This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Lordship of Christ.
A Sunday School teacher once asked a little girl, “Is there anything God cannot do?”
The little girl replies, “Yes, there’s one thing God cannot do. God cannot see my sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.”
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
You have been saved and cleansed—now what?
Once we understand the concept of redemption, that logically brings us to the concept of sanctification.
The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us so that He might give Himself to us. We can be going to Heaven and thank God for the shed blood of Jesus, but in the meantime we must eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. (See John 6:52-58.) Let’s find out what that means.
Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20).
Jesus is to your spirit what blood is to your body. He is life. (See John 6:63.)
Blood not only supplies every need, but it cleanses constantly. So does Jesus in us. Without blood flowing, toxins build up in you. Many people are living painfully because they have let toxins build up in their lives: worry, envy, jealousy, fear, pride, bitterness, doubt. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from these. This process of cleansing, which lasts a whole life long, is called sanctification: being made holy. Christian, do not go around with unconfessed, unforgiven sin.
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah....I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31,33-35).
God did not forgive you and say, “All right. Now live it out as best you can.” Just as everything your cells needs is delivered by your blood, so everything you need to live the Christian life is provided in Jesus.
But how is this life from Jesus meant to be spent?
Once we are safe in Christ, what are we supposed to be doing? How does sanctification happen on the day-to-day?
Read the Bible, daily.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly…but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1a,2).
The Bible is the Word of God. Through His Word, God shows you who He is and what He desires. As you read, God will speak to you through the Bible.
Jesus prayed to the Father for His people, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
Spend time talking with the Lord through prayer. Be natural and honest with God. Tell Him how you feel, what you are struggling with, and what you are grateful for. Let Him know your requests, needs, and desires. Pray out loud; it keeps your mind focused.
And leave time for listening to Him.
You cannot live the Christian life in your own strength; you have to abide in Christ. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).
Tell others about your faith. Proclaim to those around you that Christ is King.
Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).
The Lord and His Word are to be at the forefront of your thoughts, shaping what you think, say, and do.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
Be diligent. This is active.
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:24-25).
To abide in Christ is a daily surrender to mimicking His life, His love, and His sacrifice for others—all for God’s glory.
How do you know your sanctification is progressing? Of course, you have God’s promise. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). But what are the signs that you are becoming more mature?
Being mature means being like Christ.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… (Ephesians 4:11-13).
This is how you measure the success of a Christian life, the success of a ministry—not by the size of the buildings, or the offering, or the Sunday School attendance. Are you becoming more like Jesus? Is your church becoming more like Jesus?
What is the main thing a new Christian thinks about? “Thank God, my sins are forgiven, I’m on my way to Heaven!” This is the only testimony he has, and it is wonderful.
I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father (1 John 2:13b).
Baby Christians are not yet strong, and they do not know the battle.
No longer milk bottles, but battles. These believers have moved on to become workers and warriors.
Are you only being served, or are you a servant to others? Too many Christians come on Sunday, and beyond that they don’t do one blessed thing for their churches.
But if you are a worker, you are in the battle.
I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:14b).
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Is the devil afraid of you?
Here is where the Lord is bringing us.
I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning (1 John 2:14a).
A spiritual father is someone who has come to mature wisdom. He knows. He has moved beyond even building and battling. He has been with the Lord so long that his life is beginning to manifest the likeness of God.
And a spiritual father has spiritual children. Paul talked of Timothy as his “son in the faith.” (See 1 Timothy 1:2.) He said to the church at Corinth, “In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15b).
Are you going to Heaven empty-handed, or will you stand at Jesus’ feet with spiritual children, spiritual grandchildren, spiritual great-grandchildren?
1 John 1:7, 2:13-14, 15:4, 17:17; John 6:52-63; Luke 22:20; Jeremiah 31:31,33-35; Psalm 1:1-2; Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 10:24-25; Ephesians 4:11-13; James 4:7; 1 Timothy 1:2; 1 Corinthians 4:15
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience (Luke 8:11-15).
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me….Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you (Philippians 3:12,15).
