7    A Saint

We are saints of God, holy and pure, blameless in His sight, set apart for His eternal purpose.  The word saint literally means one who is sanctified, set apart from the world and its sinful lusts.  To sanctify a thing is to consecrate it to God, to make it clean and pure, and to set it apart for His use only and none other.

So we are!  We are washed clean, blameless and pure, by the blood of Jesus.  We are set apart from all uncleanness and unrighteousness of the world, to serve the Living God, and none other.

                I Cor      1:2 
                Unto the church of God which is at Corinth,
                to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
                called to be saints, with all that in every place
                call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
                both theirs and ours:

                Phil       1:1 
                Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ,
                to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi,
                with the bishops and deacons:

                Colos      1:2 
                To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are
                at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace,
                from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

A saint is not one who is dead, nor one who is already gone into Heaven.  For what is there in death or in heaven which is evil that you must be separated from it.  But it is in this world and in this time that God, thru His power and His love, and by His Word, separates us from the sinful world.  

                I Thes     4:3 
                For this is the will of God, even your sanctification,
                that ye should abstain from fornication:

                Hebrews   13:12
                Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify
                the people with his own blood,
                suffered without the gate.

                Psalms     4:3 
                But know that the Lord hath set apart him
                that is godly for himself: the Lord will
                hear when I call unto him.


7.1   Holy and Blameless

As saints, being sanctified by the blood of Jesus, we are and can continue to be holy and blameless until His coming.

                I Thes     5:23
                And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
                and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
                body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
                our Lord Jesus Christ.

                I Peter    1:16
                Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
             
God has given us the power to walk holy, or sinless, in His presence.  Remember that we are born into the Kingdom of God as babies.  We may stumble and fall as we grow, but we do not stay down.  We get up and brush the dirt off of us.  As we grow older, we fall less and less, unless one is being careless and not watchful.  So it is in the Kingdom of God.  If you sin, repent and receive the blood, which washes you clean.  As you grow in Jesus, you will sin less and less, walking more and more of the time in holiness or sinlessness.

                Eph        1:4 
                According as he hath chosen us in him before
                the foundation of the world, that we should be
                holy and without blame before him in love:

                Eph        4:24
                And that ye put on the new man, which after God
                is created in righteousness and true holiness.

                I John     4:17
                Herein is our love made perfect,
                that we may have boldness in the day of judgment:
                because as he is, so are we in this world.

As He is!  Jesus is clean.  He is holy and sinless, being the firstborn from the dead, leading the way for us, thru His blood.  We are now holy and sinless, even in this world.

                I John     5:18
                We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth
                not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth
                himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.


7.2   The Called Out

The Greek word for church literally means to be called out.  So are we called out of darkness and sin unto His marvelous light.  As Abraham was called out from his relatives in their idolatrous world, and as Israel was called out from Egypt and told to stay away from the practices of the Canaanites, so God has called us out, the Church, from the idolatrous practices of this world, to serve Him in truth and holiness all the days of our lives.

                Acts       2:47
                Praising God, and having favour with all the
                people. And the Lord added to the church daily
                such as should be saved.

                Acts      20:28
                Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all
                the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath
                made you overseers, to feed the church of God,
                which he hath purchased with his own blood.

                Eph        5:27
                That he might present it to himself a glorious
                church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
                such thing; but that it should be holy and
                without blemish.


7.3   Keep Yourself in God

                I John     3:9 
                Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
                for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot
                sin, because he is born of God.

A born-again believer cannot continue steadfastly in sin, because the Word of God dwells in him, with the Holy Spirit continually convicting him.  Remember our analogy about walking?  We are not saying you cannot get dirty, that is cannot sin, but that you will not stay in sin because you are lead to repentance and forgiveness by the Spirit of God. 


Once a person tastes the love of God, the person will not commit sin because he wants to stay in right fellowship with God.  To put that in the present tense, a believer, born of God, does not sin, because God's Word convicts him and leads him to stay in right fellowship. 

                I John     5:18
                We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth
                not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth
                himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

A believer must keep himself from sin and evil.  God will help him, and does thru His Word and thru the Anointing, but the believer has free will to chose good or evil.  The believer must continue to chose daily which he will follow.  People say God allowed so-and-so to happen to me.  Well, God has chosen to allow free will in this age.  He will allow you to go to Hell if you so chose.  But don't say that that was His Will for your life.  It was yours! 

"But doesn't God keep me?"  Not against your free will.  His Will is for everyone to be saved, but He will not force it.  God only saves thru faith, or deliberate chose of will, and so only can keep thru your working of faith.  You don't agree?  Take a gun and go down to the corner store and rob it.   See if God is going to allow it, or is He going to come down and violate your free will to stop you?  You must work with God, in His Word, to keep yourself in Him.  

                II Peter   1:5-11 
                And beside this, giving all diligence, add to
                your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And
                to knowledge temperance; and to temperance
                patience; and to patience godliness; And to
                godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
                kindness charity.  For if these things be in you,
                and abound, they make you that ye shall neither
                be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our
                Lord Jesus Christ.  But he that lacketh these
                things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and
                hath forgotten that he was purged from his old
                sins.  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give
                diligence to make your calling and election sure:
                for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
                For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you
                abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our
                Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

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