Sanctification — Robert B. Thompson

Lord, as we come unto you tonight, Lord, we are very thankful for all your wonderful love and your goodness to us, Lord. You have just really helped us in every way, Lord, every way, and we are so thankful.

We pray, Lord, for the loved ones represented here, Lord, that you will reach out and answer our prayers, Lord, for our loved ones, that they may be found in you, Lord, doing your will. We pray, Lord, now for those in Tape Land, Lord, that there will be many hearing this tape tonight, Lord, and I pray it will be a blessing to them.

And for us here, Lord, that we'll know your will and we'll do it. Help us tonight, Lord, through your Holy Spirit, that we may lift up the name of Jesus. You know, we've been talking, John 17, the prayer of Jesus has to do with his church and its relationship to the world, what it means to be a part of the church, relate to the world.

Sanctification Through the Truth

We're starting in verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. Now the word sanctify means to sanctify as holy. What's the difference between holiness and righteousness? Let me give you a concrete example.

People that have TVs that pay, cable TV, sometimes they cheat and they watch pictures that they don't pay for, something they don't pay for. And that is, it may come from an unclean spirit of greed or something like that, but the act, because holiness and righteousness are closely related, but that's basically an unrighteous action.

To cheat somebody is an unrighteous action. We inherit the word sanctify. What God's word does is sanctify us. He said, sanctify them in the truth, or by the truth, thy word is truth, means to make holy.

Now we talk Sunday, and I know there's children here, but I'm going to talk about it nonetheless in somewhat restrained terms so that the children can understand because they're coming up into an age that is going to be characterized by immorality.

The children would know immorality by the term nasty, something that's nasty. Only children can understand me if I say something is nasty. Elizabeth understands, and Rachel, and I'm sure Sophia does, and they can understand me, and they'll be facing it in their schools if they haven't already, because our generation and the generation they're going to grow up in, as I talk Sunday, by using the personal computer, and I write my books on personal computers, but they're being used for nasty things.

If you sit in front of your personal computer at night, or the television, and you watch something that is nasty, that's not unrighteousness. It has to do with worship to God. In America, Americans are very keen if you're hurting someone else.

It's terribly nasty if you do it in the privacy of your own home. You're cheating. I want you to know that we belong to Jesus Christ. We don't hurt other people. We can't do nasty things. We can't talk about those things.

We can't have anything to do with what God said, be holy because I am holy. And those things come from nasty spirits. Now, take for example, rock and roll. There's no law in America against rock and roll.

See the spirit. If we could see them with our eyes that are behind rock and roll, what we would see would be terrible looking demons, goblin-like creatures, creatures, ugly creatures that sing rock and roll.

And so sometimes the kids say, you know, what's wrong with that? They were hurting somebody. They don't want to shoot somebody. No, that's wrong. But what's wrong with rock and roll? It isn't holy, and Christians are called to be holy.

Holiness as Belonging to God's Family

Now, why are they called to be holy? They're called to be holy because they are members of God's family. A Christian belongs to God in a very special way, and that's what John 17 is about. A Christian belongs to God in a very special way.

In Ephesians, the third chapter, it speaks about the family, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Now, I am the head of a family, and I have children and grandchildren, and I am very concerned about those children and grandchildren because they are part of my family.

Now, if they belong to the neighbor's family, you know, I mean, what the neighbors do, the neighbors do, that's their business. But what my family does that comes into my home, the Easter eggs, strawberries, though I like not to get any, oh boy, those kids love strawberries.

But I, and if they came in the house for doing something nasty, even though they weren't hurting me, I don't like that. I don't like those things. I don't like things that are nasty. I don't like swearing.

It makes me very uncomfortable when people do it. Friends, for example, but I wouldn't have it in my house. I mean, if one of the children came in and said something nasty or did something nasty or used bad language, they're going to hear about it.

Why? Because of grandpa and grandma and mom and dad are simply not going, because we belong to the Lord. How many understand that? Do you understand the difference between unrighteousness and, see, everybody can understand if you do something unrighteous and hurt somebody, they know that's wrong.

