Tape 5 - Sanctification Through the Blood

Most Christians do not like to dig. Most Christians are so intellectually lazy that they want the pastor to get everything in the

Bible summarized and get in a big ladle on Sunday morning and pour it down their throats.

And then if a few happen to drop back by Sunday night, maybe something else will sprinkle out on them and they'll have something else to digest.

And then on Wednesday night, maybe by just a word of prayer or something, the heavens will shake and a thunder will roll and the lightning will flash and God will give them a vision or something that'll make them automatically and immediately a perfect Christian.

I have found in my own Christian life that I cannot exist on what I get in church on Sunday morning,

Sunday night, and Wednesday. In fact, I'm in church far more than all of you put together. Do you know I go to church more per year than all of you put together go per year?

I'm in church every day. Sometimes I'm in church three times a day.

Sometimes I preach at church twice a day. I'll be in India next year for a month and preach four times a day.

And yet I find I still can't exist on that. I have to have some time when I get into the meat of God's Word.

And I'm grateful for those of you that have been coming every night to study something. And these are the deep things of God's Word.

Not that I have it in my mind. I'm not saying that at all. It's available. I've just done a little study on it. And I want to convey to you what

God's put upon my heart as a truth from His Word. But I am saying that most Christians do not like to get past anything out of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the book of Acts.

And yet they don't even know those. And if you really study those books, they're going to run you from one end of the Bible to the other because you can't understand them until you understand the rest of the

Bible. Because it's one book. It's a unity. Sixty -six books about one personality of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, but they hang around on the little simple things, you know. They like to talk about forgiveness of sin.

And they like to talk about John 3, 16. And they like to sing songs like it gets sweeter every day.

And sweeter than the day before. And the old rugged cross. And they don't like to learn new songs.

They don't like to read new scripture. They don't like to pray new prayers. They're just lazy. And if you really wanted to use a good word, you'd say they live in a backslidden state.

A backslidden state. Any Christian who doesn't want to study God's words got heart trouble. He's got something wrong with him.

If he doesn't... My Bible says you got to devour this book. You've got to eat it. You've got to digest it to get what

God really wants. And I find the more I learn about it, the happier I get. And whenever I don't study it, then

I get grouchy. And I get irritable. And I get irritated with myself and others when

I don't stay in this book. Well, we've talked about being reconciled to God. We've talked about being reconciled to God.

That we were separated from God and through salvation. Redemption. We call that one word redemption. That incorporates all that God does for us.

But whenever we received Christ as the Lord and Savior of our life, instantly we were not separated any longer.

We were brought back together with God. We could have fellowship with Him. We could have communication with Him. And then we talked about, after reconciliation, that there was a cleansing process that occurs.

And it is constantly, perpetually, always occurring in the life of every Christian. He's constantly being cleansed.

Tonight, I want to talk to you about a very difficult subject for some people. For most, it's not. But there are some who are hung up on the word sanctification.

There are those who believe that sanctification is some second blessing. It is some working of grace subsequent to salvation.

That it happens somewhere out there in the future. Once you can give up smoking, drinking, cursing. And once you can do all these things, then you'll get sanctification.

And it'll happen sometime when you're down begging for it, asking for it, pleading for it. Somebody's putting hands on you to give it to you.

And all these sorts of things. They have all kinds of ways. But that's not what the Bible teaches. I don't believe. Let's look at Hebrews 13 with verse 10.

And let's read a few verses together. And I told you that Hebrews is the New Testament book that is the equivalent of the book of Leviticus in the

Old Testament. Leviticus being the Hebrew word vayikra. And the Hebrews being the

Greek word Hebrews. All right. Verse 10. Don't get heavy with you.

You're having trouble reading English. We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle.

For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without or outside the camp.

Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate.

Now, when they took the meat, the tabernacle, and the blood of those beasts, the bodies of the beasts that were not to be consumed, some of them had to be consumed by the priest.

And there were just literally hundreds and hundreds. Don't think there were just a handful of priests back in the Old Testament.

There were literally hundreds, yea, thousands of priests. Thousands of them.

And they would have a feast over the food that was offered as a sacrifice. After it had been offered, they would take certain.

But some of it wasn't. Some of it was taken out and it was burned outside the camp of Israel.

And so Jesus, so that he might fulfill and be the type, he went out also, verse 12.

Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him outside the camp bearing his reproach.

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

You'll find many references in the Bible to a holy city. Verse 15. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.

That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to share forget not.

For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Now I'll just direct your attention to verse 12.

Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Let's pray again for a moment.

