Knowing and Growing – Sanctified – what is God doing?

We are in part two of a sanctified series, and our sequence is, you know, what's the definition of the particular process? We had earlier being conformed, being transformed, growing and maturing, and now sanctified. So the first part is defining it. What is it, biblically, right? And the next part that we do is, what is God doing? And then thirdly, we look at, you know, what's our part? Now that we know what it is, and now that we know what God's part is, what's our part? So here we have sanctified, what is God doing? So when we say sanctified, If you were to go to the average person walking down the street or in the mall or in line at the bank or the credit union and just say, hey, can you give us the definition of sanctified, what would they say?

I don't know. Or they give you some definition, you'd say, woo. Yeah, I mean, it is not a word that is in common usage. So that's one reason we don't want to just use it and and keep going. Right. We want to make sure that we have the definition down straight.

So one of the things, the first line there, Scripture contains so much related to the idea of being sanctified or being set apart for a holy purpose. Being set apart for a holy purpose. So if we want to see this concept in its entirety, we'd have to look beyond the term sanctified, also look at the various forms which include holy and saint.

Those are all, in English, those sound like different words. In the Greek, in which these were written in the New Testament, they're all related words. Can you think of words that we have that are related words? Kind of a family of words. Words that are connected.

Yeah? Well, this probably isn't what you're looking for, but since it's separation. Yeah. All right. And that's it. Thank you for bringing it up, because we're going to talk about that because we want to look at how does that fit with this or does it. Right. So this is a good one. We think of families of words, though. What we look at is is words where we have variations in them. I'll take one that we're going to be touching on in the main service here as we go through the Book of Acts.

How about disciple? Does that have a plural? Yes, so disciples. So there's the next part. So that's an abstract noun, basically, is the term. Alright, so we have a disciple and then is there a verb related to that? Okay, and what would that be? Okay, so to disciple someone or make a disciple, and yes the New Testament has that. What's interesting is we're going to be, well here let me back off because that's a very important one. Jesus in Matthew 28, 19 and 20, here's this go, and of course it's really going, as you're going, the command there, it doesn't show up in the King James very well by the way, the command is make disciples. And it's part of the same Greek family of words, it's the verb form, make disciples, And so that is oftentimes also stated as to disciple someone. But that's the verb. And believe it or not, that's not the only verb. There's another one that shows up in the New Testament. It's typically translated, learn. To learn.

So here is the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Philippi. And he says, the things you've heard and seen in me and learned, and that is part of that family of words. So you'll have families of words, words that are all related to one another, derived from kind of a core word. So out of families of words we'll have that.

This is a similar thing in the English. We don't look at saint and holy and sanctify. That's a family of words. Well, it is in the Greek. So in the Greek it's all part of the same family of words. Another instance in the Greek would be the word for grace, charis. and that's related to the word for rejoice.

So you have a family of words and every single chapter in the book of Philippians has at least one and often times very many of that family of words. So here's a word that's called sanctified and it's a part of this family of words that includes holy and saint.

The word sanctified is the word we use regularly, as we pointed out. We'll prefer to use the term set-apart, spiritually set-apart, since it really drives home the idea that God has communicated in scripture. So we'll use that rather than the code word that people use, sanctified. It's not that we won't use it, but we'll try to bring that home. The next time we'll see what the believer's part is in this, but really at this point we want to look at God's part. So the basis of sanctification, or as we put it, being set apart, right? So sanctification, wow, if you don't know the word sanctify, then you really don't know the word sanctification, right? So here's sanctification, being set apart.

So here is a for instance of it, here's Isaiah 6, Isaiah chapter 6, it's interesting, it's a fairly short chapter. It is a chapter in which we get our song, Holy, Holy, Holy. And in this one, it is a fascinating chapter, because here is Isaiah on the heavenly scene. And so what we get there is pretty special. We don't have lots and lots of verses on the heavenly scene, but Isaiah chapter 6 is.

