Perfection?

good evening it is good to see you out on a wednesday evening a little bit rainy here in georgia but nonetheless rain or shine we are here to praise the lord and exalt him for who he is and i want to encourage you tonight with a word from 2 corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7 that says for we walk by faith and not by sight that is correct and so let's stand together and we'll open up our service singing about walking in faith with just a closer walk with thee [Music] i am weak but thou art strong [Music] jesus keep me from all wrong satisfied as long as i walk dear lord close to thee just a closer walk with thee granted jesus is my plea daily walking close to thee let it be dear lord let it be through this world of toils and snares if i fall to the lord who cares who with me my burden shares [Music] just a closer walk with jesus is my please daily walking close to thee let it be dear lord let it be and when my feeble life is over time for me will be no more guide me gently safely or to thy kingdom shore to thy shore just a closer walk with thee [Music] granted jesus it's my pleasure daily walking close to thee let it be dear lord let it be let's pray together father may that be our prayer that we continually walk with you each and every day that we've set tom assad to listen to your voice and to open up your word of truth and to be able to uh take what we're reading and through the interpretation of the holy spirit work through us so that we can draw closer to you father as we've sung tonight uh our plea father is to walk closer to you and may that be be the true case father uh tonight as we are gathered together we're going to open up your word and i pray that you've already begun to work in our hearts for the message that brother danny is going to bring a message that you've given him as he continually walks with you as well so father tonight may we open your word and continually draw close to you in thy name we pray amen well good evening to you and welcome to another wednesday night bible study so glad that you're here for those of you who are here in person and for those joining online and also we have our youth in here tonight because brother matt is running around trying to get the trucks loaded up to get ready for our summer mission trip to west virginia and so we want you to be in prayer for those folks as they'll be gone next week on that trip if you have your bibles we'll start in matthew chapter 5 verse 48 but if you don't know where we're going after that it'll be the first john and then we'll camp out in first john for a while tonight is uh we talk about this closer walk a very close walk that we're going to be talking about with the lord tonight and that is our study is going to be on christian perfection early in our sunday morning series we saw in matthew 5 48 where jesus commanded the christians to be perfect therefore you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect and that will be our question for the evening y'all keep giving me these hard questions i think we're gonna have to get a theologian on staff to help me out here but uh but this is this is gonna be a tough one we'll talk through tonight so our question of the evening is is it possible for christians to live in christlike perfection and of course on our nearly famous north lake poll 28 said yes 68 said no and a mere four percent said they weren't sure so everybody had opinions about this tonight so this ought to be a good one uh again matthew 5 48 therefore you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect and what does perfect mean the greek word behind those words there in the text is telios which means to be perfect or complete or mature or finished or fulfilled matter of fact that's a it's a part of that root word that jesus cried from the cross when he said tetelestai it is finished what was finished the plan of salvation was finished it was complete uh it was mature it was perfect it was ready to be shared with the world and so uh there again we get that idea though but is spiritual perfection a realistic goal for you and me uh it seems like the majority 68 says it is not which begs another question would jesus command us to do something that he knew that we were not capable of doing well that's another wednesday night topic right there right but why would jesus tell us to be perfect if he knew in his heart of hearts that we couldn't be perfect and i think a lot of people say well it's it's not something we can accomplish it's not realistic so why try and for that reason we run into many christians who don't try they just simply say nobody's perfect and move right along so matthew 5 48 is a hard verse but first john is even more troubling so if you have your bibles please open to that first john and we'll look at chapter 3 and verses 7 through 10. little children talking about children in the family of god here christians little children let no one deceive you he who practiced righteousness is righteous just as he he is capitalized though so we're talking about our lord jesus christ he is righteous he who sins is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning for this purpose the son of god was manifested or revealed that he might destroy the works of the devil whoever has been born of god does not sin for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of god in this the children of god and the children of the devil are manifested or revealed whoever does not practice righteousness is not of god nor is he who does not love his brother so again