If you steal from something from somebody, they know that's wrong. But, see, our culture is saturated with things that are not clean. They're nasty, like the words in rock and roll are very nasty. And the things that are coming on the television at night, many of the movies are very nasty.

And the things coming now over the personal computer, over the internet, are very nasty. They're not unrighteous. They don't hurt people. But, they hurt God. God doesn't want them in his house. Does that make sense?

You might say, well, nobody sees me and I'm looking at dirty pictures and nobody sees me. But you're mistaken. Why are you mistaken? Rachel, God is watching every move you're making and it hurts him. Because, you see, God wouldn't look at nastiness.

He wouldn't swear. He's holy. He doesn't have these spirits around him. And so, when it comes to the church, which is close to God, and the church does things that are nasty, then it hurts God. And so, that's what Jesus is saying here.

He's saying, sanctify them or make them holy. And how does he do that? You write in that verse. How does God's word make us holy? Because it gives us direction. It tells us about things that are not holy.

And when we read it and we say, yes, Father, you said that, I can't do that because, for example, the Bible says, don't let any filthy speech be out of your mouth. Then, the word makes us holy. Does that make sense?

Sanctify them in thy truth or by thy truth. And it's the word. Tony was telling me that when he goes on a long trip and he's away from the church, even if he goes into Europe or something, that by the time he comes back, he's drained.

That's what he told us last night. Because he's not getting the life from the word. The word gives us life. And so, when we're tempted to do something that's not right, not clean, then the purpose of that we come to church is that word keeps sanctifying us.

Not only by intelligent directions for our mind, but the spirit that comes from the minister should be holy and it should create hope. We should sense that holiness and it should have an impact on us.

And the Holy Spirit present in all these things are sanctifying us. So, let's look at a couple of verses about sanctification. One of my favorites is 2 Corinthians 7 .1. And this is a commandment, by the way.

2 Corinthians 7 .1. We're talking now about how it relates to the world and how it relates to God. That's what Jesus is praying for his church. John, does someone want to read that?

Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

That means that whenever we learn that something is unclean. Now, sometimes we do unclean things and we don't realize they're unclean. Until a Bible verse suddenly comes alive to us or something happened and we say, wow, I didn't know that that was, I didn't know that.

We pray and ask God to help. And that's what it means, let us cleanse ourselves. But when it says, therefore, having these promises, what does that tell us? Yes, it certainly is plural. We got that one right.

It tells us that something was said previously. See, it's referring back to promises that had been mentioned previously. Since I've already said this, because of that, now I'm telling you to be holy. So let's look back and see if we can find where it tells these promises and see if anybody can find what these promises are.

It says, and I will welcome you and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters. See, it's a family thing. He's talking about family. I'll be a father to you if you will come out from the world.

That's in 6. It says, come out from among them, come out and be separate. Verse 17, come out from their midst, that is from the midst of the world. Now remember, we're talking about the relationship of the church to the world.

And we're to come out from the midst of the things of the world. And in America, now America 150 years ago was altogether different from what is nearly as nasty and doing nasty things. Not nearly, people wouldn't put up with it.

Society, you wouldn't find in a book any nasty word. You wouldn't find it. You wouldn't hear it done in public. In fact, one time in England there was a law that you could not spit in the street on Sunday.

I mean, people were very conscious of the Bible and of holy things, of God. And even today there are countries that are not nearly as unclean as the United States. In fact, the United States is getting a reputation in the world for being a nasty culture.

Well, when I was a boy, the only thing that was open on Sunday was bakeries that sold hot cross buns for the Catholic people. They liked on Sunday their hot cross buns. They were a bun like that and it had a white cross of icing and they were called hot cross buns.

And so there were a lot of Catholic people where I lived as a boy and so the bakery would stay open for hot cross buns for the Catholic people. But outside of that, everything was closed. It isn't always the same in every country but our country now is becoming very, very ungodly.

And so that means that we have to stay in the Word. We have to see what it says. And if we have the promise of being God's children, see, it's a family matter. God says, if you're my children then you come out from the middle of this stuff.