So it says on Isaiah 6, 3, And one came out to another, and one called out to another, and this is the angels, called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Alright? And then he asked most people, well, what's holy mean? That's probably as enigmatic, puzzling, as what sanctified me.

So if we find a similar description in Revelation 4.8, the word holy means set apart or separated.

Thus, we could translate Isaiah 6.3 in this way. Set apart, set apart, set apart, the Lord opposes. It's a little tougher on the song, getting the rhythm in place there. So we want to understand that we're starting with how God is set apart. So there are two different ways we want to take a look at it. One is God is totally and completely set apart from all that is earthly and created.

One of the things that's happened in our era we've had, and it actually started back in the 60s. Remember Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Beatles had their romance with them. So anyway, there was all that. There was a matter of kind of marketing a lot of Eastern mysticism into the United States.

And so one of the things that's characteristic of Eastern mysticism, how is the God of Hinduism, and for the parts that believe in it, Buddhism, how is the God of Hinduism and the parts that believe in it, Buddhism, different from the God of Scripture? Many ways. Okay, yeah.

But one thing, in Eastern mysticism, In Eastern mysticism, God is expressed in the most mundane way in the very things that we see here, including our own physical bodies. These pews are a part of God. I remember years ago sitting down with Dr. Bhanu Dave, who was a professor of religion in India, and I remember him telling me, he says, you know, everything that we see is but a dream of God, and someday God will wake up. God will wake up.

Yes. Yeah. And so this is a dream of God, this is kind of an expression of God in the most mundane and ephemeral sense. And so God is not in the Hindu idea, nor in the Buddhist idea, those who believe in a God. In the Buddhist idea, God is not separate from his creation, but rather the world around us is simply an expression, one of the more mundane expressions of God. So in Hinduism, achieving moksha, in Buddhism, Nirvana, is to achieve a state as a person so as to be, you know, brought back into God. So that's the view.

Now the reason we make the distinction is in the biblical sense, God's not all kind of morphed into his creation. There isn't this morphing where what you see is God and I'm God and you're God. That's not the teaching of scripture. God is separate from his creation.

So, as a matter of fact, Christians, to the extent that they start sliding towards Hinduism or Buddhism, and we've got different ways that that happens, they lose track of God made his creation, which was separate. there was a point of creation of this physical universe, and even creation of the spiritual beings within this universe, and he is separate from those, he is not somehow just morphed into parts of it. So we have that, here's Psalm 90 verse 2 at the bottom of page 1. Before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. What's everlasting to everlasting? Eternity. So eternity passed, was there a created universe? No, there was not.

And God will call an end to this created universe, right? There will be a new creation which has already begun. There will be a new creation, but that new creation is still independent from him. He is not just morphed into a part of the old creation or the new one. the fact that he created it. He created it, and also one of the things we find out from Colossians chapter 1, in him all things cohere and exist. So even the continuing existence is dependent upon him. But he's not a part of it. But he's not in it and subject to it and a part of it except to the extent that he intends to do so.

Example, Christ was born of Mary, conceived in Mary. Born of Mary, God entered time and became subject to things in this material world voluntarily, and not accidentally, and he did it with intent for a particular purpose, not a, whoa, wow, I'm here, right? God was not surprised this was something that he set in place before he said, let there be light. And he wasn't fighting for staying here either, was he? No, and that's the thing. Think about it. Prior to God's coming through Christ the Son to be conceived of and born of Mary, Did God ever show up on earth?

Yeah, He walked in the garden. Ah, first time we see Him walking in the garden, and then after that? He was with Abraham. Yeah, appearances in the form of the angel of the Lord. Repeatedly, starting way back in Genesis, the appearances of the angel of the Lord prior to Christ's first coming. Multiple instances, and those occurred with Abraham, those occurred with Hagar. That occurred here, the burning bush, that was the angel of the Lord, right? When Moses saw the bush that was burning but not consumed, this was an appearance of the angel of the Lord.