Father, we thank you for the spirit of the Lord that teaches us. We thank you for the illumination you give us.

We thank you for the enlightenment that comes. We thank you for the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.

If we confess our sins and get the sin out of our life, then Lord we know the Holy Spirit can spend his time teaching us rather than convicting us and drawing us and trying to purge us of our sin.

If we keep the sin out of our life then you can spend that time with us teaching us and guiding us. And so Father I pray that you would purge us.

We thank you for the pardon that is ours. We thank you that we have been reconciled unto thee. We thank you that we are constantly being cleansed because we are constantly being sprinkled with the blood of the

Lord Jesus by the ministry of the Holy Spirit by faith. And Father we have faith in that blood.

And your word does tell us that we are sprinkled with it. And so Father as we look into the subject of how you sanctify us as Christian people

I pray that you'll teach these people something that will help them in their Christian life. Father bless all of our hearts together and we thank you for it because we do believe it and we ask it in the name of the

Lord Jesus until he comes. Amen. To the superficial observer it might seem that there's little difference between cleansing and sanctification.

If you were with us last night as we progress into the message you'll see a difference but at the very start you won't see much difference between the word cleansing, being cleansed from your sin and being sanctified.

But there is a little difference and there isn't much because it is quite similar the two words being almost exactly the same thing but the difference is tremendously great and tremendously important.

Cleansing has to do with the old life and the stain of sin which has to be removed.

That has to do with the cleansing that we talked about last evening. Sanctification concerns the new life and that characteristic of it which must be imputed to it by God.

You can't get it by doing. You can't get it by doing. God has to impute it or give it to you just like he imputed righteousness to Abraham because he believed

God. Now a definition of sanctification that I like to use is this it means union with God joining with God unity with God and it is the peculiar fullness of a blessing purchased for us by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Now the distinction is very clear from the scripture between cleansing and sanctification. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5 25 that Christ gave himself for the church that he might sanctify it having cleansed it having first cleansed it then he sanctified it.

If a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified and meet for the master's use 2

Timothy 2 21 Sanctification is a blessing after cleansing but very close to the same thing.

It's illustrated in the Old Testament by the priests and the Levites. Most Christians think the

Levites were the priests. They were not. You need to study your Bible. Most people say well the

Levites they were the tribe of priests. You better study your Bible. Priests and Levites were different.

Were different. Not always are they the same. Some Levites got to be priests but just because you're a

Levite you might be just a guard on the gate. It took 20 grown men 20 adult men to open one half of the gate in the temple.

One half. 40 men if they would open both sides of the gate together. That's how large they were.

But what is the difference? Let me give it to you. The Levites were lower in position than the priest in the service of the tabernacle.

There is no mention whatsoever of the sanctification of the

Levites. Not one time do you find the word sanctification being used.

There is no mention of sanctification but the word cleansing is used 5 times in Numbers the 8th chapter where it talks about the order of the

Levites. In contrast to that the consecration of the priests the word sanctify, sanctification it's used many times in reference to the priest.

Exodus the 29th chapter, Leviticus the 8th chapter and other passages and there was also a close connection between their consecration and the sacrificial blood.

For a Levite to be consecrated reconciliation was made for sin and they were sprinkled with the water of purification for cleansing.

But they were never sprinkled with blood. Never were the Levites sprinkled with blood.

But the priest the blood was sprinkled upon them before they bathed for the purification.

There was a more personal and intimate application of the blood upon the priest separating them because they would be types of Christ.

Now as we seek to understand what I'm trying to say to you let's look at about 3 things what is sanctification and that sanctification is exactly why

Jesus died for you is sanctification nothing else sanctification and that it can be obtained through the blood of Christ.

What is sanctification? So I'll try to summarize a little bit what I told you last evening for our visitors and then give you something new for those who've come along with us again this evening.

To understand what sanctification is we must learn what the holiness of God is for He alone is the

Holy One and we mentioned that last evening. God's holiness is often spoken of as His hatred for sin.

When people say well what do you mean by God being holy they say He hates sin. That's a very superficial answer it's a very shallow answer and it's not the answer at all.

We talk about His hostility to sin. That is merely a statement that God's holiness cannot bear sin but it does not define holiness for God.

I'll give you a definition. Holiness is that attribute of God because of which

He always is and He always wills and He always does what is supremely good because of which

He desires what is supremely good in His creatures. He also bestows all that is good upon them and that is the holiness of God.

Because of that holiness He hates sin. Hating sin is not holiness hating sin is a result of being holy and that is the holiness of God.