When this was written, it was during the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire was a lot like America. The Roman Empire started off something like 800 or 900 years before Jesus was born at the time of the poet Homer.

And the Romans were very hard working. They were mostly farmers and they had very high standards of righteousness and cleanliness, hard work, honesty, characterized, and that's why Rome became so strong.

But by the time of Jesus and he was born into the Roman Empire, it had done like America. It was beginning at that time to be what we call immoral or nasty or unclean. That was beginning to happen in Rome.

And then, three or four hundred years later, it was so bad that tribes from the region of Germany attacked Rome and conquered it, which they could have never done in 100 B .C. or even at the time of Christ's birth.

They could not have done that. A man named Gibbons wrote a large book. And Elizabeth, you're a great reader, and Sophia's a great reader, and you may want to get in the library The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

And it's by a man named Gibbons. It's a very famous book, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And America, we started off as farmers, very industrious, we honored hard work, honored honesty, strong family, cleanliness, and in America, Christianity.

Little by little. So our kids now are coming up at America at its worst. And it will make it militarily weak. And so we don't know how to attack America and prevail. So our kids have to be prepared that if they are holy, then God will protect them.

He says, I will receive you. If you will come out from them and don't touch these things, then I will receive you. And then Paul says, because we have these promises of being part of God's family, we should do what?

It says, cleanse yourself. Now, a lot of things we can just if a friend comes to us in school and brings a book that they've got maybe their parents subscribed to Playboy and the kid, one of the children picked it up without their parents' knowledge and brought it to school.

Now, these kinds of things happen. And of course, when you get in about the 6th or 7th grade, then this becomes very interesting. You cleanse yourself by saying, no, I'm a Christian. I don't look at things like that.

You can do that. That would be cleansing yourself. That would be what Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 7 .1. Cleanse yourself. Now, sometimes in the case of adults, not so much children, we get into things that we want to stop and can't.

Like swearing, for example. It becomes such a habit that it's got like Judy was telling us Sunday night, it's become a root. And then it's not that easy to stop. You have to go to God and sometimes come and be prayed for by the church.

It's not that easy. But usually with children in things like lying, stealing, which is often a temptation to children. Stealing is often a severe temptation. If they keep on doing it, then they become an adult again.

But a child, by and large, can say, once they know, once they've been told by their parents, clearly, we don't steal, you belong to our family, you don't steal. Like Elizabeth said, I have godly parents.

That makes a difference. Parents wouldn't do that. Not even a penny. Not even a paper dollar. Nothing. I don't steal because my father in heaven will see that. And then he'll be very disappointed. That's what we're talking about.

Sanctify them through thy truth or in thy truth or by thy truth. Thy word is truth. And God's word is true. And what we're hearing in America, it's alright and it's what's the big term now? It's alternative lifestyle.

It's an alternative lifestyle. I'll bet you that's a word you don't know, Elizabeth. I'm going to give you a new word. Euphemism? I know what a euphemism is. She knows. She knows. You know what it is?

What's a euphemism? It's a word that's useful and nice and you can come up with a good one. Very, very good. I'll bet you there are some adults around here that were glad I didn't call on them. How many of them would have known what a euphemism was?

Would you know that? That's pretty good. Alright. Alright. It's a nice way of saying something that's not nice. And so one of our euphemistic phrases we use in America is an alternative lifestyle. Which means I'm doing something that's nasty that wouldn't have been done in America 50 years ago.

But now it's alright because it's an alternative lifestyle. The kids are going to meet a lot of alternative lifestyles. Learn to say I don't do that I'm a Christian. And there's nothing wrong with saying that you don't do it because you're a Christian.

You're not trying to convert people by that or anything else. You're just saying I don't do that and this is the reason. And once you say that you know it gives you great strength because you say well boy no I said I'm a Christian no I can't do it.

If you just say I don't do it you might get tempted into doing it. But once you put your raise your standard and say I won't do this I'm a Christian then you'll find that the children will respect you.

It's the honest thing. But we're always afraid if we stand up for Christ that other people will not like us or they will look down on us. And I've never seen it to fail that if you do what is right this even happens in jail.