back to our questions is it possible for a christian to reach sinless perfection in this life and just a straightforward reading the first john chapter three seems to be it is first john chapter three verse eight the reason jesus came to the world let's destroy the works of the devil what's the works of the devil verse eight the works of devil earth sin sorrow and death uh verse five jesus came to take away our sin and give us a perfect eternal life that begins now and also goes into the kingdom of heaven verses 6 and 9 those who are born again and abide in christ do not sin it says real christians do not sin verse 9 real christians cannot sin verse 10 righteousness or sinlessness is how you can tell the difference between children of god and the children of the devil so a quick study of these verses here seems to say that believers should be perfect so how you doing with that back in the mid 1770s there was a man named john wesley he's the founder of the methodist church he studied these and other similar scriptures and he wrote a little book called a plain account of christian perfection in it he taught that christians can live a sinless life and that the bible gives us a method for achieving sinless perfection or what he interpreted as sanctification notice it gives us a method that's how we got the term methodist is there was a method to christian perfection he taught that there's a big difference between being saved and being sanctified he said when one is saved or converted you are justified but you are not sanctified so then you had to drill down a little bit in my theology course and say well what did john wesley mean by justification and here's what he said justification is it's where god graciously forgives all your sin committed up to the time that you were converted at conversion the believers placed in lifelong probation during which time he may forfeit his justification and peace with god if you fall into sin and do not repent in other words john wesley taught us that you can actually lose your salvation if you don't stay in a perfect path there so in order to maintain yourself in a safe condition you actually need a second work of grace this second work of grace is what he called sanctification or other places he called it a second blessing he said it's like a second stage to your salvation you receive baptism of the holy spirit which purges out your old sinful nature leaving you sanctified holy sinless and perfect and then of course being a methodist he gave us a method on how to do that step number one is you need to be convicted or come to the conclusion that you need holiness and i kind of agree with him on that i think we've kind of lost that as a modern generation of folks i don't think we modern people deal with conviction very much if you ever take the time to read some of the early church fathers augustine wrote back in 390 a.d a little book called confessions and he goes into it much deeper than most of us ever do about his sins from the past and how the lord saved him from those things and how he still battles with the sin now and how to confess those sins uh he gets deep down into his sins his sin nature his selfishness his motives by why because why he did what he did but you know you and i we live in an age of tolerance and since we're in such an age of tolerance i don't think we spend much time we don't take sin seriously and we definitely don't do guilt if we do do something wrong we say well everybody else is doing it nobody's perfect i'll just do the best i can and hope that cal recovers it all we kind of got a soft view of sin we don't do the confession thing very much we're kind of like augustine in his younger years he actually writes in confessions about when he was a youth it's good to have youth in here with us tonight right he said when he used to pray he would pray lord give me chastity incontinence but not yet in other words give me sexual purity and self-control but later after i've enjoyed the pleasures of sin and then later on i'll confess that sin and get over in other words he kind of had a modern view kind of a flippant view of what sin is only later when he come to faith in christ did he begin to see the seriousness of sin and his need for holiness and so i think probably john wesley has a good pointer i think we need to get convicted about our need for holiness at least he saw that the second thing he said after realizing your need for holiness to fully surrender your life to christ rid yourself of all worldly desire and again that sounds pretty easy don't it until you think about it a little bit how many of you really want to get rid of all worldly desire and of course he's scriptural what he's saying there first john chapter 2 and verse 15 he says what love not the world neither the things that are in the world so again step two now and when he gets to climb number three he says you need to claim by faith the incoming holy spirit who will burn away all original sin and evil desire from your heart and they will leave you sinless both in thought and word and deed and that's what we got to talk about a little bit tonight is uh his belief in this second blessing or uh second or baptism of the holy spirit that's supposed to purge you of all your sins of course this teaching of christian perfection is still believed by some methodists again if you kind of read the newspaper and see what's going on in the methodist church now probably john wesley be rolling over in his grave if he knew what happened to his denomination but nevertheless i believed by some