Now God is called the Holy One in Scripture not only because He punished sin but because He is the

Redeemer from sin and the curse of it for the people. It is His holiness that moved

Him to redeem sinners. Now both the wrath of God we talked about last evening about the wrath of God and the love of God both the wrath of God which punishes sin and the love of God which redeems the sinner come from the same source,

His precious holiness. Holiness is the perfection of God's nature. Holiness in a person, now get this carefully if you'll understand this you can understand sanctification.

It is not difficult at all. Holiness in a person because we are stumped, now when the Bible says be ye holy as I am holy that stumps most

Christians, that terrifies them because we know that we can't be holy like He is. There is no way in the world while you're on this earth that you can be as holy as the

Lord Jesus Christ and you can never be as holy as God you ought to forget it. You can't do it and you'll drive yourself nuts trying to get there.

You just can't do it. You say well wait a minute now the Bible says be ye holy it does say that but what does

He talk about? What is it saying? It's simply this holiness with God is perfection of His nature.

Holiness in a person is a disposition an attitude that is entirely in agreement entirely in agreement with that of God and which chooses in all things to will as God wills and as it is written as He is holy be ye holy.

You make your attitude and your disposition your personality is wrapped up in doing all that God says and in everything striving to please

God and that is holiness because as far as we are concerned it is our disposition and our attitude and you can't be holy any other way most people say well we ought to be like Jesus.

You can't be like Jesus. There's just one Jesus you can't ever be like the

Lord Jesus. He is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings you can be a mirrored image of Christ you can be a little

Christ. The word Christian is the diminutive it's just like cigar and cigarette

E -T -T -E is the feminine suffix for the word cigar and it means little cigar is what it means and a

Christian I -N is a suffix and it's diminutive if you know your English and it means lesser than Christ but like unto cigarette is less than a cigar but like unto and a little

Christ a Christian is lesser than Christ but like unto but always lesser than and never exactly like him you just can't make it.

I know people that go in the mental hospital they go nuts because they can't be like Jesus because they can't be like Christ you don't have to be like him you got his righteousness he gives you that well it's just that holiness in us is nothing else but oneness with God.

The sanctification of God's people is effected or brought about by the communication to them of the holiness of God.

You get God's holiness and the righteousness of Christ put to your life put down to your account when

God reads it because of your faith in Christ and if he doesn't give it to you you can't get it any other way you certainly never be able to earn it we've talked about that too much already now first of all the way of obtaining sanctification

God has to bestow it first of all the first and simplest meaning of the word is separation now that's the one everybody knows we talk about sanctification means separation that which is taken out of itself

God's command and placed aside or separated as his own possession and for his service that is a holy service it doesn't mean separation from sin only but from all that is in the world now we only know about sin separating from sin but it is separation from all that is in the world even from what may be permissible

Paul said all things are lawful for me but all things do not edify there are some things in life that there wouldn't be anything wrong with doing them but you can't do them because it makes your testimony of no effect and it makes your witness of no effect and it causes someone else to stumble and if it's a football game or a baseball game pool or anything else you better give it up and there's nothing wrong with a football game there's nothing wrong with a baseball game and there's nothing wrong with playing pool if you play it in the right location you can't go down there where everybody else goes and do it but you see there are many things that we can do drinking cokes nothing wrong with drinking a coke nobody's ever proved it to me but if it causes somebody else to stumble

I bet he's willing to give it up Paul says if my eating meat will cause somebody to stumble I'll give it up somebody that's honestly, sincerely, seriously seeking an answer for their life and at least all things are lawful for me but all things edify and it's just a separation from all that this separation unto sanctification is always

God's work as he draws us out you shall be holy unto me I have separated you that you should be mine

Leviticus 20 verse 26 the man whom the Lord shall choose shall be holy you find that in Deuteronomy number 16 .7

thou art holy people unto the Lord the Lord thy God hath chosen thee

Deuteronomy 7 .6 but separation from sin that's not all that's included if the separation is to be of value then something else must take its place man must surrender himself willingly and heartily to that separation to that separation now separation also means and here's where we get the nitty gritty of it it means personal consecration to the

Lord personal consecration not just separating yourself from sin say I don't believe you go rob a bank you wouldn't go rob a bank, you wouldn't steal

I don't believe you go out and shoot heroin I don't believe you do all those things but just because you don't do those things don't make you sanctified in the

Lord don't make you holy in your life you see because indifference and pride now I had a church in Georgia not too long ago they were talking to me and they said a big thing about liquor by the drink look at my drink past and all the stuff and this church wanted me to come there for revival and they said well you can come to our church but you can't stay in the

