LEARNING DAILY

 

John 17:17-19, “Sanctifying them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.” Jesus

 

I often jot down notes or make copies of “short” things I read. Too often I forget to write down who said or who wrote it. This morning I came across one of those writings. I am going to put in quotation marks comments taken from the copy of this article.

 

God’s Word stresses that to enter heaven we need to live a holy, righteous life that is free from sin. Because God is holy and cannot look upon sin that has always been His standard for anyone who follows after Him. All of us fall short of that standard. Because of that, He provided away for the forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of animals sacrificed (Old Testament). Our salvation today is through the shed blood of the perfect, sinless Lamb Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

 

“Salvation is a three-step process; it includes justification, sanctification, and glorification.” “Justification is a one-time act which starts our Christian life. When we give our lives to Christ, He cleanses us through the blood of grace. He makes us pure, fit for eternity.” This is the requirement that allows each of us to walk on the narrow way to eternal life in God’s kingdom; it begins the moment we are justified (just as if I had never sinned).

 

The second step is the focus of this page of the blog – sanctification. “Sanctification takes a lifetime as God gradually changes us into the image of His Son. We don’t become divine in any way, but God subdues our fallen nature so that His nature may shine through us.” When Jesus prayed that the Father would “sanctify” us by His truth, He meant to make us “holy, to separate us from those who had not accepted the truth of Jesus, from the world. His followers are to be separated from the world and sin for the purpose of worshipping and serving God” (LSSB). Believers must be separate from the world in order to live for Him and become like Him. This must be in order to get us ready to live in eternity in God’s kingdom. “Sanctification comes as we draw closer to Christ.” It is accomplished by our devotion to truth revealed by the Spirit of truth (John 16:13), the Holy Spirit. Truth is both the living Word of God (how John 1:1 describes Jesus) and the reading/study of God’s written Word. We are “linked to Jesus Christ through His Word, prayer, and worship. As we apply these disciplines, we appropriate more of His grace and His fruit becomes more evident in our lives.” This is a process – a lifelong process – which “requires a partnership between us and God. Sanctification, on one hand, is God’s work, as all salvation is; on the other hand, we run the race, press on toward the goal, struggle against sin, and work out our salvation with fear and trembling”. That is walking each day on the narrow way that Jesus said would be difficult.

 

Today and every day, walk the narrow way with Him, drawing near to Him. Spend time with Him. Walk with Him in the faith you have. Worship, pray, read/study His Word. As you do, you will see His blessings and know the work He is doing in you as He sanctifies you by His truth!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.