You don't have to rely on your own strength to overcome sin or find purpose. Today is the day to surrender your life to Jesus and let the Holy Spirit empower your walk.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
God bless you guys, man. What an encouragement. It's amazing to be a part of this church body. I've been here for about a year. As pastor David said, I've known him for about 3 years, and let me tell you what, he's the "real deal".
Okay? This isn't just a Sunday thing for him. He actually lives this thing out day by day. So it's really been an honor and a privilege to to get to know him. Can we give it up for our pastor and his wife, Courtney?
Amazing. Alright, guys. I have 1 goal for today, and that goal is life change. Okay? And there's no way that I can do that.
The only way is if I get out of the way and if the Holy Spirit takes this thing over. Amen? Let's pray. God, I humbly submit myself right now before you. Speak truth to me, God, as only you can.
Change the hearts of men and women, God. I I pray that chains are broken here today. I pray that captives are set free, God. I pray, Lord, Holy Spirit, that you would empower everyone in this room here to walk out this Christian life in boldness, proclaiming your truth, your gospel. Most of all, Lord, I pray that everything on this morning be done to your glory.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, I'm really excited about the word today. Today, we're gonna be talking about sanctification.
*Sanctification*. It sounds like a long fancy word, but it simply means to make holy. And it's 1 part of 3 stages of a Christian's life, really. And that's justification, sanctification, and glorification. Now glorification is easy.
*Glorification* is when we're in our eternal bodies. This is when we are with God for eternity. Amen? There's no more suffering. There's no more pain.
There's no more death. This right? Amen. This is glorification. That's eternity.
*Justification* is to make right. It's to it's to vindicate. An easy understanding of it is just as if I'd never sinned. Okay? That's justification.
It's the moment of cleansing when it's it's that initial moment of salvation where you say, man, I am far from God. I'm far from God. I've sinned against him. I've transgressed against a holy God, and there's nothing I can do that can bring me back into right standing with this God. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us.
Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. And you who were dead in your sin, dead in your sin and the trespasses, the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses, every last 1 of them. By canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
That is justification. And it's beautiful. Never lose sight of what you were before God. Never forget what he brought you from. Never forget how lost you were before Jesus.
Praise him right now. Praise Come on. I see people clap louder at basketball games. Come on. He literally raised you from death to life.
Come on. What debt did he nail to the cross for you? I'm talking about the things that nobody even knows about. I'm talking about the secret things that only he knows, and yet he forgave you anyway. That's *justification*.
And now you stand in this space of forgiveness and freedom, and you have a personal relationship with the king of kings. You can literally go to the throne of grace boldly. Grace meaning undeserved favor. You have favor with the creator, and it's amazing, it's beautiful, it's this personal relationship. But now what?
Now there's this in between stage. You're not in heaven yet, you're not in your glorified body, but you're not what you used to be. You've been justified, you've been cleansed. There's this weird in between stage. It's called sanctification.
And this is where you're being made holy. This is where you're becoming more and more like Christ. As Paul says in Galatians-4, that Christ is literally being formed in you. You are being made holy. This is sanctification.
*Sanctification* being made holy. Amen? But why do I keep sinning then? If I'm becoming like Christ, why do I keep sinning? Why am I still addicted to drugs or pornography or jealousy or gossip or mockery?
Why am I not more like Christ? The first question that came in asked it this way. So if any man in Christ be made new, why am I not changed? I keep trying, but no result. Some of you in this room might be asking that very question.
You might be saying, man, I know I was saved. I know I gave my heart to Jesus. I know I surrendered my life to Jesus, but I'm not seeing any change. How come I'm not as as I'm not as good as this girl? Or he seems to have his life together.
Why am I not more like him? Or more importantly, why am I not more like Jesus? And you start to despair. And you start to say, you know what? Maybe this isn't for me.
Maybe I'm not a Christian. May maybe maybe I wasn't saved. Let me stop you right there. That is a lie from the "pit of hell". That is deception from the enemy, trying to confuse your identity as a son or daughter of the king.
And we rebuke that lie right now in the name of Jesus. Amen? Amen. So the question is referencing *Corinthians-5:17*, which says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Not he might be, or maybe someday he will be, or maybe just on Sundays when he's feeling extra spiritual.
No. No. No. He is a new creation. Amen?
That's what God says about you. Look at the last sentence of the question. I keep trying but no result. Exclamation point. There seems to be some frustration here.
