Sanctification by faith in Eph 4 and Col 3

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2 verse 5 where the

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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

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My name is Mike Abendroth and we, today on No Compromise Radio, are glad to be on. I don't know how many people listen,

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I guess we'll never know, but I get many encouraging emails from you and I appreciate that.

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Some of you have been listening for, I don't know how long, we've been on, 13 years. Lots of reruns when

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I was sick, I feel better regarding the lungs, I have some other issues, but not the lung issues.

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I went on a bicycle ride last week, a couple hour ride, it should have only taken me an hour back in the old days, but two hours, didn't want to push it, but was glad to be outside and then two days later, you know, it snows 14 inches, so.

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Anyway, we're alive today and glad to be alive, looking forward with great anticipation to the return of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. I, last night, noticed that it was the

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State of the Union with the President giving his talk, his teleprompter talk, and I just want to state for the record that for,

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I don't think we have many listeners who fall into this category, but if you do, okay. For the record, how's the whole evangelicals for Joe Biden working out for you?

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I mean, what a complete and utter train wreck. I think two levels in this regard,

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I think of two levels. First is, please don't give me the whole 2020, you can't vote for Trump and he's a hothead and he's disqualified and he's immoral and he's pompous and he's this and he's that and therefore

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I can't vote for him, I have to vote for the opposite guy. Okay, that's just totally irrelevant, it's not even worth talking about, you don't have to vote for anybody if neither of the candidates you think are going to be good.

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But if you don't think, if you've got a problem with Trump, if you had a problem with Trump, and therefore you couldn't vote for him because of personal reasons, and maybe there were some policy reasons, okay, fine.

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How could you vote for Joe Biden? How could you vote for Joe Biden when the policy at core is

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Romans 1 policy? It's a death policy, it's a sin policy. That's what they run on, the platforms the

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Democratic Party run on are in fact that, and let's just start with the worst of all and that's abortion.

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You say, well, you know what, it's going to exist and let's just try to make it safe. That is just ungodly thinking, that's not how you go about thinking through this.

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So theoretically or positionally or policy -wise, it's inconceivable that you have the big shots at the

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Gospel Coalition and Southern Baptist Worlds trying to say it's okay to vote for Joe Biden.

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And then now, pragmatically, later on in time, we see how it's worked out.

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How's it working out for you evangelicals for Joe Biden? I mean, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for that, and of course, we all make mistakes and we all sin and we can repent and ask for forgiveness, but it is an utter and total both theoretical and practical train wreck, it's just awful.

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So I just saw little snippets of it and thought to myself, evangelicals for Joe Biden?

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You say, yeah, but that's not as bad as evangelicals for Donald Trump. I'm not saying that. Okay, don't vote for Donald Trump.

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Okay, fine. But then to vote? You say, well, I'm not going to vote for Donald Trump because of these issues of sin issues in his life or his policies, but I will vote for Joe Biden because of what?

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I mean, you're just not consistent. It is utter lunacy. And as I've been reading

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Ephesians chapter 4, you know, we don't have to live like we used to live. We've been saved.

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Ephesians 4 is very clear in verse 17 and following, we must no longer walk as Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.

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They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.

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They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

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But that is not the way you learn Christ. That's the way we used to think. That's not how we think anymore.

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And it is obviously God's ordained plan for this all to happen.

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The way it did and the election and everything else and the wars and all that.

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I know the Lord's sovereign over this and we can trust him. And in years to come, we'll look back and see what the

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Lord has done. But evangelicals for Joe Biden, how is that working out for you?

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And if you have the gall to say it's working out really well, I think the slaughtered babies would disagree with you.

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And I don't even have to say one other thing about his policies. Everything else to me is subsumed underneath the genocide of young little infants.

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You're handed a baby and you think, okay, to protect this baby. And then say, no, no,

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I have to get rid of this baby. Everything else regarding the military and all its focus put on diversity and transgender inclusion and not much money spent anymore on the military.

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I remember when I was interviewing for a chaplaincy at the National Guard here in Worcester, Mass., to be the reserve chaplain.

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I never did it because I needed to take six weeks off to go to officer training school. And I didn't have the time because I was a new pastor.

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What am I going to do? Brand new guy and then say, I need six weeks off to go down to South Carolina, whatever it was. I walked into the,

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I don't know if it was the headquarters here in Worcester, the barracks, the

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Quonset hut. I don't know what the technical name for it is. The reserve center. And in those days, 25 years ago, they had huge computer monitors, right?

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The screens were the same size, but the length and width were, you remember how big they were?

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I mean, the screen is still, you know, 15 inch screen, but it just extends back 15 feet. You know, the monitors, big fans in there and stuff.

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Anyway, on the screensavers, I would see kill, kill, kill, you know, attack, punish, bombs away, whatever

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I saw. But I remember the kill, kill, kill one, especially just kind of with the old pixels, right? Going across the screen.

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I want those kinds of people defending America. That's who I want. I don't want people who are concerned about all the diversity and feelings and social issues and how we can get along.

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And does the military needs to need to reflect what America is really like, by the way, if our military is going to reflect

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America, why is it? And you can listen to Victor Davis Hanson on this. Why is it that the majority of people killed overseas in Afghanistan are white people?

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I think like 86 % white males. And so what does that do when you think, oh,

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I, we want to have America as military look more like America. Well, how ridiculous is that?

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I'm not saying I want other people killed besides white people. That's not my point. You get my point.

