Still Struggling? God Is Making You Holy (Sanctification) | Season 06, Episode 5 | Simple Truth Podcast

You're a Christian and God has changed you. So why do you still feel like the old you sometimes? You believe in Jesus. You really do want to live differently. But old temptations and habits, they can still show up. Even when you thought you'd be past them by now. And when that happens, you feel frustrated with yourself or discouraged by how slowly you seem to be growing as a Christian. Maybe you've wondered, "Why am I still struggling with this? Shouldn't I be further along by now? In this episode, we're going to answer three important questions about sanctification. First, what does it mean for God to set you apart? Second, if God has set you apart as his, why do you still struggle? And third, what should you be doing while God is changing you? [music] Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast. I'm Ted Ross and this is season 6, episode five. Still struggling, God is making you holy. We're talking about sanctification. In the previous episodes of this season, we saw in the Bible how through the blood of Jesus Christ, God paid our ransom. God forgave our sins. God declared us right with him. And God reconciled us back to him. Now, sanctification adds another biblical truth. Salvation is not a one-time experience. God leads us through various experiences and challenges to overcome bad behaviors to become more like Jesus Christ and to fulfill our purpose. So, we're going to answer three questions starting with question number one. What does it mean for God to set me apart? To be sanctified, it means to be set apart to God. So to answer this question, we need to understand what the scriptures mean by sanctified. The Bible first introduces this idea in a surprising place. Not with a person, but with a day. Let's go to Genesis 2. Here in Genesis 2 verses 1 through 3, we're going to see that when God sanctifies, he sets something apart for a distinct purpose. As a reminder, all Bible verses are from the New King James Version of the Bible. So feel free to follow along. Genesis 2 verse one. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. Verse two. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Verse three. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. That word rested. So when it said that God rested on the seventh day, that means he stopped. He ceased creating. He took satisfaction in what he did prior back in Genesis 1. One quick note, the Sabbath observance, it must be noted here. It was not requested from Adam. So God rested and he blessed and he sanctified the Sabbath day. You'll notice that there was no Sabbath observance or Sabbath ordinance given to Adam or those thereafter. It was given to Israel through the law of Moses and it was given as a covenant sign, a sign of the covenant, the agreement that God had with the people of Israel, with the Jewish people. But then you'll also see in the New Testament that the Sabbath observance was not imposed on Christians. As a reference, you could see this in Colossians 2:16-17 and Romans 14 verses 5 and 6. If you have more questions related to the Sabbath, it says that God rested and that he sanctified. He blessed the Sabbath day and he sanctified it. And that's really what we're drilling in here. To sanctify means he set it apart. He consecrated it. He treated it as holy, set apart to him. So when the Bible says that you and I are sanctified, that we're going to see throughout this episode through a variety of different scriptures, does that mean God has set me apart, too? Yes, it means you are no longer living for an old purpose. You have been set apart to God for his purposes and for his pleasures and for his blessings. So when God sanctified the seventh day as we see, he didn't make it like a different length from the other days. He didn't remove that day from the week. Instead, God distinguished that day and he set it apart for his purposes. This was the first example of the word sanctification in the Bible. So it begs the question, so what happens when the Bible describes sanctification not for a day, but for a people like you and me with very real and sinful past? Let's see this in 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 9-11. We're going to see here that God sanctifies people with painful pasts and uses them for his purpose. 1 Corinthians 6:9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 11. And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Praise God. Do you not know? Here Paul is writing, "Don't be misled into thinking that an unchanged life with unrepentant sin will inherit God's kingdom and honor." Do you see this, folks? He lists a whole series of things, but it's really important to get this through. Don't believe Paul is writing that an unchanged life, a life that doesn't repent, that doesn't turn away from those old behaviors and turn towards getting closer to God. Don't believe that life will inherit God's kingdom. That is not what inherits God's kingdom. It says, "And such were some of you in verse 11." Many of us were on this list or on some other list that you could find in the New or the Old Testament. We all find our way onto that list often in multiple times and multiple places. But it says, "But you were washed." That means to be cleansed. Means to be cleaned. You were sanctified. That means you were made holy. But you were justified. That means you were declared right. And you were done all these things in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. We're no longer in those lists, right? Such were some of you. But we were washed. We were justified. And we were sanctified. So