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What About Living a Sanctified Life?

Friendly Face Posts: 434 **4/4/17 6:28 am**

I originally posted this on the Sanctification thread but deleted it as I felt this post took the original thread off topic and into a different subject.

My question on the sanctification issue in relation to the American church of 2017 where we live is the lack of this doctrinal truth being taught and lived out among professing Christians. Whether one claims immediate and complete sanctification at the new birth or a progressive process are we hearing teaching and seeing professing Christians move in this direction?

Psalm 119:9-11: How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
10 With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
11 Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.

Are people being taught and learning to seek God with their whole heart? Are we personally growing in the basic concept of hiding God's Word in our heart so that we may not sin against Him? I am glad to be living in a time when I don't have to wear a tie and jacket as a pastor. However, I believe sanctification will be more evident if we challenge ourselves and others to the truth that one needs to be aware of the time spent filling our hearts with media junk (TV, internet, sports, social media) as compared to time meditating in the Word of God.

I spent a lot of time.on the road alone as a young single man in corporate America then as a missionary evangelist in the 80s-90s. At that time I would challenge pastors by saying, "Nothing personal but neither you or anybody I ever heard preaches good enough to keep.me away from sin with three weekly messages." How do we expect young people to walk a sanctified life with the expectation being Sunday morning attendance? I am not preaching being in church 3 times weekly but instead referring to the necessity of teaching people to live in the Word of God as a way of life. Why would I expect somebody to say a sinner's prayer, join our church and resist sin when I had all I could handle with a lifestyle committed to a minimum of 1 or 1 1/2 hours in the Word every day before facing the world (and yes I was at church for the 3 weekly services).

I will close with something that let's us all agree together!😁 The temptations have increased greatly today as compared to the 80s and 90s. If you are on Acts and disagree maybe Doyle will let us do a fundraiser for your cataract surgery!

Friendly Face Posts: 346 **4/4/17 10:38 am**

what about sanctification immediate, instantaneous, entire, subsequent and chronological after the new birth? A born again person seeks for this crisis experience.
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Sanctification is subsequent to the new birth

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12817 **4/4/17 10:56 am**

Three sermons a day, or even a sermon every waking hour, would not be enough if the disciple were not taught that by walking in the Spirit, living by faith in Jesus the Sanctifier, that they can avoid fulfilling the desires of the flesh, especially if those sermons conveyed the common evangelical dogmas of defeat, which say that sin is inevitable, unavoidable, and that it is basically synonymous with being human.

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **4/4/17 11:43 am**

certainly I can help you

Friendly Face Posts: 346 **4/4/17 12:43 pm**

Rom 5:21; I Cor 1:30; I Thess 4:3; Heb 13:12 Extracted from the 2016 COG minutes -COG teachings
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Sanctification is subsequent to the new birth

Friendly Face Posts: 346 **4/4/17 12:45 pm**

when you fill out your monthly report give the numbers saved and numbers sanctified and the number filled with the Holy Ghost.
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Sanctification is subsequent to the new birth

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12817 **4/4/17 2:47 pm**

I find perhaps the strongest scripture among the many for the idea of entire sanctification being a definite experience to be sought for and expected in this life is the following:

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this. 1 Thess 5:23-24 NRSV

We cannot be kept/preserved blameless until we are first made blameless.

Paul earnestly desires that believers (saved people) would be sanctified entirely, and kept blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus. He does not say, "You will be entirely sanctified when you die, or in the rapture." His inspired words express the desire that the believers be made entirely holy, and kept/preserved in that state until the Lord returns.

He expresses a similar desire in chapter 3 verse 13 of this same epistle:

"And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."

I should hasten to add that Bro. Wesley definitely did NOT teach the idea of "once sanctified, always sanctified." He affirmed that entire sanctification was capable of being lost through willful neglect/sin, and that it could also be regained by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. Some in the CoG used to teach that sanctification basically sin-proofed the believer, making it impossible for such a one to sin. Wesley explains in his notes on 1 John 3:6-9, however, that this "cannot sin" means so long as one abides in faith he cannot sin, because the seed of God remains in him.

Re: certainly I can help you

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **4/4/17 2:55 pm**

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12817 **4/4/17 3:09 pm**

I cannot recommend highly enough that we look to our roots as Pentecostals and seek to understand the doctrinal wellspring from which our own movement sprang; that is, the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. A study of what Mr. Wesley taught concerning initial sanctification by faith, entire sanctification by faith, and the Christian life in general will yield much fruit, and will, at the very least, greatly challenge the reader to pursue holiness, without which no one shall see God.

Wesley's "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection" is freely available for online reading, and explains the doctrine and gives solid answers to its critics as well. Again, I cannot recommend its study highly enough. Would to God that the Church of God would re-dig the wells of Holiness Theology which have been stopped up by so many for too long.

http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/a-plain-account-of-christian-perfection/

Friendly Face Posts: 346 **4/4/17 6:22 pm**

According to the Bible everyone saved is called (regenerated), justified and glorified. No mention of sanctification is suggested in this reference. Rom 8:30

Sanctification is an act of free will of the born again cooperating with the will of God. Sanctification is a willful choice in following Christ in obedience.
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Sanctification is subsequent to the new birth

Friendly Face Posts: 346 **4/4/17 6:36 pm**

According to the Bible everyone saved is called (regenerated), justified and glorified. No mention of sanctification is suggested in this reference. Rom 8:30

Sanctification is an act of free will of the born again cooperating with the will of God. Sanctification is a willful choice in following Christ in obedience.
_________________
Sanctification is subsequent to the new birth

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **4/4/17 7:10 pm**

No mention of the baptism of the Holy Ghost either.

Friendly Face Posts: 346 **4/4/17 7:32 pm**

Baptism of the Holy Ghost is the baptism of the Spirit into the body of Christ (regeneration) Titus 3:5; I Cor 12:13
The work of calling (Rom 8:30) is regeneration so the baptism of the Holy Ghost is mentioned.
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Sanctification is subsequent to the new birth

The Average Person?

Friendly Face Posts: 434 **4/5/17 5:33 am**

I think it is great to have these discussions concerning sanctification at the new birth or as an occurrence after salvation. However, what do you think the average person who accepts Christ knows about the doctrine of sanctification?
If the church is teachingit as an expectation for every believer what can be done to see people grow in their knowledge and application of a sanctified life?

How a minister should encourage the average believer

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/5/17 7:54 am**

I think the Apostle Paul gives a couple of pointers in his charge to Titus in Titus chapter 2. Paul tells Titus to speak, exhort, and rebuke. He is to speak with uncorrupted doctrine to remind people that the grace of God teaches us to "deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly," with an expectation of Christ's return. In addition to what Titus is to speak, he is told to live his own life as a example so that his words will not be hollow.
Titus 2:
7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

I think these are good reminders for ministers who would encourage fellow believers to live a sanctified life.