Holiday Inn I said why can't I he said well because they got a lounge there

I said well you go to the grocery store and they sell beer you go into a restaurant and they sell drinks there

I said I'm going to go you one you got deacons that smoke and there's no difference in smoking and drinking no there's no difference

I'd say I'll go you another one if you got pride in your life you're just as guilty as a guy who drinks if you're

Christian there's no difference in pride than that you read your Bible God says a disobedient child is just as guilty as a murderer you better read your

Bible he puts them both right there together but you see we like to get big sins and little sins and you know that as well as I do and that's what we do we separate but no consecration to the

Lord is a part of sanctification it can be ours only when it takes up its abode in the depths of our personal life and will

God sanctifies no person against his will God will not set apart any person against his will

God will not just force you to do it God's not going to just make you consecrate it it takes effort you gotta work at it you gotta work at it you gotta stay with it it's available it's already there separation and consecration are together only the preparation for the glorious work that God will do as he imparts his holiness to the soul that we might be partakers of his holiness

Hebrews 12 10 we become partakers of his holiness there is none within ourselves he just gives us his as a child of God now it is in personal fellowship with him and partaking of his divine life that sanctification is obtained as the holy one

God dwelt among the people of Israel to sanctify his people Exodus 29 verses 45 and 46 and others and as the holy one he dwells in us it is the presence of God alone that can sanctify true sanctification is fellowship with God and his dwelling in us so it was necessary for God in Christ to take up his abode in the flesh and the

Holy Spirit should come to dwell in us so that leads me to say that sanctification was the object for which

Christ suffered on the cross that's what he was striving for that's what he was going for and that's what he gave his life for most people say no he gave his life to get us forgiveness of our sins you don't know your

Bible and yet that's all we preach and teach and sing about is we get forgiveness of sin and that's all there is to the

Christian life but there's far more than that this is plainly stated we just read it Hebrews 13 12

Jesus suffered that he might sanctify his people now that's true or false the central object of the coming of our

Lord Jesus was that he might sanctify his people and that they might be holy and without blame which is sanctification

Ephesians 1 chapter 1 verse 4 how Christ attained us in and became our sanctification you can find that in John chapter 17 verse 19 for their sakes

I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified through the truth and time and time again

Christ said I'm trying to sanctify my people I'm trying to sanctify you but we think it's just getting rid of our sins and just get that on that's just reconciliation and pardon but there's cleansing and sanctification and we got some more to talk about this week blessings that we get through the blood of Christ talk about the power that comes to you and the victory that comes to you how you have fellowship with God moment by moment and oh there's so much it was because his sufferings and death were a sanctification of himself he says for their sakes

I sanctify myself what did he do by sanctifying himself Jesus I told you

I think I preached this to you Jesus never come to die on the cross he never came to die on the cross he didn't come to shed his blood he came to do one thing what was it say it with me he came to do the will of God he himself said so he said

I must be about my father's business he said I did not come to do my own will

I've come to do the will of they said Lord you hungry why don't you eat he said I have meat that you don't know anything about what was it it was to do the will of God in the garden of Gethsemane three times that's where the battle was won not on the cross the battle was won there he said not my will but that he had subjected himself to the will of Father now incorporated in the will of God was of course the central thing the cross and the shedding of the blood because they could not be forgiveness of sins without it but Christ came primarily to do the will of God he said so himself and so in doing so he was set apart and so personally consecrated to God that Satan himself couldn't shake him in the wilderness temptation and we are to do the same things he said

I sanctify myself that I might sanctify you that I might set you apart so that you might consecrate yourself to me in sanctification sanctification separation and consecration make up the word sanctification in his temptation he must maintain his sanctification show perfectly his will was surrendered to the holiness of God and as we have seen true holiness in man is the perfect oneness of his will with that of God's will when your will becomes the same as God's will then you'll know what holiness is all about through all our

Lord's life from the temptation onwards he had subjected his will to the will of the father and had consecrated himself as a sacrifice to God this sanctification of himself has become the power by which we also may be sanctified through the truth and this is the perfect accord with Hebrews 10 verses 9 and 10

I come to do thy will O God and then it's added by the witch will we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all to do the will of God Hebrews 2 11 for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one you become one with Christ when you become one with Christ then the sanctifier and the sanctified become one that makes you holy you gonna tell me that that won't make you holy you bet your life that'll make you holy when you become one with Christ when you forget your selfish dreams when you push aside your own selfish ambitions when you push aside everything you want to do or I want to do and I just say now

