Belief and Life Positional
Holiness and practical holiness
Evangelism and Social Action
Evangelism and discipleship
God�s sovereignty (election) and man�s freedom to choose
God�s great unfathomables and what we can KNOW Faith and good works Right wing and left wing on an airplane Inhaling and exhaling I. START w/ Ill of the old prospector; vary it to include the story of the hang glider. One of the first to lay eyes on the Grand Canyon; who later recorded in his diary: "Something big happened here. When people see us after we meet Christ, there should be this same sense that something big happened at salvation, because of the "new creation we are in Christ (2 Cor 5:17 P ). This doesn�t mean all will change in flashy, public ways; but "…Something BIG has…
A. But then we hear someone describing someone who says they believe in Jesus, they say they�re saved, but they don�t act like it. They are called "carnal Christians as someone who has made Jesus Savior, but not Lord. They say they�re saved and bound for heaven in spite of obvious and intentional sin in their life.
B. Doesn�t that demean the what Jesus won for us on Calvary and crucify the Son of God afresh (Heb 10:26-29 P , JB says a big motivator toward holiness is realizing our sin is against God-in Christ)?
C. Many times Paul is held up as our example as he describes his struggle in (Romans 7). But there is no definite reason this has to be interpreted as Paul�s struggle after conversion. It looks more like his struggle under pharisaic Judaism before He met Jesus (Damascus Rd).
D. The same guys says the war that goes on inside someone with sin�s controlling power (Romans 6) can be won by the power of God�s Spirit inside us, who comes into us at SALVATION, when we invite Christ into our lives. Something BIG has happened which we should never depreciate or underestimate.
1. The fact we are new creations and that salvation is big doesn�t mean all sin leaves us overnight when we invite Christ to be our only sin-forgiver. There will be a growing up in Christ, a maturing process that needs to happen until we die.
2. BUT when you open the door of your heart to Jesus and ask Him in to your life "something big happens that changes our life. The direction of our life and love changes from ourselves to Jesus. There will be DETOURS after we are Born Again, but the DIRECTION of our life, love and allegiance is consistently toward Christ.
E. So to speak of carnal (constantly sinning) Christians who have sin and selfishness still calling the shots, ruling them, who are still under the power of sin as Paul describes it in (Rom 1:1-7) and as (Heb 10:26-29).
1. Doesn�t the persistent, deliberate sinner make us wonder about the authenticity of his salvation? Were they serious with Him or just playing games? Does God know the difference?
2. "You�re judging! you might throw in. But is it I who is judging, or is it God�s Word is capable of dividing truth and error?
3. Another way to say briefly what I�m taking a lot of words to say is: practical holiness, a changed life, MUST flow out of positional holiness, receiving Christ�s invitation to forgive us, just like good works flow from authentic saving faith (Eph 2:8-10 P ; Tit 2:11-12, 14). Our belief in Jesus must change our lives.
II. There are many false dichotomies that we try to create that we don�t find in the Bible or in God�s heart and mind. Here are several:
A. Belief vs life. We can have a position of righteousness in Christ without practical righteousness i.e. holy living. Others…
B. Evangelism and social action; the big squabble in Christianity in the early part of the 20th century. The liberals accused conservatives of only caring about man�s soul. The conservatives accused the liberals of only caring about his material needs. BOTH are important to God.
There should be no conflict. He cares about both and so should we.
C. Evangelism and discipleship. When I was in seminary we had guys that said "church services should be for the believer. We should preach to the believer then challenge him to move out of the church and evangelize the lost. The evangelism camp said "No! Preach for salvation, design every service to reach the unbeliever. The answer is we need to reach both through worship.
1. Non-followers of Jesus can�t worship like followers, but they are here and need the message of salvation.
2. It�s a false dichotomy, on the same level as inhaling and exhaling, as valuing the right wing over the left wing on an airplane. How does that work out for you?
D. The false dichotomy of God�s sovereignty and man�s freedom to choose. Both are in Scripture. We see the mystery, majesty and unexplainable sovereignty of God in passages like (Isa 55:9-11, "We try to unscrew the inscrutable"-C Swindoll; Phil 4:7, "Now let me explain…"; Rom 8:26), but so many things we can KNOW in (Rom 8:22, 28, 38). Yet how many unnecessary arguments have their been between Christians because one group emphasizes God�s majesty, mystery, sovereignty, esp in election some to be saved, and the other emphasizes man�s freedom to choose, esp to choose or reject Christ.
E. There�s the false dichotomy of faith and works. What did James say about that (Jas 1:22, 2:14-19; 2:17 P )? The same thing Paul said about it (Eph 2:8-10 P ) that good deeds will always flow out of an authentic salvation experience, a saving relationship entered into when we first embrace Christ as our Savior. There�s no contradiction/competition between faith and works, but lots of unnecessary arguments about which is more important and can you have one without the other.
F. The same it true with practical holiness and positional holiness. Positional holiness is what we have when we accept Christ. God sees us as righteous only because of the blood of Jesus that has cleansed us from sin. We get His righteousness. Our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isa
1:18). But once that happens, something big happened here.
