Moving Away From The Cross

The idea of Christians moving away from the Cross of Jesus Christ may sound preposterous at first but on closer examination, you will discover that it is perfectly logical and biblical. However, before you light the bonfire over my body, let me emphasize that we are NOT MOVING AWAY FROM THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS but as believers, we, ourselves, have to move away from the milk and move forward to discipleship and spiritual growth. 

Paul the Apostle said, "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready." Yes, some are not ready for the meats and they still need to learn the basic elements of salvation.

After we have been justified and saved by our Lord, we should move on and not remain lingering at the Cross. We only stay there when we are still under the Law and need justification. When we say that we are not under the Law then why are we behaving like we are still under its yoke.
 
We have been saved once and that's it! We are now under Grace. This means that we are totally free from the power of sins. For the first time, we can fight temptation with the power of His grace. We can obey God and do the right things because we have been empowered.

To claim that we have no need to obey God just because Christ is obeying God on our behalf is a belief known as Progressive Justification. This means that we have not been fully justified and that we need Christ's obedience from His death at the Cross till now so as to keep us continually justified. This can only be so if the Law still have power over us. Thus instead of fully enjoying a life of freedom under Grace, we are continuing a life under Law. 

The idea that the brimstones and fire of the Law are still pouring upon us and Christ is our umbrella or covering is an inaccurate one. There is no more onslaught of the Law upon us now. The Law has no more hold upon our lives. Absolutely zero. We have been justified. Period! Why do we still need the continual obedience of Christ to shield us? From what? 

Do we need to cling to the Cross as though we are still depraved and full of sins? We are no longer sinners but children of the Most High God. Should a drowning man still cling to the float after he is already safe onshore?

We have to move on to the process of sanctification. Sanctification has nothing to do with the Gospel but everything to do with the Living Savior and His Holy Spirit. The Gospel is meant for unbelievers but we are already believers. The Gospel shows Christ was crucified for our sins and whomsoever receives His sacrifice will be justified. We have already done that. Then why do we need to go back to the Cross again? 

We preach the Cross to sinners but we preach the living resurrected Savior to believers.We preach justification to those unsaved but sanctification to those who are disciples.
 
It time for us to move away from the empty Cross to the empty tomb. From the empty tomb to the Upper Room. From the Upper Room to the Public Square. From the Public Square to millions of streets around this world. What message do we carry then? The message of the Cross of course!

Stealing, Sleeping and Swearing

Albert Kang

By faith, we look to Calvary Cross for justification but we look to the Holy Spirit for our sanctification because He helps us to apply God's Word to our lives (Romans 15:14–21). 

 

Sanctification does not come by simply contemplating upon the Cross and the moment of our justification. It comes by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives. For example, you have been taking (stealing) things from the office and when you are saved, you stop stealing from your boss. That's called sanctification. You have been sleeping with your boyfriend, but now you stop because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. That is called sanctification. You have been cursing and swearing but now you stop... that is sanctification. 

 

Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify us so that we can experience holiness in our lives. Therefore, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed daily to become more and more like Christ. AK

Justification and Sanctification: What is the Difference?

Understanding the difference between justification and sanctification can be as important as understanding the difference between salvation and damnation.  Rightly dividing between the two is of crucial importance.  When you understand what they are, you can then draw a line in the sand and say, "This is what saves.  This is not what saves."

Justification is the work of God where the righteousness of Jesus is reckoned to the sinner so the sinner is declared by God as being righteous under the Law (Rom. 4:3; 5:1,9; Gal. 2:16; 3:11). This righteousness is not earned or retained by any effort of the saved.  Justification is an instantaneous occurrence with the result being eternal life.  It is based completely and solely upon Jesus' sacrifice on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) and is received by faith alone (Eph. 2:8-9).  No works are necessary whatsoever to obtain justification.  Otherwise, it is not a gift (Rom. 6:23). Therefore, we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1).

Sanctification is the processes of set apart for God's work and being conformed to the image of Christ.  This conforming to Christ involves the work of the person.  But it is still God working in the believer to produce more of a godly character and life in the person who has already been justified (Phil. 2:13).  Sanctification is not instantaneous because it is not the work of God alone. The justified person is actively involved in submitting to God's will, resisting sin, seeking holiness, and working to be more godly (Gal. 5:22-23). Significantly, sanctification has no bearing on justification.  That is, even if we don't live a perfect life, we are still justified.