methodist groups other churches that came out of the methodist tradition like the church of god assemblies of god salvation army some of the charismatics pentecostals and holiness and even some free will baptist groups though most groups today have been influenced by this tolerance thing and some of the folks that were extremely worried about holiness and how they dressed and how they talked and how they lived back when i was a little boy and remember that's all changed now you don't see many of the old-fashioned holiness pentecostals like i saw some 50 years ago but anytime this doctrine is taught it always causes immediate controversy with other christian groups because when one christian says hey i've achieved the state of sinlessness spoken of in first john chapter 3 some other christian says well maybe you need to turn back to first john chapter 1 and verse 8 and what does it say if we say that we have no sin but we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us that's strange there you got first john chapter 1 and verse 8 seems to say that no christian on this earth is sinless and then first john chapter 3 verse 9 seems to say to every christian on the thir on this earth should be sinless it looks like a contradiction but what do we talk about interpreting the bible there are no contradictions you got to look at the context and you got to remember that there's harmony in the scripture and also some people try to pit john against the apostle paul but that doesn't work john just doesn't use as many big words as paul paul describes salvation with three big words he uses justification sanctification and glorification by justification paul means that jesus saves me from the penalty of my sins in the past and it's a legal term meaning to be forgiven or acquitted of wrongdoing and the way i remember justification it means he saves me just as if i never sinned that's what justification means according to the apostle paul in the scriptures nothing about probation or anything about that no when you were saved you were justified just as if you never sinned the second aspect of salvation that paul mentioned sanctification that is jesus saves me from the penalty not from the power of sin and the present in other words when i'm saved i get the indwelling holy spirit who moves inside my life and gives me victory over the influence of sin while i'm living in the here and then the now and then of course glorification is jesus will save me from the presence of sin one of these days when we all get to heaven and so paul teaches that there is no second blessing that justification and sanctification both happen at the same time at regeneration when you are born again you're as saved as you're ever going to be there's not going to be a second stage there's not going to be a second blessing to all this you're as saved as you're ever going to be you're both justified and sanctified the instant you receive christ as your savior listen to what he says in first corinthians 6 9 do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived neither fornicators or idolaters or adulterers or homosexuals or sodomites or thieves or covetous or drunkards or revilers or extortioners will inherit the kingdom of god and then listen what he says and such were some of you but you were washed you were sanctified you've been justified in the name of the lord jesus and by the spirit of our god did you hear that sentence there it's when you are saved you are both justified and you are sanctified at the same time so again you're not waiting on a second stage or a second blessing or or anything in the future that's going to make you more holy than you are when you receive jesus christ your savior and so remember those corinthian christians what was going on at corinth they were far from perfect they had lots of problems they struggle with sin so paul writes that letter to tell them to quit acting like babies and grow up to mature in the faith to have your faith perfected to be sanctified is why he wrote that so that's that's the point that he's making to the folks at corinth and but paul still calls them justified in other words they've been forgiven and he also calls him sanctified even with all their problems uh in first corinthians chapter one in verse two he talks about the saints who are at corinth so again it means they're not quite there yet but nevertheless they're already being called science why because this justification sanctification happens the very instant you get saved so both paul you know he uses big words like justification and sanctification john uses little words like forgiveness of sin and abiding in christ but they're talking about the same thing and both of these agree that once you're saved you are forever justified first john 1 7 tells us the blood of christ forgives us and cleanses us from all sin not just the sins that you committed before you were saved he's not leaving you on probation for everything that happens after you save no in christ you stand forgiven christ died on the cross for all our sin sins past present and future the bible says he died for us once for all we see that in hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10. that's what you call positional justification you're positioned in the family of god the incident you get saved you are you are positionally justified you are positionally saved you're in the family of god the same is true for sanctification too sanctify means to set apart to make special to make holy to be separated from sin and again the very instant you're saved john