The guy that catches it is the one that's he's not a tough guy and he's not a Christian and he's not a Christian and he's kind of wimping around. These get unmerciful treatment in jail. A person who is right and straight minding his own business not a show off but just reading his Bible in jail in his bunk doing what is right not bragging about it not trying to be anything special will get the respect of the other inmates every time.

And it works that way in school. It's the child that maybe is a Christian and when his kids look at them and they know what's going on and they despise you for not having the courage to be what you really are.

If we're going to live with a holy God Hebrews says without holiness that's cleanliness no one will see the Lord. And again blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Twice I'm more removed from the actual truth because we've already obliterated the fact that it's a sin which is what it is to begin with and given it another name which is already a euphemism to begin with and it's already euphemistically two or three or more stages away from reality which is that these things are sin which is the real problem not that it's dirty or not that you'll be better off if you do it this way or you'll live a better life or a clean life.

The truth is it's sin and I'll not pay it up on that basis and we've hidden that. He's God is holy and he'll have a holy people. He dealt with Israel tremendously about holiness. Woe is one of his biggest things in Israel.

I am holy. Be ye holy for I am holy. Don't cut the fringes of your hair. I'm holy holy holy. All this stuff. Okay then we have another one. There's a lot of verses like this by the way Galatians 5 24 is another favorite of mine on sanctification.

People in Tape Land are looking for it 24. Remember that time you talked about Tape Land. Alright 524 crucify the flesh with compassion. I wouldn't mean so much to a child because they don't have. We adults know very well what that means.

And the children after when they hit puberty generally around the age of 12 things get awakened. That's why the fifth grade is the best grade of all. Because they're real smart. And they get into the sixth grade.

It gets worse and worse. They that are Christ have done what? They say I want to do this so bad. Put the spirit through it. Put the spirit through it. Those who don't belong to Christ do those things.

They are holy people. We are called to be holy people. Not only righteous but holy. The way we think the way we speak and the way we act be holy. For I am holy without holiness. No man shall see the Lord.

Bless the pure in heart. And they shall see God. And God does it through his word. The labor as we read the word the washing of water by the word the word keeps reminding us this is unclean. Don't do it.

This is unclean. Don't wash just once and get by for the next six months. You know that doesn't go over in our culture might be alright for a mountain man that anoints himself with bear grease and boasts that water never touched his skin.

But for most of us in civilization we wash more than once a week. Ok. Well that's required in the spirit realm that constant washing of water with the word constant washing of water with the word be ye holy be ye holy.

Reminding us of uncleanliness. Alright. Now another good verse a very profound one by the way is Hebrews 10 14. This is very profound. If you understand this you really understand the new testament and you understand the new covenant and what Christ has really done.

Christ's Once-for-All Offering and Sanctification

You understand how the new covenant differs from the old Hebrews 10 14. Now what is talking about here in Hebrews is how much better the new covenant is than the old. What did they have to do in the old to get forgiven.

They had to make an offering of an animal and the blood made an atonement and forgave their sins. Ok. Now what the writer of Hebrews is telling us is that's not true of Jesus. He was only offered once.

And when we accept Jesus it settles the sin question forever. By one offering he has perfected forever so that there will be no more consciousness of sin. The Hebrew had a consciousness of sin because he knew that every year that was going to have to be offered again.

I showed him that sin was an ongoing thing that it was not satisfactorily dealt with. When he slew his bull he was forgiven but sin was still present. But under the new covenant Christ by the way it should work.

In theory the way God wants it to work is when you accept Christ that settles the sin question forever by one offering he has perfected them. But then it says three more words. What is it? Ministers have used this verse that even if a Christian is regrettable it's not the best.

But where the rubber hits the road it is the will of the Lord that sin in our personality is gone. I mean it's not an issue anymore. He has perfected us forever. If it stopped there. Yes then we could agree with Dr. Crisp and with other teachers and preachers who have said if I swear it makes God's grace shine more because he has more to forgive.

And that's actually taught. And David Wilkerson said this question of God's part and our part has been argued for two thousand years and has never been settled in the church. And that's what he said in his last article.

