Wednesday, August 9, 2023 PM

The 9th is a big day in our family. But yesterday was a big day as well.

48 years ago on August the 8th, Cheryl and I went out on our first date.

So we went putt -putt golfing, and I took her to Arby's and had her home before 9.

And when I asked her if she wanted to go out again, she said, well, I need to ask this other boy first. And fortunately, he went off to college, and she was stuck with me, and she stayed with me ever since.

So I'm grateful for that. Just Arby's.

Hey, Arby's, back in the day, 1975. So Arby's was very uptown.

They had the best crinkle -cut skinny fries. I don't know why they quit doing them.

Now they're who cares. But anyway, that has nothing to do with anything for the lesson tonight.

I just wanted to share that, because I'm blessed to have my wife. So anyway, let me pray, and we'll get started.

Lord, thank you for the blessing of this evening. Thank you for the blessing of our church family. Thank you for the laughter, the fellowship that we have heard going on over the last hour or so.

And grateful, again, for your goodness to us. Thank you for the meal and for all the work that went into that.

And we pray, Lord, that you would bless our time tonight as we look at your word, that we might grow in Christ.

And we pray for your blessing upon this time. In Jesus' name, amen. I don't know about you, but there have been a lot of times in my life where I have struggled to know

God's will. What is it exactly that God would have me to do?

For me, it was not a struggle to figure out who to date, nor was it a struggle for me to know who to marry.

But for some people, that is a struggle. And so they stress over that, and they think about that a lot.

They pray about that a lot. What are some other things that people struggle to discern what

God's will is? Jobs, OK?

Yeah, work is a big one. Do I change jobs?

What career path should I take in the first place? And then if there are opportunities for change, should

I do that or not? OK, so that's a big one. Anything else?

What? College, OK? Yeah, what college to go to?

What kind of school should I even go to? And then among all those, which one should

I choose? So yeah, where to go to school, what kind of school, where to live, what house to buy.

You know, should I sell? Should we buy that one? Should I just rent? I mean, there are all kinds of things like that.

What about church? What church to join? So there are all kinds of things that we wrestle with trying to figure out,

OK, what exactly is God's will? So it's always nice when

God makes his will very clear. You know, I always, whenever I'm in those situations,

I just, I think of the whole deal in Daniel with the handwriting on the wall. You know,

God, if you could just do that, you know, that would be great. And there are times in scripture where God is very plain about what his will is.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, OK, if you have your Bibles, you want to turn there for just a minute.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I want to begin reading in verse 1.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 1. Paul is writing, and he says,

Finally then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please

God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, OK?

So here's the handwriting on the wall, OK? For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

This is the will of God, your sanctification. Then he goes on in the next few verses, verses four through six, and he gives some specifics that relate to sanctification and God's will for all of us in terms of sanctification.

Verse seven, he gives kind of a general statement about the specifics that he's just talked about in verses four through six, and then in verse seven, he just says that God has called us not to impurity but to holiness,

OK? What we know, we talked about this a couple weeks ago, that sanctification, the root word and the word for sanctification has to do with holiness and being holy.

So again, he's coming back to this idea of sanctification, and then verse eight tells us what is the power for sanctification.

He says, therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God who gives his

Holy Spirit to you. So when God says, my will for you is sanctification, he's not calling us to something that is impossible.

He's calling us to something both that he is going to work in us to accomplish,

OK, and he's going to empower us by the Holy Spirit to grow in that sanctification, but also we have a role to play in that,

OK? So sanctification relates to holiness, and we've mentioned that before, and it really is kind of a two -part thing when we think about sanctification,

OK? We said it relates to holiness, all right?

And this sanctification, this holiness has really two parts to it.

One is to be separated from sin,

OK? To be separated from sin. So this is the don't,

OK? Don't do this, OK? We didn't read the verses, but in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses four through six, those are the don'ts,

OK? Be separated from these sins, put that sin to death.

The other side of it, though, is that in holiness, we're not merely separated from sin, but we are set apart unto

God for His glory, to do His will, to walk in His ways.

And so this is the do side of taters of God, OK?

Galatians chapter five, if you want to turn there real quickly, I'm not going to comment a whole lot on Galatians chapter five, but in Galatians chapter five, we find there where Paul talks about the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit.

So of these two, where do the deeds of the flesh fall? Yes, in the don't category, very good.