says in first john chapter 2 and verse 20 and also verse 27 that you are given the holy spirit of christ who is the one who makes you holy and this is the baptism of the holy spirit again some people think that's the second blessing that comes along later signified by speaking in tongues or whatever but no when i baptize somebody on sunday morning that signifies on the outside what supposedly has already happened to them on the inside and that is they have been baptized by the holy spirit the very instant they prayed to receive christ and now we're showing in the water how they died to themselves and how they rise to walk in newness of life and so that's the significance of of baptism uh also it's not a second stage it is standard equipment for every believer from that point on you stand sanctified you are called a saint and again that's called positional sanctification you are in christ by the power of the holy spirit by the way again i'm thankful for computers because i hate to have to sit down and try to count it all out myself but you know in the new testament 87 times it refers to christians being in christ that's your position that's who you are from then forward from the time that you are saved forward you are in christ and that's so important that your position that's positional justification also positional sanctification uh when the father looks at you he doesn't see you the way you were when he looks at you he sees jesus in you because the spirit of christ dwells he lives he abides within you you are in christ and from then on the father regards you as one of his family because he sees you and sees christ in you and he separates you from the crowd he separates you apart for his purposes and the holy spirit begins working on you to make you holy uh even if you are not always holy the corinthians were far from holy we can read about what they were doing at their church by reading paul's letter but paul still calls them saints and we see something similar in first john chapter 4 and verse 13 by this we know that we abide in him and he and us because he has given us of his spirit so the holy spirit is the one who makes us holy he is the one who sanctifies us and that's what made chris the corinthians saints made them holy god sees me in christ he calls me a saint when lots of times i think and act like i ain't and laura said amen but anyway uh he positionally i am in christ so i am a saint even though i don't always act that way nevertheless positionally that's where we are but he doesn't leave us there and thank god he doesn't just say okay you're a saint and go live any way you want to and we'll try to work out heaven sometime in the future no he does more than that he sends his holy spirit who begins working on us and in us philippians chapter 1 and verse 6 says i'm confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will continue to perform it until the day of jesus christ who began that work in you the holy spirit of god and he's not going to let you go if you're a child of god he's going to work on you until you live up to that title saint he begins working on you and again when it says he who has begun a good work in you will complete it guess what greek word that is that's telios he will perfect you so again we see this perfection thing being taught so once we receive christ god calls us saints positional sanctification uh and so but that's not the end of the process that's on the beginning of a process that moves us to step number two which is practical sanctification we were positionally we're in christ when we're saved now working on practical sanctification that is the holy spirit begins working in your heart and life to change you to make you live up to that title saint he's going to change you he's going to grow you he's going to mature you and yes he's going to perfect you uh he begins removing sin from your life again we may not even like this procedure that he's fixing to do we may have our own favorite hidden sins that we feel like that we can do very well we're keeping that sin in our life but the holy spirit says no if you're going to be holy i'm going to make you holy and that sin has got to go so he begins to work on us to make that happen preparing you for the third aspect of salvation which is glorification which that means one of these days in the future we'll be sharing in the glory of the lord himself when we all get to heaven but before we get to heaven if you're making progress in your sanctification there ought to be a little glorification while you're still here there ought to be a little glow of the glory of god that begins to show through you people ought to begin to be able to see jesus in you and that's part of the glorification process we share in the glory of our lord jesus christ of course this part this practical sanctification is where you and i come in as believers we can make the holy spirit's job easy by cooperating with him or we can make the holy spirit's job difficult by resisting him the bible tells us in ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 do not grieve the holy spirit why would we grieve the holy spirit well because he's trying to make you holy and if you're resisting him and say no i don't want to give that up i want to hold on to that that's my favorite secret sin lord and you can't have it you're grieving the holy spirit you're working against him on that the bible says don't do that the lord's trying to make you holy work with him cooperate with his holy spirit as he does that and of course the reason that practical