So you have all those appearances which from anything that's revealed, it appears to be the Son of God pre-incarnate is the best way to state that. We don't continue to see that after Christ is conceived and born of Mary. Alright, so now, so failing to understand that, that God is separate from his creations.

We have Romans 1.23, professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

So this exchange, which is called idolatry, is a direct attack at the set-apart nature of God. That's the problem with idolatry. A continued reading of the above Romans passage shows specifically where that worship takes a person and a culture. Much of the pagan world that the Apostle Paul and those who ministered with him dealt with was this idolatry that was a failure to understand that God is separate from his creation. You can't make some idol out of wood or stone or metal of that sort. That's not God. That's not God.

So number two, God is totally and completely set apart from all that is unclean and impure. So looking back at Isaiah's encounter with God's holiness, we notice that he not only learned something about God and His holiness, but also about himself. So here's Isaiah 6.5.

Remember we quoted Isaiah 6.3 before?

Isaiah 6.5, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, capital K, the Lord of hosts.

So God remains set apart not only from His world, but from all that is sinful. Isaiah realized and felt this in every way. He realized and felt the separation between himself and his Maker, because that is what God's holiness is. So let's get to the point that Stan made here. We say that death is separation. Alright, so death is separation. And if God is separate, does that mean God died? Ah, yes. So one of the things we say, is God ever a part of death? Does God die? Not in the sense of God as deity somehow dies like we die. So how did death come about? Where did death come from? Sin. Exactly. Death came by sin. So what was Adam told? From the day that you eat of it you will surely die. So did God eat of it?

No. So here's one of the key things. When we talk about separation, we don't mean that God died. We talk about death as separation, and that principle is only introduced because of sin. Right? Sin. That's key. It's very important to get the distinction. Thank you for bringing that up, because that's a very big distinction for us to get clear. The only reason that death is separation is because death was brought about by sin. And God didn't sin, so God didn't die.

One more thing where it says, you will surely die. This is a Hebrew expression where you express something double. In Hebrew, to emphasize something, you express it double or sometimes even triple, like we saw, holy, holy, holy. So when it says, you will surely die, it actually says in the Hebrew, you will die, die. You'll die, die. Yes, and that's how it's also translated. Dying, you will die. But it's literally you will die, die.

Yes, we talk about, we'll sing a song that will keep him in perfect peace. That perfect peace is actually peace, peace. In Hebrew, right? Isaiah, I think it's chapter 40, starts off with comfort, comfort my people. That's the double Hebrew. So the Hebrew way of making great emphasis is doubling the words. And there are a number of places, we just brought up a few of them, where that shows up.

Yes? So when he says, you, for surely died, does that in Hebrew indicate him and generations? You will surely die? Ultimately the answer is yes, but I would have to take a close look at how that's expressed, because what happens is Adam became living souls. But that gets into another issue, but good point.

So here's Isaiah 59.2, here we have But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. Let's clarify about something. Your sins have hidden His face from you.

Does God have a face? Did God make the world with His hands? So when we talk about a face, we talk about a face, we talk about God's hands, and Psalms even talks about God protecting us under His pinions, His wings. Those are figures of speech. As a matter of fact, again, a Hebrew expression is, if God does something in the physical realm, he does it with hands. If he does something in the spiritual realm, it's said to be without hands. Those are Hebrew figures of speech. So those are figures of speech, they're called anthropomorphisms, that express something using human terms. God remembered Noah. Did God forget?

No, this again is a figure of speech to be understood as an accommodation to our way of thinking. Even this, to predetermine something. Does God really predetermine anything from his standpoint of time? No, God does not predetermine things from His standpoint of time. That is a word to accommodate our time perspective. So the Bible has a number of expressions like that, and it's important we understand that.

