by pointing out things in your life that you need to get
rid of whether it be an addiction, an attitude or even
something that is more of a weight that holds you back from
serving Him. The Holy Spirit will convict you of those
things and convince you that they are wrong, but then it is
on your shoulders. Our opening text says, And every
man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he
is pure. James 4:8 says, Draw nigh to God,
and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
I Corinthians 5:6-8 says, Your glorying is not good.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new
lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is
sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with
old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth. And II Timothy 2:21 say, If a man
therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel
unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and
prepared unto every good work. There it is again,
we must purge ourselves from these things then we will be a
vessel of honour, sanctified. This text here is very
interesting, I am not going to add the whole chapter, but
you ought to read it. After verse 21 it goes on to say flee
youthful lusts (vs. 22), avoid foolish questions, (vs. 23),
don't strive (vs. 24) these are all things that we have to
do; then in verse 25 it says that we should instruct those
that oppose themselves that they might repent and get out of
the snare of the devil. How are you going to help those who
are lost or even a Christian who is living ungodly if you
are not purging and purifying yourself and getting more and
more like the Savior. The answer is, you can't; you have to
be that vessel of honour that is sanctified before you can
instruct someone else on how to do it. As I said before, the
Lord wants to help you, I Thessalonians 5:23 says,
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray
God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is God's will, He wants you to live a sanctified life.
That is why He continually points out sinful and undesirable
things in your life and expects you to purge yourself of
those things; and as soon as you do that He will strengthen
you and help you to not look back at it and He will take you
a use you in a greater way. And one way that He does that is
through His Word. Sanctification is impossible without the
Word of God. Here are three scriptures that tell us that,
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 17:17 And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth. John 17:19 That he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,(refering
to the church). Ephesians 5:26 The Bible plays two roles,
pointing out the sin and then after you have repented of it,
encouraging, strengthening and equipping you.
Until next time, may the
Lord bless you,
Sis. Tanya
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