Right? Some some earnest effort going on. But let me ask you something. How are you trying in yourself if you are in Christ? You can't be in self and in Christ.
They are diametrically opposed. They are opposite. So what do I mean by in Christ? Right? Because Paul said, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
*Galatians-2:20* says, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen. I've read that 1000000 times, and it never gets old.
So how are you trying if you're dead? Dead men don't try. Dead men die. Past tense. You know, I'll hear Christians sometimes say things like, oh, you know, just dying to myself daily.
Just dying to the flesh daily. Right, Eddie? What? That is not the gospel. *Colossians-3:3* says, for you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ hidden with Christ in God.
You have died past tense. That's another lie from the enemy trying to make you believe that you need to daily be training yourself, that you need to be working for your salvation. This is a lie from the enemy and we rebuke that as well. Next question. Come on.
I love refuting the lies of the enemy. What about you all? If *Christ was victorious on the cross, what part do I have in the process of salvation* being worked out? That's good. Let's see what the good book says.
*Colossians-2:6*. Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. As you received him, walk in him. That's good. How'd you receive him?
By grace through faith. How were you saved? How were you justified? Did you have anything to do with it? Or was it all Christ?
*Ephesians-2:8 through 9 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith*. This is not of yourselves, but is a gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. Amen. As you received him, walk in him. You received him as a "free gift", walk in him as a free gift.
It's not you, it's not me. God gets all the glory. Amen? Still think you need to work for your holiness? *1 Corinthians-1:26*.
I'm just gonna keep throwing scripture at you because there's nothing more powerful than the word of God. Amen? For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful.
Not many were of noble birth. But God. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.
Catch this next part. This is important. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, not because of you, not because of me, because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that as it is written, let the 1 who boasts, boast in the Lord. Jesus Christ himself is our sanctification.
He is our holiness. Not only that, he's also our redemption or our justification or our cleansing. He is both our *sanctification* and our justification. Amen? So I'm hearing a lot of amens.
And you might be saying, yeah, I believe you, brother. I'm right there with you. I I I hear that word. I receive it. But practically speaking, I I can't get out of my own way.
I keep getting into trouble. I I know what I'm supposed to do, but I'm not doing that. And I also know what I'm not supposed to do, but that's exactly what I'm doing. The next question, put it this way. The next question said, what makes me run away when I wanna go forward?
I tell you what, it almost sounds like the apostle Paul is writing in some of these questions. Alright? Look at what he writes in Romans-7, starting in verse 15. This is a tongue twister, so stick with me. For I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I wanna do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. "Wretched man" that I am, who will deliver me from this "body of death"?
Paul's saying, I know what I'm supposed to do, I'm not doing it. I know exactly what I'm not supposed to do, that's what I'm doing. Has anybody else felt this way? Okay. Good.
I just making sure we don't have just a bunch of perfect Christians in here. Have you ever been so ashamed, disgusted with yourself, to the point you don't even wanna look in the mirror? Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? You know what's interesting? In in this passage of scripture, 10 verses, I counted 34 times.
34 times that Paul uses the words me, my, or I. The focus is completely on self. How can you be so focused on self if you're dead to self? Look at verse 25. He gets his head right.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, exclamation point. Notice how his temptation of sin did not go away. The challenge did not go away. The only thing that changed is that he shifted his focus to the finished work of the cross of Christ. Right?
Come on. He stopped allowing his problems, his sins, his self to be bigger than his god. How many times do we allow our sin to be bigger than our god, or our self to be bigger than our god? Don't allow the enemy to lie to you with that. This is the key to sanctification, to being made holy.
This shift in focus or this this shift in faith. The apostle John records a conversation between John the Baptist and his disciples the gospel according to John. That's a lot of John's. Chapter 3 verse 30, he says, listen, John the Baptist says, he must become greater, I must become less. Talking about Jesus.
He must become greater, I must become less. Wow. This is true for all of our lives. This is sanctification. He must become greater.
I must become less. This is the only way. This is the only way of of surrendering ourselves to Christ and him living and moving in us, changing us as again Paul is saying in Galatians-4 that Christ is being formed in us. Catch this. *Sanctification* is an impartation, not an imitation.
I'll say it over here. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. You can't imitate Christ. He's perfect. The only way is for Christ to be imparted to us by the Holy Spirit.