Lord here I am I'm yours I'm yours 24 hours a day and that'll bring holiness into your life and it'll bring sanctification into your life not a great experience it's already there it's already happened it's already taken place all you got to do is realize it to enjoy the blessings of it people don't enjoy the blessing of it because they don't realize it the unity between the

Lord Jesus and his people consists in the fact that they both receive their life from one father and both have a share in the same sanctification

Jesus is the sanctifier and people become the sanctified sanctification sanctification is the bond that unites us with Christ therefore

Jesus also suffered that he might sanctify his people with his own blood reconciliation getting back into the presence of God after separation getting a pardon from the guilt of our lives getting cleansing from the stain and the pollution of sin all have great value but they all point to one thing and that's sanctification sanctification how long does it take it to happen?

just like that just like that the moment the blood of Christ is applied to your heart and life it's there it's just that simple it is

God's will that every person who is marked by the precious blood should know that it is a divine mark that this blood calls him to an undivided consecration to a life holy for God and that this blood is the promise and the power of a participation in God's holiness that we might believe and understand that Jesus also suffered that he might sanctify his people with his own blood and the reason we don't have it is very simple and here it is most

Christians think they are here to raise a family to have a home to have a job and to go through this merry little life doing what they want to do and on the end somewhere down the line they're supposed to join a church and they're supposed to worship the

Lord occasionally and they're supposed to do this and that and the other when our primary purpose on this earth is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to reach people preach the gospel to every creature and baptize them in the name of the

Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and make disciples of them and that's the only reason that God has left us on this earth and we have turned around and taken what

God said to do first and we give that to him last and that's just whenever we have time to do it and we do what we want to do and I told one of the young men the other night the big philosophy today is eat, drink and be merry and I got a good answer for that.

Anytime you find a person who wants to eat, drink and be merry all you'll have is a fat grinning drunk every single time and that's me and that's so true and that's the one saying eat, drink and be merry and on they go but dear people that's not now how do we obtain sanctification by the blood?

How do you get it? An answer to the question in general is that every person who is a partaker of the virtue of the blood of Christ is also a partaker of sanctification if you've been saved by the grace of God, if you yourself have personally invited

Jesus Christ into your life if there's been a time in your life that you had that personal experience with Christ you and him, just you and him one on one nobody else,

I mean some other people could be there and all that but it's a confrontation between you and Christ and you confessed your sins and repented of your sins you turned away from that old life and you received the

Lord Jesus Christ, you invited him in your life, you asked him to come in whatever you did there and you had that personal experience with Christ, if you've had that then the blood of Christ has been applied to your life and you have sanctification it is there, you have been separated by God, you have been separated from this world for a particular purpose of consecration to him now the sad lack is not that you haven't been set apart, you know that you just haven't got consecrated you've been set apart you know that you belong to the

Lord, you know you're saved, you know you're not lost, you know you're not on the way to hell you know that you belong to the

Lord you're a child of God, you're the bride of Christ, you're part of the church the universal church, you know you're part of the body of Christ, you just haven't consecrated yourself that's the big problem right there, well in proportion as a person lives in close and abiding contact with the blood of Jesus Christ, he continues to experience increasingly its sanctifying effects the sanctifying effects of the blood of Christ will grow greater in intensity and take over more in degree of the dominion of your life as you abide in Christ and walk close to him, you ought to be a better Christian today than you were a year ago you ought to read more of your

Bible today than you did last year, you ought to be praying more now than you did last year you ought to be closer to God this year than you were last year, you ought to be closer to God this week than you were last week you ought to know more about the

Bible, know more about the Lord you ought to be doing more for the Lord this week than you were last week, you ought to grow something, you ought to grow, if you don't grow you backslide you don't stay in one spot either grow or you backslide, one of the two you can't just stay in one spot, but as I said last evening, you'll never know you're backslidden you'll never know it, somebody else will have to tell you, we never see it somebody walks up to me and says man

I think you're a backslider, well wouldn't that tear you up? my preacher does it every once in a while my pastor, cause

I'm there about twice a year and he don't get to do it often, but when I'm there he seems to get around to that sermon sometimes I don't understand it, but usually that's when he's preaching on something about backsliding or something and yet we never see it we just won't see it, it'll happen and get you before you know it but like I say,

I know you don't have that problem, so you pray for me don't pray for yourself, just spend your time praying for me because I have problems with those sort of things you know, and I know you folks don't cause, well

I've been around son, I've been Christian for now 30 years, I've been Christian long and you're years old

I just hope that whenever I've been a Christian if the Lord doesn't come soon which I hope he does,

I wish he'd come tonight but if he doesn't and I get on up in the years like a lot of people for most of the