You get a star for today, OK? So the works of the flesh, the desires of the flesh fall in the sin category that we're supposed to be separated from.

That's the don't side of the equation. So Galatians chapter five, verse 16, but I say,

Paul says, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

But if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident. So now

Paul's gonna, this is not an exhaust, it's a long list, but it's not an exhaustive list, right? He's not naming every sin here, but he's giving you a pretty good, pretty good direction to look,

OK? The works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So in being called to sanctification, which is the will of God, it means that we are to be separated from sin.

These are the things we don't do. We don't gratify the desires of the flesh.

But what are we to do? Well, we've been set apart, right? We are saints.

We are ones who are holy. We've been made holy in Christ. So we've been set apart for God's glory and to do

God's will. So these are the things we ought to do. So we come to verse 22, and this is the familiar part of Galatians 5.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, ending one another.

So don't do, okay? That's kind of putting sanctification down on the bottom shelf here for us.

Okay? So I told you a couple of weeks ago when I began talking about sanctification that I wanted to focus in on how does sanctification work?

It's one thing for us to hear, okay, this is the will of God, your sanctification, okay?

Don't gratify the desires of the flesh, the walk in the Spirit, okay? But how?

How? How? Worked on, started reading a book this summer,

How Does Sanctification Work? Okay, by David Powleson. I'm not gonna give you the whole book, but I do wanna give you kind of a quick summary of chapter six, okay?

And this is what I wanna talk to you for the rest of our time here tonight about. And I've given you, passed out some passages of scripture for people to read.

So what I'm gonna talk to you about here are the five factors of sanctification, okay?

Five factors of sanctification. Five means, five ways in which we grow in Christ -likeness, we grow in holiness, okay?

All right, so number one, this is a house, by the way.

So we're gonna start with the foundation, and that is

God, okay? And sanctification is this progressive growing in holiness throughout the course of our lives.

Remember last time I talked about in between your justification and your glorification, okay, when you were born again, and when you enter into the

Lord's presence, what is all that time of your life in between those two dots?

It's sanctification, right, okay? And while we would, it is generally linear, but it's not a straight line, okay?

So we can kind of think of it if we're growing in Christ -likeness that it's gonna look perhaps in our lives like this.

It's gonna be up and down, but God intends for us to be moving in the direction of growing in Christ, growing in Christ -likeness, being conformed to His image, of being imitators of God, Ephesians 5 .1,

okay? So how does God accomplish that? Well, beneath and above and around, the whole process is

God, and so we can rightly say that God changes you.

God changes you, okay? Somebody has Philippians 1 .6. If you have it, read that there,

Daniel. So who began the good work?

God did, okay? That He who began that good work in you will bring it about, will carry it on to completion.

Philippians 2 .12 -13, who has that?

Holly, so in that verse, you have kind of the combination, we are to work, but in and through and underneath it all,

God is at work, okay? So that Philippians 2 .13.

All right, we have a long one here, Ephesians 2 .4 -10. Who's got that one?

Joanna? But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which

He loved us, died together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come,

He might show His grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

God prepared for poor men, so that we would be saved. So as Paul has talked about that whole process of how

God saved us, what did God save us to? For good works.

And that He's the one who is working in us to do those good works, to grow in sanctification.

All right, and then 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 23 and 24. Christian, so God will sanctify you, and the promise at the very end is

He will do it. He will do it. If you're a believer, you've been saved,

God is going to work sanctification in you, okay? So, when we think about sanctification, change, growth in Christ, the foundation of it all, and really overall, is

God. God changes you, okay? Second thing is truth.

Truth changes you. And where do we find truth? In God's word, okay?

So, John chapter 17, verses 17 through 19. So, sanctify them in the truth, and that truth,

Jesus said a little earlier in John, chapter 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

So, in Christ, and in God's word, that word of truth changes us, okay?

Psalm 19, verse seven. So, do we, should we give attention to God's word?

Yeah, it is perfect. Despite all the attacks that have been made on God's word over the millennia,

God's word stands. God's word is true, and we need to give attention to it.

Romans 15, four. So, God has given us his word that we might be encouraged, that we might have hope, that we might not give up in the process, okay?

Because it sometimes feels discouraging. I'm not making the progress that I wish, I would like to make, okay?