Amen? It's all him. Stop trying to take God's glory. It's all him. I had to learn this the hard way.
You know, I was completely fine with the understanding that God did it all on the cross for my salvation. I was completely, 100%, I wasn't on that cross. You did that for me. I thank you God. You saved me.
But then I felt like I had to do my part to walk this Christian life out. I had to stop doing this, thinking that, hanging out with this person. I had to start going here. I had to start thinking this. You know what I found out?
The more I tried, the more I fell short. Wow. And I was exhausted. So it led to a lukewarm Christian life because I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it.
I had to get the revelation from God that, yeah, you're right. You can't do this. You have to surrender to me and allow me to work this thing out in you. It's a free gift. As you received it, walk in it.
That's it. That's it. It's all Jesus, guys. That's hard for us to take sometimes because we wanna do it all on our own. It's all Jesus.
Anytime we get in the way, we just screw it up. I'm being honest. Put up the last question, please. What happens if I can't stop sinning? What happens if you can?
Is God gonna love you more? Is he gonna forgive you more? Gonna Is die for you more? Again, guys, the question is focusing on self. What happens if I can't stop sinning?
Guys, Christians don't live holy lives to be loved by God, or accepted by God, or saved by God. Christians live holy lives because we are loved by God. Right? It's that love and grace that propel us into him, propel us into holiness. It's an empowerment for us, guys.
Thank you, Jesus. Let's see what our God says about sin in our lives. Romans-6:9-11. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him.
For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. That's right. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves **"dead to sin"** and "alive to God" in Christ Jesus. What does that mean?
Consider Right? That's a good word. What does that mean though? Consider yourselves dead to sin. Another another translation says, reckon yourselves dead to sin.
This is important, guys. Catch this. God's word is truth. As a Christian, you believe everything in God's word is truth. Amen?
Amen. His word says, *Christ* died to sin and you also died to sin. That's truth. Now, I know your thoughts, emotions, feelings, experiences are probably telling you something different. They're probably condemning you as a sinner.
So now you have a decision to make. What are you gonna believe? Better yet said, what are you gonna put your faith in? God's word or how you feel? Put your faith in God or self?
Right? I choose to believe what God says about me. I choose to stand on the word of God which says, have died to sin. That he has set me free. I am no longer a slave to sin.
I am a slave to righteousness. That's what I choose to believe. No matter what's going on, that's what I believe. That's what I stay in. That's a faith step.
And then you take another faith step, and another faith step, and and all of a sudden, *Jesus* just starts imparting to you, and and the Holy Spirit starts changing your thoughts and your feelings and emotions to line up with his word. And you you start to walk this thing out, and next thing you know, you sound like Jesus. You're thinking like Jesus. You start acting like Jesus. Alright?
And people start saying, man, there's something different about that guy. 6 months ago, he would've reacted this way, but now, he's acting this way. What what's going on with this guy? And people started saying, man, you're amazing. And you say, no, I am not.
Wretched man that I am, but Christ *Jesus* saved me from this body of death. Hallelujah. I got 1 more thing here I wanna talk to you guys about before I wrap up. I wanna be conscious of time. Losing my voice with you all.
*1 John-3*, starting in verse 6. No 1 who abides in him keeps on sinning. No 1 who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Verse 9 says, no 1 born of God makes a practice of sin, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. The 1 who is focused on self, the 1 who's living in self, looks at this and says, this is impossible.
There's no way I could do this. This is ridiculous like God would even ask me to do this. There's no way. The 1 that's living in Christ, the 1 focused on Christ, looks at this and says, that's amazing. Wow.
God's gonna work this out in me. Hallelujah. I look forward to this. You see the difference, guys? The the 1 who's focused on self says, I can't do this, I give up.
The 1 who's focused on *Christ* says, I know I can't do this. God's gotta do this in me. Praise God, he's working this out in me. He actually is inspired by this. He's motivated by it.
He looks forward to to the day when God is working this out in him. This process. It's amazing. Go 1 chapter back to 1 John-2. Starting at the beginning there.
My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, *Jesus Christ, the righteous*. He is the *propitiation* for our sins. Not me, not you. He is the propitiation for our sins and not our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world.
The 1 who's in self says, that's it. That's my license to sin. Grace is abounding. I can do whatever I want. I got an advocate.