you may ask yourself, "But what if my past was really bad?" I mean, like really, really bad. Your past is where God brought you from. It's not who you are now. You remember that. We all have a past. We've all done things in our past. And if there's anything that you would understand going through this season about the blood of Jesus Christ, that is that the past is exactly that, the past. God has brought us from many things and to God be the glory. But who you are now is different. God has declared you right. You're justified. God has redeemed you and paid your ransom. God has forgiven you your sins. And as we're seeing here in this episode, God has set you apart for him. He's declared you holy. and he's going to be doing a work in you to transform you from the inside out. So, a painful past, it may explain the habits and the wounds that you still carry in your life. But there's two things to remember. First, through sanctification, God is working in you to heal and to deliver you from your past. And second, these habits and these wounds, they don't outrank what God says about you and what he's done for you through the blood of Jesus Christ. Do you understand? God says he has set apart people like you and like me. He has set apart people with a very real and a very difficult past. So let's believe what he has to say. Let's have faith in his word. Let's stop denying the truth of what he has said about us. So what exactly has made possible for people like you and me who've been set apart by a holy and a perfect God? Hebrews chapter 10 tells us, Hebrews 10:10, we're sanctified through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ through his death and the shedding of his blood at the cross. Hebrews 10:10. Quote, "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." By that will, what does that mean? Well, this is referencing the previous verses. Hebrews 10 verses 5-9. And it describes Jesus coming to the world to do the will of the father through the gospel, his death, his burial, and his resurrection by which he then took away the old covenant. It says, "And he established an entirely new covenant. One based on grace, one based on faith, one based on repenting and believing the gospel as we saw in previous seasons in Mark chapter 1. It says we have been sanctified. We've been made holy." This is the same word as we see in the Hebrew. It's a different word because it's Greek, but it has the same meaning. We are made holy. We are consecrated. We are set apart to God. It says here in Hebrews 10:10, we were sanctified through the offering of the body. An offering is something presented to God as a sacrifice. Jesus offered his body once for all. So, we ask the question, did God accept me or accept you because we're a better person than other people? Maybe we have a different birth. Maybe we come from a great family. Or maybe we've earned some kind of a great education or certifications. Or maybe we're just better than others, right? No, we're not. God sacrificed you and me through one thing alone, and that is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's not because you were better or you were worse than anybody else. So the question is, do you receive this? Can you humble yourself? Can you swallow your pride? Can I swallow my pride to accept the fact that I have nothing going for myself and I bring nothing to the table to God except faith in the offering of Jesus Christ on the cross. Faith in his death, his burial, and his resurrection. That is the one thing I can bring to God. And all those who have faith in that gospel, who receive and have faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, not only do we receive things like forgiveness, we receive justification, sanctification, righteousness, redemption, everything that's being described in this season of the Simple Truth Podcast. Everything scripture has shown us in this episode, it leads us to this one important fact. Sanctification starts with the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. not our own achievements, not our own accomplishments. So, let's take a closer look at what the word sanctification means. What is the meaning of sanctification? Well, sanctification is God setting us apart as his, right? Setting us apart for him, for his purposes, and then continuing to make us more like Jesus Christ, converting our souls. Sanctification is an interesting word. It's a lot like that word righteousness which we're going to discuss in the next episode in that there is a one-time instance and then there's an ongoing meaning to it too. So there's one time when we became born again where God sanctified us. He set us apart. But then there's also a sanctification process in which God continues to work in us to make us more like Jesus Christ. In other words, converting our souls, our will, our mind, our emotions. converting our personality to make us more like our Lord and Savior, our example, Jesus Christ. Through Jesus's sacrifice, God sets us apart as his. And now through the Holy Spirit, the scripture says he is progressively transforming how we think, how we behave, and how we live in the world around us. So don't mistake being unfinished with being unchanged. Right? Don't mistake the fact that you and I, we may look at ourselves and say, "Oh my gosh, I feel like I have such a far distance to go. I feel like I'm not where I belong." Don't make the mistake of recognizing how unfinished we are with the fact that God is changing us. Sanctification does not begin with how much we have changed. It begins with what Jesus has already done through his blood and through his sacrifice. God sets you apart as his and then the real work