Who is Helping You Live the Sanctified Life?

it is a good reminder that there are two things that are needed in order for discipleship to be effect successful and if these are not things that other people can bring about for you these are things that God can bring about in you but they are two things that you need if you want to be effective and being discipled by someone else number one the desire to go deeper and to be disciplined if you want to be a disciple you have to have that desire to

want to go deep urgent and being disciple the number two the willing will change and to want to change now when someone when we become a Christian and ask Jesus another word repent or repentance repentance is an army term and it means that we’re moving in One Direction and living one way and then Earth and an army you know we’re Marching In One Direction and then we do it about face and we begin moving in the other direction now we cannot accept Christ and what his

discipleship but keep walking in the same direction of our old life or keep trying to live both lives now these are these are two things okay the desire to go deeper and to be discipled and the willingness to change and to want to change these are two things that we cannot put into someone each person has to have these things already in order for discipleship to really work and be successful so this morning if you are struggling with you want to be discipled by God but

you’re having a hard time moving in that direction I would just ask you to begin to pray for God to bring about these two things in your life a second and quick clarification from last week when it comes to finding someone to disciple you wisdom says if you’re a guy find a guy to disciple you if you’re a girl find a girl to disciple you of the same gender of the person that you’re discipling okay when seeking out being discipled by someone else or discipling someone

else it’s just a smart thing to consider now today we’re going to focus on the second part of a healthy Lake the lake itself or this this side to side component of discipleship the second part of a healthy Lake is the lake with the pockets of the lake it’s the water that makes up the lake and therefore it brings us to our second question who is side by side with you helping you live the holy and Sanctified life or who is keeping you accountable now I

need to explain both of these concepts for you I need to explain a holy and a Sanctified life I also need to explain accountability to you but I but think with me for a moment first about this concept of accountability from a worldly perspective so what happens when say someone breaks the law and let’s just say murder someone what do we hope will happen to the person who commits murder I think we would hope that this person would not get away with it so that they’re

out there possibly being able to murder somebody again but that rather this person would actually maybe be arrested be put on trialed be sentenced by a verdict and by a jury with with a with a verdict that actually meets the crime I think that we would hope that this person would be kept accountable that they would listen that they would be kept in check and this is what this word accountability means to be kept in check or to to give an account and what I want

to be in your minds right from the start is that accountability the accountability that we’re hoping to offer each other in the Christian Life is not just to correct each other and to keep each other in check from the negative things and the sins and the wrong doings that we’re committing but also catch this also to keep each other in check by encouraging each other celebrating with each other in all of the positive outcomes as well account accountability is both to give us an account of

the negative and the positive aspects of our life I mean think about it if someone’s only asking you and keeping you in check about the things that you’re struggling with that you’re tempted by and you’re failing in aren’t you eventually going to start feeling bad about yourself or getting down on yourself or feeling shame if you’re not overcoming those things right away it makes a lot of sense to make sure that we’re also having people keep us in check on things that we’re excited about and

things that we want to celebrate with them about now with this foundation in mind I want to move along and give you a fuller understanding of of Christian accountability Christian accountability is about meeting with a few people that you trust and that are at a similar place in life as you in their relationship with God okay side by side they’re in a similar place as you spiritually now think about Proverbs 27 17 says this as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another accountability is something

that helps build us up and grow us in our faith as we work it alongside with each other and with this one person or with these couple of people you’re willing to be honest you’re willing to be transparent open vulnerable real authentic with them about about what’s really going on in your life so that you can better pursue living a holy and Sanctified life for God and this process of becoming becoming holy and Sanctified takes time and you’re you’re probably not going to start this accountability

process with others and begin sharing your deepest and darkest things with them the first week okay now depending on your life up to this point you may some of us may never feel fully comfortable sharing and opening up like this if we’ve been hurt really bad if we’ve been really maybe stabbed in the back by others or they’ve broken our trust or or just fill in the blank but the goal would be that you could find some people again of the same gender that you could