In here, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. Does God's face appear and then all of a sudden disappear because we sin? No. What is he talking about here when he does not hear? Does God suddenly become deaf? God all of a sudden has a hearing problem and needs to see the audiologist? That's not what he's talking about, is it? It is God is no longer presenting himself for fellowship, right? And when he does not hear, it's not that he's somehow deaf and has a hearing problem. He doesn't go, na-na-na-na-na-na, right? Plug his ears. Excuse me, I'm going to lose my microphone. So anyway, as you look at that, these are accommodations, figures of speech, if you will. that talk about there is no fellowship there.

Certainly God can always hear everything. As a matter of fact, He knows everything, including the sin. But it means that He is not responsive to what people say because of sin. Sin gets in the way. Oh, by the way, here's a question. Is God obsessed with sin? Is God just really obsessed with sin? So what's the deal? Why is sin an issue?

It's a cause of separation. Separation of fellowship for us as Christian believers, not of relationship. Key point here. So, as we look at it, bottom of page two, God is totally separated from all that is created. God is separated from all that is sinful.

It is one of the problems in Eastern religion, is that not only do you have a loss of God being separate from his creation, but also the definition of what's sinful. It's a problem with that as well. So they go together. Yes? So the first one that says God is totally separated from all that is created. Does that separated mean not a part of? Right. He is not a part of. His existence does not depend upon.

Right? Now, here God made things, and one of the things we notice, I mean, even when we look at a world, and boy, we've got all kinds of troubles and problems and issues, and, you know, if you get on the internet or get on the television, it isn't very long before you see, oh boy, we've got problems, right? All sorts of problems. In the midst of that, have you seen beautiful scenery?

It's just astounding. Here's a hummingbird feeder. Now look at this hummingbird. Wow! It's this phenomenal creature. It doesn't weigh a stack of quarters. It's this tiny little critter. It has heart beat and wing beat. It's just astounding. and has the ability, it can sit in place, it can go upside down, it can do a barrel roll, it can go forwards and backwards. This thing is astounding, right? An amazing creation. So we can look at different things on a small scale, up to a huge scale, and be amazed at the creation. And it does reveal something about the character of God, but it's not God. They reveal something about the character of God. It's not God.

As a matter of fact, Romans 1, what's the problem? People don't get the separation issue to begin with. And then it leads to other issues, but they don't get the separation issue. Separation from the creation. He is not a part of the creation, even though the creation expresses its eternal power and deity.

Alright, so we have that. He is separate from all that is sinful. Alright, so now, top of page 3. God sanctifies, sets apart believers. So the New Testament, we need to begin grasping how God intends us to be set apart and from what. So 1 Thessalonians 4.7 is a good place to start. And guess what? It doesn't even take one line. So, for God has not called us, and who's us? Believers here in the body of Christ, in the church.

God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification, in being set apart. Is this set apart from the creation or set apart from sin? Set apart from sin is particularly what this is focused on. So while sin separates the believer from God in terms of fellowship, not relationship, here we see that God has not called us to impurity, but to being set apart or holy, as is often translated in this verse. God has literally called us to be set apart unto himself, apart from sin.

So in making this distinction, between fellowship and relationship is really big. Matter of fact, I tell you, we've had people leave the church over that. They don't like you making that distinction. Well, sorry, we have to. The Bible does. Because we have a relationship with the Lord that God has accomplished and is untouchable and unchangeable.

But we have also the issue of fellowship, which we sometimes put under the category of conditioned. We have an issue of fellowship that varies from one moment to the next. If I'm not walking in fellowship with the Lord, can I experience separation from God? If I'm not walking in fellowship with God, can I experience separation from God? Only in terms of your fellowship? Separation in my relationship, no. In my fellowship, yes.

Romans 6.23 which is just, you know, the quote is typically, you know, for the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life, is the way it's quoted, but that whole passage is written to Christians. It is not a passage about death, you know, and you're going to go to hell and all that, right?

It's the wages that the sin nature pays is death. So if you want grace that's absolutely free and there's no way you're going to pay for it. Because it's already been paid for. If you want death, well you'll have to work for it. Because that's the wages of the sin nature. So if you want death, you're going to have to work for it.