sanctification is so hard is because you have two natures once you get saved you have two natures you are born with a sinful nature a nature that is selfish that wants to do everything my way instead of doing things god's way but you are born again with a spiritual nature because you have the holy spirit within you he's the one that makes you born again and so they're referred to in various ways in the new testament paul refers to them as the old man and the new man john uses the term in chapter 3 verse 10 here uh children of god are children of the devil you have a godly nature or you have a devilish nature when we see the word for sinful nature it's often at least in new king james and um and the regular king james it's it's flesh now sometimes some newer translation it'll call it a sinful nature or something but that's what it is a greek word for that is sarx it means your animal nature the part of you that's part of your physical body that makes this sinful nature operate so here's where our controversy between those verses that i first read or a contradiction is solved look back to chapter 3 and verse 9 and it says whoever has been born of god does not sin but if you'll read on you'll notice it says for his seed and if you'll notice at least in my bible and i think in the greek as well when it says his seed his is capitalized so it's not talking about us it's talking about the lord who is god's seed well god's only begotten son is his seed and his name is jesus christ and the spirit of god's son of course the holy spirit so the very nature of god remains in us so it's true the holy spirit of christ is perfect he cannot sin he will not sin and he will not lead you to sin then look on to chapter 3 and verse 8 he who sins is of the devil well that's true too when you when you even as a christian when you sin make no mistake about it the holy spirit is not the one who led you to do that who led you to do that now the other devil so again your your seed remains within you the holy spirit remains within you and you're sinning against him whenever you sin but make no mistake the holy spirit didn't make you do that the devil didn't make you do it either it's your will get in cooperation with the devil and that's what causes you to sin so in christ according to these scriptures here we have the ability not to sin to be perfect but the reason that we're not perfect is because we lack the will whenever we're given these decisions many times we will follow the flesh instead of following the spirit when we have decisions to make now i know there's some christian teachers who try to deny that they still have that old sinful nature i think some are called free grace preachers and i've heard a number of them preached before and they talk about their perfection and how they no longer have any temptation how they no longer have any sinful desires and i'm always thinking let me talk to your spouse and your children you know it's one thing for you to get up and say it's another thing for people who know you every day uh to know how you live to know whether you've actually it's one thing to have your wife and children say that you've reached perfection it's quite another for you to say that you've reached perfection most of us don't so anyhow if you don't believe that there is uh still a battle between your old nature and your new nature between your sinful nature and your spiritual nature then try changing something try to make a step in your sanctification maybe make a commitment to tithe or to teach or to witness or to wake up at five o'clock in the morning have your daily quiet time whatever it is maybe try going on a diet try to get in shape quit a bad habit like smoking drinking worrying complaining gossiping cussing whatever how easy is that and why is it not easy because of your flesh your sinful nature is there at every corner trying to oppose you to keep the holy spirit from making you what you're called to be and that is perfect you're called to be a saint you're called to be someone who lives in the image of jesus christ and it's a battle paul the apostle writes about it in romans 7 in great detail about that and that's the problem that we get into is we have that old sinful nature it keeps coming back trying to trip us up even though we have the best of intentions and we're going to do this thing for the lord he'll come up with a thousand reasons circumstances and everything else in order to keep us from doing that there's where the spiritual battle is fought the good news is y'all ready for some good news now chapter 2 and verse 27 and that is you've got a friend in jesus last phrase there abide in him talking about jesus about in him his spirit is still abiding living within you to guide you to strengthen you to encourage you and he won't lie to you he'll lead you into the truth in chapter 5 of first john in verse 4 chapter 5 and verse 4 for whatever is born of god overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith so the lord is there to give us victory in this moment helps you overcome uh the sinful nature that you have that keeps trying to get you to follow the temptations of the world and another great thing is when you have these spiritual battles and you do fail and fall short you can go back to first john chapter one and verse nine and what does it say if we'll confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive our sin what and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness in other words when we do fall short and fall short of that perfection that should be our goal