[God Is Love] Towards Sanctification
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June 01, 2014 |
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Senior Pastor of Manmin Central Church Dr. Jaerock Lee
He is God's servant of love and power who has awakened people of all nations by spreading the core of the gospel following the example set by the Lord in manifesting the fiery works of the Holy Spirit.
Manmin Central Church opened with only 9 adults and 4 children in 1982. Through the works of the Holy Spirit the church has grown to become a mega-sized church with approximately 10,000 branch and associative churches world-wide. Just as Jesus preached and confirmed the word by the signs that followed His teaching, Dr. Jaerock Lee confirms that the Bible is the truth by showing the power of God.
He has conducted many overseas crusades such as in Uganda, Japan, Pakistan, Kenya, the Philippines, Honduras, India, Russia, Germany, Peru, DR Congo, the U.S., and Estonia since 2000 and he has shown explosively powerful works as in the Uganda Crusade that was reported by CNN.
He also preached in Jerusalem at the Israel United Crusade 2009. He proclaimed Jesus is the Messiah and it was broadcast live to approximately 220 countries. He is dedicated to the Word and prayer to accomplish the providence of God who desires all people of all nations to be saved at the end time by proclaiming the gospel to the end of the earth and achieving the mission of the ministry to North Korea. www.drlee.or.kr
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15).
If your child is suffering and dying of a dreadful disease, as parents you might want to take the suffering on behalf of the child or you might think you wouldn't spare your life as long as it could save your child. The heart of God is the same. His heart for those who have become His children after accepting Jesus Christ is love itself.
Now let's look into God's providence in human cultivation on the earth. Let's examine His love for His children and the reason He takes delight in them becoming sanctified.
1. The meaning and significance of sanctification
One dictionary definition of 'sanctification' is 'the act or process of acquiring sanctity, of being made or becoming holy.' What does it mean in the Lord?
It spiritually means that one, who used to go astray due to sins, receives the grace of salvation through Jesus Christ and changes by the power of the Holy Spirit to have a pure heart which is void of evil. In other words, people more closely resemble the Lord through living lives of believers and finally recover and accomplish the lost image of God.
Therefore, 'being sanctified' is one of our duties as God's holy children, and it is the ultimate goal of our Christian lives. Leviticus 11:45 reads, "For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy." God brought the Israelites up from Egypt and chose them as His elect because He wanted to make them His holy people who resembled the holy God. Now it becomes more important for us to become sanctified since the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification…" and 5:23 states, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Our sanctification is the will of God. It is also the reason why Jesus redeemed us from all our sins by shedding His precious blood.
Romans 6:6 says, "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin." Jesus redeemed us from all our sins by His precious blood to open the way of our sanctification in which we no longer sin.
If one has tasted the grace and then has again fallen away into sins, he or she again crucifies the Son of God and puts Him to open shame (Hebrews 6:4-6). Jesus' salvation through crucifixion means nothing for those who go on sinning willfully without casting sins away. Of course, they won't be saved. If we have faith and know the love of God, then it is natural that we go forward in the process of our sanctification.
2. To become sanctified in heart
Then, what is the way of achieving sanctification in heart? John 14:15 explicitly tells us the way saying, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." If you truly love God, you will keep His commandments and naturally accomplish sanctification of heart.
After we become God's children, we come to keep His Words as the evidence of our love for Him. The Word is God, so those who love God naturally love to hear the Word of God, engrave it deep in their hearts, and act according to it. So, 1 John 5:3 says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." If we love God, we will enjoy keeping His commandments and do it happily, then we won't feel troubled.
Then, what kinds of commandments are there in the Word of God? For instance, there are words that tell us 'to do' and 'not to do' something such as we are to 'love our enemies' and we are 'not to judge or condemn others'. There are also words that command us to keep or to abstain from or throw away things as well. 'To keep the Sabbath holy' or 'to abstain from every form of evil' are examples. Only those who keep such commandments can be said to love and fear God.
We should let the truth dwell in our hearts by casting away sins and living according to the Word. Laying aside our old selves and renewing ourselves is what we must do to go forth towards sanctification. Moreover, to the extent that we become sanctified, the hope for Heaven increases in our hearts.
