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Ron Bailey

"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit".

Wow, such great input and sharing. How blessed it is to see that we have all been struggling and God is slowly but surely putting pieces together for us so that we can see just a bit more as we travel down this narrow way together. Praise the Lord for each of you.

Perhaps we should look at what the word "sanctify" means. It means "to render". Now all we need do is clarify what "to render" means, and we've got it, right? 8-)

God renders or declares us set apart, holy, pure, and righteous through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. From the moment we are born again, I believe this to be so. Otherwise, how could we come boldly to the throne of grace, even as a new christian? We have not our own holiness, righteousness, purity and sanctity. We have what is imputed to us by the finished work of Jesus Christ. God renders or declares, and therefore we are.
Every thing we do in our physically awakened state is tainted by flesh. It is very difficult to walk free of selfishness in whatever form. As someone has already said, it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that we are able to walk in obedience at all. God will let us flounder in our own recipe or formula for holiness and sanctification. To be successful, God has to place in us both the will and the desire to do His good pleasure. We know from what Paul wrote to the Phillipians that this is exactly what God does. Anyone who has had any success in this area, knows that this is so. Our struggles leave us worn out. our faith leaves us rested. Rested from what? The works of our religious flesh to try and bring about holiness and sanctification, thus finding favor with God. It just does not work. We either get it by faith, or we don't get it.

Grace, as unmerited as it is must have the cooperation of the one it is bestowed upon. We cooperate with and are obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the fountain of grace, obeying His voice and not the letter of the law. For the letter brings forth death, following after the flesh, while the Spirit brings for life, following after the Spirit. Does that make sense? Maybe someone can say it better than I can. Sigh.
The bible says without faith, it is impossible to please God. Anything that is not of faith, is sin. So here again, we must lean on God with our whole hearts and not trust in our own understanding. God said I am sanctified, therefore I am.
Then.................we began to look at the process of maturing and we began to allow God to move through us to bring forth death to the deeds of the flesh and conformity to the will of the Spirit. Not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter in, but he/she that doeth the will of the Father. Do we ever achieve perfection? I do not believe this to be so, other wise God's grace is not any longer sufficient. If we could have our flesh perfected, we would not need grace. Thank God grace is sufficient. License to sin? Nope. But it does cover all the warts, by faith. If any part is not covered, nothing is covered. It's all covered and all finished.
But as we go through this maturity process of subduing and putting our flesh to death by faith in the cross, we become more and more Christlike. If we think we can walk double minded, spiritual one day and carnal the next, we need not think we will receive anything from God.
I'm currently reading a book by Andrew Murray on the Blood of Jesus. It is totally awesome and really addresses all of this.
I've got to be going, but I am really looking forward to reading more about what you all have to say. God bless you and keep you.

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Ron Bailey

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Mike Compton

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Mike Compton

I hear you Brothers Mike and Lahry,

I hear that what you speak of is the finished work of Christ. And I say Yes to all that you say in terms of the fact that Christ's blood is sufficient. Paul tells the Corinthians that they have been given everything in Christ. All knowledge all wisdom, all gifts come from Christ and were received by the Corinthians. This is the fact that I see Brother Lahry expressing in his thoughts that he has shared. Brother Ron also expresses this same precept. And it is the truth according to Scripture.

Yet, having been given all things pretaining to Christ, Paul declares that they do not know the things of the Spirit. This is where I am focusing on. I am trying to progress from the definition of what salvation means to those who have been given the free gift of Christ just like the Corinthians have been given. The Scriptures declare that all things are available to those who have entered into a relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit.

My question, the believers have the Holy Spirit, and yet do not understand the things of the Spirit. They continue to follow the carnal mind. This is their problem. Paul points this out to them. This is the point where Paul begins to explain the Corinthians failures. This is also the point of our discussion concerning sanctification.

Sanctification by the Spirit, the Corinthians didn't know.

In Christ
Jeff

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Jeff Marshalek

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Mike Compton

Thayers Lexicon

Sanctify - (hagiazo) I don't write greek, but this is the definition for the word used in the NT as "sanctify" Stongs #37

Render or declare sacred or holy, consecrate.

Other biblical uses:

1) to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow


2) to separate from profane things and dedicate to God

a) consecrate things to God

b) dedicate people to God

3) to purify

a) to cleanse externally

b) to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin

c) to purify internally by renewing of the soul

Brother Mike,

I am sorry for maybe the sense of how I have communicated my thoughts with too much passion and not enough clarity. I will endeavor to ask this question in a different sense.

Again as I have stated before, Paul decerned first, that the Corinthians were not a spiritual people. Secondly, Paul identified that because the Corinthians remain following their carnal minds they are suffering from the state in which they choose to remain. Sin is still manifesting itself in them. Do you see this correlation?

This illustration given to us by Paul about the problems of the Corinthians demonstrates what Paul teaches in Romans 8:

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

So Paul identifies the two paths a believer may follow. Paul also discerns that the Galatians stumble in the same way.

Gal. 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Paul is trying to teach these believers about the nature of our relationship with the Lord. I believe that there are many today who live under the same situation that Paul identifies in the Corinthians and the Galatians.

Sister Diane (roadsign) speaks of living as a believer who lived according to the flesh. Only through the work of God did she come to understand the things of the Spirit.

There are many thoughts to consider here. As this thread points to the promises that God would make sufficient provisions for His people to overcome sin. This promise cannot be diluted with the doctrines of today. What do we not see that Scripture points to? Do we really want to go deeper into this discussion or do we remain, regurgitating the thoughts of theologians.

In Christ
Jeff

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Jeff Marshalek