1. There will be practical holiness that flows out of our life as surely as a healthy apple tree that�s planted, fertilized, and watered in an environment just right for apples will bear…(corn cobs?). Yet that�s what so many say happens to the apple tree that�s growing in Christ, it will bear as many corn cobs (sins; horse apples) as it bears apples.
2. Where is that in the Bible? The Bible teaches that the good tree will bear good fruit and the bad tree will bear bad fruit. It doesn�t talk about the good tree bearing bad fruit i.e. the constantly sinning Christian.
III. So you ask. If I sin then that means I�m not a Christian and didn�t have a real salvation experience?
A. No, it may poor teaching. It may mean poor understanding on your part.
B. It may mean you are listening to your self more than the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our human nature still be pulled down by the temptations around us. You have to choose which voices you will obey. You have the ability, freedom to choose (Rom 6:12-14). We�re "free slaves"-oxymo.
C. But if I�m persisting in the same sin over and over, what does that mean? The Bible says (Heb 10:26-29). This is not the apple tree you want to be. This is the bad tree that bears bad fruit. This is giving sin a room (Lk 11:17).
IV. In the Bible, many X, we are expected to work out what God has worked in us by the power of His heart-cleansing Holy Spirit (Heb 10:16-17; Phil 2:12-13). We must APPLY the power the Holy Spirit gives us (tutor, front door ILLs.).
A. We have positional holiness in (Jn 15:4) and practical holiness in (vs 2-3). We have positional holiness in (Jn 17:21) and practical holiness in (Jn 17:23).
B. Positional in (Rom 8:1), practical in (Rom 8:2).
C. (I Jn 1:7; 2:1-2; 2 Cor 5:17; Rom 5:1, 5, 18-19).
D. Bishop Ryle�s QUO: "I doubt indeed, whether we have any warrant for saying that a man can possibly be converted without being consecrated to God…The Holy Spirit who creates within us saving faith also creates within us a desire for holiness. He does not create one without the other. JB�s QUO, that if we have no desire for practical holiness we likely have no positional holiness (pp. 32-34).
VII. Belief and life false dichotomy. In God�s mind (Jn 3:16) means "to believe in a way that changes your life. Faith has to show up in life.
Holiness and practical holiness
Evangelism and Social Action
Evangelism and discipleship
God�s sovereignty (election) and man�s freedom to choose
God�s great unfathomables and what we can KNOW Faith and good works Right wing and left wing on an airplane Inhaling and exhaling I. START w/ Ill of the old prospector; vary it to include the story of the hang glider. One of the first to lay eyes on the Grand Canyon; who later recorded in his diary: "Something big happened here. When people see us after we meet Christ, there should be this same sense that something big happened at salvation, because of the "new creation we are in Christ (2 Cor 5:17 P ). This doesn�t mean all will change in flashy, public ways; but "…Something BIG has…
A. But then we hear someone describing someone who says they believe in Jesus, they say they�re saved, but they don�t act like it. They are called "carnal Christians as someone who has made Jesus Savior, but not Lord. They say they�re saved and bound for heaven in spite of obvious and intentional sin in their life.
B. Doesn�t that demean the what Jesus won for us on Calvary and crucify the Son of God afresh (Heb 10:26-29 P , JB says a big motivator toward holiness is realizing our sin is against God-in Christ)?
C. Many times Paul is held up as our example as he describes his struggle in (Romans 7). But there is no definite reason this has to be interpreted as Paul�s struggle after conversion. It looks more like his struggle under pharisaic Judaism before He met Jesus (Damascus Rd).
D. The same guys says the war that goes on inside someone with sin�s controlling power (Romans 6) can be won by the power of God�s Spirit inside us, who comes into us at SALVATION, when we invite Christ into our lives. Something BIG has happened which we should never depreciate or underestimate.
1. The fact we are new creations and that salvation is big doesn�t mean all sin leaves us overnight when we invite Christ to be our only sin-forgiver. There will be a growing up in Christ, a maturing process that needs to happen until we die.
2. BUT when you open the door of your heart to Jesus and ask Him in to your life "something big happens that changes our life. The direction of our life and love changes from ourselves to Jesus. There will be DETOURS after we are Born Again, but the DIRECTION of our life, love and allegiance is consistently toward Christ.
E. So to speak of carnal (constantly sinning) Christians who have sin and selfishness still calling the shots, ruling them, who are still under the power of sin as Paul describes it in (Rom 1:1-7) and as (Heb 10:26-29).
1. Doesn�t the persistent, deliberate sinner make us wonder about the authenticity of his salvation? Were they serious with Him or just playing games? Does God know the difference?
2. "You�re judging! you might throw in. But is it I who is judging, or is it God�s Word is capable of dividing truth and error?
3. Another way to say briefly what I�m taking a lot of words to say is: practical holiness, a changed life, MUST flow out of positional holiness, receiving Christ�s invitation to forgive us, just like good works flow from authentic saving faith (Eph 2:8-10 P ; Tit 2:11-12, 14). Our belief in Jesus must change our lives.
