 salvation is not just a ticket to heaven it's an all-inclusive all expenses paid life in the kingdom of God today many of us we have reduced salvation to a escape from hell when in reality salvation is life in the kingdom of God when Nicodemus who was a religious man he was a good man he worked in a church a synagogue at a temple he came to Jesus and he made this observation about Jesus he said Jesus you teach differently you live differently and you do miracles something that we religious people don't do and Jesus in response to his observation of Jesus is incredible life Jesus says this unless you're born again you can't see the kingdom so Jesus is telling him the reason why I live different the reason my life is different and it's so remarkable is because I am in the kingdom and if you want to get there you must be born again Jesus wasn't trying to answer a question Nicodemus wasn't asking a question how to get saved Nicodemus was asking a question how to live a different life than you live I'm a religious man you are a revolutionary man you live in revival I live in religion how do I get from religion to a revival and Jesus says you must be born again see new birth is not a ticket it's a door into a life in the kingdom Jesus wasn't trying to say that salvation is all about running away from hell yes it has that part in but salvation is life in the kingdom of God one of the reasons Christianity many people had fun when they were in the world when they become Christian they lose their excitement they lose their passion they lose the factor of the surprise the adventure the supernatural the reason why is because salvation has been reduced to a ticket it's the people who have a vacation paid for but they're spending five nights on the Cancun airport salvation is not just you not burning in hell salvation is your burning in the kingdom of God today it's living different today Jesus has repent not so you escape hell because the kingdom is coming the whole focus of Jesus wasn't to get you to heaven is to bring heaven into you is to change your life on this earth to such a degree where religious good people will ask you you're different and why and it's not just because you're religious it's because something about you your life is in the kingdom you heal the sick you cast out demons you reign in life you overcome things you succeed in things not because of your power but because of the power of Jesus Christ and because of life in the kingdom of God can somebody say amen if you have your Bible we will go into I will continue the series on Jesus and today we will unpack Jesus our sanctifier Jesus our sanctifier in Joshua chapter 5 verse 9 and you can open your phone or there's gonna be a scripture on the screen Joshua chapter 5 and verse 9 says the following then the Lord said to Joshua this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day and in the New Testament in John chapter 15 verse 3 I will read a similar verse that says you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you I will use Joshua as an example of Jesus the word Joshua means the Lord is a Savior and we know Jesus came to save us from our sins we know that as Joshua took Israel to the promised land Jesus takes us into the kingdom of God promised land is not like heaven because in heaven there is no war in heaven there is no battles but in promised land in the kingdom of God there is still of war except we're not fighting for a blessing we're fighting from a blessing we're not fighting for a victory we are fighting from a victory Joshua led the nation of Israel to the promised land but this promised land that they were about to occupy it was already given to them hundreds of years before to Abraham everything you are fighting for as a Christian in the kingdom of God you are not fighting for it you are fighting from the position of victory that's the difference between religion and the kingdom religion seeks to be righteous to get righteousness we get righteousness and we live righteous lives religion seeks to fight a battle to get a victory we get a victory and so we fight a battle it's a different position that's why the Bible says you are more than a conqueror have you ever thought about that how can you be more than a conqueror an average conqueror gets a victory after a battle someone who's more than a conqueror gets a victory before the battle that's more than a conqueror and that's you and I can somebody say a man somebody say I'm a more than a conqueror say I am here to conquer and Joshua is example of Jesus to us and I want you to see how Joshua leads them to the promised land and when they arrive in the promised land Joshua does this surgical surgical thing on all the men of Israel he he cuts the foreskins of the male reproductive organ and thus committing circumcision and after this men were hurting suffering for a few days and they recovered and by this God says I rolled away the real approach of Egypt Joshua who led them into the land also circumcised them circumcision is symbolic of sanctification and Jesus I want you to write this down Jesus the saves us is also the Jesus the sanctifies us point number one Jesus sanctifies those he saves the work of sanctification is the work of Jesus and the Bible says in exodus leviticus and many other chapters in the Salonians that it is God who sanctifies us God who saves us is also the God who sanctifies us it's important to notice this we cannot be saved let me just pause for a moment about salvation we cannot be saved by our good works only Jesus saves us can somebody say amen the Bible says we all for sure fall short of the glory of God the word sin is to miss the mark for those of you who fly you probably have had an experience where you missed a flight or maybe you missed an appointment or you came late to something in my travel times I missed flight twice once in Portland and once in Reading California now it doesn't make a difference if you miss your flight by five minutes or 50 minutes you still missed it and the Bible says we all have missed our flight some of us missed it by five minutes Hitler missed it by five days but what makes you and Hitler the same is you're not on a plane we can debate and we can compare how close you got to the time but we're not on a plane and only Jesus is the one that gives us salvation our good works they don't give us salvation I want you to see Moses could not