The Progressive Work of Sanctification Pt.2
I CORINTHIANS 2:9-14
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (Your understanding lays in the realm of your spirit)
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (This is why Jesus said that without the new birth of the spirit of God dwelling within – you cannot understand the deeper things of God of the truth for you day)
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
(In other words, you first need the indwelling spirit of God dwelling within you in order to be able to understand and receive the truth of the word that God has sent through the messenger for your day. That is the only true evidence of the genuine Holy Spirit dwelling within a person’s soul, it is when they can receive the truth of the word for their day, and that is why the evidence cannot be some sort of emotion or outward manifestation. The only sure test is the test of the word - of those who can receive the word for their day by a clear understanding.)
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man can receive the anointing of the genuine rain of the baptized of the Holy Ghost on his spirit realm every day of his life, but if he is then confronted and denies the revelation of the word for his day, then you know that he has only been anointed at his spirit level and has not been reborn by the spirit of the word of God in his soul.
And so this is why that only the word test will show that up, and only the end time bride can know this, because she is the word manifested for this hour.
And so this is the realm of where people find it hard to decern - between the spirit and soul realm, and only the word test will show that.
JOHN 17:16-17
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 ¶ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
The Progressive Work of Sanctification Pt.2
JOHN 17:16-17
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 ¶ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
*When something of truth of the word for your day is made clear to your understanding, then the clarity of that truth is what will quicken the seed gene of God within you, and that will automatically change the way you think, and a change in your thinking will then automatically have an effect on the way you live your life.
*In other words, what you truly come to believe on the inside will affect the way you live your life on the outside.
*Paul speaks about how that a man will show his faith by his works (James 2:18). Proverbs tell us, that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
*And so it is by the revelation of the word of when truth is made clear to your understanding by the Holy Spirit, that that produces a change of thinking in your heart, and that is what builds up a faith of the word inside of you, and then that is what has an outworking in your life of a sanctification work – it is by the truth of the word. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
EPHESIANS 5:26
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
*And so this work of sanctification in a person’s life is a process that first begins with the enlightenment of truth by the indwelling teacher of Holy Spirit that continually leads a person on into a greater understanding of the things that God is revealing for the season that he is living in – remember that it must be the light for the age.
And this is why sanctification will be an ongoing process throughout your life, because the word will always be unfolding to you more and more as the Holy Spirit continues to lead you and guide you into more truth – that is the evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life. It is the revelation of the truth that will clean you from the inside out like the dove feathers with the oil that is on the inside of the doves skin.
WHY_ BEAUMONT.TX WEDNESDAY_ 61-0125
E-31 And a dove, I want to tell you something... A dove does not have to find water for a bath. Did you ever pick up a little dove, rub your hand over him? He's oily. There's something from the inside comes out and keeps him clean. Oh, my. His body's oiled, from a oil from the inside coming out.
**So the work and process of sanctification will be an ongoing work of God that will continue on throughout your entire life – and that may look very different for different people by the way God deals with each individual person, and this is why we have to be careful of how we judge people – because people come from many different backgrounds, and God is the one who is writing the story of their lives and not you and I.
*Even the definition of sin can mean different things for different people, because we are not all the same of where our conscience levels are set – and so this is why it is best to leave things up to God when it comes to judging a person from your own viewpoint.
And so the first thing that we must understand is that sanctification has a dual aspect to it – we spoke of this last week.
*As believers, we are already positionally sanctified by the finished work of Christ because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin – that is the fact and reality of your state, but then we are also being progressively sanctified in our everyday daily lives as we go on through our Christian Walk of life – and we also covered this last week.
HEBREWS 10:14 (King James Version)
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
You are perfected forever, but then there is an outworking of a continual cleansing that takes place over time.
New King James Version HEBREWS 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Berean Standard Bible HEBREWS 10:14
because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.
**Our positional and legal state is that we are already completely sanctified by the finished work of the blood of Christ, but then what follows is the outworking of a continuous process of the transforming power by the word of truth in our lives of where we are being shaped into the character Christ for the purpose of growth and maturity.
*And so it is important that we see both of these aspects of sanctification clearly, first our legal position, and then the outworking of sanctification as we go on throughout our lives.
*By the fact that people have not understood this clearly, it has caused many to fall into the unscriptural trap of judging their salvation by a standard of them looking at how good they are living their lives instead of by the finished work of Christ.
Jesus paid it all – all to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.
HEBREWS 12:10
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
(We don’t learn obedience by God waving like a “magic wand” as it were over us at the new birth of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. For many years, this was how many of us thought it worked – that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost fixed everything in your life once and forevermore, but you won’t find that teaching anywhere in the bible, because we are to learn obedience to the word by the things that we suffer as we grow up in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.)
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be (future) partakers of his holiness.
Like a father that disciplines and directs his child, so does our heavenly father discipline and direct us throughout our lives for the purpose of sanctification.
*Our natural birth as human beings was only the beginning of the process of our growth into eventual adulthood – and so it is the same with the new birth also. The new birth isn’t at the end, it’s right at the beginning, and then you grow from that into adulthood.