First Peter, chapter one, verses 22 and 23, or no, yeah, First Peter 1, 22, through chapter two, verse three.

So, as an infant desires milk, we should desire

God's word, that we might grow by it. And then James, chapter one, verses 19 through 22.

Slow to speak, and receive what meatless the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Yeah. So, receive God's word with meekness, with humility, and put it into practice, okay?

Be doers, and not just hearers, all right? So, one of the ways in which

God grows us up in Christ, grows us in holiness and sanctification, is by his word, through the truth of his word, okay?

All right. So, the next thing is, wise people.

Wise people change you. God uses people in our lives to affect change in our lives.

So, Proverbs 13, 20. So, does it make a difference who you hang out with?

It does. Not just who you hang out with, but what you listen to, what you watch, okay?

So, he who walks with wise men will grow wise. Second Timothy, chapter one, verses four and five.

Greatly desiring. So, who influenced

Timothy? His mother and his grandmother, okay?

Second Timothy, chapter three, verses 10 and 11. Go ahead,

Ray. So, now, who's the influence on Timothy's life?

Paul. So, Paul is reminding Timothy of Paul's own influence on Timothy.

And then, second Timothy, chapter three, verses 14 and 15. Go ahead,

Lincoln. So, Paul reflects back again on the influence of Lois and Eunice, but he also broadens it.

I think he's talking about is the church in addition to his family and the influence of the church.

So, wise people have an influence and they change you, okay?

Two more things real quickly here. Suffering.

Suffering and struggle change you. Suffering and struggle change you.

God uses those for our sanctification. Acts, chapter 14, verses 19 through 22.

Dylan. We must through.

It's interesting, one of the places that he went back to was the very place where they had stoned him and left him for dead.

Do you think when Paul said, through many hardships, through many struggles, we must enter the kingdom of God, do you think that made any impact on those people?

Paul talks about, I bear in my body the marks of Jesus. So, when

Paul talked about suffering and struggle, he was not, this was not a theory course, okay?

This was practicum, okay? First Peter, chapter three, verses 13 through 17.

Who has that? Okay, James. So, that's a theme that runs through First Peter is suffering and how

God uses suffering in the life of a believer, both for their sanctification and to be a witness to the world.

So, God changes you, truth changes you, wise people change you, suffering and struggle change you, and God is using all of these, but inside the house is you.

First Thessalonians, chapter one, verse nine, says this. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned from idols to serve the living and true

God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

How you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true

God. To a certain degree, we have responsibility here.

Okay, God is at work in us, but we can also resist the spirit.

We can push back on God's word. If we're gonna grow in Christ, if we're gonna grow in sanctification, then we have to submit to all these different ways in which

God is at work to bring us to change. In the book,

Pallison says this. He says, you are not passive. You are not a puppet or a robot.

You are 100 % responsible, and yet you are 100 % dependent upon outside help.

Any other way of putting it makes you either far too independent or far too passive.

Now it's a little hard for us to wrap our heads around, but it's the truth. So as we think about sanctification and how sanctification works, we have

God, we have scripture, we have people, we have trials, and then there's us.

We'll all play a part in our sanctification. God in his wisdom works with each one of us individually.

That's the amazing thing about this process. While some of these general truths apply to everyone, how

God does that exactly is different. What God has used and done in your life to help you grow in Christ, the specific people, circumstances, trials, all of that, those are things that God has designed for you and for your growth in Christ.

God doesn't take a cookie cutter approach to sanctification.

He knows us and he works with us on an individual level that we might be more and more conformed to the likeness of Christ.

God, as I said, doesn't use a cookie cutter. What I think the way to think of it is that we are the clay and what is he?

He's the potter and he's the one who knows how to put the right pressure in the right places in our lives to mold us into the vessel that he wants each one of us to be that brings glory to Christ.

And so this may be a little oversimplified. I don't know. There's always all kinds of specifics that you could maybe get into when we think about how sanctification works, but I felt like this was a really good explanation generally of what scripture says, of what

God does, the five factors of sanctification and how God works in all of that.

And I just want to end with a familiar verse as we think about God being the master potter.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for what?

For good, for the glory of God, to the praise of his name.

All things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. That's the great promise of scripture that applies to our justification, our sanctification and our glorification.

All right, we're gonna stop there. All right, so we need to take some time to pray.