meet with on some kind of a regular basis and be open and be honest with them as well as keep each other accountable and help ask each other the hard questions as we strive to live out the Christian Life questions like have you read your Bible this week have you prayed this week how’s your prayer life going have you been keeping your eyes or your thoughts pure this week how has your body image and self-esteem been this week have you been watching your temper this week

and your anger how are your relationships going especially if you have a dating relationship maybe have you confessed your sin to God this week or maybe how have you heard from God this week or how is he working in your life and I have been in a few count of a few accountability groups in my years as a Christian and the reason for meeting together and asking these questions to each other is to really get behind where we’ve been that week and catch this where we’ve

been that week when nobody was looking that’s kind of where we’re trying to get at we also want to know how we’re doing at pursuing our relationship with Jesus and growing in our relationship with Jesus and these people especially when I was younger were able to see where I was beginning to drift From the Path and of maybe fully growing in my relationship with Jesus and they were able to help pull me back but we also cheered each other on we also encourage each other we

also celebrated with each other and spurred one another on and it was a good thing and it’s a good thing to keep each other accountable because Romans Chapter 14 verse 12 in the Bible shares with us that and I quote each of us will give an account of him or herself to God and in second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 it states that and I quote we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what

he or she has done in the body whether good or evil now thank goodness that we have Jesus that gave his life for us and that when we believe in Jesus and when we believe in him as our savior and our Lord that no longer when God looks at us does he see our wrongdoings does he see our sin but now when he looks at us he sees Jesus’s sacrifice he sees the right relationship that we now have with him as a result he sees Holiness

all of the wrongdoing and and sin has been wiped away amen so but as Romans chapter 6 verses 1 through 4 says also reminds us Jesus did not just pay the price of our sin so that we could keep on sinning keep on doing it rather he gave his life for us so that we would no longer be slaves to that sin we no longer be slaves to that wrongdoing and that we’d have the power to live the right kind of life that God desires the

Sanctified and holy life and therefore this is we’re having people in your life that will keep you accountable and keep you in check to the good and the bad comes into play and this is because God desires for us as Christians and as Disciples of him to live a holy and Sanctified life First Peter 1 15 says be holy in everything you do just as God who chose you is Holy for this reason I also want to talk to us for a few minutes about the

words holy or Holiness as well as the word Sanctified or sanctification and what they mean so that we’ll be on the same page as far as one of God’s big desires for us in this process of discipleship so for starters you’ve been hearing me use these words like holy Holiness sanctification Sanctified now for starters Holiness in the Hebrew means distinguished or set apart okay set apart and one of the commentators that I was reading states that it is the unique seal or stamp of the Divine

now this word holy also means to be spotless okay set aside set apart spotless blameless without wrongdoing or sin this word holy defines God because God is Holy but if we are a Christian this word holy should also Define catch this this word holy should also Define what we’re becoming as we follow Jesus allowing him to do his work of making us holy in each and every area of Our Lives one area at a time now sanctifications that are being Sanctified on the other hand is

the act of declaring something or someone holy which is what God who is Holy does for us at the moment we accept Jesus into our heart and believe in Jesus and his death and his sacrifice on the cross the very moment that we ask God to forgive us of our wrongdoing and sin two things happen number one he not only sanctifies us but he also Begins the sanctification process now stick with me because I’m trying to capture for you there’s actually two aspects or two levels

of depth to the Holiness and the sanctification life that God desires for Christians number one the first aspect has to do with let’s call it capital S sin and the second aspect of sanctification or Holiness has to do with lowercase s sin okay so when we believe in Jesus for the first time and we accept him as our savior and as our Lord and not only does he forgive us from all of our sin at that capital S sin at that moment but God also through