begins, right? the real conversion into the person that God wants you and me to be. And while we're still unfinished, we still are completely belonging to God. And that brings us to simple truth number 109. God has set you apart as his through Jesus Christ. So sanctification begins with God setting us apart for himself through Jesus Christ. And because we are already gods, right? We can begin learning to live like people who belong to God. So God declares us as one of his. He sets us apart and then he starts working in us to make us like the kinds of people who are his. Right? Which raises an honest question. If God has already set us apart as his, why are there still parts of our life that don't look very holy? Question number two. If God set me apart as his, why do I still struggle? Maybe you thought that once you were saved, the struggle would disappear, right? But when an old temptation returns or some kind of bad habit resurfaces, you may begin wondering whether anything has changed in you at all. I know I have. Jesus's sacrifice, you got to remember it has already set you apart as God's. And Hebrews 10 explains why you can belong completely to God while he is still changing you. Hebrews 10:14 here we see that Jesus settled our standing with God while he continues making us holy. Do you understand God has says Ted you are set apart while he is converting my soul and making me holy. That is sanctification. Hebrews 10:14 quote for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. He says, "For by one offering," right? This is something presented to God as a sacrifice. That offering is the body of Jesus Christ on the cross. And he says, "By that one offering, he has perfected. He has brought to completion. He has brought to an intended goal forever those who are being sanctified." That means sanctification is a continuing action. It's something that's being done to you, right? It's what we call in Greek a present passive participle which means sanctification is ongoing and continuing. That's what this word means and you are the object of it. So does being sanctified mean my salvation is still incomplete? Am I missing something in my salvation because I need to be sanctified? No. Jesus's sacrifice is definitely complete. It is finished. It was done once for all. There's nothing more that needs to be added to it. Being sanctified means God is now also doing a daily work to convert your soul and your behavior since you belong to him and since he has a purpose for you in your life. Being sanctified has an important purpose, right? God is transforming you into a specific likeness, an image and a behavior as Jesus Christ. This is described in Romans 8. Romans 8 29. Here we're going to see that the goal of every Christian as we saw in season two of the simple truth podcast is to take on the nature of Christ. Right? Romans 8 verse 29. For whom he foreknew this is God he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn that's Jesus among many brethren whom he foreknew he also predestined. That means he foreordained, he predetermined. That's you and I folks. And he predestined, he predetermined, he foreordained us to be what? Conformed. That means to be made similar in character or form to the image of his son. That's the likeness or the representation of Jesus Christ. Check out Simple Truth podcast season two of what it means to be a Christian. And we have a variety of episodes where we clearly show in scripture that the entire purpose for Jesus Christ to come to the earth was to die for our sins, be buried and rise again, and then to be a firstborn among many brethren, so that we would have this first in order, Jesus Christ, our prototypes, what that word means. And then we come after God is doing it because Jesus is our example. And that we who say we abide in him, as it says in first John, we ought to walk like he walks. God is literally building the character and the nature of Jesus Christ in you and me so that we can then be representatives here in the earth of God. We don't get any glory. It's God working in us for his will and his good pleasure. But don't think that God has called you out of darkness to then leave you in darkness. He has called us out of darkness to walk in light. And that's what we saw in the book of Acts, right? Right there in the book of Acts, Jesus says, "Wait until you're endued on power from on high." Right? And the Holy Spirit is poured out in Pentecost. And then we see Jesus Christ in people working through with miracles and signs and wonders and powerful words by God's spirit for God's glory and for God's honor. We are vessels. We are wines skins of which God puts his spirit in us so that we can then fulfill his purpose in our lives throughout the earth and God gets the glory because from start to finish it's all been God. Praise God. So what is God trying to produce in me through sanctification? Well, God is forming the character of Jesus in you. That's the purpose of sanctification. His purpose is not simply to make you nicer or more successful or some kind of better version of yourself. He's making you more like Jesus Christ. That change, it reaches your character, your desires, your choices, your relationships. Nothing is off limits when it comes to sanctification. But is this change immediate? Right? Are we expected to produce it somehow ourselves? Well, 2 Corinthians 3, it shows how this happens and who's doing it. 2 Corinthians 3:18, we're going to see the Holy Spirit is working to make you more like Jesus one day at a time. 2 Corinthians 3:18, quote, "But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord." So, we all with unveiled, that's an uncovered, that's a revealed