He said this has never been resolved. It's never been resolved this issue of how much of salvation depends on us and how much depends on God. And he doesn't resolve it there. But he addresses the issue and very well too.

Okay. But it's a subtle point. And God's people are not always handy with subtleties. But I don't think it's so subtle that we can't understand it. The thing is that yes sin is no longer a question provided we are sanctified now.

What does that mean. Does that mean we built ourselves up to a state of holiness. No. It doesn't mean that because most of us would fall short on that. It doesn't mean that it means that we from the time don't go to sleep yet.

Rachel I want you to hear this. You'll remember it. That little girl reading my book on that to the end. Well endure a little bit longer because I want you to hear this the question we remain without condemnation provided that we set ourselves aside each day to Jesus.

And that's what it means by being sanctified now. If we set ourselves aside each day to the Lord Jesus then each day he works something special in our life. He may talk to us about obeying our parents.

He may talk to us about telling the truth. He may talk to us about honesty. And that's all that he requires is that we stay separate under him and obey him. And provided we do that we can live a life without any conscience or a conscience that's bothered by sin because he perfected us forever.

And Romans 8 says the same thing. It says we are without condemnation. There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus now. Being in Christ Jesus does not mean that at some point we quote made a decision for Christ.

It doesn't mean that being in Christ Jesus is always a present thing. Today is the day of salvation. When I was so sick here a few months ago and the Lord talked to me because I was driving myself way too hard and I made myself with my bad habits.

But the Lord spoke to me and he said all there is is now. I told that to a nurse today a physician's assistant we were talking about anxiety breakdowns and she was talking about the trouble she had because of the stress she was placed under in the hospital.

And I said this is what I felt. God told me all there is is now. It took me a long time. Get out of now. All there is is now. And when she goes the Lord will help with her. It will be fine. It won't be any problem because God will be there.

God is practical and so is Satan by the way he always deals with the now. God is practical. He always takes care of the now. Our problem is last Sunday morning I was trying to get my message when I was getting dressed.

The Lord was telling me you're not preaching yet. You don't need it. Oh boy. But it's living in the now. Living in the now and it's not easy but it's the way Jesus is. I am not I was or I will be. I am tell the Jews tell the people you said to Moses I am I'm here right now.

So quit worrying about tomorrow. I am then. We don't have nervousness or worry or anything else because right now we're all okay huh. Alright now if we live in the now with Jesus and every moment we're with Jesus then all our sins are taken care of without condemnation is that they have first of all said you're saved.

When you make a confession of Jesus period not noticing that salvation is something that happens every day and you're not saved till the end. He that endures through the end shall be saved. We've ignored that and it's become a one shot thing with its objective is heaven.

So then when they go trying to figure out how this process how we can be perfected forever it doesn't make any sense. It sounds like once I accepted Christ I'm perfected forever. No you don't. We talk about people making a decision for Christ.

Hey kids there's no verses for that. We talk about accepting Jesus. I don't think there's a verse for that either we're going about it the wrong way. That isn't the idea. The idea is you come to Christ and you receive Christ.

You put your faith in his blood and eternal life and Christ enter you. And that is where you begin your journey. And everyday you live like that the moment you back out of that you're out of the light.

The blood washes it. If we walk in the light the blood cleanses us. And that's where it all comes together. And that's why the theologians can't figure out because they're making accepting Christ salvation.

They're making a statement I believe in Jesus Christ. You're saved. You go to heaven. Well then Hebrews 7 14 must mean that that means sin will never be an issue. See that's the confusion. First of all they're going to have to define salvation correctly.

And salvation isn't validated until the end. He who endures to the end shall be saved. He who endures not he who accepts Christ he who endures to the end shall be saved. Well are we saved when we accept Christ.

Yes. If we abide in him. If we walk in him. You can't make a statement about Christ and then go about your life. That's not salvation. That's a ticket. That's what I call the ticket doctrine. I've got my ticket to heaven.

Well salvation is not a ticket. It's an experience and an interaction with a living person at all times. So Rachel you know the Lord but you know him now. He's with you now. You're being saved now. You're saved now because you're in Jesus.