then the lord comes along picks us up dusts us off and say okay let's get going again he's the one that gives us victory and he's the one that gets us going again whenever we have to deal with the agony of defeat so we've talked about positional sanctification we are in christ the moment that we are saved we're called a saint even though we're still acting like we ain't and then next we get into the practical sanctification where the holy spirit is working in our heart and life to try to get the bad stuff out and get the good things in uh and and to make you live a saint uh next thing is progressive sanctification that's number three progressive sanctification it's god's will that we make progress in our sanctification first thessalonians 4 3 for this is the will of god your sanctification it's god's will that we become saints it's god's will that we allow the holy spirit to work in our life and begin this process of perfecting us and preparing us for the kingdom of heaven first john 1 8 tells us again none is perfect all born again believers being perfected by the holy spirit and we're at all different stages of sanctification and you know that's where the fun comes in being a pastor and doing church work is working with a congregation of folks who are different phases in their life in different stages of their sanctification uh you know every every church every christian is in different phases different stages some we have baby christians we have carnal christians that have been saved they're in christ but they're not making much progress in their sanctification we've got growing christians who are making progress and we've got some mature christians again they won't stand up and say it because nobody wants to call themselves perfect but for the folks that live with them they know that they've come a long way in their faith and they're getting more like the lord jesus every day and that's again what our goals should be uh and this sanctification has nothing to do with physical age and see that's what's kind of strange about doing church work too you would hope that all the senior adults would be at that mature phase but you know sometimes you have children that's been saved and they're taking their sanctification seriously and they're coming along and they're making progress and so you never know where people are in their sanctification until you have a baptist business meeting and not just but but but when you when you get into controversies and things like that that's when it becomes obvious where people are in in this progressive thing called sanctification so let me see if i can wrap it up sinless perfection may not be achieved in this life but spiritual perfection maturity should be our goal we should be making progress in our sanctification again don't go out here and say brother danny talk christian perfection i'm just preaching what the bible says here i'm not putting myself up as an example of any of this i'm just telling you we probably will not reach perfection in this life but we need to be making progress toward that according to the word of god so how do we make progress in our spiritual perfection in our maturity well the apostles in early church had a method long before the methodists came along and it's basically called spiritual disciplines the things that you need to practice day in day out week in week out and again they're gone by different titles and different books but let's see how john describes them here look in first john chapter 2 and verse 15. you just start off by avoiding the things of the world do not love the world or the things that's in the world if anyone loves the world love the father is not in him for all that's in the world the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes pride of life is not of the father but it's of the world in verse 27 again across the page there says we're supposed to abide in christ so again that's just a summary of how you start making this and that is what jesus told us what deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow him so it's number one uh second here comes from chapter 2 and verse 19 and that is don't quit church look at verse 19. they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that it might be manifest or revealed that none of them were of us don't quit church as brothers and sisters in christ as part of the body of christ we need to attend worship with other believers we need to participate in the life of the church and that's how we sanctify one another is if we all go to our corners living our own hilltops out there and become hermits then we think we're doing really good but when we have to interact with one another that's where we start to expose whether we truly are being sanctified or not and we sanctify one another through our interactions with each other as we carry out the work of the lord through the church chapter 3 and verse 16 tells us to serve one another by this we know love because he jesus laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren so we need to serve one another uh someone told me years ago that sign of christian maturity is when you take off the bib and put on the apron when you quit being a baby that needs to be served and you begin to get up and serve others then that's when you're making steps toward christian maturity also chapter 3 verse 17 is to be generous but whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him how does the love of god abide in him so give to support the work of the church of the mission of the church which is the great commission