Christians I meet, I hope and pray to God that I never get as hung up as they are I hope I never get so traditionalized and so programmed and so ritualized like most of them that I meet, now

I meet a few that are not I meet a few people, let's not tell you an old lady she's 88 years of age and that's the happiest woman

I mean, she's just happy in the Lord just gone, I mean every time you see her, you think she's on something

I mean, you think she's sedated or something every time you meet her, but she's just happy in the Lord just loves the

Lord and she's an invalid, she rolls around in a wheelchair in a nursing home down in Sarasota, Florida been praying for me twice a day for about the last five years twice a day, writes me all the time says, hope you're staying true it just irritates me, you know, every time she writes

I say, man, you know, hope I'm staying true it kind of insults my integrity, you know than I might be, but that old lady knows her husband was a musician with Billy Sunday way back, she says,

I know the trials of being in evangelistic work said, I've traveled with my husband, she goes on just really lays it on me, and I just sit that letter down on my desk, after I read it and I just look at it and think about what she said then

I pick it up and I read it again, always and ever and then I just put it down and think again about what she says and I try to pick out what she's saying to me and boy, she'll hit the nail on the head almost every time almost every time and just stay true to the word, she says and this is part of it, the sanctifying effects as we grow in the

Lord now, let nobody think that you gotta understand all about it or explain everything about it before you can lay hold on it or pray that the blood might manifest its power in you now, the sanctifying power is there as long as you keep the sin confessed in your life just keep the sin confessed in your life and you are sanctified set apart, and your consecration will stay true he who heartily gives himself to believing worship of the

Lord will experience through the blood a sanctification beyond his conception the Lord Jesus will do it all for him but the believer ought to grow in knowledge, also that he might have the fullness of the blessing the beginning of all blessings in separation to God as his entire possession is to be at God's disposal just to say,

Lord, hear him, don't know what you want me to do but here I am, I'm ready to go just to be available to God you are not your own, you are bought with a price

God's paid the price Christ has paid the price this tells us we are God's possessions because of the blood of Christ and if you belong to God that means you are reconciled you are pardoned, you are cleansed and you are sanctified if you are

God's possession because God doesn't possess anything that's unholy he'll cast it away

God won't keep anything that's unholy that makes you holy you say, well I don't act holy, well

I know you don't and I don't either but because you don't act like you save doesn't mean you lost if the blood's ever been applied to your life you cannot erase it the blood is too precious that's why some people have a mass all the time a mass is a bloodless sacrifice and my

Bible said and we just read it a moment ago that Christ died once and for all you don't have to keep offering him every

Sunday you don't have to keep throwing the blood up there every Sunday it's applied spiritually always and ever you are not your own so the idea of separation is that Jesus, that he might sanctify his people with his own blood, suffered without the gate we are to go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach regardless of the cost he cut himself off and the

Bible said to be cut off out of the land of the living and regardless of what people say or do regardless of what the price may be you are to pay it and go to Christ and make him the

Lord of all that you are, going out from all this world is must be the characteristic of every

Christian if you don't you will not experience the joy and the blessing of being separated by God have you ever talked to someone that when you talked to them you just knew that you was talking to somebody that walked with God I mean have you ever talked to somebody that I always think of Miss Bertha Smith the missionary that many of you ladies may have read, go home and tell the book she wrote, and this dear old lady every time

I meet her and get around her and get in a conference where she is there are many others like that Dr.

Charles Weigel who wrote no one ever cared for me like Jesus this great Christian man that I had the privilege of knowing and I remember just being around and there are other people that I have been around but when you get in their presence you just know that you are around somebody that walks with God and I desire that I want in my life

I want the glory of Christ and the majesty of Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to be so strong that somebody gets into my presence they know that they have been with somebody that has a touch with God is that your desire?

is that your desire? I mean when people get around you do you want them to say well he is just like us he is just like us you know he is not real, he does not push all that stuff

I mean he believes you to be sincere you just believe what you want to be around him or do they say man if you go over there and talk to him if you go talk to her

I will tell you what you are going to get when you go, man they are not going to talk about the Lord you go to their house all they want to do is talk about the

Lord all they want to do is talk about the Lord and we rationalize and say well you do not have to talk about the Lord all the time what do you think you are going to be doing in heaven you are going to be talking about the

Chicago Cubs and the White Sox you do not have a lot to talk about right now he is surely not going to talk about them up there but that is what a lot of people do not talk about the big question of the day is is

Dick Butkus going to play or not that is the big cry around this land or maybe where Hugh Hefner is going to close down next year or not and he is not, do not worry about it, he will not as long as you are using