You can't walk away from the Lord. Do your own thing and say well I was saved when I was four years old. It doesn't work that way. You're saved now. It's always now. And that's why the Lord told me all there is is now.

And you'll find that matches every verse in the Bible. That's why God said if the wicked man will stop his wickedness and start doing righteousness his wickedness won't be remembered because God deals with the now.

And he said if a righteous man stops his righteousness and begins to do wickedness his righteousness will not be remembered because God only deals with the now. Before Abraham was I am I am I am here now.

Abiding in Christ Rather Than Relying on a Past Decision

John 5 27. Now I went over this with Paul Cohen over the phone. He said people are telling me John 5 27 which says if any man hear my word and believes in him that sent me he has passed and death unto life and shall not come unto condemnation.

But he has passed and death unto life shall not come unto condemnation. But he has passed and death unto life. What do you make out of that. I said of course it's true when you come to Christ you have eternal life.

And you will not come unto judgment because he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. But it doesn't say if any man makes a decision for Christ or if any man accepts Christ he says if you come to me and he said to the Jews you are reading the book there's no life there.

You won't come to me. So salvation is a coming to Jesus at every moment. Now you can't say well I accepted Christ last Tuesday. Now I'm going to go out and swear because he's forgiven my sins once and for all.

Because when you go out and swear the Lord you know you're not abiding in the Lord by doing that. Now if you're bound as Judy was telling us Sunday night I was bound with this thing. I had a rudiment.

I didn't recognize that. Okay the Lord showed that he used Alex to help her find that out. Okay so she found out there's a root. Then the Lord has given provision in the word what to do about that. If she didn't do that she would not be abiding in the Lord.

You're abiding in the Lord only as long as you're serving the Lord. And once you decide to do your own little tripper you're not abiding in the Lord. And you can't claim the promises. So see we're not saying that you have to be perfect.

We're not saying that Christ will make you perfect. That's not the issue. The issue is abiding abide in me and I in you. If any man abide in me he brings forth much fruit. If a man abides not in me he's cast forth the branch we have to abide.

It's not yesterday I accepted Christ or made a decision for Christ. And I wrote it in the record book. Every record book of people that accepted Christ and I'm going to tell you why. Because the one you think is going to be the apostle last maybe six months and backslides terribly and never amounts to a thing.

And here you got the name in the book and somebody else is like the son that says no. And then they turn around and think about it and then they decide to do it. And it may be the last one in the church ever dreamed would ever become of anything.

Or they may become nothing in the church and move to Hoboken or something. And then remember oh yeah I think it's about time. I did something about that. I think that was right. And then they become a great Christian and a pillar of the church.

And you never even knew about it. So what good is a record book? Because the kingdom of heaven is like a seed. It's not like getting voted into the demilay. It's like a seed. I use that term because Pat understands as a mother as a member of the white shrine eastern star.

Does that make sense to you? It's kind of subtle in a way. But you see why it's become impossible to understand is by defining salvation as making an acceptance of Christ at some point and using that as a ticket to go to heaven.

When you do that then theology becomes impossible. If you say it's coming to a man and living with him each day becoming his disciple denying yourself and following him. Then you say well sure he's taking care of my sins.

I don't have to worry about it. All I've got to do is follow Jesus. That's where it comes to get. So I don't think that's all that subtle and people can't understand it. But boy the way things are okay.

So this this now how many see Hebrews 10. No it's 10 -12. No 10 -14. Do you understand that now? By one offering. See he's not going to be offered every year like in the Jewish day of atonement. That's not going to happen.

He's offered once. He isn't going to be offered again. If you go back out into sin you know stay away from Christ and come back. You'd have to crucify him again. That's what Hebrews is about. It says don't do that.

It says if you sin willfully after you receive the knowledge of the truth there's no more sacrifice and there's no more day of atonement. And he was talking to Jews. He said you want to remember this is a one time shot by one offering.

He has perfected you forever. Those who are sanctified. Any question about that. Does that make sense to you. Does it seem right. And Christian and all that not a case of being perfect sanctified means set apart.