Beliefs of Our Faith Community Part 4
Last couple of weeks we’ve been studying the doctrine of our faith community.
Doctrine represents our understanding of the Bible.
It guides us and safeguards us from falling into error.
Now last time we discovered that humanity’s problem is sin.
No matter how you reframe it, all the misery and suffering in this world can
be traced back to one act of infidelity.
We learned that God is both just and loving.
He has intervened in human affairs to provide for us an atonement for
our sin.
Making it possible for there to be a reconciliation.
We spoke of Prevenient grace,
the grace that leads us to righteousness,
to that reconciliation.
Finally we considered repentance.
Owning our behavior and asking God for mercy and forgiveness,
With a desire to turn away for ever anything that deters,
damages or destroys right relationships is what
repentance is all about.
Today we will come to an understanding of what happens when you repent,
That will be article 9 Justification, Regeneration and adoption,
Or the grace that saves us.
Then we’ll move on to the grace that transforms us as we
explore our doctrine of entire sanctification,
Article 10.
By the end of our session you should be able to plot your position on a spiritual
formation map.
Figuring out where you are in your growth as a disciple
Helps you understand the challenges that face you
In you continuing transformation into the likeness of
Christ.
In living your life to the full.
We are going to take article nine one section at a time.
IX. Justification, Regeneration, and Adoption
9. We believe that justification is the gracious and judicial act of God by which He grants full pardon of all guilt and complete release from the penalty of sins committed, and acceptance as righteous, to all who believe on Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior.
Justification as a theological term means pardon which results in a
reconciliation.
Prevenient grace brings a person to the point of true repentance.
That true repentance includes
God revealing to you that you are the guilty party.
Your response is taking responsibility for your actions.
Desiring to turn from sinful ways.
Seeking God for mercy and forgiveness.
We have an understanding of the good news of the gospel:
1 Peter 3:18 (MSG)
That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.
God the Holy Spirit empowers us to have faith.
Faith is belief that motivates action.
In this instant that action is to ask God to pardon you on
account of the atonement God the Son made.
Some how in the church today we’ve gotten confused about this.
We say things like: I accepted Christ as my savior.
As if it was us picking up a bargain at our favorite store.
What we should be begging for is:
God accept me.
When God does recognize your faith,
He is merciful to you not giving you what you deserve,
But forgives your sin, original and actual,
And thus makes it possible for Him to reconcile you to
Himself.
That’s Justification.
God forgives.
10. We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, is that gracious work of God whereby the moral nature of the repentant believer is spiritually quickened and given a distinctively spiritual life, capable of faith, love, and obedience.
In that instant of acceptance God the Holy Spirit enables an incredible supernatural
Transformation that we call regeneration.
Think of it like this:
Generation occurred when God created humankind.
Created in the image of God, righteous we enjoyed
fellowship with the Trinity.
Man chose to leave that relationship,
That sin was degeneration.
God had warned Man, the day you eat of this fruit
you will die.
The death was a spiritual death.
Man was cut off from the source of life.
Regeneration is that radical change that makes you spiritually
alive.
We call it being born anew.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (MSG)
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!
Regeneration endows us with spiritual senses and we now can
understand and discern God, His will, and His way.
He speaks we listen, He guides we follow.
We now are empowered to live the resurrection
life.
Regeneration
Is God making us spiritually alive
11. We believe that adoption is that gracious act of God by which the justified and regenerated believer is constituted a son of God.
In that instant of God’s acceptance of your faith,
Remember God supplies all the resources you need to appropriate the
benefits of the atonement, it is you choice to place you faith in
the gospel.
In that moment you chose to act on your belief
God justifies you,
Pardoning your sin.
God Regenerates you,
Making you spiritually alive
And God adopts you,
Making you His own.
This making you His own, this reconciliation,
Is symbolized in an adoption metaphor.
Romans 8:15-16 (MSG)
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.
Adoption
Is God making you His own
Together Justification, Regeneration and adoption means God has reconciled you
to Himself.
You have become His child
12. We believe that justification, regeneration, and adoption are simultaneous in the experience of seekers after God and are obtained upon the condition of faith, preceded by repentance; and that to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.
(Luke 18:14; John 1:12-13; 3:3-8; 5:24; Acts 13:39; Romans 1:17; 3:21-26, 28; 4:5-9, 17-25; 5:1, 16-19; 6:4; 7:6; 8:1, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Galatians 2:16-21; 3:1-14, 26; 4:4-7; Ephesians 1:6-7; 2:1, 4-5; Philippians 3:3-9; Colossians 2:13; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 1:9; 3:1-2, 9; 4:7; 5:1, 9-13, 18)
Justification, regeneration, and adoption
Happens in the instant that God accepts your faith.
Once you were condemned now you are forgiven
Once you were dead, but now you are alive.
Once you were an alien now you are family.
Our doctrine also says that you can know that you are now a child of God by the
witness of the Spirit.