Fabergé and Brut he is not going to close down every time you use Fabergé and Brut you help keep

Playboy open did you know that yeah we are putting that on tape too good, good separation separation, got to be separated dear people that is what it is all about for the believer the

Lord Jesus Christ has sanctified every Christian through the blood of Christ if you are a Christian you have been sanctified through the blood and he desires to make your experience the full power of that sanctification endeavor to gain a clear understanding of what has taken place in you and for you through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ it is not enough to just believe in the power of the blood of Christ to redeem us and to free us from sin but we must above all else notice the source of the power and what else it does the blood ever always and ever speaks of the consecration of the

Lord Jesus to the Heavenly Father and opening the way to the victory over the sin the blood also always speaks with a divine and life giving power and what it commands that it bestows it works out in us the same disposition and attitude that the

Lord Jesus Christ had and that is why the Bible says let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus let this mind be in you have the same outlook on life that Christ had have the same concept about things as Christ has make your life conform to what he would do in those situations and that brings holiness and that is sanctification separation you already got that that's from God you can't get that you can't do it yourself consecration comes from being separated once you realize you are separated by God for a holy purpose then you want to consecrate your life to him and you want to just yield to him now

I don't mean by consecration that doesn't mean you gotta be a usher that doesn't mean you gotta teach Sunday school I care less about that at this moment consecration is make his will your will that is consecration all that that means make his will your will and that is consecration sanctification takes place when

God takes possession and fills the temple of the consecrated person immediate nearness and fellowship with God are made possible by the blood of Christ and the

Christian who surrenders himself unreservedly to the blood of Christ obtains the full assurance that God will bestow himself holy and reveal his holiness in him all the virtues of divine holiness as was manifested in the

Lord Jesus Christ are to be sought for and found in fellowship with God sanctification then simply means union with God being unified with God which we got when we were saved reconciliation and pardon fellowship in his will being cleansed and separated sharing his life and conforming to his image yielding ourselves wholly to his blessed efficacy or his ability to do for you what he says he'll do and that is sanctification and many of you do it he who is willing to lose and to say farewell to everything else will enjoy the blessing and the very peace of God will sanctify you entirely and the reason you don't know you got it and the reason you don't experience the real blessings of the

Lord in your life is that one little word that's broken into two words sanctification because you have been reconciled you have been pardoned from your sin you have been cleansed from the pollution and the stain of that life of sin it's all been done you have been sanctified by God you have been set apart but then as we are set apart then we realize our holy responsibilities and our responsibilities and the precepts of God are involved in consecration you want the pastor to do it all we want him to do if he can't do it there are a few other men around the church that'll do it if they won't do it there are a few ladies around the church that'll pick it up and it's that way everywhere

I go everywhere I go and yet in this city alone there are enough people who say they're

Christians where they are not remains to be seen but there are enough people in this city and any other city that I go to in this country there are enough people who say they are

Christians to win that city to Christ if they do it you just look how many churches in this city of all denominations who say they're

Christians now you look who controls Elgin, Illinois God or Satan Christians are unbelievers who wields the influence in this city who runs scared you think the lost people run scared you think the unbelievers are frightened you think the unbelievers are afraid uh uh you know who runs scared

Christians Christians Christians because you don't have the confidence the assurance and the power in your life to stand up to a man or a woman or a teenage kid can you imagine a banker or a lawyer that if you cut him he'll bleed just like you do if he stops breathing he'll die just like you do and yet my

Bible says we ought to be pleasers of God not pleasers of men and it said you better fear him that can kill both your body and your soul can destroy both of them rather him that can just hurt your body and yet people like that stand up and they'll say something harsh to a

Christian and immediately a Christian becomes as meek as a mouse and that word meekness in the

Bible doesn't mean passivity it means boldness but recognize where your boldness comes from it comes from the

Lord nothing within ourselves and we just don't reach the country for Christ and that's why we got a lot of Christians but we don't have a lot of consecrated

Christians we don't have a lot of committed Christians we got a lot of talkers we got a lot of hearers but we don't have many doers we got a lot of organizers but we don't have many agonizers we got a lot of people who are always planning to get the formula out we got the formulas we got the organizations we got the money we just don't have people who are filled with the power of the

Lord Jesus Christ and who even know what this Bible teaches about the precious blood of Christ and until you understand who you are and what you have then

I don't blame you for not taking a stand for Christ I'd be frightened to do so myself if I didn't know who

I was and didn't know what I got you are a child of the King you're a child of God you've been reconciled you've been pardoned you've been cleansed you've been separated and you're sanctified you have communication with the