Jesus deals with and forgives and sanctifies all the capital as Sin that we ever will do Matthew chapter 1 1 verse 21 says that Jesus will save his people from their sins and John or first John 1 9 says that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness this again this means that any sin that we’ve ever commended up to that point Is Forgiven and also any sin that we will commit from that

point on again this does not mean that we can just go ahead and sin because God’s gonna forgive us okay see Romans 6 19 for further clarification on this but rather we understand that God has forgiven us of all our Capital as Sin okay sin he he takes care of our sin problem so that now we’re fully Sanctified and declared holy and were seen as holy in God’s sight when he looks at us he sees Holiness he sees that we have been Sanctified Sanctified and we

will be in heaven with him one day so in one sense the moment we receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord we’re declared holy and set apart and we’re sealed for heaven because of what Jesus did for us on the cross we have been sanctified but number two we are also with the help of the Holy Spirit becoming holy day by day receiving more of God’s sanctification in our lives as we surrender to him and as we strive to live a holy life for him day

by day think about it when did you stop sinning the moment when you accepted Jesus as your savior and your lord no that’s because we still live in a world that’s dominated by sin but there’s a difference once we believe in Jesus now we have access to the power to help us live out the truly Sanctified and holy life that he calls us to by the power of the holy spirit so since we’re going to sin or we’re as we’re moving towards true Holiness and sanctification

in the Christian Life therefore we also have to bring our lower case as sins to him and ask him to forgive us and help us conquer them so that we can grow in our Holiness and in our sanctification allowing Our Lives to look more and more like him we must remember that God is the one that makes us holy and helps us go through this process of making us more like him so holiness and sanctification does not happen overnight they take time but since they’re now

since we’re now holy and we’re Sanctified in God’s sight he not only gives us the gift of heaven but he also gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit as well in Romans 2 38 says that his power and his presence is always with us to be able to help us live that kind of the Holy and Sanctified life and for this reason we now have this power to live that kind of a life but how do we go about achieving that how do we go

about living the Sanctified life how do we go about living out Holiness in our lives more and more especially when it seems like everything around us is trying to keep us from living that kind of a life well following last week’s approach I want to take us yet to another discipleship Moment by Jesus this morning to help us understand what Jesus means by saying that what comes out of our hearts is what makes us unclean because it this passage will help us understand Holiness and sanctification

better so go ahead and open up with me to Matthew chapter 15 verse 10. And as you’re getting there know that this passage is one of the times where the Pharisees and the teachers of the law come to Jesus they’re trying to accuse him of something that in their minds he’s doing wrong in this instance Jesus’s disciples are there as this conversation is taking place and as this conversation is unfolding and of course his disciples Jesus’s disciples are sitting there they’re taking it all in they’re

learning they’re being discipled okay all of a sudden In this passage the religious leaders accused Jesus and they ask him why his disciples are eating with unwashed hands and breaking the tradition of the elders again we’re in Matthew 15 we’re going to be starting in verse 10 but I’m taking you back to verse verse 1 real quick so he’s asking Jesus why are your disciples eating with unwashed hands and breaking the tradition of the elders Jesus responds in verses three through seven by basically telling the

Pharisees and the teachers of the law that they too break the traditions in their own ways the tradition that Jesus exposes for them has to do with the tradition of caring for their parents in their old age which which some of them were not doing and the way that the many of the religious leaders and Jewish people were getting out of this responsibility was by claiming Corbin that their gifts had been devoted to God instead you know look at how righteous I am giving all my

money to the Lord now this doesn’t mean that they could use their money any way that they chose but just that they were able to find a loophole getting around giving money to their parents if they didn’t have a good relationship with them and rather they conveniently dedicated their money to God instead rather than using it to help take care of their parents but what I want to pick up for us and read for us in verses 10 through 20 is that Jesus is getting to

the heart of the matter with his disciples quite literally when it comes to Holiness and sanctification follow along with me as I read Mark chapter 15 verses 10 through 20 after Jesus calls out the Pharisees for their oh sorry Matthew sorry Matthew follow along with me as I read Matthew 15 starting in verse 10 Jesus he’s calling out the Pharisees for their own lack of following their traditions of the day chapter 15 verse 10 says Jesus called the crowd to him and said listen and understand

what goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them but what comes out of their mouth this is what defiles them then the disciples came to him and asked do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this he replied every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be be pulled up by the roots leave them they are blind guides if the blind lead the blind both will fall into a pit Peter said explain the parable to us are you still so dull