of going into the world and sharing the gospel and of course benevolence taking care of the poor and needy chapter five and verse two study the word of god this is one of the disciplines that all of the apostles took part in chapter five and verse two uh by this we know we love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments well where are his commandments located in the word of god so again be in the word and that's what gives us victory over sin psalm 119 11 thy word have i hid in my heart that i may not sin against god so if you want to make progress in your sanctification be in the word chapter 5 and verse 11 another discipline is to witness this is the testimony that god has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he who has a son has life he who does not have the son does not have life so again that's the gospel and we're to be witnesses of that share the good news with our family with our friends with our classmates with our co-workers i was a biology major when i was in college and i remember one of the signs of physical maturity in animals is the ability to reproduce and that begs the question have you birthed anybody into the kingdom of god lately have you led anybody of the lord yet if you disciple somebody and help them come along that's a sign of maturity is when you're reproducing your faith chapter 5 and verse 14 talks to us about prayer and of course that's one of the disciplines that we need to practice constantly now this is the confidence that we have in him who christ that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and we know that if he hears us whatever we ask we know that we will have the petitions that we have asked of him so again regular communication with god bringing our burdens to him and asking him to lead us in this walk toward sanctification and finally uh chapter 5 verse 18 i call it lui living under the influence not supposed to drive under the influence of alcohol but christians are supposed to live under the influence of the holy spirit notice down there in verse 18 it says keep yourself keep yourself under the influence of the holy spirit why because it's the holy spirit who born us into the family of god he is holy he is perfect he cannot sin and he will not lead you to sin so let me clarify i'm not teaching that you may ever reach sinless perfection on this side of the grave i am teaching though that the more you cooperate with the holy spirit the less you will sin and the more you will grow in christ's likeness which leads to sanctification which is perfection you know somebody sent me a quote from a controversial quarterback named tim tebow anybody familiar with him you probably know that the main reason that he is controversial is not because he's a bad quarterback but because he is not ashamed to tell people that he's a christian that's why he has trouble in every city that he tries to get drafted to go play ball for but one of the quotes that i saw from him is he said i constantly wake up every morning trying to get better trying to improve was he talking about football no he said trying to walk closer with god that's what he does every morning that's his goal for the day and see that's the only way i know to make progress and sanctification is to make that error go every day just a closer walk with the lord and that's basically how you make progress in our sanctification you must have a burning desire a daily goal for a closer walk with thee which is why i asked brother derek for us to sing that before we got started here tonight and that's the secret to it just for a closer walk with god i'll close with a prayer from the apostle paul for you and me it comes from first thessalonians 5 19 do not quench the spirit don't put the spirit out when he's doing his work in your life don't quench him test all things hold fast to what is good abstain from every form of evil now may the god of peace himself sanctify you completely guess what that word completely is telios perfect he will sanctify you perfectly and may your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless or sinless at the coming of our lord and savior jesus christ so how do you feel about this sanctification thing are you making any progress are you more like jesus this week than you were last week are you more like jesus this month than you were last month are you more like jesus this year than you were last year that's how we determine progress hebrews 12 14 pursue try strive for holiness without which no one will see the lord so yes it's okay to strive for spiritual perfection way i look at it it's better to aim at perfection and miss it than to aim at mediocrity and hit it amen amen how many of you will grow up and be a mediocre christian no we strive for perfection and if we don't hit it we'll at least be closer than we were if we set our goal to be mediocre amen let's go to the lord in prayer oh lord what what a message from your word how convicting it is when we look at the perfection of our lord and savior jesus christ and then we're told to follow him to walk like him to be like him lord we do pray for a closer walk with you granted jesus is my plea help us each day to cooperate with the holy spirit not to resist him but cooperate with the holy spirit as he does his sanctifying work in us and we pray this in jesus name amen

Channel: Northlake Baptist Church

Views: 1,425

Rating: 4.9506173 out of 5

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Id: stOHBcVzv-4

Length: 43min 10sec (2590 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 07 2021