God of the universe anytime you want it all you got to do is talk to him he always hears you and he always answers you because you belong to him through the blood of the

Lord Jesus Christ you serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who's going to come and rule and reign now why not live like it why shouldn't we live like it if that be true and if that not be true

I'd like for you to prove it to me because if it's not true then I'd like to go back doing what I was doing I was making a lot of money if it's not true if he isn't

I'm serving the wrong one I want to serve the winner I like to be on the winning side but you see

I've already read Revelation and I know who's on the winning side I already found out how it's all coming it's going to come out one of these days he's going to split the skies and he's going to take over and he's going to rule and reign and all these people that have rejected him and laughed at him and ridiculed it ridiculed you mocked you, lied about you, spread rumors on you and all that now he's going to put that down forever but you know it frightens me because when

I go back to the book of Matthew and I read about the wheat and the tare the wheat and the tare talk to any farmer you want to and he'll tell you that you can't tell the difference between the wheat and the tare they look exactly alike when do you tell the difference?

harvest time harvest time he'd look out in that field and the man who raises it can't even tell you if the wheat is real or the tare if you said what's that?

he can't tell you he has to wait until it's harvested there are people who say they're Christians that you can't tell the difference you believe they are but they tare and they spread false doctrine heresy decisiveness in areas that they ought not to be decisive in luma bearing and divisiveness where there should be none ever when the harvest comes when the

Lord comes there are going to be a lot of people who are going to think they're going to make it but they're going to be left and there are going to be some people that you're going to think would never make it and they're going to go they're going to go because we just can't tell you just can't tell not everybody but I thank the

Lord that when I learned that the blood of Christ is so holy and so powerful and so precious in the eyes of God that when

I received Christ as the Lord and Savior of my life immediately reconciliation pardon, cleansing and sanctification were given to me immediately immediately if you're a

Christian you got exactly the same thing exactly the same thing you are as ready to go to heaven as you ever will be right now you're just as ready to go as you ever could get ready you don't get ready to go by giving up smoking you don't get ready by giving up criticism it all depends upon the blood of Christ getting you ready and it's been applied to your heart and life you're ready to roll you're ready to roll

I hope let's pray Father thank you for your goodness

Lord we don't understand it I don't Lord I confess to you my mind just cannot grasp how in the name of heaven and all that we know about ourselves and the world in which we exist that you could send your precious son to die on a cross to shed his blood and through the shedding of that blood by his willingness to follow your will in his will being one and yet equal and yet separated yet three and one the great mystery of the universe and yet Lord through all of that we human beings could lift our hearts to thee and ask for forgiveness of our sin and to repent of that sin be willing to turn our backs upon the life that we live and receive or invite

Jesus Christ into our hearts to be our Lord and Savior by doing that you would immediately reconcile us unto yourself and not consider us separated from you any longer join us back up with you give us union and unity and harmony again and then

Lord you'd cleanse us from the stain and the pollution of the life that we've lived you'd cleanse us and then

Lord you'd give us that pardon in our hand from your word to let us know that these things are written to you that believe that you may know that you have eternal life full pardon from it all and then you'd go on further and sanctify us set us apart as a peculiar people as a holy people set aside for the purpose of spreading the precious gospel of the

Lord Jesus Christ Father all you ask us to do is to follow your will not a whole lot and yet Lord it seems so hard for us at times to follow your will but Lord we want you to know tonight that we love you we adore you

Lord Jesus we adore you we treasure your gracious look we treasure your blessings you mean more to us than the breath we breathe and Lord you mean more to us than the sunshine that graces our face each morning you mean more to us than the loved ones that we confront in our daily walk of life you mean more to us than the riches of the world

Lord Jesus you are truly our Lord our King our

Savior our Kinsman Redeemer all Lord you are all in all to us we confess to you now that we want to be what you want us to be so we give our lives back to you anew and afresh we renew our vows to thee we ask and thank you for the peace that you give us in our minds to know that all these things are ours there's no guilt in the life of any person who's a

Christian no stain or pollution we are holy in your eyes that's why

Lord in your words you call us saints because we're holy in your eyes because the holiness of the blood of Jesus Christ has been applied to the lintel and the doorpost of our hearts and our minds and all that we are may we live accordingly bless every man woman born girl in this service bless every member and every visitor married or single young or old be with them guide their lives bless them use them and then

Lord keep our eyes looking upward always longing for the coming of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and may we truly keep our eyes on the eastern sky for our redemption draweth nigh for that hope we thank you now bless us and use us and we thank you for it because we ask it and we believe it and thank you for it all in the wonderful name of the