EAGLE'S ROCK

The Bible talks about how, once a person is saved through faith in Jesus, God pardons their guilt through the work that Jesus did for them on the cross by suffering for their sins. Yet this is not all that God does for them; he also does a very real and supernatural thing inside them, causing them to be "born again".

The Bible teaches that a person is not alive spiritually until they come to know Jesus by faith--before this, they are "dead in their trespasses and sins". When they truly place their trust in Jesus, God has done something internally: he made that person come alive through this new birth by giving them his Holy Spirit and performing a very real life-giving miracle. The Bible therefore calls Christians "a new creation".

Jesus says in John 3 that nobody can enter Heaven unless they are born again like this.
All this happens when a person is saved.

Sanctification is the work that God continues doing in a person's live after they have come to know Jesus and been born again. If God were to just leave us alone after this, we would continue to do horrible stuff and never change our behavior or grow as Christian. But God does not leave his children alone; he is a wonderful Father! Therefore he guides us and disciplines us and works on us through his Spirit which now "dwells" in us.

Sanctification is this lifelong process; God will continually be showing us our sin, and teaching us to change our minds and choose to do what is right instead. He does this as he increases our love for him. He also continually takes "idols" and things that are against him out of our lives. This process can be difficult at times but it is so worth it, because at the same time we grow to know Jesus more closely. So sanctification is what the experience is called as God makes many changes in the life and heart of a Christian. He keeps working on us and making us better, but we won't be perfect until we see Jesus face to face. The Bible says that then "we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is". Only then will our sanctification be done.

One very important thing that many people don't realize is, the Bible says to look and make sure that this is actually happening in your life. Scripture gives no category allowing for people who know Jesus but are supposedly not experiencing the process of sanctification. Lots of people think they are Christians, but if you are not experiencing God's hand on your life, not being taught by him to turn from your sin and and obey him out of love, there is a very good chance you are not actually a Christian yet. The Bible does not say anywhere that praying a certain magical prayer to Jesus will save you; many people "do" this and yet have not truly believe in Jesus, in the sense that the Bible talks about. Real faith always results in an active relationship with him of growing trust and obedience, because this is what God is doing to show his glory and his love for his people. We must come to know Jesus through faith in order to be saved and then sanctified.

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