face, beholding as in the mirror, right? Looking into a mirror. It's as if we're looking in a mirror. We're seeing the glory of the Lord, the splendor, the honor, the excellence of God. We are being transformed. That means we're having a major inward change. It implies real progress, but that's not yet complete. That's important, folks. You in your life are going through sanctification. Whether you see it or not, you have had real progress. Our problem is that we often look at the completion and say to yourself, "But we're not done yet. God is working in us for his will and for his good pleasure." And as you see here in this verse, we're being transformed. There's real progress. Although it's not yet complete, we have our wants have been changed. We may be quicker to repent. We may have deeper love. We may have bad habits that are losing its grip on our life. This is what sanctification is doing. And it says that we are being transformed into what? The same image. That's the likeness, the character, the conduct of Jesus Christ. So I sometimes struggle, right? So what is God trying to make me become? God is progressively shaping us into the likeness and the character of Jesus. So, okay, God is making us more like Jesus Christ, but he's only changing the religious corner of our life, right? Maybe on Sundays, I can act more like Jesus. Of course not. God wants the whole person, doesn't he? We saw this in season five on the whole Christian. Let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Here we're going to see that sanctification isn't just one religious part of your life. It's everything. It approaches everything. It touches everything. There's not one part of your and my life that God doesn't want to touch and convert. He's not doing it to harm us. He's doing it to heal us. Praise God. First Thessalonians 5:23 and 24. quote, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you as faithful, who also will do it." It says, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you, right? Make you holy, consecrate you, set you apart to God completely, right? May God sanctify you completely." That means complete in every part. That means holy, not h-o-l-y, but w-h-o-l-l-y, which means as a whole. So God is not just going to sanctify you, but he's going to sanctify you completely across every part of you. And it says as if to reiterate, Paul writes, may your whole, that is your entire complete, no part excluded, spirit, soul, and body, those are the parts of a Christian, right? May they all be preserved blameless. See simple truth podcast episode 5.1 right why do I feel like there's a battle inside of me to learn more about your spirit your soul and your body but it says that may your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So is it possible that God will maybe give up on us before the work is finished? Absolutely not. God is faithful and he will do it as it says here right here in 1 Thessalonians 5:24. He who calls you is faithful. He's reliable. He's dependable. You can set your watch to God. He will also do it. Stick with God. Stick with his plans for you. He's faithful. And he will continue to convert you. So, you've been set apart. And God is working on transforming your whole person till the coming of Jesus Christ. Everything we have seen in this episode now leads us to our second simple truth number 110. You are God's and he is still changing you. So remember being unfinished doesn't mean you are unchanged. God has set you apart as his own and he is working in you to keep growing and to keep changing you into Christlikeness. I don't know about you but God is still working on me is comforting. But it begs the question, does it also mean I have an excuse to say the same? God is still working in you. So, you got to keep walking. So, here's this question. If God is changing me, do I have to even do anything? Right? Maybe I could just live my life the way I want to live it. God will change me from the inside. It's almost like you put something into the oven. I just put in the oven and I come back after 60 minutes and there it is baked. Is that how it works with God? You know, that is not how it works with God. Sanctification is God's work in us. But scripture repeatedly calls you and me to respond to his work with faith and with obedience. Grace doesn't mean, hey, sin doesn't matter, right? And struggle. Having a struggle in your life doesn't mean I guess I better just give up. No. Christians are neither I have to fix myself nor I don't have to change at all and I'm just fine the way I am. Neither of them are truth. You are not going to go fix yourself. And you also are not going to stand on the side, watch God do everything cuz you're just fine the way you are. Neither of them is right. Christians say, "God is working in me, so I will keep walking with him and I will keep responding to him obediently." God's work in you. It gives you a reason to keep going, not permission to stop growing. God isn't finished with me should give us hope. Do you understand? Not complacency. The Bible repeatedly shows that God's actions and our obedience are like peanut butter and jelly. They go well together. The two are done together. Paul shows this in Philippians chapter 2 quite well here. Philippians 2:12 and 13. It says here that God is going to do the sanctifying and he expects us to respond to it obediently. Philippians 2:12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, Paul's writing, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Verse 13, for it is God who works in you both to will and do for his good pleasure. It says, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, to obey is to