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What We Believe Part 3
What we believe: Entire Sanctification
Over the next few weeks as a church we are going to explore what we believe, a few of the key doctrines and concepts of scripture, that shape our life individually as well as our life together as the Church.
Together we want to get a clearer picture of the nature of our faith as the Church of the Nazarene, not just to gain knowledge, but to value the freedom and joy found in living out the way of Jesus of Nazareth.
Welcome to our teaching series “What we believe”.
Romans 7:15-19
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Romans 7:24
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
-Paul is describing a tension to which many of us can relate: we battle with sin even when we desire to do good.
-Many people stop reading after verse 24. They believe that living a daily battle with sin is inevitable.
-It’s not the end of Paul’s words and it’s not the final word on sin in our lives. Keep reading to verse 25.
Romans 7:25
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Through Jesus there is deliverance. Through Jesus there is hope. Sin does not have the final word.
The doctrine of Entire Sanctification is defined as “the work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ” (Manual, Church of the Nazarene).
Romans 6:1-4
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:11-14
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 8:1-4
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
What Paul describes throughout this letter is the power of God to overcome sin in our lives
Consider these reminders in Romans 6-8:
-“We have died to sin” (Romans 6:2)
-“Sin is no longer our master” (Romans 6:)
-“We are rescued from sin and death” (Romans 7:25)
-“We are set free from sin” (Romans 8:2)
-“We no longer live according to sin” (Romans 8:4)
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
God’s Word describes sin in two different ways:
1. The acts of sin – the things that we have done, and choices we have made.
2. The nature of sin – our corrupted nature, which is bent towards selfishness.
Jesus came to be my Savior, and to forgive my acts of sin (the wrong things I have done).
But Jesus also came to be my Lord, to purify my heart and cleanse me from a nature bent towards sin. Jesus desires to be both Savior and Lord.
“We believe there is a marked distinction between a pure heart and a mature character.” (Manual, Church of the Nazarene)
God purifies our hearts, but we continue the lifelong journey to grow in grace and maturity.
Verses for further study/reflection:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Ezekiel 36:25-27
Malachi 3:2–3
Matthew 3:11–12
Luke 3:16–17
John 7:37–39
John 14:15–23
John 17:6–20
Acts 1:5
Acts 2:1–4
Acts 15:8–9;
Romans 12:1–2
2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1
Galatians 2:20
Galatians 5:16–25
Ephesians 3:14–21
Ephesians 5:17–18, 25–27
Philippians 3:10–15
Colossians 3:1–17
Hebrews 4:9–11
Hebrews 10:10–17
Hebrews12:1–2
Hebrews 13:12
1 John 1:7-9
1 John 2:1-12
From our Articles of Faith
We believe that sanctification is the work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. It is wrought by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit in initial sanctification, or regeneration (simultaneous with justification), entire sanctification, and the continued perfecting work of the Holy Spirit culminating in glorification. In glorification we are fully conformed to the image of the Son.
We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.
It is wrought by the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service. Entire sanctification is provided by the blood of Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by grace through faith, preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.
This experience is also known by various terms representing its different phases, such as “Christian perfection,” “perfect love,” “heart unity,” “the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit,” “the fullness of the blessing,” and “Christian holiness.”
We believe that there is a marked distinction between a pure heart and a mature character. The former is obtained in an instant, the result of entire sanctification; the latter is the result of growth in grace.
We believe that the grace of entire sanctification includes the divine impulse to grow in grace as a Christlike disciple. However, this impulse must be consciously nurtured, and careful attention given to the requisites and processes of spiritual development and improvement in Christlikeness of character and personality. Without such purposeful endeavor, one’s witness may be impaired and the grace itself frustrated and ultimately lost.
Participating in the means of grace, especially the fellowship, disciplines, and sacraments of the Church, believers grow in grace and in wholehearted love to God and neighbor.