Jesus asked them don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body but the things that come out of the person’s mouth come from their heart and these defile them for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false testimony slander these are what defile a person but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them now what what we what Jesus was he was making a clarifying declaration that it was not what goes into

a person’s mouth that makes them unclean but rather what comes out of their mouth that makes them unclean now this would have been hard for the disciples to take in because and this is why the disciples needed further clarification because up to that point they were living by the law and the law clearly stated that there were animals that they could not eat and the things that they could not put in their mouth because otherwise it would make them unclean so Jesus was throwing them for

a loop because he was giving the disciples a paradigm shift that would have felt unbiblical to them at first so in verses 17 through 20 Jesus expands on what he means by what goes into the body versus what comes out of the heart the wickedness from within the evil and the sin that comes out of us is what truly makes us unclean not what we eat or are eating with unwashed hands as the Jews were accustomed to one really good takeaway for us here is that

we must realize that if we want to be able to truly live the holy and the Sanctified life that Jesus calls us to and expects of us it’s it first starts in our heart and This lends itself to a really good question no matter how long we’ve been a Christian how’s our heart is your heart humble is your heart pure or is it accustomed to evil and wickedness is your heart open to learning or do you think you already know everything is your heart open to

correction if that’s what it takes is the state of your heart malleable and soft or is it heart and porous like Stone Jesus is telling us that the state of our heart goes a long way in revealing for us if we’re going to be successful in living the holy and Sanctified life that guy that God desires for us to live if we always think we’re right and we’ll never listen to what others say or never listen and take the time to listen to what God is

saying to us and speaking to us what does that say about our heart also if we’re partaking in evil things and are and unclean things that this passage says then our hearts not going to be right either and we’re not going to experience Holiness and sanctification in our lives and I’m not saying your heart is bad okay don’t hear me wrong here but I am asking each and every one of us to look inward to give an honest look to our heart because this is the

place where Holiness and sanctification comes from and starts proverbs 4 23 reminds us Above All Else guard your heart for it is the Wellspring of life and also we know in Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 26 and 27 in the Old Testament before the holy spirit is ever sent God says I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you I will I will remove from you Your Heart of Stone and I will give you a heart of Flesh and I

will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws and because of what Jesus has done we now have access to his holy spirit to help us pursue accountability and to help us live the holy and Sanctified lives that he calls us to but we have to be willing to give our whole heart to him to repent fully and to rely on the Holy Spirit spirit’s power for entering into this life of true Holiness and sanctification

that the Bible calls us to and because this is so I have one other place that I want us to turn for a couple minutes to help us know how about going to live this holy and Sanctified life in the midst of accountability so go ahead and turn to Galatians 5 16. Galatians 5 16 and and as we will see from Galatians 5 16-18 Holiness and sanctification happens when we live by the power of the Holy Spirit Galatians chapter 5 verses 16 through 18 says so

I say this is the Apostle Paul speaking so I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh they are in conflict with each other so that you do you do not do whatever you want but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law the Holy Spirit is the one that can give us the power to live

the holy and Sanctified life that God wants us to live and when we call on the Holy Spirit and when we ask for the holy spirit’s help in whatever way that we need it a new way of living becomes possible because we’re no longer living on our own strength but we’re living by his power and by his strength and when I was 13 years old I went to a Christian summer camp for the first well not the first time but from while I was at this

summer camp I literally had a time where I just felt so overpowered by the the spirit that I came back on fire for God and literally not only willing to live this kind of a holy life that God wanted me to live but I was determined I was like convinced I’m going to change my school and I just remember that there was nothing like feeling this spiritual High maybe you felt something like that before where you just felt so on fire for the Lord you just