listen, to respond as under authority." He says, "Not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence." So, not just when Paul was at the church of Philippi, but also when Paul's at other churches writing letters or even not writing letters, he says, "All the more reason for you to walk in obedience and continue to submit up to God." And he says, "Whether I'm it's in my presence or not in my presence, you and I need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. To work it out means to bring it about, to carry it through, to put it into effect." So God may be working in us, but we are instructed clearly many times in scripture to work out our salvation, to pray, to fast, to read the Bible, to meditate, to praise and worship, to obey, to seek to be led by the Holy Spirit and obey the spirit of God in our life. There's a lot for us to commit ourselves to, to get close to God, and then do what he wants us to do. So we're asked to bring about, to carry through, to put into effect our own salvation. That word salvation is being made sound to be set at safety to be delivered. Right? And it says for it is God who works in you. It is God who actively operates who produces power in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. So if God is working in me, can I just sit back? Can I just do my own thing while God makes it all happen? No. Not for you, not for me, not for anybody in this earth. God calls us to serious active obedience. And honestly, that's how you're blessed. If you and I want to have a difficult, tough, rough life, a gritty, nasty life, then us being disobedient, unrepentant, always being chastened, to use an old expression, always being taken out to the woodshed, always getting chastened and disciplined because we're unrepentant and hard of heart. The way of the transgressor is hard. The scripture says we don't want a hard life. We want a great life. We want a blessed life. There will be challenges, but when push comes to shove, I want that when I'm going through resistance and I'm going through temptation and I'm wrestling with persecution and tribulation, I want God to have my back. I want to overcome. I want victory. That's going to come through obeying and submitting to God. So, in fact, some of your struggles, to be honest, they may simply be coming from resisting what God is calling you to do. So, God works in us and then we respond to that with obedience. In other words, God works in and we work out. So, what can we do to make the sanctification process easier? I'm glad you asked. Question number three, what should I be doing while God is changing me? Right? Sanctification, it happens through your relationship with God. So, when the struggles appear, don't pull away from God. That's not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to do the opposite. Pull closer to God. Use the access that Jesus purchased for you through his blood. Hebrews chapter 10:19-22. We see here that a struggle or a sin sometimes it makes us want to avoid God. That's that's a trick, right? Your deliverance is going to come through God. My deliverance going to come through God. And Jesus's blood gives you and me the ability to not just go to God, but to come near to God, to go right into his presence. Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he, that's Jesus, consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. It's using Old Testament analogies. Remember, this is the book of Hebrews. He's writing to Jews. They know the meaning of this. So, the veil that is his flesh, verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God. Again, Jewish people would know what it means to have a high priest, to have this intercessor, this mediator between God and man. And as it says in the book of Hebrews, that is the man Jesus Christ. It says, "Having this high priest over the house of God, verse 22, let us, that's you and me, draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." It says, "Have boldness, confidence, access, the freedom to speak to enter the holiest." That's the holy place. It's God's sacred presence. Do you understand that by the blood of Jesus, you and I can come boldly, confidently gain access to the presence of God right now? You may be dealing with a challenge right now, and you're not quite sure what to do. And I tell you right now, take a moment. Go to God right now. Say, "Father, by the blood of Jesus Christ, I come before your presence. And then start to make your petitions known. Make your requests known. Draw close to God right now by the blood of Jesus Christ. You can access it anytime, anywhere, any country, any nation, any place. You could be at the tallest building. You could be in a basement. Doesn't even matter. You can be in a church. Go access God. Come to him confidently and boldly." And God loves it because he says that person believes in what Jesus did for him or for her. Right? Go directly into God's presence. It says, "Draw near. Let us draw near with a true heart. Let us approach. Let's come near to God with a true heart and full assurance of faith." Right? Confidence that he is God and a rewarder of those who diligently seek him as it says in the book of Hebrews. So, should I stay away from God until I can do better or be better? Nope. Sanctification is exactly the right time to draw an ear to God. As God is leading you and transforming you on the inside, as you're dealing with challenges and resistance and you're seeing things in your own heart that you didn't even know existed and you're wrestling with them, that is exactly the time to draw near to God. It is not the time to run away from God. Running away only makes it longer. Make it shorter. Get