Where justification is a legal declaration that is instantaneous, sanctification is a process.  Where justification comes from outside of us, from God, sanctification comes from God within us by the work of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Bible.  In other words, we contribute to sanctification through our efforts.  In contrast, we do not contribute to our justification through our efforts.

Now, there is one more point of clarification.  To sanctify also means to set apart for holy use.  Therefore we can have verses that talk about us being sanctified already because God has set us apart for holy use.

• John 10:36, "do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?"

• Rom. 15:16, "to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit."

•  1 Cor. 1:2, "to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." 

• 1 Cor. 6:11, "And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."

•  1 Tim. 4:4-5, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." 

• Heb. 2:11, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

All that we need is given to us in Christ.  So there is one sense in which we are not yet completely formed into the image of Christ (sanctification of being made like Jesus), yet in another sense we are because we are seen as "in Christ", set apart for holy use where all of where all our spiritual needs and purposes are met through Jesus.

Does this mean that those justified by grace can sin as much as they want?

Romans 6:1-2 says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer in it?"

1 Thess. 4:7 says, "God has called us not for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification."

The Scriptures teach us that we are to live holy lives and avoid sin (Col. 1:5-11).  Just because we are saved and eternally justified before God (John 10:28), that is no excuse to continue in the sin from which we were saved.  Of course, we all sin (Rom. 3:23).  But the war between the saved and sin is continuous (Rom. 7:14-20) and it won't be until the return of Jesus that we will be delivered from this body of death (Rom. 7:24).  To seek sin continually and use God's grace to excuse it later is to trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb. 10:29) and to reveal the person's true sinful, unsaved nature (1 John 2:4; 2:19).  (Other verses worth checking out are: Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; and 1 Pet. 2:21-22.)

What the cults do with justification and sanctification

The cults consistently blur the meanings of the two terms and misapply the truths taught in God's word.  The result is a theology of works righteousness, of earning their salvation which only leads to damnation.  This is because by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified (Gal. 2:16).  Man cannot contribute to his salvation (Gal. 5:1-8).  Man is sinful and even his best deeds are stained and filthy before God (Isaiah 64:6). Therefore, making a person right before God can only be God's work (Gal. 2:20).

Typically, in cult theologies, a person is not justified (declared righteous in God's eyes) until the final day of judgment when his works are weighed and a reward is given or he is found worthy of his place with God.  Thus, a person with this errant theology can not claim 1 John 5:13 as his own which says, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."

Contextually, "These things" refers to loving God, being obedient to Him, belief in Christ, and eternal life in Jesus.  Therefore, 1 John 5:13 can be considered a test.  If you are believing and doing the right things, then you will know if you have eternal life.  Can a cultist know he has eternal life? No.  He cannot.  But a Christian can.

People in cults don't understand the difference between justification and sanctification.  Therefore, they must depend upon a cooperative effort with God to have their sins forgiven which is, essentially, combining the filthy works of man (Isaiah 64:6) with the holy work of God.  They don't mix.  They can't.  Hence, salvation is by grace through faith, alone.  To believe anything else is to miss salvation.

Source:http://carm.org/justification-and-sanctification

Sanctification and the Grace of God

Self-righteousness is trying to maintain moral behavior by fear and guilt. Nothing sanctifies us more effectively than the application of the pure grace of God. 

To become like Christ, we need the help of Christ. Knowing how much He loves us even to the point of tolerating (not accepting) our disobedience, we receive the grace to live a life of obedience and harmony with His will.

Albert Kang 

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SET APARTSanctification (Gk.. hagiasmos) means “to set apart.” In English we use the words ’holy’ and ‘saint.’ There are three aspects to sanctification; 

(1) Positional sanctification

(2) Experiential sanctification

(3) Ultimate sanctification

That is to say, we are sanctified, being sanctified, and will be sanctified. Positional sanctification and Ultimate sanctification are something that God alone does for us. But Experiential sanctification requires our active participation with the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Christ in our daily lives.