felt like you just wanted to live your whole life for him and something was changing inside of me and I was beginning to live differently and it was not me it was the power of the Holy Spirit In Me Now I know looking back but at the time I’m like what is going on like where is this coming from and how am I beginning to live this new way and what I want us to be able to see is that if we live by the spirit

we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature or the flesh or of our selfishness and one way to know that if you’re making progress and living the Sanctified life is that the fruit of the spirit will be coming out of you not okay it says in the verse that we just read in Matthew 15 out of the Overflow of the heart the mouth speaks or in this case we’re going to live differently it’s not we might it’s a we will we will live differently

and Galatians chapter chapter 5 verses 22 through 25 says the kind of life that we’re going to live it says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience or forbearance kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires since we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit let us not become conceited provoking and envying each other and against these things

the Bible says the fruit of spirit there is no law these are the things that no matter like that we need to be living for the fruit of the spirit not for hundreds of rules that we’re not going to live or be able to follow but if we’re living by the fruit of the spirit somehow we’re going to be following all these other laws as well because we’re going to have God’s heart and he also wants us to live out everything that his word tells us

to now in chapter 6 of Galatians we also see that he wants us as we’re living this Sanctified life as we’re living this holy life he not only wants us to do it with the help and the power of the Holy Spirit but he wants us to do it with the help of others okay we don’t have time to go and read this passage right now but I want to share with you a couple things that this chapter chapter 6 says it says that others are

going to help us live the accountable life verse 1 says verse 2 says we’re going to be able to help carry each other’s burdens that’s what we can how we can help each other live this Sanctified life the holy life verse 6 by sharing all the good things that we’re learning with your instructor or vice versa right with by by discipleship right and we’re also going to live this life with others by striving to please the Spirit by doing good to others especially to those who

belong to the family of Believers verses 8 and 9 say but this simply brings us back to the truth and the application of what it takes to live the holy and Sanctified life that call that God is Desiring us to live and to how to know how do we apply that and we really can apply that by Christian accountability which comes from being in relationship with others and by living out this holy Life by living out the Sanctified life with the Holy Spirit and with the

fruit of the spirit at work in our lives not only are others going to be drawn to Jesus but we’re going to be reflecting the Son of God and his Radiance and glory to everyone that we come in contact with now a couple of points of application for us with regards to seeking accountability in our lives as we strive to live this holy and Sanctified life number one have you thought about your life group or your Bible study as being a place where you could build

a culture of accountability to help you live the holy and Sanctified life I mean yes we encourage each other in life groups and bible studies we pray for each other we study the Bible together possibly sing together if we have somebody in our group that really knows how to sing or play an instrument but how often do we also maybe leave room to keep each other accountable for instance if someone is struggling with financial issues or debt in your group and if your group if your

group is a safe place and that person feels like they can share with the group what would it look like for the group to come around them and to help them maybe set a goal or two and keep them accountable not to spend money on that card anymore but rather to pay off a hundred dollars next month or whatever they can afford or maybe another possible example maybe it’s a person that you’ve not been able to forgive and sharing with your group with your life group

or your Bible study and asking them to keep you accountable to having the hard conversation with that person trying to lovingly work toward reconciliation with that person now I get this I understand you’re not going to be able to be as open and honest and transparent with 12 as you are with one or two or three but what could it look like to at least create a culture of accountability in your life group or in your Bible study in the ways that you can second have

you ever thought about finding one or two or three other guys or girls just just depending and and trying to pursue accountability with them in regards to how to live this holy how to live this Sanctified life how to live this joy-filled life that God wants us to live I know our lives are busy and that adding something like this could be a sacrifice at first for some of us but if a life of discipleship is what you are after this could just be the next

thing that you need people that are side by side with you that will ask you the hard questions about how how you’re really doing in your relationship with God but also people that will c

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 5,436 words.