Sanctification, pt. 2

Romans 6:11-23

This summer I've been on flowerbed duty.  I'm not much of a greenthumb, but I've learned a lot.  And I'm amazed by flowers...because I don't know how something so clean and so beautiful can come out of dirt.

        That's God's goal for us as believers, that others would see our lives and wonder how something clean and desirous could be raised up out of this dust ball of curses and sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
⁹ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
¹⁰ Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
¹¹ And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
 

Adam was made of dirt.  God can make beautiful things out of dirt.  We were once stained with the dirt and filth of sin, and it was dragging us to hell.  But we turned to Christ by faith and were cleansed by His blood.  It starts as an inside job, justification, and then it works its way out by the ongoing process of sanctification.

ill.--flipping houses can be profitable.  You buy a heap of junk and then fix it up.  The purchase happens on one specific day w/ a signature on a line, but over time you work on it and it comes forth a vessel for the finer.

Ye are bought with a price [justification] ... now glorify God w/ your body and your spirit [sanctification]

Our passage has 3 key words to understand:  Know, Reckon, Yield.

Know=There is something I must understand.

Reckon=There is something I must underscore.

Yield=There is something I must undertake.

vv. 1-10 last week we covered the word Know.  We must know that we are dead to sin.  We are identified w/ Christ and we need to notify our spirit that we are now plugged into a new power source that will give us victory if we want it.  If we don't enjoy a life of victory it is not God's fault but ours.

We are more than conquerors thru Him that loved us.  We can do all things thru Christ who strengthens us.

ill.--in John 11 Jesus raised Lazarus after 4 days of death.  Then He said, loose him and let him go.  He was bound in the old graveclothes.  In chapter 12 we see Lazarus eating and fellowshipping w/ Jesus.  Too many Christians are still bound up somewhere inbetween chapters 11 and 12.  They have been justified, saved and raised to walk in newness of life, but they are still bound by the old graveclothes of the past life.  Get out of the graveclothes and put on the graceclothes and walk in the new life you have been given!

ill.--decapitated chicken runs around.  Is it dead or alive?  It is dead, but it just doesn't know it yet!

Know - there is something I must understand.

Reckon - there is something I must underscore.

v. 11        Assuming I really have been granted victory, how can I apply that in shoe leather, in every day life?  Get a hold of this word, reckon.  Not the southern meaning, but the Biblical meaning.

Reckon =to impute, to put to one's account, to chalk it up.  It is an accounting term.

Romans 4:3
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

'Counted' is the same word as Reckon.  Abraham believed and God put righteousness into his account.  To reckon is to 'take it to the bank.'  Deposit this truth in your account.  It is not enough to just understand it, you must underscore it.  Make it stand out, write it on the bottom line in bold print.  Move it from your head to your heart!

ill.--if you owed a thousand dollars to different people around town, 50 here, 100 there, and your account is sitting on zero.  Imagine somebody who loves you comes along and deposits $1,000 into your account.  Question:  is just knowing the money is in your account enough?  No, it does you no good until you start writing checks on it.

To reckon is to bank on it!  So, knowing we can and should leave the life of sin is not enough.  It is when we reckon that we actually turn and walk away...we take action!

It's not based on how we feel.  You may not feel saved or sanctified.  You may not feel like you've been crucified w/ Christ and have His power within you.  But when you reckon it to be true you just act on it.

ill.--you have an important morning meeting at work at 8 AM, and your job depends on you being there.  Your alarm goes off at 6:30 and you can't believe it is that time already, you feel like you just dozed off.  It feels like 3 AM!  What do you do?  Do you say, since it feels like 3 I'm gonna roll back over or do you just get up like you are supposed to do?  I reckon you ought to get up regardless of how you feel, because of what you know in both your head and your heart.  You know the clock is right whether you feel like it or not, and you can take it to the bank that if you don't you won't have anything to take to the bank!

Know - there is something I must understand.

Reckon - there is something I must underscore.

Yield - there is something I must undertake.

vv. 12-13         This passage goes on to mention the word 'yield' 5 times.

First Paul tells us how to yield, and then why we should yield.

How to yield...

To present.  To place yourself at the disposal of another.

When you yield at an intersection you are saying to another - you first!

v. 13 - 'members' means parts of your body.

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

The eye is the most complex creation of God in our bodies.  It goes way beyond HD technology.  It is one of our members.  It is an instrument - of either good or evil.  We can use it for God's glory or for the muck of fleshly desires.

Our ears can be instruments for good or evil.  It is a gate thru which we pass information to our brains.  So be careful little ears what you hear.  You know what you get when you play country music backward?  Your wife back, your dog back, your truck back!

Our hands can grasp things, but what will we use them to pick up?

We must have a daily yielding, a daily presentation, an offering of our bodies to God. Every day we yield to many other things, we might as well add God to the top of the list.

What if we yielded our tongues to the Lord, for His use, to share the gospel and encourage one another, rather than for gossip, complaining, cursing, and lies.

Why should we yield? ...

1.     God's favor.

vv. 14-15         After He died for us, it is the least we can do to live for Him!

2.     God's freedom.

vv. 16-20         Master/Servant.  Whatever you yield to becomes your master.  Be a slave of sin or serve God, who gives freedom!  The taskmaster of sin is cruel.

ill.--the prodigal wanted freedom from his father, but wound up in much deeper servitude to awful things.

We are fools for Christ's sake.  Whose fool are you?

v. 19        If only we served Jesus w/ the same enthusiasm as we once served the world. 

ill.--strong willed child can be turned and use that strong will for the Lord and be head strong for Jesus!  If we can channel them in the right direction they can become rebellious toward the devil as they once were toward you!

3.     God's fruit.

v. 21-23           When you serve a master you receive wages.  Satan is a master and the wages of sin is death.  God is a master and the wages of holiness are joy, peace, and good fruit!