The Will - Part 2

The Will…
Tonight I want to look at one element of finding the will of God and that's SANCTIFICATION. 

The Christian life begins with a step - a step of faith.  That step leads to a walk, and that's progress!  But every walk needs strength to do the task.

(Illustration - Going to the gym this morning.  Didn't want too…took 3 hours to get my butt there…but once there I felt good that I went. I knew I needed to go…it makes me healthy…I just needed to start in that direction.)

Title of today's message is: 
3 ways I walk in Sanctification and find God's will. (1 Thess. 4:1-5

Say it is a sentence:
 "when I want to know the will of God I must walk in holiness; things that are not in line with that are not his will."

SO :
1) When I walk in Sanctification (holiness) I please God.  v. 1
All of us please something, some how and some way. We please ourself, or others, or we please God.  On occasion, we please others and God by what we do.  If I want to know the will of God, I must please him.  Verse 1 says "…we URGE and EXHORT you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us as to how you ought to walk and PLEASE GOD…that you excel more."  The real problem is that we want to please Ourselves more than we ought to.    God wants us to be pleasing him.  Look at what he says in Rm 15:1 "bear the weakness of those w/o strength and not just please ourselves…" and Gal. 1:10 "if I please man I should not be the servant of God…"  Strong word.  But if we want to know the will of God - start with pleasing him. 
How do I do that? 1) Listen to God's Spirit as he works in you. 2) Read his book, his holy word and devour it.  Jer. 15:16 - Your word was found and I ate it and it became a JOY and DELIGHT to my soul.  READ It. 3) Worship Him privately and publicly like he was right there in front of you! (because he is)
2) When I walk in Sanctification (holiness)…I Obey Him vv.2-3
I obey him specifically in the area of Sexual immorality.  Paul is writing to a people who were saved from the cultic practice of sex worship of their deity.  Orgies and homosexuality were the common way the people worshipped. Paul was saying, NOT YOU!  You are to be sanctified.  Sanctification is to be SET APART.  Because we are followers of God we are to set apart our minds and bodies from sexual lust.  Our day is not much different.  we have repackaged sexual worship and blasted it all over the internet and in TV and Magazines.  But Obedience in this are is important.  Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  He lives in us and isn't leaving.  What we do he sees, where we go, he goes.  It might hurt to leave sin behind, but if you want to know the will of God, we must obey.
3) When I walk in Sanctification (holiness)…I glorify God vv. 4-5
When we came to Christ, Everything we do now has meaning.  Everything is to bring Glory to God. (2 Cor. 4:7 - Of GOD and not OURSELVES)  Paul is reminding us that all we do has a result.  If it is in God's will - GLORY…if it's not - GRIEF.

Here is what the point is:
1 - As we are seeking God's will our WALK must be progressive.  That is the beauty of Sanctification.  It is changing us to be more like the image of Jesus Christ.  Not all at once, but daily, moment by moment, hour by hour.
? - Is this week better spiritually than last - why not?  Be dead to sin and Alive to Jesus Christ.   Is this YEAR been better than last year?  Why not?

2 - When you are looking and praying for God's will, sanctification says you will find it if what you are doing and where you are going is PLEASING TO GOD, DONE IN OBEDIENCE TO GOD, and GLORIFYING to God.

5G - Live it!