bring Israel to the promised land Moses is symbolic of good works he was good but not good enough only Joshua could bring him to the promised land you can't be saved by your good works any more than Moses leading the people of Israel to the promised land you're only saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross I like what Rick Warren said he said we are not saved by our race by our place in a society by a beautiful face by our pace in life but we are saved by the grace of God does somebody say amen there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation there is nothing you can add to your salvation and this what this way as Christians we don't focus on trying we focus on trusting the world religion is all about trying harder we are about trusting because that gives a salvation can somebody say amen say stop trying and start trusting our salvation is not in our good works our salvation is in the grace of Jesus for those of you who think that coming to church cleaning up your life not smoking drinking and giving to Red Cross during Christmas gives you more chances of being saved I've been to Starbucks many times it has never made me into a latte you cannot get saved by belonging to a religious organization you cannot be saved by accumulating non-profit donations you cannot be saved if you give all of your donations all of your money away that is not good enough you come short of your flight only Jesus is the one that puts you on that flight and takes you to heaven can somebody say hallelujah let's give Jesus a round of applause for salvation it's important to see that Joshua takes him into the promised land and this same Joshua he brings circumcision he circumcises them he this is symbolic of sanctification now for many people sanctification is a very long word confusing and they don't know what it means sanctification and salvation are different and I'm going to show a little chart this will be a little theology for few minutes sanctification and salvation is different salvation is something that occurs right away when you get saved occurs instantly sanctification occurs gradually another difference between salvation and sanctification is that salvation requires faith sanctification requires yielding in here you just trust in God for your salvation and that's it but in here for God to change you on the inside you have to yield yourself to him the third reason the third difference is salvation is final meaning you can't add anything to salvation when you give up certain bad habits when you get your act together it doesn't make you more saved it's a lie when people come to church and they feel like now that I don't smoke now that I don't drink I am more saved at least I have like this insurance that means your salvation is not in in the Christ it's in your ability not to smoke none of us are more saved because we're in church with the Bible or we don't smoke we are saved a hundred percent by the grace of Jesus Christ and nothing can be added to that come on you're clapping like you need deliverance nothing can be added to that but our sanctification it grows now just because we get sanctified that doesn't mean we become more saved you're never more saved than the day you got saved you're never more assured of your salvation than the day you got saved you are growing in your sanctification but you can never grow in your salvation your salvation is perfect your salvation is eternal and your salvation is final because somebody say amen hallelujah the devil lies to us because when you start getting a change in your life you start feeling more confident and then you start feeling like well now I am really saved no no no no you got really saved the day you got saved but because of that salvation now you're growing in Christ it's called sanctification the man who was on the cross he never had time to go clean up his life he didn't even have time to get baptized and read the Torah but Jesus says today not few days down the road not few years he said today you and I are gonna be in heaven that means the salvation you receive nothing can be added to it and that's why you have to know it's secure in the hand of God and you can be free now to allow God to grow inside of you and change you not so you become more saved not so you can become for sure saved because the assurance only comes from Jesus not from the changed life are you with me the difference between salvation and sanctification is salvation removes the penalty of sin sanctification resists the desire to sin you know that you're being sanctified if you're developing within you a desire to resist sin you have desired you struggle with sin many people who say the struggling in sin actually are indulging in sin condoning justifying struggling it means there's a wrestling that is guilt there is a sense of condemnation there is a sense of there's a sense of I don't want this in my life it's like a sheep and a pig falls into the pit a pig loves the pit a sheep cries in the pit you can always know whether you're being sanctified or not how you respond when you fall how you respond when you have an outburst of anger how you respond when you have you've fallen into some weaknesses and some habits and so because a person who's being sanctified cries in it they don't feel comfortable it's not their world because the Holy Spirit is producing the work of sanctification I want us to see the next difference is God's desire is for everyone to be saved but God's command for all believers to be sanctified God commands believers to be sanctified and God desires for everyone to be saved another difference is between salvation and certification this is my favorite one is the salvation is getting you out of the world sanctification is getting the world out of you salvation what it does is it changes it gives your name in the Lamb's book of life and then sanctification what it does is that it changes your character so this one changes your eternity salvation this one changes your character salvation changes your place where you spend when you die sanctification changes you on the inside while you live so as you can say most of our problem with Christians is not because they're not saved it's because they're not sanctified when a Christian is not sanctified this is what's going to happen they will be at best a hypocrite they will always live two lives one life they portray and the other