“God’s Will Concerning You”
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1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
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When I hear “This is the will of God” my attention is peaked. I have heard so many say I just don’t know the will of God for my life. The scripture is replete with the will of God for the believer. What is it God desires for us? Can His desire for our lives be trusted? Does God’s desire for our lives bring fulfillment?
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Learning to possess your vessel in sanctification is God’s desire for your life. In our society many have no concept of what sanctification is. In God’s economy if He has sanctified something or someone it has been set apart as special and belonging to God. God wants you to have the knowledge to possess your own vessel in sanctification and honor. Abstaining from sexual immorality and not living in the passion of lust should be the lifestyle of every Christian. The will of God is your sanctification; this is what God has given to the believer. To reject this truth is very dangerous ground.
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God indeed has not called us to uncleanness but in holiness!
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Ephesians 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
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One who has been born again was birthed with righteousness and holiness in their very nature.
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2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
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The will of God for every believer is to learn to walk in that newly created being. If you are a believer you have a new nature which has been enable by the power of Christ in you. Your victory over sin is not a stronger will power of your own. It is learning to trust in the finished work of the cross in your life.
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Romans 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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There is the foundation of grace. Jesus has brought us into the covenant of grace; Jesus indeed has faced the punishment of our sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God that has taken away the sin of the world. Many have misinterpreted freedom from sin as freedom to sin. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid. How shall we who have died to sin live any longer there in!
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2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
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If you name the name of Christ, God calls you to depart from iniquity! Believer’s themselves determine what kind of vessel they will be in the kingdom. Shall you be a vessel for honor or a vessel for dishonor? The measurement is defined by your pursuit. Your pursuit determines the type of vessel you are and will be for the kingdom of God .
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2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
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We are the earthen vessels that God desires to work through? The power is of God working through us.
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Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
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What an awesome God, He has chosen to allow His power to work in us! To be a vessel of honor causes us to be useful for the Master. To possess our vessels in sanctification means we can affect and effect others around us. Our lives can be used to the glory of God and we can help other participate in the abundant life Jesus provides us.
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Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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God has prepared you for good works to walk in; it is those who have learned to possess their vessel in sanctification that will fulfill the destiny and purpose of God’s will for their life.
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SANTIFICATION:
ReplyDeleteEvangelical Protestantism tends to emphasize salvation as an event and many aspects of our salvation are viewed as past events.
In Catholic thought there is a much greater emphasis on salvation as a process, as working out your salvation.
The pursuit of holiness and ultimately salvation is a journey, begun at our baptism and completed in the consummation of all things.
In the mystery of God's sovereign will, he has chosen to extend to us the dignity of choice, and so attaining salvation is portrayed in the Scriptures as is in some sense contingent on our final perseverance:
"And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach_if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard." (Colossians 1:21-23) (1)
All of salvation is gained for us by the infinite merits of Jesus Christ in his atoning death on the cross:
Christ's death is both the Pascal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men, through the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores men to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the "blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 613)
Michael Gormley,
ReplyDeleteThank you for blogging on our site. In regards to sanctification, I see it as an event for sure. As Hebrews 10 talks about us being sanctified as the work Christ has done at the cross. With that being said there is no doubt we learn to possess our earthly vessel in sanctification as a lifestyle. God did not save His people as an event in our lives. Once being born of imperishable seed there is a growing up. It is where the apostle Peter was going when he commanded us to crave the pure milk of the word of God. God’s desire is for every believer’s heart be established by the word of His grace. As you pointed out it is a process.
God bless you friend.