Devotionary

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Ep 884 – Sanctification – Leviticus 11:44-45 May 19, 2019

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Be holy! You won't find two other words like these that are as capable of striking fear into the life of a Christian. Whether you read them in Leviticus 11:44-45 or 1 Peter 1:14-16, they carry the same weight and produce the same impact. In either case, God is calling His people to be holy, as He is holy. That's a seriously lofty standard that would leave anyone questioning the sanity behind the command and the viability of anyone ever pulling it off. And yet, both the Old and New Testaments call us to be holy. So, what exactly is God's expectation of us? Is He demanding that we become what we are not, or is He encouraging us to live as who we already are? The doctrine of sanctification has gotten a bad rap because too often we assume that our spiritual growth is up to us. God saved us, but we somehow have to perfect ourselves. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Ep 883 – Sanctification – 2 Peter 1:3-4 May 18, 2019

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"He looks just like you!" How many times has a father heard that said of one is own children and felt his chest fill with pride? And God, our Heavenly Father is no different. He receives great joy when His children reflect His character and live out their lives in such a way that they bear His divine image. And in 2 Peter 1:3-4, the apostle reminds us that God has provided us with everything we need to do just that. We share His divine nature. We have His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. So, we have no excuse if we fail to live godly lives. God has set us apart as His own, provided us with the power to live holy lives, and assigned us the task to bear His image in a world mired in and marred by sin. Adam and Eve lost their image-bearing capacity when they sinned. But, because of our faith in Christ, we are able to reflect His glory because we share His divine nature.

Ep 882 – Sanctification – Hebrews 12:14-17 May 17, 2019

Show notes

God has deemed us holy, because of the righteousness we have received from Christ. Then why does the author of Hebrews tell us to "strive…for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord"? Are we holy or not? Have we already been sanctified or is it something we are to pursue? The answer is, "Yes." As we saw in yesterday's episode, we have been and are being sanctified. And in Hebrews 12:14-17, we discover that God expects us to strive to live a life of holiness. We are not to rest on our laurels or bask in the joy of our status as God's child. We are holy, because God has deemed us so. And He has made a life of holiness possible because He has placed His Holy Spirit within us. Not only do we enjoy our status as God's set-apart ones, we rely upon the power He has made available to us, so that we might live with holiness as our constant obsession.

Ep 881 – Sanctification – 1 Corinthians 1:2 May 16, 2019

Show notes

Past, present, future. When it comes to your sanctification, which is it? According to 1 Corinthians 1:2, your sanctification is a past-tense reality. But that's not Paul's final word on the topic. It seems that the doctrine of sanctification can't be relegated to the past, present, or future. It is ongoing. In one sense, we have been sanctified. Yet, we are also in the process of being sanctified. And, one day, we will stand before God as completely and finally sanctified. But the one reality most Christians seem to overlook is their status as having been sanctified or set apart by God at the point of their salvation. He has deemed them holy and, rather than seeing them as sinners, He views them as saints. And it is that unbelievable reality that should prompt us to live lives that are in keeping with our new identity in Christ.

Ep 880 – Sanctification - 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 May 15, 2019

Show notes

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, the apostle Paul reminds his readers of their privileged position as God's chosen people, but he also reminds them that it had nothing to do with them. In other words, God had not chosen them because they deserved it. They had not earned His favor or worked their way into His good graces. Paul describes them as having been weak, foolish, low, and despised. It was because of Christ that they had access into God's presence. Their faith in Christ was the sole reason they enjoyed a right standing with God. There was no reason for them to boast in their own merit. Their right to come into God's presence was because they had received the righteousness of Christ.

Ep 879 – Sanctification – Acts 16:33 May 14, 2019

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Salvation is intended to be simple, so that anyone might understand it and enjoy the incredible benefits that come with it. As we'll see in today's episode, when the Philippian jailer asked Paul what he must do to be saved, Paul simply stated, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." It doesn't get any simpler than that. But we would be wrong to think that the Gospel message is simplistic or uncomplicated. Because, while salvation only required belief on the jailer's part, there was far more involved behind the scenes to make his belief possible and effectual. Salvation is a miracle of God. And without His plan for it and His Son's obedient role in it, the Philippians jailer would have had no hope of salvation.

Ep 878 – Sanctification – John 10:31-39 May 13, 2019

Show notes

As we've stated before, sanctification is often described as the process of a believer increasing in Christlikeness. As they mature in their faith, they take on the character of Christ. They begin to act and think like Him. But one of the unique things about the doctrine of sanctification is that Jesus is described as having been sanctified or consecrated by God. So, was Jesus incomplete in some way? Was He in the process of maturing or growing in godliness? No, Jesus was 100 percent God from the moment He took on human flesh – even as an infant. Yet He was sanctified or set apart by God for a purpose. He was sent by God with a specific task to complete and He lived up to his God-ordained mission.

Ep 877 – Sanctification – Leviticus 11:44-45 May 12, 2019

Show notes

For many of us, the doctrine of sanctification is all about movement or progress. We tend to think of it as a process that requires us to move from spiritual infancy to adulthood. We even refer to it as growing in "Christlikeness" or "spiritual maturity." And it's not that those designations are wrong. It's that they are incomplete or insufficient. Sanctification is a much deeper, richer doctrine than most of us realize and, whether we recognize it or not, it is faith-based just like salvation. We have been set apart by God as His own and while we are expected to live in that reality, God does not demand or expect us to achieve holiness on our own. In fact, He tells us to be holy, not become holy. Why? Because He already sees us as holy.

Ep 876 – Sanctification – Genesis 2:3 May 11, 2019

Show notes

One of the many problems facing mankind since the fall has been our insatiable desire for glory. Because we were made in God's image and were intended to reflect His glory, we ended up becoming glory grabbers. In a sense, we chose to make ourselves like God. In fact, that's exactly what Satan said would happen if Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit – "you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." And ever since, mankind has been trying to play god. But the only problem is, God will not share His glory with anyone. And the doctrine of sanctification does not suggest that sinful man can become like God. It teaches that, because of Christ, we can once again do what we were created to do: Reflect the glory of God.

Ep 875 – Santification – Romans 1:22-23 May 10, 2019

Show notes

Man was made in the image of God, but something happened that changed all that. And it was sin. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the one tree in the garden He had made off-limits. And their decision to eat the forbidden fruit proved to be a life-changing one. While Satan had promised that, by eating the fruit, their eyes would be opened, they actually experienced a blurring of their spiritual vision. Yes, they now had the capacity to know good and evil, but they couldn't tell the difference. They went from living in the light of God's glory to wandering around in the darkness of sin. Which is why God sent the final Adam, Jesus Christ, to bring the light of God's glory back to earth and restore sinful men and women to their former status as God's image bearers.

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