Jehovah Mekadesh - The Lord who Sanctifies You

November 4, 2018 Speaker: Ted Detiveaux Series: The Power of God's Names

Topic: Sanctification Scripture: Leviticus 20:7– :8

Jehovah Mekadesh - The Lord who Sanctifies You

Leviticus 20:7-8

7 Consecrateyourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

  • What is Sanctification?

Sanctify- qadash (kä·dash') to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate

(Story of blue pallet wood- set apart, stand out, special purpose)

We are reading this text in the old testament, and it is regarding the children of Israel God’s chosen people.  They were to be different or set apartfrom the rest of the world.   The way that they were to be different or set apart in the old testament was to follow the laws of God. 

No other nationhad the writtenlaw of God like the Israelites.  There were no mass productions of books at that time.  For Israel to have the written law of God was to distinguishthem from all other nations. They were set apart.

In the Torah(the first five books of the bible) there were a total of 613 laws. That is a lot of laws.  Not only were there laws, but there were severe consequencesto breaking these laws.

  • For example, if you were caught committing sexual immorality, then you would
  • If you dealt with sorcery or witchcraft, then you would also die.
  • If you had eaten your steak with the bloodstill in it then you would be cut off fromGod’s people. These are just 3 of the hundreds of consequences for breaking God’s laws.
  • There were laws about stealing, laws about what you could and could not eat,laws about how to treat one anotherand there were laws on how you should approach God.

But the motivebehind these laws was to set God’s people apartfrom everybody else.  Having God’s laws meant they knew what pleased Godand what was an abomination.

With the law comes the knowledge of good and evil. God’s expectationswere laid out in the Torah. The law became a blue printfor living life in a way that pleases God.

Sanctification is the process of God setting us apart from sin and unrighteousness

He makes us unique, set apart, holy.  A person, place or thing becomes sanctified when it is set apart from the commonor ordinary things of life.

Perhaps you have sanctified dishes(china) they aren’t used for everyday common meals.  They are only brought out for special occasionssuch as holidaysor when you have special guest.

When you became saved, you also became set apart or sanctified.  You are no longer usedfor just commonuse. You might work the same jobas you did before you were saved and have the same responsibilitiesas you did before you were saved, but now you are set apart and are to live in such a way to bring God glory. Knowing that it is He who sanctifies you.  So, God will continually bring you from one levelof sanctification to another. 

Jehovah Mekadesh - I am the Lord who sanctifies you

Sanctificationis the setting us apartfrom the rest of the world.

  • What is our responsibility in sanctification?

Looking back at verse 7, it says to “Consecrate yourselves”

Consecrate- to devote to a purpose with or as if with deep seriousness or dedication

                        or treat yourself as being Holyor set apart. 

We must not perceive ourselvesas being commoninstead you must perceive ourselves as being Holy.

1 Corinthians 6:19

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.

If we are called the temple of the Holy Spirit, a place in which God’ spirit dwells, then we need to be careful what we allowin God’s temple.  If we treat our spirit, soul and bodiesas if they are holyand as if they belong to the Lord and they are not our own, then we should constantly put ourselves in checkto see what we are allowing in the templeof the Holy Spirit. 

  • What thoughtshave we allowed to creep in?
  • What sin patternshave we allowed?
  • What lieshave we believed?
  • What unholything have we beenholdingon to.

If the Israeliteswere to be set apart,then their actions must provethat they were.  So, to consecrate oneselfin theoldtestament times would be align oneself to the law of God.  Removingfrom his or her life the unlawfulthings.

Just as the Israeliteswere God’schosen possessionand they were set apart for His glory, as believers in Christ we too are God’s childrenwho have been set apartto be differentfrom this world.

Galatians 3:29

29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

So if through Christ Jesuswe are heirsof the promisethat was given to Abraham, then we too are responsible for consecratingourselves for we are also set apart.

We have a part to playin the process of our sanctification.

To consecrate ourselves in this day in age is to read God’s word, and to allow the Holy spiritto convictus of sin and unrighteousness. Then we must be willing to put aside the unholy thingsthat we have allowed in God’s temple, and replace them with holy things.

To consecrate ourselves is to guard our mindsfrom unholy thoughts, and to treat our bodiesas though they are holy.  Because they are!