So what that means is I as a believer can walk out of fellowship with the Lord and experience in those times the wages that the sin nature pays and be used as an instrument, earlier in Romans 6, as an instrument of the sin nature, but is that what God has in mind for me as a believer?

It's hypothetically possible and unfortunately all too common, but that's not what God has in mind. In my position, my relationship with the Lord, I can't mess it up. In my fellowship with the Lord, I most certainly can and have. As long as Satan can keep you either into the world where you can not see that you're a sinner, or he can take you to a position where you see you're a sinner and totally overwhelmed and there's no way out. If he can keep you in those two things, then you can't get to the position of the righteousness and separation that God has designed for people.

Exactly. Plus, What are our three enemies? The world, the flesh and the devil. The flesh is the sin nature as it gets expressed through this body. So the sin nature and the world and the devil, we are separated in Christ's crucifixion, having been identified with Christ in his crucifixion. We are separated from those three things. They're also separated from the law.

So now, all that having been said, it is very common today, especially in the charismatic mindset and realm, to get those crossed as to what's causing what. The demons are Satan that gets blamed for a lot of stuff. Invisible to the world, invisible to the sin nature, But the devil gets blamed for everything or the demons that work under him. Yes?

Well, the reason I brought that up is because we've been in so many different churches and especially myself, they seem to want to make sure that you understand that you're a sinner. But then they never provide an opportunity to get out of that situation. They spend more time on focusing on getting people to recognize that they're sinners than they are on the cross. and the position and the separation that God gives you. And again, you bring up a huge point. That's why we talk about the sanctification issue, right?

And do we recognize sin? Yes, we recognize sin and we know where it comes from. Biblically, we know where it comes from. But unless we realize what has God already done about that, and what is God doing, that's what this class here is for. If we don't recognize those, then we'll be constantly struggling as if God didn't do anything. And the permanence of it.

Yes, and we're sitting there stuck in it, and you'll have pastors, the whole message is sitting there harping on sin and beating everybody up about sin, and failing to teach about and recognize what has God done about it, And what has God already accomplished and what process does God have in place that is growing us away from the sin problem? Is sin ever going to go away as long as I'm on this planet? No. Sin is not going away. The sin nature is here as long as my body is here. But God even has a purpose in having us here, even with the enemies that are out there.

And beating everybody up about sin. In fact, what do they do? They go and give people a lot of condemnation. But Paul says, therefore now, how much condemnation? Wait, wait, wait. Not even 20%? Not even just a smidgen? There is therefore now no condemnation for those who have transgressed Jesus. If you want condemnation, I can't help you. You'll have to go somewhere else.

And for such a law-abiding Pharisee, that was amazing. Yes. This is astounding. When you see the radical changes in the Apostle Paul, it is mind-boggling. Here's the middle of page 3 here, 1 Corinthians 1-2. To the church of God which is at Korah, and by the way, do they have problems? Piles and piles of problems we've talked about. To those who have been sanctified.

That's the perfect tense. What does that imply? It's a completed action. but ongoing results, ongoing to the present, ongoing to the future, it implies permanence unless the reversal of it is talked about in the context. And it's not here, so guess what? It's permanent.

You guys who are all messed up in your condition have been permanently, totally, and completely sanctified, set apart, and made holy. Now, having said that, let's talk about your problems. The starting point is you've been completely sanctified. Wow. Saints by calling, and that's a related word, set apart people. Saints set apart people by God's calling. with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

So in 1 Corinthians 1.30, so just farther down that same chapter, for by His doing you are in Christ Jesus. Can you be in Christ Jesus and still be all messed up and confused? Yep. By His doing you're in Christ Jesus. Now let's talk about the mess that you're in. But the starting point is you guys have been permanently and totally and completely sanctified, and you, by his doing, are in Christ Jesus.

