Sanctification

[jabhat]

Guys, let's discuss what is what is sanctification in Christianity.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.


— Revelation 21:4

I have a tear bottle now. But it isn't on earth; it's in heaven. And I'm not the one who has to collect my own tears because God has already said He would do that.

So why does God "keep our tears in a bottle" so to speak? This ia a metaphor of course. Because He sees and cares about every one of them. He takes note of our every tear. He hears our every sigh. And the Bible says that a day is coming when God will wipe away all of the tears from all of our years.

Beloved, NEVER avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

Vitaly Kaloyev is an architect and deputy minister of housing from Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, Russia. His family died aboard Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, which collided with DHL Flight 611 over Überlingen, Germany on 1 July 2002. Peter Nielsen, an air traffic controller handling traffic when the collision occurred, was freed from any responsibility in the following inquest and he retired from further air traffic work afterwards. However, Kaloyev held Nielsen responsible, and in 2004 he traveled to the Swiss town of Kloten and stabbed him to death.

Kaloyev, an architect working in Barcelona since 2002, expected to meet his wife, Svetlana Kaloyeva, and two children, 10-year old Konstantin Kaloyev and 4-year-old Diana Kaloyeva. The family of Kaloyev died on Flight 2937.

Kaloyev participated in the search for the bodies and located a broken pearl necklace owned by his daughter, Diana. He also found her body, which was intact, trees having broken her fall. Her mother and brother fell 36,000 feet; Svetlana's body landed in a corn field, and Konstantin's body hit asphalt in front of an Überlingen bus shelter.

Returning to his home in North Ossetian city of Vladikavkaz, Kaloyev spent the first year after the accident lingering at the graves of his family and building a shrine to them in his home.

Instead of vengeance, Christians are called to offer both sides of the jaw, to forgive 70-times-7 times, to repay no evil with evil, to avenge NOTHING!!! We are free to live with forbearing gentleness because, as Paul mentions, God is the Avenger!

"O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!" sang the Psalmist (Psalm 94:1).

This is not the Hulk-like rage of retaliation. God's shining vengeance is his level-headed, righteous response to sin. It is his holy sanity. It is a revelation of himself that Christians are called to worship.

And while the local Avengers who legally work for government are called on to restrain evil forces, they are a faint echo of the One who has, and will again, break the evil, and break it forever. He is the God of Israel.

God’s vengeance reminds us that none of us escape the power of sin and its just consequences.

God's law says that punishment for sin is DEATH.

The Avenger will "inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

God’s Final Judgment when the SON of God returns and Glory

3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted WORTHY of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven (the SECOND COMING of JESUS) with His mighty angels (FIGHTERS), 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do NOT obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1

Leviticus 19:18

"'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Deuteronomy 32:35

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."

1 Samuel 26:10

As surely as the LORD lives," he said, "the LORD himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

Psalm 94:1

The LORD is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth.

Proverbs 20:22

Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you.

Proverbs 24:29

Do not say, "I'll do to them as they have done to me; I'll pay them back for what they did."

Jeremiah 51:36

Therefore this is what the LORD says: "See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

Romans 12:17

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

Why?

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:

(1) that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

(2) that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.

For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, **but God**, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 4

Yes. This law means what we shall NOT covet and we shall not commit adultery.

The Son of God confirms this law of God said in the Holy Torah:

38"You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' 39"But I say to you, do NOT RESIST an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40"If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.

That judgement is coming. Soon. By faith we see the coming righteous vengeance of God in Israel when He RETURNS and on our planet and we flee to the JUDGE- the Son of God- to find in Christ salvation and the place where the vengeance of God’s holy wrath has been poured out so that we could escape His Judgement.

Let us strip off sin. But why?

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
— Hebrews 12:1-2

Are friends and loved ones in heaven watching us right now and cheering us on? NO! Only God is All-knowing and Omnipresent. DEAD people do NOT look at us and do NOT hear us. They are DEAD. What "huge crowd" is this? What is this "great cloud of witnesses," as it says in the Bible?

One big hint is the fact that Hebrews 12 comes right after Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 is a record of the great men and women of faith who died serving God. We sometimes refer to it as the Hall of Faith. You read about Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Gideon, Samson, David, Rahab, Daniel, and the list goes on.

So who are the witnesses in Hebrews 12:1? They are simply people of faith who have gone before us, giving us a model to follow so that we might live and exercise our faith as they did. Reading about the lives of these men and women who have walked with God and trusted Christ and stood strong in the face of trials and persecutions can add steel to our souls.

These men and women aren't simply giving us a template to follow.

I know for certain that Jesus is our God like His Father and He is watching us, turn for turn, step for step.

 

[jabhat]

Let us strip off sins and put on the God Jesus Christ.


13Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
Romans 13:14

Job 29:14
I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.


Galatians 3:27
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Ephesians 4:24
to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.


17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles (unbelievers walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4

Colossians 3:10
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.


Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.


Character of the New Man:

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.(NKJV)

 

[jabhat]

“Tell us (JESUS), ... And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

The Son of God says:
For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' and will deceive many.
Matthew 24:5
...And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.


2 Peter 2 (NKJV)
Destructive Doctrines

2 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you (CHRISTIANS), who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord (the GOD JESUS) who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Doom of False Teachers

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh (LIVING IN SINS) in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

Depravity of False Teachers

12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you (CHRISTIANS), 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Deceptions of False Teachers

18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

 

[jabhat]

What is instruction in righteousness?

2 Timothy 3 (NKJV)
Perilous Times and Perilous Men

3 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

The Man of God and the Word of God

10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

[jabhat]

For if God did not spare the natural branches (Jews), He may not spare you (Christians) either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those (Jews) who fell, severity; but toward you (Christians), goodness, if you continue in His goodness (to live a GODLY/HOLY life). Otherwise you (Christians) also will be cut off (like Jews for their sins/disbelief).
Romans 11

 

[Deborah13]

For if God did not spare the natural branches (Jews), He may not spare you (Christians) either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those (Jews) who fell, severity; but toward you (Christians), goodness, if you continue in His goodness (to live a GODLY/HOLY life). Otherwise you (Christians) also will be cut off (like Jews for their sins/disbelief).
Romans 11

There is only the natural branches (of the nation of Israel) and the wild branches (Gentiles of all other nations, Muslims are Gentiles).
CJB
13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work 14 in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! 15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!

16 Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree,.... 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you!

I added only the color blue to the words Gentile/s.
So Paul is talking about Gentile Christians therefore, not all the Christians.
The natural branches that were/are not cut off were/are Jewish Christians.

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

 

[jabhat]

edited for rudeness reba

 

[Deborah13]

edited for rudeness reba

Act_11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

All of these disciples, that were called Christians, were Jews.

 

[jabhat]

edited for rudeness reba