Positional sanctification has to do with our standing before God based on what Christ did for us. All those who are truly born again believers are called “saints” and St. Paul refers to believers as saints in many of his epistles. (see Romans 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:1). Positional sanctification is achieved through the once-for-all death of Christ (Heb. 10:10, 14, 29).

Experiential sanctification has to do with our experience in daily life. St. Paul desired the believers in Thessalonica to be completely sanctified in their experience as can be noted in First Thess. 5:23. St. Peter writes to believers, drawing from the Old Testament Leviticus 19:2, to be holy (First Peter 1:16). As a believer grows in his or her walk with the LORD, experiential sanctification takes place (Romans 6:13; Romans 12:1-2) and desires change. Old, destructive patterns stop and are replaced with God honoring choices on a daily basis and often suffering is involved (see Philippians 3:8-11). Experiential sanctification cannot take place without the Word of God (John 17:17; Psalm 119:9-16) and it is both God and the believer who have an active part in experiential sanctification (Phil 2:12-13).

Ultimate sanctification has to do with the future and the final transformation of the Christian into the likeness of Christ. It deals with the believers being presented the LORD without blemish (Eph. 5:26-27).

(Some of the above is from Moody Handbook of Theology; Nelson Study Bible NKJV; and inspired by the sermon of Dr. Richard Mayhue of the Master’s Seminary http://www.tms.edu/

Source:http://earlymorningrainbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2010/09/set-apart.html 

Justification and Sanctification

There is a distinction between Justification and Sanctification. Justification is solely the work of God. We thus have the righteousness of Jesus and so God declares that we are righteous through our faith in Christ and Christ alone. (Rom. 4:3; 5:1,9; Gal. 2:16; 3:11).

Sanctification is God working through us to produce a Christ-like character even though we have been justificed (Phil 2:13). We do not have instant sanctification because it is a process where we have to actively submit to the working of the Holy Spirit in our life.

We have to resist sins and seek holiness as we grow in the Lord. This is not legalism because Sanctification does not take away Justification. That is to say even though we may live imperfect life, we are still justified.

To confuse Sanctification with the filthy works of man and legalism is dangerous. The Bible is clear that we are to live holy lives and to avoid sin (Col. 1:5-11). Yes, position-wise, we are eternally saved and justified. We cannot earn our salvation. However, that does not mean that we continue to live in the sin from which we were redeemed.

Yes, we are continually affected by the temptations to sin and the battle between the redeemed of the Lord and sin will continue (Rom. 7:14-20) until the Second Coming. Only then, that we will be delivered from our bodies of death (Rom. 7:24). To claim that since we have been forgiven by the complete work of Christ and therefore we do not need to avoid sins and live a holy life is to trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb. 10:29).

Rev Albert Kang

Considering the Naked Gospel Summary

I’ve reviewed some specific sections and issues from Andrew Farley’s The Naked Gospel.  He wrote the book in order to relieve people from the bondage of legalism which can come from misunderstanding the gospel.  That is a great thing.  But Farley seems to misunderstand the gospel in a different way.

He begins the book by inviting theological discussion.  Theological disputation is an important thing, but it must be done properly.  Where Farley, and his book,  ultimately fails is how he pursues theological disputation.

His book is filled with exegetical and hermeneutical errors.  Texts are often taken out of context.  His method of interpretation is profoundly flawed. He ignores texts that may have something to say about his points.  When talking about how we won’t stand before God at the Great White Throne, he tosses out Matthew 25 due the fact that it took place before the Cross.  Nor does he refer to Romans 14:9-12.

9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.  10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.  11 It is written: ”‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’”  12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

He fails to make theological distinctions which are of great importance.  As a result of this, he has a one-size fits all approach.  For him, all roads lead to justification.  One of my professors, Richard Pratt, often told us that you have to use the right medicine from the medicine cabinet.  We are to rightly diagnose the problem, and then give them the proper practical theology to address that problem.  If you have heart problems, taking medication for erectile dysfunction can be deadly.  There is no one medicine for all problems.  The gospel has many elements to it (regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, glorification etc.), and we must give them the proper one.  To offer the medication of justification when they have a sanctification problem is part of what keeps Christians in immaturity.

