The 3S Formula for Spiritual Success (August 17, 2025)

There is an important spiritual reality you and I need to focus on this morning – to be rescued from something sets us on the path toward something.

This is a journey of faith. The One who saves us is now calling us to walk. It’s non-negotiable. Though snatched from spiritual death, we soon discover that the Christian life isn’t an arrival; it’s an adventure. Christ rescues us then He points us to the path of following Him.

The apostle Paul describes this active view of the Christian life in his letter to the Ephesians, urging them to …

Ephesians 4:1 ~ “1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,”

We find out that once a person believes in Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian, becomes a Child of God, becomes a part of the Family of God, becomes a member of God’s people and of God’s church, we must walk worthy of God’s great calling – to bring honor to the name of Christ and His church.

• The believer must walk with all lowliness and all meekness.
• The believer must walk with long suffering.
• The believer must walk forbearing others in love.

So, let’s take a look at The 3S Formula for Spiritual Success:

• SALVATION, BEING RESCUED BY GOD
  • Paul had every reason to be ashamed:
    • Paul lived in a time opposed to the moral righteousness of the gospel.
    • Paul was a Jew, which was at that time a despicable sub-human race.
    • Paul preached an almost unbelievable gospel.
    • Paul was often rejected by whole communities.
  • Many are ashamed of the gospel today. They are ashamed because they fear ridicule, rejection and loss of recognition, position and livelihood.
  • There is the fear of social shame. Many fear if they accept and proclaim the gospel, they will be …
    • ridiculed and mocked
    • rejected and ignored
    • passed over and cut off
    • left without job and livelihood
    • left without family and friends
    • abused and killed
  • But Paul was NOT ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to save! It was given by God for His people!

2 Timothy 1:7–9 ~ “7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”

Hebrews 10:12 ~ “12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,”

• SANCTIFICATION, BEING SET APART FOR GOD
  • The priest of the old sacrifice was never done with his work; but when Christ came and offered the perfect sacrifice, He sits down at the right hand of God. Jesus Christ was sinless, the perfect Son of God who came to earth in a body prepared by God Himself. Therefore, He did make the perfect sacrifice, and He did complete His work, and when He finished, He was able to return to heave and be seated at the right hand of God – this shows He completed His part.
  • The old sacrifices failed to perfect man, but the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ perfected those who are set apart unto God. If a person comes to God through Jesus Christ – really believing that Jesus Christ is the sacrifice for his sins – God sets that person apart as a believer, as a true follower of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
    • God counts the sacrifice of His Son for the person.
    • God counts the person as being free from the guilt and condemnation of sin.
    • God counts the person as being perfect and free from sin forever and ever.
  • But we must always remember why: because Jesus Christ really did take our sins upon Himself. He really did bear the guilt and judgment of our sin. He really did become our substitute and sacrifice; He really did give His life for us.

Romans 12:1 ~ “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.”

• SERVICE, BEING DEVOTED TO GOD
  • The believer is to give his devotion, energy, and thoughts to God. The word therefore launches a new subject for discussion. It connects what is about to be said to what has been said. What has been said is this:
    • The world desperately needs to get right with God (Romans 1:18–3:20).
    • The way for the world to get right with God is now clearly revealed through God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The way is justification: believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and having God count one’s faith as righteousness (Romans 3:21–5:21).
    • The believer in Christ can now be sanctified, that is, set apart to God and set free from sin to life eternal by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:1–8:39).
    • The believer or the church is now God’s choice to carry the gospel of His Son to the whole world (Romans 9:1–11:36).
  • The believer is to present his body to God as a living sacrifice. Note the believer’s offering of his body is to be sacrificial. This is the picture of Old Testament believers taking animals and offering them to God as sacrifices. The believer is to make the same kind of sacrificial offering to God but note the profound difference. The believer’s offering is not to be the sacrifice of an animal’s flesh and blood. The offering and sacrifice of the believer is to be his body: he is to offer his body as a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice means at least four things:
    • A living sacrifice means a constant, continuous sacrifice, not just an occasional dedication of one’s body. A person does not sacrifice his body to God today and then take his body back into his own hands and do his own thing tomorrow. A living sacrifice means that a person dedicates his body to live for God and to keep on living for God.
    • A living sacrifice means a sacrifice of a person’s body wherever the body is. A particular place is not needed. The sacrifice of the body is a living sacrifice; it can be made while the body is living right where it is. And the offering of a living sacrifice is to be made right now while the body is living.
    • A living sacrifice means that the body sacrifices its own desires and lives for God. The body lives a holy, righteous, pure, clean, and moral life for God. The body does not pollute, dirty, nor contaminate itself with the sins and corruptions of the world: neither the lust of the flesh, nor the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life. The believer’s body is sacrificed for God and dedicated to live as He commands.
    • A living sacrifice means that the body lives for God by serving God. It means that the body sacrifices and gives up its own ambitions and desires, and it serves God while upon this earth. The body gives itself to the work of proclaiming the love of God and of ministering to a world reeling in desperate needs. The body sacrifices itself to serve God and Him alone. The body is dedicated to God as a living sacrifice.

Always remember:

• Salvation is emancipation from sin’s practice.
• Sanctification is separation from sin’s pollution.
• Service is subjection to God’s plan.