The latter part of Luke 17:21 says, "For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." Just as written, to the extent that we cast away sins from our hearts, the hearts are more filled with the kingdom of God. Heaven is not all the same but the dwelling place and rewards are all different from person to person according to how much they cast off sins and how faithful they are in working for His kingdom.
If those who love God and have faith know this, they will have a more earnest hope for Heaven and become sanctified by fighting against sins and throwing them away. Therefore, your sanctification is the clearest expression of your faith in God and the evidence of your love for God.
3. The reason God wants us to become sanctified
Then, why does God tell His children to 'achieve sanctification even by striving against sins to the point of shedding blood' as written in Hebrews 12:4? It is because He loves His children.
Before explaining about why it is in His love that God wants us to become sanctified, let's look into the heart of men prior to the introduction and entrance of sin. Adam was created in God's image. He was of goodness because he had no evil. Adam was taught only the truth and goodness by God, so he knew nothing of sins and evil which are opposite to all he knew.
Adam, who originally had no sin and evil, enjoyed the authority of ruling over all things and he lived in the beautiful Garden of Eden where he lacked nothing. He also communicated with God who is spirit and he was enjoying the blessing of eternal life. However, through the temptation of the serpent, he committed the sin of disobedience, that is, he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God had forbidden.
From then on, a great change occurred according to the spiritual law. Everything was done as Romans 6:16 says, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"
Adam's transgression caused all his authority to be handed over to Satan, that is, to the ruler of darkness. Since Adam, who was a living spirit, sinned and became flesh, he began to lose the image of God and became stained with sin and evil. It resulted that all descendants of Adam who sinned came under the control of Satan, which caused them to undergo every suffering on the earth and to eventually reach eternal death.
When God saw them lose all authority as His children and live lives no more than that of a beast, He felt great pain because He knew that they would end up in everlasting suffering in Hell. Then, what is the way we can recover the spiritual authority that the first man Adam had, and how can we again fully enjoy happiness?
The way is for us to accept Jesus Christ, be forgiven of all sins, and completely recover the lost image of God. In the spiritual realm, being sinless is power. Thus, sanctification is the only way. To the extent that we cast off sins and achieve sanctification, we can get back the authority that God gave to Adam and defeat Satan.
We can also manifest the works of the Holy Spirit to the same extent that we become sanctified. And we can possess the spiritual world transcending the limits of the flesh. Only when we become sanctified in this way can we achieve the heart of God and spiritual love. If one achieves spiritual love that even gives life and works faithfully in all aspects, they can dwell in New Jerusalem the best dwelling place in Heaven with the Lord.
Therefore, God's urging us to become sanctified is the expression of His greatest love for us. He also tells us to regain all spiritual authority and blessings that were lost through Adam's transgression.
4. God's way of leading people into sanctification
God led His people in various ways to make them perfect, spotless, and sanctified children. In the Old Testament time, He gave them the Ten Commandments through Moses and by letting them keep the commandments He helped them turn away from sins. He also sent prophets and allowed them preach His words to them whenever the Israelites sinned so that they could turn back from evil and repent. Furthermore, He has been setting men as good examples worthy to be followed in every age so that believers could run towards sanctification more earnestly.
Even though a student is very smart, his performance will be much different depending on whether he studies his textbooks alone or if he is taught by a teacher who shows practical examples in teaching. In the same manner, when we are with exemplary men together with God's Word we can run towards sanctification with greater faith and hope.
Jesus who is the Word came to the earth in flesh. Not only did He teach the truth but He practiced His Words, by which He showed good examples in everything. He taught us to love one another, and He practically healed people of diseases and infirmities and felt compassion over sinners and forgave them even up to seventy times seven. Following Him, we can also enter the depth of love. Jesus also told us serve one another and humble ourselves, and He Himself humbled Himself by washing creatures' feet and obeying until death. Learning from Him, we come to humble ourselves and serve one another.
1 John 3:2-3 reads, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."
Here, 'this hope fixed on Him' refers to the hope that we will put on spiritual body that doesn't perish forever as Jesus did and live forever with the Lord in Heaven where there is no tear, sorrow, pain, disease, and death. If one has this hope to live with the beloved Lord forever he/she can achieve His perfectness.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, now we should put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. I pray in the name of the Lord by doing so when He comes to take us you will enter into the bosom of the Lord your Bridegroom as a spotless and beautiful bride.
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