II. There are many false dichotomies that we try to create that we don�t find in the Bible or in God�s heart and mind. Here are several:
A. Belief vs life. We can have a position of righteousness in Christ without practical righteousness i.e. holy living. Others…
B. Evangelism and social action; the big squabble in Christianity in the early part of the 20th century. The liberals accused conservatives of only caring about man�s soul. The conservatives accused the liberals of only caring about his material needs. BOTH are important to God.
There should be no conflict. He cares about both and so should we.
C. Evangelism and discipleship. When I was in seminary we had guys that said "church services should be for the believer. We should preach to the believer then challenge him to move out of the church and evangelize the lost. The evangelism camp said "No! Preach for salvation, design every service to reach the unbeliever. The answer is we need to reach both through worship.
1. Non-followers of Jesus can�t worship like followers, but they are here and need the message of salvation.
2. It�s a false dichotomy, on the same level as inhaling and exhaling, as valuing the right wing over the left wing on an airplane. How does that work out for you?
D. The false dichotomy of God�s sovereignty and man�s freedom to choose. Both are in Scripture. We see the mystery, majesty and unexplainable sovereignty of God in passages like (Isa 55:9-11, "We try to unscrew the inscrutable"-C Swindoll; Phil 4:7, "Now let me explain…"; Rom 8:26), but so many things we can KNOW in (Rom 8:22, 28, 38). Yet how many unnecessary arguments have their been between Christians because one group emphasizes God�s majesty, mystery, sovereignty, esp in election some to be saved, and the other emphasizes man�s freedom to choose, esp to choose or reject Christ.
E. There�s the false dichotomy of faith and works. What did James say about that (Jas 1:22, 2:14-19; 2:17 P )? The same thing Paul said about it (Eph 2:8-10 P ) that good deeds will always flow out of an authentic salvation experience, a saving relationship entered into when we first embrace Christ as our Savior. There�s no contradiction/competition between faith and works, but lots of unnecessary arguments about which is more important and can you have one without the other.
F. The same it true with practical holiness and positional holiness. Positional holiness is what we have when we accept Christ. God sees us as righteous only because of the blood of Jesus that has cleansed us from sin. We get His righteousness. Our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isa
1:18). But once that happens, something big happened here.
1. There will be practical holiness that flows out of our life as surely as a healthy apple tree that�s planted, fertilized, and watered in an environment just right for apples will bear…(corn cobs?). Yet that�s what so many say happens to the apple tree that�s growing in Christ, it will bear as many corn cobs (sins; horse apples) as it bears apples.
2. Where is that in the Bible? The Bible teaches that the good tree will bear good fruit and the bad tree will bear bad fruit. It doesn�t talk about the good tree bearing bad fruit i.e. the constantly sinning Christian.
III. So you ask. If I sin then that means I�m not a Christian and didn�t have a real salvation experience?
A. No, it may poor teaching. It may mean poor understanding on your part.
B. It may mean you are listening to your self more than the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our human nature still be pulled down by the temptations around us. You have to choose which voices you will obey. You have the ability, freedom to choose (Rom 6:12-14). We�re "free slaves"-oxymo.
C. But if I�m persisting in the same sin over and over, what does that mean? The Bible says (Heb 10:26-29). This is not the apple tree you want to be. This is the bad tree that bears bad fruit. This is giving sin a room (Lk 11:17).
IV. In the Bible, many X, we are expected to work out what God has worked in us by the power of His heart-cleansing Holy Spirit (Heb 10:16-17; Phil 2:12-13). We must APPLY the power the Holy Spirit gives us (tutor, front door ILLs.).
A. We have positional holiness in (Jn 15:4) and practical holiness in (vs 2-3). We have positional holiness in (Jn 17:21) and practical holiness in (Jn 17:23).
B. Positional in (Rom 8:1), practical in (Rom 8:2).
C. (I Jn 1:7; 2:1-2; 2 Cor 5:17; Rom 5:1, 5, 18-19).
D. Bishop Ryle�s QUO: "I doubt indeed, whether we have any warrant for saying that a man can possibly be converted without being consecrated to God…The Holy Spirit who creates within us saving faith also creates within us a desire for holiness. He does not create one without the other. JB�s QUO, that if we have no desire for practical holiness we likely have no positional holiness (pp. 32-34).
VII. Belief and life false dichotomy. In God�s mind (Jn 3:16) means "to believe in a way that changes your life. Faith has to show up in life.
4/13/08 AM
Service
Pursuit of Holiness
"Something BIG Happened Here
(Romans 6; Titus 2:11-15)
Pastor Rick Sams
Pursuit of Holiness
"Something BIG Happened Here
(Romans 6; Titus 2:11-15)
Pastor Rick Sams
BIG IDEA: We must
celebrate and see that "Something BIG happened at salvation (positional
righteousness) to deliver us from sin.