PETER 2:2
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: After the new birth, you have to grow into responsible adulthood.
*Maturity of what the bible teaches does not look like sinless perfection – like a monk trying to attain to a life of sinless perfection in a monastery by hardly ever speaking to one another and following a strict daily work program of prayers and meditation and all of that sort of thing, because it makes him feel like he has attained to an almost sinless state. But you must never judge a person or even yourself by any sort of a standard like that, because while we are still living in this fallen world, we will always be harassed by a sticky nature of sin that dwells in our members that is prone to causing us to make mistakes.
**Brother Branham had the full Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but he still had a cross hanging up in his car so that every time he saw an undressed woman while driving, he could look at the cross.
*Paul talks about that when he wanted to do good, evil was present, because he was still residing in a fallen human body of what the new birth did not change in any way – the outside man will only be changed at the last trump, and so until that change happens, you will always have struggles with your flesh.
***Perfection in the bible does not mean sinless perfection, but it is to come into the full maturity of a revelation of God, of a oneness in agreement with the thoughts of God. It is learning to walk with God in full agreement – of when your soul comes into full agreement with the full word of God sent for your day.
HEBREWS 6:1
1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
LUKE 8:14-15
14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
(This word Perfection in the Greek = telesphoreo {tel-es-for-eh'-o}
- to bring to (perfection or) maturity. Used alike of fruits, and of pregnant women and animals bringing their young to maturity.
Maturity is in effect connected for the purpose of adoption of where the power of the inheritance of the father can be passed over into the charge of the son – and so this maturity is not the birth of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is a growth and maturity to that of an adult.)
15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
*And so the new birth (of which consists of the elements of water, blood, and spirit), must not be confused with that of a person that has come to the perfection of a mature son or daughter of God - of whom is one that is able to eat the strong meat of the word as Paul puts it in Hebrews CH:5.
HEBREWS 5:12-14
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Opening scripture.
I CORINTHIANS 2:14
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
We know that the natural man can receive the genuine baptism of the Holy Ghost on his spirit realm every day of his life, but then still deny the revelation of the word for his day. And that is because it requires the Holy Spirit to be dwelling in the soul realm for a person to be able to recognize the word for their day as truth, and so this is where the confusion and deception lays, it is to do with these two realms, because they can both look just as religious on the outside, but the difference is between the soul and the spirit of where the Holy Ghost baptism is laying.
And this is what Brother Branham came to see very clearly right towards the very end of his ministry.
AND.KNOWETH.IT.NOT_ JEFF.IN V-2 N-10 SUNDAY_ 65-0815
127 Now, people can live in this spirit, and they dance in the spirit. They shout in the spirit. They go to church in the spirit, and they can absolutely have the real Spirit of God anointed on that spirit, but still be lost and just as devil-possessed as they can be, with that spirit.
MODERN.EVENTS.ARE.MADE.CLEAR.BY.PROPHECY_ SBD.CA V-7 N-6 MONDAY_ 65-1206
100 Notice, we find today that people... There's many people just can't believe It, even Spirit-filled people. I'm going to give you one that'll choke you. The baptism of the Holy Ghost don't mean you're going in, not at all, not on that, don't have anything to do with your soul. That's the baptism, see. Here's the inside soul, in here, that has to come from God. But then on the outside you have five senses, and five out... inlets to your... contact your earthly home. The inside, you have a spirit, and in there you have five outlets: your conscience, and love, and so forth, five outlets to that spirit. Remember, in that spirit you can be baptized with the genuine Spirit of God and still be lost. It's the soul that lives, that was ordained of God.
**And so the true evidence of the Holy Ghost (as we would term it) cannot be the evidence of that which just falls on the spirit of man and make him act religious, but the true evidence must be proven to be from the soul realm, and that soul realm evidence manifests itself, not by an emotion first, but by being able to receive a clear understanding of the word for their day – the stimulation of the revelation, and not just a stimulation by itself.
147-2 SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.4
What is it that caused this misunderstanding? The answer is, "EXPERIENCE". We have gone by experience and not the Word. Away with experience as your measuring line. There is only one plumb line, only one rod, and that is the WORD.
THE.FUTURE.HOME.OF.THE.HEAVENLY.BRIDEGROOM.AND.THE.EARTHLY.BRIDE_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-5 SUNDAY_ 64-0802
195 Now, that's what we was talking the other day, the evidence of the Holy Ghost. See? The evidence of the Holy Ghost is when you can receive the Word; not some system, but have a clear understand.
WHO.DO.YOU.SAY.THIS.IS_ PHOENIX.AZ V-6 N-9 SUNDAY_ 64-1227
218 Is there any here that hasn't received the baptism of the Spirit, yet? Now you say, "Brother Branham, I tell you, I shouted one time." That's very good. "I spoke in tongues once." That's very good, too. But still that ain't what I'm talking about. How can you shout and speak in tongues and deny the Word? The evidence of the Holy Ghost is believing His Word. Always been every age if you can receive the Word.