Sanctification

(Romans 7:25) “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind…”

Although as children of God we are not bound by the letter of the law; it is Christ who has justified us, His work has made us acceptable before a holy God. Nothing we do will change that truth. If we break God’s law we will no longer be held accountable for that sin. Christ has already been punished for it, and yes this includes our future sins. This is the meaning of justification, when God looks at a true Christian who found his forgiveness somewhere in life, his sins have already been taken care of in judgement. Jesus Christ bled and was punished by God for that sin. We must never take our sin as a light thing, it cost Jesus our Saviour His life and separation from God the Father. It would be good for us to cement that foundation as our springboard when unpacking the verse above. Forgiveness and the grace of God is not cheap, let us not forget that.   

The greatest of our efforts would never leave the individual standing blameless before the only true holy God, the great I AM now accepts every forgiven saint. Positionally we are now no longer sinners but saints. God does not see our sin Jesus has already been punished for it! We are forgiven! His sacrifice was accepted not our efforts. Our own efforts will only ever fill us with pride if done from a self-centred position. The church of Galatia made this mistake and it was after having received the free gift of salvation, they reverted back to being justified in their ability by keeping Gods law, they were using the “Ten Commandments” as a yardstick to justify themselves; “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain?” (Galatians 3:1-4) – Simply put they were looking to themselves to find favour from God, the traps of false religion personified. Let’s face it, who hasn’t fallen into this trap as a Christian? I know I have!

We can have a totally different reaction as we struggle to get our head around this massive shift in our reality. If our sin is no longer charged to us, why not live as our old sinful natures dictate? The Apostle Paul is firm with that type of reasoning; “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:1-4) - In layman’s terms because we are new individuals with a different objective, to become more like Jesus in character and the only way for us to achieve this is to suffer in the flesh. Think on it like this, when we need to make a choice about anything, in the past we may have turned left, we now need to find grace to make a right. Left takes us towards our old sinful natures but turning right, takes us to the hill of Gethsemane, the place where Christ was crucified.

Listen to what the Apostle Peter teaches; “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” (1Peter 4:1-3)

I believe this is the point Paul is making; our minds must always use the law of God to guide our footsteps, not that we are justified by the law as we have been free from the law of sin and death, however it will help sanctify us making us more like our glorious Saviour. It will cause pain to the flesh but it will bring tremendous joy to our souls when we handle the trial of life finding God’s grace to get us through.

It has taken a very long time for me to understand this; my prayer now is that we would all put our hand to the plough, forgetting what is behind us as we all press towards daily sanctification in our lives. Do not let the lies of sin trick you into believing anything else. Our resolve must echo these words; “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."” (1Peter 1:13-16)

There are those who proclaim to be Christians who propagate a message of cheap grace; they do not have your best interest at heart. They say do not worry about sinning we all sin and therefore we needn’t change, God is merciful. That He is but your sin and mine caused our God and Father great pain with our rescue, it cost the Lord Jesus His life; let us always remind each other of His great sacrifice.

I leave you with encouragement; “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” (Ephesian 4:26-28)

Signing off

Tyrone