This witness of Justification, regeneration, and adoption comes from God
the Holy Spirit, it has two parts.
The first part is subjective,
You know, you feel, you are convinced,
That God has made you spiritually alive.
The second part is objective.
You change from following the dictates of your old lifestyle,
To following Christ.
As you follow Jesus, the fruit of the spirit begins to
become part of who you are, how you live your life,
your character.
Galatians 5:22-23 (MSG)
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Thus the witness of the Spirit assures us that we are saved,
And by saved I mean standing in and living out,
existing in a right relationship with God.
We know God’s approval is upon us.
What I want you to see is God motivated by love, reaching out to you.
You are his beloved creation,
yet you are trapped in the human sin predicament
Estranged, going your own way,
moving further and further from God.
To draw you back requires God to make atonement for you,
You can’t do it yourself, you don’t even have knowledge of the need,
All you have is the pain.
Then God calls you to Himself,
That calling is Prevenient grace,
The grace that awakens you, revealing the deadly situation of
sin to you and then moves you towards true repentance.
God has provided you a way out.
God has done everything that needs to be done in order for you to
establish a right relationship with Him.
But ultimately you must decide that this is what you
want.
God puts the cup of living water to your lips,
But you have to drink it.
When you drink justification, regeneration and adoption
occur and you find yourself reconciled to God.
Before we move on to article 10 concerning Entire Sanctification,
We need to know something of sanctification in general.
The best way to understand sanctification is realizing that it is the Holy
Spirit’s power working within us to conform us into the likeness of
Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
And we, … are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Sanctifying grace is the power that transforms us.
When we spoke of regeneration, you might think that it occurs in that instant and
that’s it, but regeneration continues.
If you think of regeneration as initial sanctification you have a better
understanding.
In the act Regeneration the Holy Spirit empowers you with
sanctifying grace, the power to transform,
power to put to death your old lifestyle lived in
ignorance.
And power to put on your new lifestyle lived
in the light and knowledge of Jesus.
So when God accepts you, justifying, regenerating, adopting,
He also empowers you to become like Jesus.
That empowerment is called sanctification.
Now to our teaching concerning Entire Sanctification.
Sometimes referred to as the distinguishing doctrine of our faith community.
It definitely creates the holiness branch of faith communities on that
family tree of Christian beliefs.
The Article is divided into two sections, we’ll consider them one at a time
X. Entire Sanctification
13. We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.
It is wrought by the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service.
Entire sanctification is provided by the blood of Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by faith, preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.
This experience is also known by various terms representing its different phases, such as "Christian perfection," "perfect love," "heart purity," "the baptism with the Holy Spirit," "the fullness of the blessing," and "Christian holiness."
Have you heard of those terms before?
"Christian perfection,"
"perfect love,"
"heart purity,"
"the baptism with the Holy Spirit,"
"the fullness of the blessing," and
"Christian holiness."
Or maybe you grew up in a more liturgical setting and you’ve heard of
confirmation.
Or you became familiar of this concept through another faith community as
total dedication or complete consecration to God.
Regardless of the name
it becomes self-evident in the life of a believer that having
been accepted of God and experienced
Justification, regeneration and adoption
that there is a tug of war going on within us.
The Apostle Paul put it this way:
Galatians 5:17 (NIV)
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Ending this tug of war is what entire sanctification is all about.
“In Justification we are delivered from the past or guilt of sin.
Simultaneously, in regeneration we are delivered from the power of sin.”
Recall regeneration included initial sanctification that empowers us to
change to say no to sin and yes to God.
In entire sanctification we are delivered from the pollution of sin.”
(Leonard, Articles of Faith, p. 60)
And the pollution of sin is the sin nature.
The writers of these articles have equated original sin with the
sin nature.
You know that I have taught that they are separate
and distinct.
The sin nature is egoism, the self centered upon the self.
It is that propensity, that attitude, that desire within us to
be the supreme authority of our own lives.
Under the influence of egoism we do what we want,
when we want, regardless of how it effects anyone else.
When you experience justification, regeneration and adoption,
You are set free from being a slave of egoism.
Its strangle hold on you is broken.
But egoism, the sin nature, still remains, urging you maintain control
and not submit fully to Ruach, God the Holy Spirit.
“At conversion we are indwelt with Ruach,
but we must be filled with the Holy Spirit so that Christ may truly indwell
us.”
(Leonard, Articles of Faith, p. 62)
When you come to this level of awareness in your spiritual journey God has a
second blessing to bestow upon you.
The one of the benefits of the atonement is deliverance from all sin.
So it should not be surprising that God has grace to give his children to put
to death egoism,
that spirit of self sovereignty,
and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Egoism is not a thing, it is an attitude, a disposition of the heart and God can
rectify that propensity—what you are prone to do.
Rectify by the way means to make right, to remedy, to correct.
A rectification of egoism changes one from being self
focused to being Christ focused.
A rectification of egoism results in your desire to do the will of
God 24/7.
