FEBRUARY 3 - Is It Still Worth Believing That Human Nature Can Be Changed?

A frequently seen bumper sticker goes like this - "Christians Aren't Perfect...Just Forgiven."

That sounds really good at first - no pressure - no expectations - just get forgiven! However it leaves a big gap. It doesn't tell the whole truth.

Last week's message focused on the inescapable reality of sin - original sin - the human condition that affects ALL of us. Our faith teaches us we cannot save ourselves. Only God can get us out of this mess.

So we DO celebrate our forgiveness.

But it IS still worth believing that there is more to the story - that human nature can be changed!

We see a good example in the old song ROCK OF AGES.

Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.

The "rock" in which we hide ourselves is Jesus.

Let the water and blood, from thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure.

What is the "double cure?" The song goes on to tell us

Be of sin the double cure: save from wrath, and make me pure.

Jesus came not only to save us from the penalty of sin, but also to work within us, to change us from the inside out. This is a huge part of old-fashioned Methodism, and we see the heart of this truth in so many Scriptures.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:23-24. May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

“Sanctification” is the big word here. It goes hand in hand with “justification.”

Justification refers to what God does for us.

Sanctification refers to what God does in us.

Our friends in the Church of the Nazarene share roots with us in the Wesleyan tradition. You may find this article intriguing - How Entire Is Entire Sanctification?


1 PETER 1:15. As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.

COLOSSIANS 3:9-10. You have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.


United Methodist doctrine has a lot to say about the work of God to transform the heart and life of a believer (from paragraph 103 of The Book of Discipline - "Our Doctrinal Standards and General Rules"):


Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanseth from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk in his holy commandments blameless.



We believe sanctification is the work of God's grace through the Word and the Spirit, by which those who have been born again are cleansed from sin in their thoughts, words and acts, and are enabled to live in accordance with God's will, and to strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Entire sanctification is a state of perfect love, righteousness and true holiness which every regenerate believer may obtain by being delivered from the power of sin, by loving God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by loving one's neighbor as one's self. Through faith in Jesus Christ this gracious gift may be received in this life both gradually and instantaneously, and should be sought earnestly by every child of God.


If you really want to dig deep, you will find much food for thought in these sermons of John Wesley:

• The Circumcision of the Heart

• On Sin in Believers