one they really have many of our problems if you're visiting the church for the first time today and maybe you're not a follower of Christ you will agree with me that you don't like Christians for this one reason because they're hypocrites the word hypocrite is actually not a bad word in original language the word hypocrite did not mean what it means today this was the word that was used for a position of an actor in the play so for example we have Hollywood actors it would be called in the old days Hollywood hypocrites and with the latest accusations stuff that's surfacing out of Hollywood which is crazy and actor is someone who is one on the stage and when he walks off the stage he's no longer the same on the state you know Denzel Washington you know kills all the Russian mafia in the equalizer he's strong and buff Jack Bauer you know goes around and saves a country when he walks off the stage he is not the same guy he's completely different he doesn't go saving a nation he sings in bars the guy from 24 and Denzel Washington he is not as as crazy and as deadly as he is in the movies why because he is like that in the movie and he is different in real life now that's exactly what's happening when someone who is not being sanctified you are one at church and you're completely different one at home and it's not because you're not saved it's because you think the salvation changes your character salvation changes your eternity sanctification changes your character and sanctification is brought by Jesus sanctification is brought by the Holy Spirit and that begins to change you where you're no longer a double person you're the same yesterday today and forever constantly changing amen I always say that the best actors are not in Hollywood they are in our churches you're looking at one I mean at yourself we all have areas where there's contradictions in our life and let me tell you why because we stop short of sanctification amen I want you to look at point number two is not only Jesus saves and sanctifies those he saves but Jesus sanctifies by scripture Jesus sanctifies by scripture God told Joshua I want you to make flint knives and use these knives to circumcise the men of Israel and in the New Testament we see that Jesus says in John chapter 15 he says that every branch that bears fruit needs to be pruned and they will bear more fruit and then he says the following he says you are already cleansed means you are already pruned because of the words that have spoken to you that means the way the Lord sanctifies because I know you were listening right now you were saying well I am saved I definitely need to step up on a sanctification how do I get sanctified and this is the temptation is to think that Jesus saves us but we sanctify ourselves we don't sanctify ourselves it is the work of the Holy Spirit in our life but the way Holy Spirit sanctifies us is through his word by his word he sanctifies us that means if you don't allow God's word in your life you don't allow God's sanctifying power in your life God's word is not sent to condemn you God's word is not sent to make you busy make you religious God's word is not sent you don't serve God by reading the Bible God is not there in heaven saying I know you're going to heaven for free but let me give you something torturous to do on the earth read the Bible read Leviticus read the deronomy I want you to memorize the Bible and you're sitting there like God I know I get the free pass but why this torture and we have this idea that somehow it's this duty it's this discipline to be in God's word to listen to read to memorize to study to obey to confess God's word it's so tiresome it's so burdensome it's so hard you're not serving God by reading his word it's God who's serving you it's like Peter sitting at the last supper and Jesus coming and says can I wash your feet and Peter says no no no don't wash my feet anytime you're saying Lord I don't have time for your word or I don't need your word in my life you're saying to Jesus Jesus don't wash my feet I got it I can clean myself I can sanctify myself I just need to try harder I just need to make new year's resolutions new year's coming by by the way so I'm gonna make a resolution I'll quit smoking I'll quit drinking I'll lose some weight I'll stop cursing I'll stop Jesus I got this but Jesus says this if I don't clean you you're not clean and if you think you can try harder remember that this year's new year's resolutions where do they land you nowhere because you cannot try harder you have to surrender to his word and Jesus cannot change you without his word God's word has power to change your character God's word has power to change my mind and to change my character it's not just about the prayer line it's not just about deliverance and it's not just about some big miracle that happens to you to take sure bad character that you've developed for years and years and changes you into a nice different person that is only gonna happen through the word of God not one day just reading the Bible but regularly reading the word of God Jesus told his disciples he says if you my disciples abide in my word and then he says the following scripture that is all over the universities in United States you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free it's interesting that they don't say the first part Jesus says to his disciples abide in my word and that will set you free meaning there will be character change in you that will be because you stay in my word the challenge we have in our generation we visit the word but we live in the books that are not the word of God as Charles Spurgeon said this he said visit many books live in the Bible inspirational books I love them inspirational quotes pinchers quotes amazing every single day getting this motivational things it's good but only life and the spirit is in the word of God there is power in the word of God to change your life there is power in the word of God to completely transform your life this word reveals who God is and when you know who God is you know who you are because you're made in his image and his likeness you don't need to go in the mirror and see who you are you need to look in this mirror and you will see who you are the Bible says this word gives us faith means when you read it when you study it faith comes we all try to be positive the reason we watch positive things the reason