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Sanctification
or
Set
Apart to God as a Saint
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Sanctification.
That’s a big word with an important meaning!
Sanctification means to be
set apart to God as holy. It doesn’t mean our holiness or
goodness. Holy means that we have God’s goodness or righteousness,
+R. He set us apart to Himself as saints. Imagine that! Now, that
doesn’t mean that we don’t do any wrong, and that we have special
days named after us. It has nothing to do with our “goodness” or
human works. It means that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we
belong to God. We are His property. What a wonderful Owner we
have! We’ve been separated to God! We’ve been sanctified!
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1
Corinthians 1:1-2 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God, and Sosthenes the brother, to the church of God
which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ
Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
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Sanctification also means
that we believers belong to God as His children in the Royal
Family. He has set each child in the Royal Family apart to do
something for Him. God has a special purpose for every believer.
He has given each of us our own spiritual gift. We are to use our
spiritual gift to help others. The Holy Spirit will give us the
power to do that. God gave us a grace gift which helps us in sooo
many ways, and we have the privilege of sharing it with the Royal
Family. What a Father! What a Son! What a Holy Spirit! What a God!
What a family!
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Romans 1:1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an
apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. [Paul had a special
gift.]
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There are three parts to
sanctification. First, there is
positional
sanctification at salvation.
Positional sanctification refers to what God the Holy Spirit does
to each believer at the moment of salvation. He enters the
believer into union with Christ, Who is seated at the right hand
of God the Father. This is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Our position is being seated at the right hand of God the Father
also! We can picture ourselves as actually being there some day!
In God’s eyes we are already there! The Lord’s victory in the
angelic conflict is seen! What a royal place to be!!!
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Titus
3:5-7 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in
righteousness [goodness], but according to His mercy, by the
washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, Whom He
poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ the Savior, so that
being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to
the hope of eternal life.
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Next, there is
experiential sanctification.
We experience experiential
sanctification in time. This is when we are really living
the spiritual life in God’s predesigned plan. We are to experience
God’s goodness. Therefore, our objective is to take in doctrine
and grow spiritually to maturity. The more Bible doctrine we
learn, believe, and use, the more capacity we will have for life.
Then the Holy Spirit will be able to produce good works in us for
others. Unless we are filled with the Spirit and learning bible
doctrine, experiential sanctification is impossible. We need to
have God’s viewpoint to fill our souls and push out human
viewpoint. Experiential
sanctification glorifies God in the angelic conflict. Glory
be to God!!!
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1
Thessalonians 4:1 Finally then. brethren, we request and exhort
you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as
to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do
walk), that you excel still more.
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Only mature believers with spiritual self-esteem
and doctrine to the max in their souls are able to live in
experiential sanctification.
This means the experience of living the life set apart to God. It
is also called the state of “godliness”. And it doesn’t come from
living moral human good, self-righteous or even clean lives! As I
said before, it comes from learning, believing, and using Bible
doctrine which is divine viewpoint! We have to do this daily! We
have to get away from human viewpoint and fill our souls with
God’s divine viewpoint! What are we thinking???
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Romans
12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of you mind, so that you may prove what the will of
God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
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The third sanctification is
ultimate sanctification. This
sanctification refers to us believers in the eternal state,
heaven! It will take place at the Rapture of the church when each
member of the Royal Family of God will receive a resurrected body.
Those who reach maturity in time will receive eternal blessings
and rewards. Winner believers will receive decorations and medals!
God has magnificent blessings waiting for us in heaven.
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Philippians 3:21 Who will transform the body of our humble state
into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the
power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
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We need to keep going forward in His plan so that
we can become winner believers and collect our rewards. We don’t
want to get to heaven and see our blessings just sitting in a
treasure chest. We want to grow in God’s grace, knowledge and
wisdom so that we can have God say to us, “Well done, good and
faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put
you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your Master.”
As the Royal Family of God in our resurrected bodies in
ultimate sanctification, we
become physically superior to all angels and replace angelic
administration or angelic supervision. We’ll be put in charge of
something! Amazing grace! Ultimate
sanctification!
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Colossians 1:20 And through Him [Son], to reconcile all things to
himself [Father], having made peace through the blood of the Cross
through Him [Son], whether things on earth or things in heaven.
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Activity Pages
Add
your own things to the pictures and color.
Objectives of the Christian Life:
take in Bible doctrine daily
and grow spiritually.
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Put these words in the flags:
sanctification, positional, experiential, ultimate,
Royal Family.
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Sanctification
or
Set Apart to God as a Saint
References used:
Robert R.McLaughlin Bible Ministries
www.gbible.org
The Basics, Volume
1, Robert R. McLaughlin
Lessons: 12-5-06,
12-12-06
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