The law of love becomes the law you are free to
live by.
Ezekiel 11:19-20 (NIV)
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
An undivided heart is one in which this tug of war between egoism and the Spirit
has ended.
Do you believe that:
1. God requires you to live a holy life.
2. That what God requires He can do.
3. And that what God can do, He can do now?
Lets see how the scripture answers these questions:
1 Peter 1:14-16 (NIV)
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
God requires all His children to be holy as He is holy.
Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV)
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
God can do in you what He requires of you.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
What God requires, and what God can do,
He will do it now in you.
Believing these truths you can cry out to God:
Psalms 51:10 (KJV)
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Believing it is God’s command to live a holy life
Believing what God commands He empowers us to do
Believing what God commands and empowers He can do now.
You ask for this blessing and you wait upon the Lord.
Its not an idle wait.
It is a wait, that means service,
service motivated by love.
It is a wait that includes putting to death a life style of egoism.
Our elders called this mortification.
It is a wait that included dedicating every area of your life to God for his
purposes.
Our elders called that consecration.
As you serve, mortify, and consecrate,
God rectifies you heart
You know that you have been filled by the Holy Spirit
when instead of an attitude of egoism,
there is the attitude of Christ, Not My Will But Thine,
motivating all that you do.
Entire sanctification is the act of God in the life of the believer that changes
the sin nature’s self centered conceit into the mind that was in Christ
Jesus.
We call this blessing entire sanctification.
Now we need to move on to the second part of our doctrine of entire sanctification.
14. We believe that there is a marked distinction between a pure heart and a mature character. The former is obtained in an instant, the result of entire sanctification; the latter is the result of growth in grace.
We believe that the grace of entire sanctification includes the impulse to grow in grace. However, this impulse must be consciously nurtured, and careful attention given to the requisites and processes of spiritual development and improvement in Christlikeness of character and personality. Without such purposeful endeavor one’s witness may be impaired and the grace itself frustrated and ultimately lost.
(Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Malachi 3:2-3; Matthew 3:11-12; Luke 3:16-17; John 7:37-39; 14:15-23; 17:6-20; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 15:8-9; Romans 6:11-13, 19; 8:1-4, 8-14; 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; Galatians 2:20; 5:16-25; Ephesians 3:14-21; 5:17-18, 25-27; Philippians 3:10-15; Colossians 3:1-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 4:9-11; 10:10-17; 12:1-2; 13:12; 1 John 1:7, 9)
("Christian perfection," "perfect love": Deuteronomy 30:6; Matthew 5:43-48; 22:37-40; Romans 12:9-21; 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 13; Philippians 3:10-15; Hebrews 6:1; 1 John 4:17-18
"Heart purity": Matthew 5:8; Acts 15:8-9; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:3
"Baptism with the Holy Spirit": Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Malachi 3:2-3; Matthew 3:11-12; Luke 3:16-17; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 15:8-9
"Fullness of the blessing": Romans 15:29
"Christian holiness": Matthew 5:1-7:29; John 15:1-11; Romans 12:1-15:3; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:17-5:20; Philippians 1:9-11; 3:12-15; Colossians 2:20-3:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 4:7-8; 5:23; 2 Timothy 2:19-22; Hebrews 10:19-25; 12:14; 13:20-21; 1 Peter 1:15-16; 2 Peter 1:1-11; 3:18; Jude 20-21)
What this portion of our doctrinal beliefs tells us that once we have experienced
entire sanctification we are ready to tackle the adult challenges of
discipleship.
Far from being an arrival at some spiritual plateau,
Entire sanctification empowers you to true discipleship
Those adult challenges of true discipleship,
include overcoming our habits, attachments and addictions
that were formed when we lived apart from God.
Those adult challenges of true discipleship,
include recovery and healing from the sins that have been inflicted
upon us.
Your issues do not go away, but now you have power to bring
resolution and healing to those issues
Those adult challenges of true discipleship,
include learning God’s purpose for your life,
The ministry that He calls you to.
Those adult challenges of true discipleship,
include maturing in your faith,
Changing the way you do life,
Living a devout and holy life.
Those words entire and perfection have really confused a lot of people.
By such terms what is meant is not flawless in performance,
But rather fulfilling the purpose for which you have been created.
We are not talking about sinless perfection.
We are talking about becoming more like the Son of God.
As the Spirit has empowered you.
Once you have received God’s second blessing of a heart rectification you are now
ready for adult like discipleship.
OK we need to sum up before you pass out.
There is so much here to wrap your head around.
So much to experience for your self.
Doctrine is as only as good as you experience as a part of who
you are, guiding how you live your life.
One of the dangers in teaching is believing that once you understand
something you’ve experienced it.
Don ‘t fall into that trap.
It is more important that you experience justification and
sanctification than you know any teaching about them.
Over the past two Sundays we have built a spiritual road map of sorts.
Spiritual formation is all about Christ becoming fully formed in you.
Can you find where you are on this map?