Did I have anything to do with it? Am I working towards being in Christ? Am I working to try to make it a little bit better? No. I'm not doing anything, I can't do anything to either enhance it, improve upon it, or mess it up. I am in Christ Jesus. All I did was believe. who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

We're going to see later on in 1 Corinthians 6.11 that even though these Corinthian people were once terrible sinners, this is verses 9-11, they were now washed and sanctified, separated, set apart and holy, and justified, declared righteous, which includes redemption and forgiveness. So this is key, so when you look at this, all these things being declared righteous, being set apart, being redeemed, being sanctified, all these things being forgiven, all I did was believe. God says that's it, I'll take it from there.

So up in the first sentence in 1 Corinthians 1-2, it says, to those who have been sanctified. So some of the people are not yet believers. Is that what that indicates? No, he's writing to the Church of God, which equals to those who have been sanctified.

And as a matter of fact, later on, 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 through 4, he will say this. He will say the gospel. which is that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. That's the content of the gospel. He says, and so you believed and were saved.

And some of these guys, in chapter 15, we find out later on, some of these guys are even starting to back off of believing in the resurrection. But he doesn't say, you guys are at risk of losing your salvation. Isn't that interesting? Even the fundamentals of the gospel, if people back off from it, he doesn't come back and say, you guys are about to lose your salvation if you keep going this way, or you already have.

Really it's worldliness because the Greek culture told people that there is no resurrection. So, it was worldliness that they were drifting back into. What does the world say? There's no resurrection. And that's what they were doing, was worldliness.

But he didn't say, you know, he said you guys are fleshly and you guys are worldly, but he didn't say you guys quit believing in the resurrection, so those of you who don't believe in that, you've lost it. You're going to hell. He didn't say that. So you believed, past tense, and were saved. Did you once believe it? Yep.

Hello. all of the laborers in Corinth, not just the one group that meets down there on the corner block. Yeah, and I think that's something to look at, is he's making statements about all of them. There isn't some special, you know, here we have Holly Hills Bible Church, but over here is our growth group. And nobody else is growing, right? And over here is our teaching and admonishing group, and the rest of them we just kind of give them a bunch of stuff and send them away. There is no special group within the body of Christ in terms of these folks are off doing this thing, but the rest of you just forget about it.

Colossians 128, every man, by the way, that's every person, every person, every person, not every male. Yes? Don't you think that has something to do with the fact of Paul being the having the stewardship of being the apostle of the Gentiles, and the fact that when he walked in, that there was something different there. It wasn't just like a normal man or preacher walking in and talking to these people. This was almost as good as Christ himself.

Well, if you look at it, so let's take Colossians 1.28, we don't have a lot of time for it, but Colossians 1.28, he said, teach and admonish, And he has every man but his anthropos person. Every person, every person, every person. Do I teach the women too? Yes. Do I want the women to grow and mature? Yes. By the way, the rabbis wouldn't. The Jewish rabbis are not doing that. Women are a waste of time. So do I teach the women too?

Yes. Every person. Everyone, and then verse 29, to this end I labor. Kapiao means labor to exhaustion. So here's a guy who looks on the outside like he's working himself to death, but he says, I do so empowered and enabled and energized by God himself. So on the outside it looks like this guy is working himself to death in order to teach and admonish all these people. On the inside, God is enabling and empowering and energizing every little bit of it.

It's one thing where certainly different things will happen, and sometimes I wonder what's going on, but I've never felt like, you know, you hear about pastoral burnout. I've never felt burned out. And that's one reason, there has to be a sense that it's not me doing this. If I'm burned out, it's because I'm trying to do it. But pastoral burnout, it happens. Why? I'm trying to do something that God hasn't prepared beforehand, right? And for anybody else working in ministry, there should not be a burnout experience. Here's the Apostle Paul. With all the things that he went through, should he have been burned out? Can you imagine a guy that works himself to exhaustion?

And all the trials he went through, he lists all these trials. He went through a whole bunch of things that aren't even listed in any of his other letters or in the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts, by the way, we're getting the quick outline, not all the details. Here's a guide for all the circumstances he went through, including the first missionary journey being stoned to death.

