Justification, instant sanctification and progressive sanctification and sainthood..

[David H.]

OK. So then you are walking towards sainthood, and I'm renewing my mind. But fellowship with Christ, this you have, but be it to you according to your faith.

Renewing the mind is One of the steps to sainthood. Getting over our Carnal mind and the faith we have in intellect is a big step in the process, where The Holy Spirit can teach us.

The following from Tozer expresses this well:
"Far better than the attempt to understand is the humility that admits its ignorance and waits quietly on God for His own light to appear in His own time. We will be better able to understand when we have accepted the humbling truth that there are many things in heaven and earth that we shall never be able to understand. It will be good for us to accept the universe and take our place in the mighty web of God's creation, so perfectly known to Him and so slightly known to even the wisest of men. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way."

To those who have (unintentionally) degraded their conception of God to the level of their human understanding it may appear frightening to admit that there are many things in the Scriptures and more things about the Godhead that transcend the human intellect. But a few minutes on our knees looking into the face of Christ will teach us humility, a virtue whose healing qualities have been known by God's elect from time out of mind. Coleridge gave it as his considered belief that the profoundest sentence ever uttered by human lips was the spontaneous cry of the prophet Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones when asked by the Lord whether those bones could live: "And I answered, 0 Lord God, thou knowest." Had Ezekiel answered yes or no he would have closed off his heart to the mighty mystery which confronted him and would have missed the luxury of wonder in the presence of the Majesty on high. For never forget that it is a privilege to wonder, to stand in delighted silence before the Supreme Mystery and whisper, "0 Lord God, thou knowest!"

Root of the Righteous (hsraadio.net) Page 44-45 of the PDF. Make Room For Mystery

 

[David H.]

OK. So then you are walking towards sainthood, and I'm renewing my mind. But fellowship with Christ, this you have, but be it to you according to your faith.

Marks,
The scriptures for my previous claim: Read Paul's Prayer to the Ephesian church Found in Ephesians 1:17-23. Notice this is prayed over Born again believers, Notice how Paul speaks:" That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," Now if they are already saints would they not already know this? This is pointing to the very path of the saint which Peter was speaking of In 2 Peter 1, Add to your faith, virtue, and to virtue Knowledge, this is the beginning of the journey to sainthood, it is the foundation on which divine revelation rests, and that this knowledge of what it means to be a saint is the foundation of these revelations.

I Hope this explains this better for you. I challenge you to read Ephesians with this distinction in mind, as it will add a depth of meaning to the Words of Paul there you have never seen. As I said earlier, nowhere are saints more discussed than in Ephesians and Revelation and there is a reason for this.

God Bless.

 

[Truman]

When a Person first has saving faith, they receive justification, which is being declared "not guilty" by the judge, and instant sanctification, a clean slate for all past present and future sins. We are declared righteous and made righteous by the blood of the Lamb which cleanses us, We receive the Holy Ghost as an "earnest" Literally a down payment, and He then begins the work of cleaning us from the inside out so that we become Holy and righteous, not of ourselves but by the work of the Holy Spirit in us, this is Progressive sanctification, and that down payment starts to earn interest and within us and the more we yield to the work of the Holy Spirit, the more he is able to finish the work in us.

Unfortunately, many Christians, in their faith, stop at instant sanctification and never surrender to the work of the cross.
They are justified, though not instantly sanctified.
Born again of the Spirit but no transforming of the soul (mind, will, emotions).
The sum of our spirit and soul is our personality.
They believe all their sins past, present, and future are forgiven and they are assured of their future salvation, then proceed to live as they will, never growing in the faith.
This is nothing more than self deception.
The seed planted in their heart never grows and when the thorns grow and the storms of life blow, they, never having been rooted in the faith, are blown away.
Assurance of salvation comes not from acknowledging the facts of salvation but by knowing the source of that salvation, and in relation to that Person, yielding to and surrendering to His work in us.
Yielding our own will to His will.
In the words of Christ Jesus our example: "Not my will but thine be done".
This surrender to the will of God is not self righteousness, but an act of admitting that no righteousness can come from myself.
The more we yield ourselves to Him, the more Christ-like we become.
The more we try to be righteous in and of our own strength, the more we will fail.
The more we surrender, the more He will succeed in us and through us.
This is the key to holiness, a hard lesson to learn but one we must if we are to become a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Being born again is not a mental acknowledgment of facts, but a regeneration of the heart that comes by putting to death the old man in us and putting on the new man.
This is what progressive sanctification leads to.
Some say this is a lifelong process, and for most it is.
However, there are a few who reach this point of total regeneration, and these are the saints of God.
Those brief moments they are among us before they are called home are the most precious times in their lives, and when they have the most profound effect on the body.
But invariably, they will be persecuted and not last long in this role before being called to make the saintly sacrifice and give their testimony (martyria).
But the effect of this testimony will shake the world to its core, and serve as an example to the faithful of the path we all must tread.
There are those who throw the word saint around like it is a just another word for Christian.
Are all Christians saints?
No.
Are Christians called to become saints?
Yes.
Many are called, few are chosen.
You, I, nor any other do not determine if we are to be saints, as this is the divine choice of God.
He will choose his martyrs, as we are not a religion that seeks death, nor a suicide cult.
The good news is the path of progressive sanctification and holiness is a path many saints have travelled before, and we have but to choose to follow that path and we will walk from victory to victory in our lives as we overcome the bondage of the flesh, and learn to live by the leading of the Spirit.
When we as a body wholeheartedly begin this journey of the Spirit, the world will hate us, but we will know we are being the salt of the earth.
May we never lose our saltiness, as the salt is both to savor and a preservative that heals, but when it loses that saltiness it is of no value.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)

"Many people wonder why they do not have victory over their wounded pride; their touchiness, their greediness, their loneliness, their failure to experience the promised rivers of living waters.
The secret is not far away.
They secretly and habitually practice shrine worship - the shrine of self.
In the outward cross they glory, but inwardly they worship another god, and stretch out their hands to serve a pitied, petted, and pampered, self-life.
Until Christ works out in them an inner crucifixion, which will cut them off from a self-infatuation and will unite them to God in a deep union of love, a thousand heavens could not give them peace." - except from "Born Crucified" by L.E. Maxwell

 

[David H.]

The Prayer Of Paul in Ephesians 3 is the Prayer of the saint. It is about being grounded in Love not just any Love but Agape Love. Meditate on these words carefully.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, (Agape) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)