right on it. Get close to God. Hear what God has to say. Repent of it as fast as possible. And let God cleanse you and wash you. Let him justify you. Let him sanctify you. Let him do all the stuff he wants to do. Remember Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. How long will you and I spend in the wilderness? How long will we spend in the wilderness? Remember, as we saw in Simple Truth podcast season 2, Jesus went into the wilderness and Jesus quoted the scriptures and Jesus fasted, right? Jesus prayed. These are the things Jesus did to get out of the wilderness. What will you and I do to get out of the wilderness? Will we watch a bunch of secular television or listen to a bunch of secular songs or we just have a bunch of gossip or we do a bunch of sin? That's not going to get us out of the wilderness. You and I have to get out of the wilderness. And we're going to get out of the wilderness through the five disciplines. So, the five disciplines for Christian growth. If you want to learn more, check out Simple Truth Podcast, season 3, episode 1. A discipline, right? It's something that you repeat to improve yourself over time. And in the Bible, we see five disciplines worth repeating. Those are practices that God uses to build your relationship and your closeness to God. So, the five disciplines for Christian growth, some of you have certainly seen those episodes, but as a quick reminder, and if you haven't, I really urge you to check out that season in these episodes, is number one, read the word of God out loud daily. Number two, meditate on the word of God and the gospel daily, right? And if you go to those episodes, you'll see exactly what these things mean, and it'll give examples. Number three, humble your soul with fasting, certainly where appropriate. Number four, learn to pray without ceasing. And number five, seek to be led by God's Holy Spirit. The five disciplines build lasting peace and a close relationship with God. So when we get close to God, he starts leading us into important directions for our life. We may find ourselves repenting of things or we may find ourselves getting into new things that we wouldn't have normally gotten into before, but God is leading us into it by his spirit. In fact, following Jesus requires us to go where he leads. Correct? even when we don't exactly like where he wants us to go. This is I think really well stated in Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 12-4. Here we're going to see that following Jesus, it often requires us leaving behind old behaviors and the approval of others. But it's totally worth it. It's totally worth it for his blessings in this life and for what is to come. Hebrews 13:12, quote, "Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate." Verse 13, "Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come." Jesus sanctified the people with his own blood. He set us apart. Right? Here is yet another verse describing one of the effects of the blood of Jesus, and that is sanctification. And so he sanctified us by his blood. And he suffered. He endured pain. He endured suffering. He endured persecution. He did these things outside the gate. He did it outside of the city. Golgotha, he was put outside of the city. They did not crucify people inside of Jerusalem. He was brought outside. And then it says, "Therefore, let us, you and I, Christians, followers, disciples of Jesus Christ, let us go forth to him. Let us go out. Let us depart from where we are." and go to where he is right outside the camp bearing his reproach outside. It's beyond the boundaries. It's a place of exclusion. Let us leave where we are, the comforts of where we are, the scriptures say, and let us go to this place of exclusion outside the camp because that's where Christ is, right? Bearing his reproach, bearing his disgrace, his shame, his insult for a cause. So, here we see a scripture where Jesus went and sanctified us outside of the gate. He went outside the camp where he was crucified. And the writer of Hebrews so eloquently by the spirit says, "Let you and I go forth and join him outside the camp and let us bear the disgrace, the shame, and the insults that he caused." Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Because a servant isn't above his or her master. Right? So, here we are as servants of God submitting ourselves and bearing and taking on what our Lord has done. It says we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Are you willing to follow Jesus even when it makes you feel uncomfortable? Sanctification is becoming like Jesus. And it also involves standing with Jesus. It involves going outside the camp, right? Metaphorically involves going outside the gate and bearing his disgrace, his shame and the insults that come for a cause. Jesus suffered outside the gate, right? That's a place associated with rejection and with shame. And he sanctified us with his own blood. So sanctification, it changes more than just our behavior. It also changes our loyalties, our identity, what we value, right? There's a lot that's involved in sanctification. And as we become more like Jesus Christ, following him may cost us, you and me, some approval, some comfort, some relationships, even maybe we'll lose some acceptance from people who don't understand our choices. They don't know why we're seeking to be led by God's spirit. They'll say, "Isn't that just a myth, right? Isn't that just some kind of fantasy land? Like, what are you even doing?" But in your heart, you know that God is calling you. In your heart, you know that God is real. And you're submitting yourself, and you're reading the scriptures, and you're praying because you want to