He's my propitiation. He's he's suffering the payment for my sin. Us who are in Christ, look at that and humbly say, thank you, God. Thank you, God, for that *grace* that you afford me. And because of that grace, when I do screw up, I can actually fall into the arms of a loving father.
Right? I don't have to run-in shame or fear of punishment. I don't have to run into self. I can stay in Christ and actually grow in this because of that grace that's propelling me forward. Guys, this is the radical middle that we live in.
It's between 1 John-2 and 3. We're not afraid of 1 John-3. We're actually inspired by it. We're emboldened by it. And we're we're we're not taking advantage or taking for granted 1 John-2.
It actually propels us forward into holiness, not the other way around. It actually moves us forward in God and empowers us. We're in this radical middle between *justification* and glorification. *Sanctification*. Everyone bow your heads and close your eyes, please.
I wanna talk to 2 groups of people here. The first group I wanna talk to are those of you who are asking a lot of the questions that we went over today. And I keep trying. I'm exhausted. I wanna do what's right, but I can't seem to do it.
Declare right now that you surrender yourself to Jesus. Accept the free gift of *sanctification* just as you accepted the free gift of justification. As you received him, walk in him. It's a walk, not a work. Amen.
Walk in him, guys. Declare right now that you're tired of trying to do it yourself, and God doesn't need my help, and I give you everything, God. I surrender to you. Use me as you will, God. Change me, Holy Spirit.
You have you have my permission to do whatever you want with me. I am yours and you are mine. The second group I wanna talk to are those of you that you're saying, you know what? I haven't even gotten to the first step yet. You know, I've I've never given my life to Jesus in the first place, but I'm feeling something, some kind of tug on my heart right now.
Listen. That's the Holy Spirit. That's the spirit calling you. He's calling you. He's waiting on you.
He wants a relationship with you. He literally bankrupted heaven for you to have a relationship with you. Don't let this moment pass you by. You're not promised tomorrow. I'm not trying to scare you guys, I'm simply stating a fact.
None of us are promised tomorrow. Today is the "day of salvation". Don't let this moment pass you by. Joshua addressed the Israelites in the wilderness. He said, choose this day whom you will serve.
"Choose this day". On the count of 3, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand if you wanna make this decision, if you feel God calling you and you're ready to surrender your life to Jesus. I want you to raise your hand and I want you to look at me. Don't you worry about the people around you. They're not gonna be with you when you face a holy God on your day of judgment.
It's gonna be you and him. And the only way that you will be decided to be righteous is if you are in Christ. There are only 2 kinds of people in this world. It's not black and white, male or female, democrat or republican. It's "dead and alive".
You're either dead in your sin or you are alive in Christ. 1 or the other. There's no in between. This is absolute. This is your moment.
1, God loves you. He sent his son for you. He paid the ultimate price to have a relationship with you, to save you from eternal damnation. 2, now is salvation. Today is the day of salvation.
Choose this day whom you will serve. Do not let this moment pass you by. 3, "raise your hands". Raise your hands. Don't be ashamed.
Don't be afraid. *Jesus* said, deny me before man and I will deny you before the father. Amen, brother. I see you. I'm gonna give you a few more seconds.
Anybody else? I see you, brother. Thank you, God. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Moving on the hearts of men and women right now, Lord.
Softening hearts, Lord God. Pulling people. He who has yours, let him hear. Thank you, Holy Spirit, pulling people into your family, into your bride. It's beautiful.
Thank you, God. Alright. I want you guys to look at me. No. The the the 2 of you that raised your hands, I want you to look at me.
I'm gonna ask you 2 questions, and I want you to nod your head yes in agreement. Do you believe that Jesus is the son of God? That he lived a "perfect life" and he took on the sin of the world and paid the the the due penalty of suffering a terrible death on the cross, was buried for 3 days and rose again, having conquered hell, death, and the grave, and is now seated at the right hand of the father in eternal glory. Do you believe that? Amen.
Amen. Now, do you confess him as your lord and savior? Amen. Amen. Alright.
Every everybody now bow your heads and close your eyes. Let let's all pray this together. God. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for saving me.
God, I surrender completely to you. I can't do this on my own. Holy Spirit Holy Spirit. Empower me empower walk out this Christian life. Being bold to preach the gospel.
Being bold I give you everything. I give you everything. In the name of Jesus, we pray. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Amen. God bless you guys. God bless you guys.
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