I’ll never forget what one of my Sunday school teachers said when I was a young boy. He said, “Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear what you say.” For some reason, that has always stayed with me. I don’t remember anything else he said that Sunday morning, but I do remember that.

I have noticed over the years, and I have spent a few on this earth, that those words are so true in the lives of most folks, mine included. How many times have we said one thing and done another? Come to think of it, we’ve all been there.

Why are we like that? Now come on, admit it. We have all been guilty at one time or another, but why?

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23 emphasis mine)

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18)

WOW! There’s our answer. We are fallen creatures. None of us measure up to a sinless standard. Only God is perfect in all ways and in everything. He wants us to measure up to His standard, but we can’t on our own.

Even those of us who are true Christians, who have been clothed with the righteousness of the Son of God, still cannot measure up to a sinless life as long as we are in these earthly bodies. This is one of my greatest reasons for my longing to be with Jesus in Heaven after I leave this world behind.

It is very difficult to imagine being in Heaven with Jesus, and having absolutely no sinful thought, but that is His promise to me and all who come to Him to be saved.

As a Christian, our life on earth is very rewarding because Jesus lives within us by His Spirit, but our perfection will not occur until we are with Him in glory. This is our ultimate sanctification.

This is why we don’t always live up to what we say. This is why someone may say of us, “Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear what you say.” We long for our perfection in Christ.

Regeneration delivers us from the old person of sin. We are born again and made a new person in Christ Jesus.

Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin. When we are saved, God declares us not guilty because we have rested our faith in Jesus.

Sanctification delivers us from the power of sin. When we are saved, God sets us apart for Himself by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are set apart to glorify Him.

Glorification delivers us from the presence of sin. When we are finally with our Lord, God removes any presence of sin. We are unable to sin.

Sanctification simply means that we are set apart and declared holy by God in Jesus, but we experience sanctification in three ways:

1. Positional sanctification – God sets us apart for Himself. We are justified in Him. (1 Thessalonians 4:7)
2. Progressive sanctification – We set ourselves apart in service to our Savior and Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
3. Perfected sanctification – We enjoy the sinless perfection God has made possible with Him in Heaven. (1 Thessalonians 3:13)

Progressive or experiential sanctification concerns our spiritual maturity as a believer in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit works in us to help us become Christ-like.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

It won’t be easy. Satan will throw many barriers in our way, but the Holy Spirit is always there to pick us up, dust us off and help us on our journey to become as our Savior would have us be. When we fail as a child of God and break the fellowship we have with Him, He wants us to confess our sin/s and get back on track.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

The Lord desires that we live by faith in Him and not by our own works for He says, “Be ye holy for I am holy.”

“As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16)

No, even a true Christian is not perfect. We still live in an earthly body with our old sin nature. The apostle Paul speaks of the constant battle between our old sin nature (the old man) and our new nature in Christ (the new man) in Romans 7:15-25.

So if we hear a voice calling out to us, “Eh! What was that?” maybe we are being reminded of our progressive sanctification that needs some fine tuning.

When we put our faith in Jesus to save us we were born again; regenerated and justified.

We were also sanctified at the cross and the empty grave (position).

One day we will be perfectly sanctified with our Savior and Lord in Heaven.

In the meantime, we should keep our eyes on Jesus and mimic Him. That is progressive sanctification.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

 

Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9) He is saying that anyone who seeks eternal life will only find it by coming to Him. Only through Jesus do we inherit eternal life and become part of the family of God.

Why should I, and others, write so much about being saved through Jesus Christ, if prophecy awareness is the primary topic on this site? The reason is that it is very important that we make known the fact that Jesus will soon return, and the urgency of our day is this: all who are willing need to be saved because Jesus is coming soon and death is also always imminent. Either by our death or the Rapture, whichever comes first, time is running out.

There is an event soon to happen called the Rapture that will remove every true believer in Christ. Jesus is coming personally to take His Church, his bride, from the earth, and then His judgment will follow upon the earth during the Tribulation. The seven years of tribulation on earth that follows the Rapture is too horrific to even imagine. Most will die.

Not to forget, prior to these two events just mentioned, man continues to die, one by one.

For the lost: all who die go directly to hell and all who are here at the Rapture must face the Tribulation.

For the saved: all who die go directly to be with Jesus in Heaven and all who are here at the Rapture (and all who have died in Him) will be personally removed from earth by Jesus and taken to Heaven.

There are two doors and two destinations. Which sounds better to you?

Jesus says that He is the door to eternal life (everlasting life with God). Satan denies having a door, but he has one, and it leads to eternal death (everlasting separation from God). He blinds the eyes of the masses in believing that the message of the Gospel we Christians share is fairy tale nonsense. Unfortunately, millions upon millions of people have left this world and instantly realized in hell that the Gospel was true after all, but now it is too late for them.

As a Christian I anxiously anticipate the Lord Jesus return for His Church at the Rapture. I truly believe it may happen today, if not today then maybe tomorrow, but it is going to happen. If I’m not here when it happens, I’ll still be part of that great event when He comes. I’ll be coming with Jesus to receive my new Heavenly body.

As I think about loved ones, friends and others I don’t even know, I often think to myself, “I would love for Jesus to come today, but if He delays, that’s okay, because it gives someone else a chance to make the right decision about Jesus Christ and their soul.” I would hate for anyone to experience the Tribulation, but many will. The time of the Tribulation will be so bad it could be called a preview to hell. Even for the few who will be saved during that time, many of them will probably die by very unpleasant means.

The Scriptures say that, “now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) Procrastination is the downfall of so many. Those who think they can put off for tomorrow those things they need to do now, all too often run out of time.

My father-in-law loves for us to play Rummy with him. We oblige him as often as possible (usually weekly), because he is 87 years old and has few comforting days remaining. Thankfully, he is a Christian, so all is okay with him spiritually. He is ready to meet his Savior. He settled that issue many years ago. However, we usually win the Rummy game with him, even when we try to lose, because he has one bad habit; he holds his playable cards too long. We go out on him. He gets caught with all those cards and gets set.

This is a vivid picture of so many folks today and down through the ages, “put off today what you can do tomorrow.” They’re saying in effect, “I’m not going to make a move just yet.” Unfortunately, death comes calling and it’s too late. Life is over and there are no more opportunities for any moves. They have been set and judgment awaits.

The door that Jesus refers to is not a game show choice. He says clearly that He is the door and it is through Him that we receive eternal life. Satan wants to make a game show contest out of this, gambling the very souls of mankind. Sadly, most fall for this insanity and treat their eternal destiny as a prize to be won or lost. Folks, when it comes to the eternal destiny of our souls, this is not a game. It is very serious. It is life or death, eternally.

There is only one door that offers the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Jesus awaits all those who will come to Him to be saved. I know I’m being repetitious, but many just don’t get it.

When we die, we don’t really die. Only our body dies. Mankind is an eternal creation of God. We start out on earth in an earthly body, and when our body dies, we continue our life either in Heaven or hell.

Jesus will provide a new Heavenly body for all who belong to Him, and in my opinion all those who do not belong to Him will be provided a body to accommodate hell.

There are two doors with two different destinations. Only one promises a Savior.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (John 3:16-21)

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html