why we follow positive people we want to stay inspired to work on our health we want to stay inspired to work on our family the Bible says positivity comes to you when you are in the word of God when you chase positivity you don't find positivity you just realize how much more negative you are but when you live in the word of God positivity comes to you become more positive person are you with me the Bible says the word of God also brings healing there is healing for our emotions that is healing for a body he sent his word and healed them there is healing in the word of God there is no healing in inspirational books there is no healing in inspirational things there is nothing wrong with inspirational things but the word of God can never replace that the reason many of us don't see a change in our character is because we don't live in God's word and God's word is what brings the sanctification God's word is what brings the change I want you to see this this verse that we read in the beginning I want us to read the verse again about the real approach when Joshua circumcised the Israel I want you to see what God said afterwards in Joshua chapter 5 and verse 9 and it says the Lord said to Joshua this day I rolled away the reproach of Egypt the reproach is another word for shame embarrassment and guilt now it's interesting that everyone Joshua circumcised were not in Egypt they were born in the wilderness they didn't see Egypt but God says when he circumcised them he removed the shame the guilt of Egypt but God they were born in the wilderness they never lived in Egypt but they grew up in the families they came out of Egypt in other words what God was saying is when he circumcised them he cut away their allegiance to the generational curses they came with when they were circumcised God says in here I cut out generational curses yes they didn't live in Egypt but they got cooked in the families that complained wine and grumbled lived in poverty and lived with victim mindset and that's still somewhere is in their blood and God says when we cut the foreskins I cut the embryo cord I cut the cord umbilical cord between them and their bad family heritage now there are new people their family couldn't endure three days without food without complaining these guys went to the promised land defeated Jericho and gave the whole Jericho to God and nobody complained their family only fought two kings and grumbled about these new guys fought 31 kings and nobody grumbled they divide the spoil their family followed Moses but they followed Joshua their family dependent on the rod this new generation depended on an arc their family lived off of manna but this generation lived off of the heavens produce that God gave them in a promised land when you get sanctified God cuts off the generational curses that you're connected to God cuts off the depression when you get sanctified God cuts off the suicidal tendencies premature death the barrenness breaking of the family unit in your family chronic diseases get God says he cuts those things off why so that in New Testament it says so you can bear more fruit God is not trying to limit you when he sanctifies you he wants to make you limitless we think when the Holy Spirit is working on our character he's controlling us actually he's removing everything that controls our true destiny he wants to make us have more fruit he wants to have us make us have more fruit can somebody say amen we had a young lady who just recently got saved in our church and she during our fast we just had a fast few weeks ago she was fasting and during that fast she said Lord I want to know you more I want to know you like the leaders in the church know you and Jesus appeared to her in the dream Jesus spoke to her he says if you want to know me more read my word in the morning and read my word at night and you will know me if you want to see change in your character get back into the Bible make the word of God a priority God after excuses I don't have time I don't have the motivation and I don't have the discipline on the average it takes 72 hours to read the Bible from beginning to end that's how much TV and the phone you and I use in just two weeks and many of us in this room there's not to guilt trip anybody has not read their Bible from beginning till end not once and we've been the followers of Jesus for very long time I genuinely believe if you don't live in God's word Jesus doesn't live in you positionally he does live in every Christian but his presence only is feelable experienced when we live in God's word worship cannot replace that music cannot replace that movies cannot replace that home group meeting cannot replace your individual discipline of living regularly systematically routinely in the word of God I tell you what prophet to be Joshua says this quote kind of sticks with me all the time he says the following Jesus has no place in the life not dominated by his word if God's word has no place in you not in your schedule you're too busy to read it too busy to study it too busy to allow it to come inside you are like Peter at the last supper saying Jesus no don't wash me I'll take care of that by myself you are not allowing Jesus to do the work of sanctification when it rules you you become a ruler in your life when it rules you you begin to reign in your life if you've stopped reading the scriptures if you have abandoned life in the word of God I'm gonna ask you right now to repent not necessary to come to the front and cry make a mental change starting today I will start reading the Bible don't wait for the New Year's resolution the New Year's routines is what's gonna change your life and they can start today make a decision every day minimum of one chapter in the word of God you may say what difference will it make you know I don't remember anything I don't remember what I ate three days ago for breakfast but if I wouldn't eat every single day the same food I wouldn't be standing here today you may say well the Bible is old son is old it's still hot so is God's word is still powerful because somebody say amen make a decision to be in God's word amen I want us to rise to our feet thank you for watching this content I hope this was a blessing to you if you're like me and you like to click on things click on this subscribe to our channel and the content will come to you every time we post it and remember the best is yet to come