Going back to Leviticus 20, it was only after a person had consecratedhis or herself that we read “I am the Lord who sanctifies you”

Notice the word “sanctifies” it is a term that signifies an ongoing process.  It is not something that just happens one time but continually, as He is the Lord who sanctifies. 

It’s like a gym membership.  My wife and I both have one.  Everythingin that gym is availablefor us to use because we are members.  However, my body will not changeone bit if I choose to sleepin rather than make myself go to the gym.  Even thoughI have all those wonderful machines available to me, it makes no difference in my life if I do not put in the work.

Nor will my body changeif I only go to the gym one time.  I will see no results at all if that’s all that I do.  Many people do not see results for a couple of months.  That could be discouraging.

The sanctificationprocess is very similar. Just as in the case of a gym membership, sanctification must become a lifestyle.  Meaning today I wake upan make my flesh read the word of God and communicate with Him, and tomorrow I wake upand make my flesh read the word of God and communicate with Him just as I make my fleshgo to the gym to workout.

If you take it day by day and say this day I will live for God, This day I will consecratemyself eventually you will look back and see a totally differentperson than what you used to be.

That is why it would be unfair to expect a new believerto be at the same levelof sanctification of a person who has been saved for 10+ years. A person who has been saved for 10+ years has had much more time for God work the sanctification process in their lives.

Just as a person who has been working out for yearsis at a different levelthan someone just starting out. That’s ok, you don’t have to compareyour life to any one else, you just consecrate yourself as the Holy Spirit leads.

I would hope in the next 10 yearsof my life that I would be bufferbut more importantly that I would look more like Christthan I do right now.

He is wanting to sanctify our whole being, Spirit, Soul, and body.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

God wants to sanctify usentirelymeaning we need to be totally transformed.  We are dailybecoming more and more like Christand less like this world.  It begins the momentwe are savedand will continue until the day that we die.

Sanctification goes much deeperthan merely conforming to external rulesor regulations.  But it involves aligning our spiritwith the Spirit of Christin us.  It starts inwardly and affectsthe outward.

When we adopt the world’s standard as our own, we’re no longer distinctfrom the world. 

As you begin to consecrateyourself God will give you the powerto experience an abundant life.

  • What is God’s role in our sanctification?

Hebrews 10:10 by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  It is God has provided a way for us to be sanctified and it is He

Just as our gym membershipwas previously purchasedbefore we were able to reap thebenefitsof having a gym membership, our sanctificationhas been completely boughtand paid for through the blood of Jesusso that we can reap the benefitsof having a sanctified life.

Every provisionhas been madefor each of us to live out the full and abundant life.

  • The power to overcome every unholy thought, comes through the power of the cross.
  • The power toovercome sin and/or addictionshas been paid for in full by the blood of
  • The power tolive boldly and courageously for Jesuscomes through the power of the cross.

This is all availableto us when we consecrate ourselvesto him. When you consecrate yourself, you will begin to experience His transformationin your life.  You will lose the desirefor the world’s way of doing things. 

It may be hard at first.  I made the decision to cut excessive sugarout of my life as I knew it wasn’t healthy for me. At first it was very hard when everyone else is eating gooey browniesand you are not.  But then after a while I had lost the taste for sweet thingsand I no longer desired them.  I will still eat a piece of cake here and there but for the most part that craving for sweets is no more. 

A similar thinghappens when you consecrateyour life to God.  At first you may struggle withwanting to go backto your old way of thinking, or your old sin patterns, but as you continue to align your heart, thoughtsand actionswith His word, God Himself will remove the desirefor the world out of you.

In its place He will fill you with a desire for Himand His mission.

As the process of sanctificationtakes place in your life, peoplearound you will noticea difference in you.  They will notice that there is something different about you.  You no longer act the way you used to, you no longer respond the way you usedto, you have more lovein your life, your much more joyfulthan you used to be probably more pleasant to be around.

Romans 12:1-2

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

It was importantthat the Israelites would become sanctified, because God was leading them to the promise land but along the way they would encounter people such as the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Jebusitesand many other Iteswho did not live by God’s standards.

These people thought different, lookeddifferent, talkeddifferent, believeddifferent and liveddifferently than the standard that Godhad called the Israelites to. Like the people you know.

God did not want their standards to become His people’s standardonce they arrived in His land.

Nor does He want this world to influence you into compromising His standardsin your life. He has called you to be Holy, and to a lifestyle of consecratingyourselves. (devote, treat as holy)

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