Wouldn't you at the end of that say, yeah, I've had enough of this? So does he say, I'm calling it quits? No. Well, he did mention that he couldn't. He was being driven by God. Yes. So this part of the message is really neat, what they're covering downstairs. Who is adequate for these things? Not me, right? God is, right? Only God is adequate for these things.

But it means that there's burnout, spiritual burnout on the part of someone. It means God's not doing it. They're trying to do it on their own. And burnout, here we come, if that's what you're doing. Yes, yes, not I but Christ. It is not a matter of what I'm doing and all my efforts. Here's the Apostle Paul, he even used the word kapia'o, which means labor to exhaustion. Labor to exhaustion, no burnout.

Yes. And I was just thinking, it's kind of interesting that Paul presented the gospel in the purest form he possibly could. And he goes away from that, assuming that everyone in that church accepted the gospel. as a believer. Now, whether they did or not, he didn't know. But as an apostle and as the preacher of the pure gospel, he said, OK, I'm assuming everybody here has accepted this, right? What's interesting is he seems to know that everyone had.

And I think that's probably an apostolic revelation, a part of it is that. But he writes, and so you believed, even those who are now claiming that they don't believe in the resurrection. He says, you believed. And he writes to the church, and it's comma those, not just only those, but comma those who are sanctified. So everything that he says talks about as if they're all saved. And by the way, that's why he doesn't do an altar call, right?

So anyway, let's look at the bottom of page four. It's actually about two-thirds of the way down. I have a quote there I want to get covered. Hebrews 10, 10-14, because this puts both what has been done in position and the process in the same passage. This is cool. I get excited about this, excuse me.

Hebrews 10, 10, and 14, by this will we have been sanctified, perfect tense, just like in 1 Corinthians 1-2, through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. And that's the specific Greek word hapax. Once done, perpetually valid, once stated, always true. Hapax. In verse 14, for by one offering, He has perfected, perfect tense, for all time those who are present participle being sanctified. So the position is I'm completely sanctified. The process is what? Being sanctified.

All in the same passage. That's really cool because it tells us in terms of our position it's already a done deal. I don't need to sweat it. I can't lose it. It's perfect tense. It's a completed past action, ongoing results, onward and future, implying permanence, unless the context is otherwise, and it doesn't. And it's a process, and they're both stated there in the same passage.

Positionally, it's already a done deal. I can't mess it up. Here are these believers there that are receiving this letter. Are these believers messing up? Yup. He tells them in chapter 5, you guys are dull of hearing. By now you ought to be teachers, but you guys have gotten to a place where you're getting deaf, spiritually speaking. But, he says, we have been, including them, sanctified, perfect tense. whereby one offering is perfected, perfected for all time, those who are being sanctified, who are going through the process of being sanctified.

Cool. So I have in my position, it's all a done deal and I don't need to sweat it. But God is still carrying on the process until the day I go home. That's really cool, and to see both of those in parallel. So we've talked here at Holly Hills about position and condition, but there's something else to ponder, and that is process. There's one of those passages that puts it, both of them, right in the same passage. So God has this process of setting us apart, and particularly setting us apart from sin, It's a process. And that process goes on until the day we meet the Lord face to face.

And that's really cool. That's one of the great reasons why he still has us here. You may wonder, right? But this is why. The process is still going on. Those who are being sanctified, and that's you and me. Alright, so we've run out of time. I see faces starting to come up, you know, looking. When are we going to get through? So we'll pray and we'll let them in. Be nice to them. Okay, let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for what you revealed in your word. This is really cool to see what you've completely done and accomplished. We don't have to sweat it. We can't enhance it. We can't blow it. How comforting that is. And on the other hand, we know that you've got a purpose in what you're doing. And that shows here in this passage you just read, in this process of being sanctified, being set apart, for your holy purpose. And we give you thanks for that. We thank you for the insights that we have from scripture from it. And we just commit our learning of these things by faith. In Jesus name, Amen.