lay hold of this really powerful thing that's happening in your life, and you want more of it. And that, my friends, is what it means to be a Christian. It's such a beautiful thing that different nations and different genders and different skin colors and different people and young and old, they're all experiencing the same spirit and the same power and they're all want more of it and they're all Christians. That's when it's all said and done. What a powerful thing. Praise God. God bless you. You are my brother and sister in Christ. And you and I are a lot alike. In fact, you and I may be a lot more alike than many of our physical brothers and sisters that are in our families. And God bless you for that because we share the same spirit and we serve the same master. Praise God. And remember, the best is still to come. Philippians 1:6. If you're discouraged by how far you feel, you still have to go. And I know that feeling in the sanctification process, just remember who began the work in you. Philippians 1:6, quote, "Being confident in this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." We should be confident. We should be persuaded, convinced, assured that he, that is God, who has begun, who started or initiated a good work in us, will complete it. He's going to carry it through. He's going to finish it. He's going to bring it to completion. God is reliable and he's faithful for this. So, is God still at work in me? Even when I can't see enough progress, even though I don't feel like I'm going as fast and as far as I should, is God still working in me? Yeah, he's working in you. Remember, being unfinished is not the same as failed, right? Just because you and I aren't quite there yet doesn't mean we're not changing. It doesn't mean God isn't doing a fantastic work. Keep pressing closer to God. Keep obeying him as much as possible. Some days you will see real growth, real Christian growth. And other days you may only notice how far you have to go. But God does not give up on us. He doesn't give up on the work that he has started in his people. Jesus has made you his own. Right? The Holy Spirit is changing you from the inside out. And the father will keep working in you. This brings us to our final simple truth of the episode. Simple truth number 111. 111. God is not finished with you yet. If God hasn't given up on you, then you definitely shouldn't give up on yourself. Amen. So, when growth feels slow, what should you do next? Well, what should I do now? Okay. Through Jesus's sacrifice, I've been sanctified. That means I've been set apart to God, and he's transforming me towards my purpose, which is the sanctification process. I now know that I need to remember salvation is not one time but an ongoing process. So you may say, "Hey, I'm saved. Why am I still struggling?" You're being sanctified. Change that word struggling to sanctified. You're being converted. You're being changed. Second, draw near to God when I struggle instead of pulling away. Stop running away from God. Pull closer to God. Let him do the work. Let him do the cleansing. Let him do the washing. And the more that you draw closer to God through the five disciplines, the easier it becomes. Number three, trust that being unfinished doesn't mean God has stopped working, right? So, I will respond to God with faith and obedience. But if you're still struggling to believe, if you're really changing, what can you do about it this week? Well, we call this the Keep Walking with God 7-day challenge. Day one, if you want to try this out for the next seven days, name the struggle. Identify one area where you feel unfinished or stuck. An area where you know God is working in you or you want God to work in you and you just don't feel like you're making the progress that you like. Tell God the truth about that area. Don't hide it. Don't lie about it. Don't hide it. Expose it to God. Go to God in prayer. Make your requests known to God and talk about that area to him. Confess that area. Repent of your actions in that area and bring it closer to God. Days two through seven, draw near to God. Remember, drawing away from God gets you nothing. Drawing closer to God gets you everything. When that struggle shows up, come to God first. Don't run off to your friends. Don't try to soothe yourself with food or with television or with social media or with some other thing or with drugs or alcohol or whatever it may be. There's a long list of things that people use to soothe something. Don't soo it that way. Go to God first. Use the five disciplines to draw closer. Start reading God's word more. Meditate on God's word. Pray. Fast if appropriate. Follow the spirit's leading in that area. Pray to God. Say, "Father, you're still working in me. So help me to take the next obedient step as you transform me into Jesus's image." By the way, you're praying to God, his word about you. Read scriptures regarding it. Days 3 through seven, take the next step. Choose one simple act of obedience in that area each day. And if you fail, confess it. Receive God's mercy and keep walking with him. Remember, being unfinished doesn't mean you are unchanged. God bless you. I pray God bless you and keep you as he sanctifies you, as he sets you apart and he converts you and transform you for his will and for his good pleasure. And don't miss next episode because if God has already made you right with him, what does it mean to actually live right before God? we're going to talk about next episode righteousness. So, watch the video on the screen for more practical Bible teaching that answers the questions that you're asking and subscribe for more simple, biblical, and essential truth. [music]