Another problem that disturbed me was the consistent use of the straw man argument.  Farley consistently portrays those with whom he disagrees in the worst possible light.  For example, he hones in on those who think we must confess our sins (post-conversion) and that the Spirit convicts us.

Convict means “to find guilty.”  Within a judicial system, conviction is followed by sentencing and then punishment.  Inside the word conviction is the term we usually reserve for a person who is incarcerated- a convict.  So should the verb convict be used to describe interaction between the Holy Spirit and children of God?  Probably not.

He’s right, IF that is the only meaning and intended use of the word.  As a professor of applied linguistics, you would think he would know this and explain this.  But he stacks the deck so his view sounds reasonable and the other view does not.

One definition of convict is to make aware of one’s sinfulness and guilt.  As a Christian, I remain sinful (Farley would disagree) and do wrong things (he’d agree).  The Spirit convicts me, in part, but making me aware of my wrong-doing in specific areas.  He is not condemning me, but humbling me and leading me to repentance (most of the churches are told to repent in Revelation 2-3).  Moreover, conviction can refer to a firm or fixed belief.  The Spirit convicts us in that sense too.  He established firm and fixed belief in us about what the Bible teaches and how we are to apply it.  These are the ways in which most Christians use these words- not in the way Farley claims.

As a result, this book- while well-intentioned- can do much harm to those lacking a sufficient biblical theological background to make the distinctions that Pastor Farley fails to make.  I hate sounding like a nit-picky, fault-finding guy.  But this book presents too many problems on too many fronts.

I’ve noted other books that may be of good use in understanding regeneration and justification.  A book that may be of good use in understanding sanctification is Walter Marshall’s The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification.  It is built on the reality of our union with Christ.  So, in some ways it is what Farley tries to do without the many theological errors that Farley embraces.  We do live out our new identity in Christ, being assured of His love for us due to the substitutionary death of Christ.   This would be a more fruitful use of one’s time and money.

Written by Pastor Steve Cavallaro

Cavman Considers

Fruits of Our Salvation

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples" (John 15:8)

What do I know about bearing fruits? Absolutely nothing! I have never been a farmer or even a gardener. All my dying plants in the backyard prove that I am a better preacher than a gardener. The only fruits that I ‘pluck’ are those out of fruit stalls and supermarket shelves. Even that can be a tedious task because I do bring back fruits, to the cringe of my wife, that are not so fresh or partially crushed on one side. I hope to do better by bearing spiritual fruits.

If buying fruits is tough, then I presume growing fruit trees must be terribly tough. The world of orchard management is a harsh one. Trees that do not produce good fruits are cut down. In the spiritual orchard management, the Holy Spirit is also onetough farmer.

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away" (John 15:2). 

However, Jesus comforts us that we are given chances to bear fruits before the ultimatum is being exercised.

A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, “Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?” But he answered and said to him, “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9).

Trees that produce good fruits are pruned to maximise their output. The word that comes to my mind is ‘pain’! 

To provide salvation for our souls, Jesus had to go through pain of the Calvary. The disciples went through the pain of torture and martyrdom just to share the Gospel. So why should you and I be exempted from pain as we grow in the Lord.  

The pain of discipline and abstinence is all a part of our Christian discipleship. Paul the Apostle admonished the Christians to "have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10).

This means that the fruits of our salvation are good works. We must clarify that we do not do good works to gain salvation but these fruits are borne as the result of the perfect work of Christ on the Cross. In another word, good works will not get us to heaven but they are the expressions and fruits of our salvation. Paul understood this well, "And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful" (Titus 3:14). 

The Born-again believers are filled with the love and grace of God. With these, they learn to be sensitive and respond to the needs and struggles of the people around. The fruits of good work also include financial sacrifice. The early believers gave to the poorer Christians in Jerusalem and Paul mentioned this financial offering as a fruit. The spirit of sacrifice is also considered as a fruit (Philippians 4:16-17). Praising God and giving thanks to Him is also known as the ‘fruit of our lips’ (Hebrews 13:15).

Walking with the Lord through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit will bear the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:16,22-23). 

All these experiences that the believers have the privilege of enjoying are desired by many in the world. Therefore bearing fruits is a form of lifestyle evangelism. Producing good fruits does not only glorify God but also show the world what the true love of God is all about.

Rev Albert Kang