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And that's not my point. It's crazy. But everything else, military inflation, uh, you know, all the pipelines of gas and this, that, and the other, and, and, uh, transgendered world and everything else.

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That's all to me while we could debate it. And it's not good. It's all secondary to, it's just abortion, crazy evangelicals for Joe Biden.

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It should be repentant evangelical. Sorry. They voted for Joe Biden. We don't, we don't think this way anymore.

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That's the way we used to think, but that's not the way we think anymore. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth, this is

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No Compromise Radio Ministry. While I'm in Ephesians, I might as well talk about this.

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The section here in Ephesians that I just read in chapter four, uh, I said in verse 20, that that is not the way you learn

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Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

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Therefore put away falsehood, speak the truth, be angry, don't sin, don't steal, let him labor, uh, no corrupting, uh, words out of your mouth, but for those that give grace to edify, don't grieve.

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Holy spirit, don't let bitterness and wrath, but be kind, forgive, tenderhearted, et cetera.

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The last verses here, I just, I summarized it in read verbatim. When we think about who we are in Christ and what has happened to us when

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God saved us, there is a response. There are consequences, um, uh, that things happen consequently and sanctification as God, the triune

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God sanctifies us monergistically alone. Uh, we do respond, right? And God teaches us to say no to sin.

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That's mortification. Yes. To righteousness. That's vivification. Like Vive, you know,

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Viva la France to live, vive, live. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't do that, right?

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We should say, you know what? Instead of being bitter, I should be forgiving, right? I used to be futile in my mind and darken in my understanding and ignorance, ignorant, but now

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I do the opposite. So to put off and to put on is a consequence and it's, this is big in counseling.

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This is big in talking to people. I've even said recently to someone close to me, you know, we're anxious and how do we respond?

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Well, you just can't stop being anxious. You have to do the flip side, the positive side, and you have to, uh, trust, right?

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Rest and rely on the heavenly care, uh, the, the, the, the providential care of the heavenly father.

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We get that because if I just said, you know, red elephant, think of a red elephant. You can't really stop thinking about a red elephant until I tell you to think of something else, you know, red tiger.

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And then you have to think of something else because otherwise you just keep thinking about this red tiger. I, okay. I, I, I agree that this is the response.

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Since we're new people in Christ Jesus, we're united to him in Christ, in Christ, in Christ.

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In Ephesians, we've been elected. We've been, um, redeemed. We've been sealed.

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Uh, Jesus, uh, the prince of peace has brought the Gentiles and Jews together. We understand what he's doing in the church.

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The mystery has been revealed. Paul has been sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. We, uh, should be unified people eager for the unity, uh, the seven ones there in chapter four, one spirit, one faith, one baptism, et cetera.

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And, and this is what we should do. We don't have to go live that old life. You say, what's your point?

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But my point today is while there's the put off and put on in 25 and following, what's going on here in verses 20 through 24.

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It's something that's already happened. Now the English in both,

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I think ESV and NES, it makes it seem like it's a command put on and put off.

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Now be angry. That's a command. Speak the truth.

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That's a command. I'm not saying there aren't commands, right? This is law from the hand of Christ to lead us, to guide us, to glorify him.

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I'm for that. I'm for the law to guide Christians. But my point is simply when it says that you have heard about him and you were taught in him, what were you, what did you hear about him?

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And what were you taught about him and taught in him? What truth did you learn in Jesus?

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And it was to put off your old self to be renewed and to put on the new self.

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He's not saying to do that. He's saying, this is what you were taught. This is how you learn

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Christ. This has already been done to you. This is something that you are.

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And why does that make any difference? Why am I stressing that? Well, one of the reasons is

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I have to have something to talk about today. The other reason is

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I'm just so tempted to just make this put on, put off. The starting point where now that I'm a

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Christian, okay, start putting off, start putting on. Instead of saying, now let's just make sure there's one extra layer of thinking here.

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And that layer of thinking is when you learn Christ, when God, the triune God saved you, regenerated you, redeemed you, made propitiation,

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Jesus did for your sins, reconciled, justified, forgiven, regenerated.

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Did I say regenerated? When God saved you, this is something that's already happened.

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This is what was done when you were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. What were you taught right away?

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You were taught to put away old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, to be renewed and to put on the new self.

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Let me, for fun, I haven't looked at this, read what the ESV study notes say. And of all this,

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I mean, the ESV, I'm really bugged that they didn't translate only begotten as only begotten.

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They translated it in John 3 .16, John 3 .18, John 1 .14,

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1 .18, let's see, John 1 .14, 1 .18, 3 .16, 3 .18,

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and then 1 John, I think chapter four, they translated only it's horrible, it's awful, I hate it.

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But when I see that, those passages, I just say only begotten, even if I'm reading the ESV. But for ESV study

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Bible, there's a lot of good things in the ESV study Bible, sometimes even better than the Reformation study

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Bible. Let's see, let's put them to the test. Put off old self 4 .22,

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ESV study Bible. As Christians seek to do this, God makes it a reality as seen in Colossians 3.

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Even Paul's Gentile readers can be part of the new creation in Christ. Self is generic for man or human, perhaps an allusion to Adamic man apart from Christ.

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Ephesians 4 .22 describes the negative side of regeneration, while verse 23 to 24 point to the positive side.

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Okay, so dear class, do you like that? Do you understand what's going on? Are you getting discombobulated?

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Let's go to Colossians chapter 3 because I think that helps us understand what's going on here, and we'll put the package together soon enough.

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Colossians chapter 3, which would be kind of a sister epistle, would it not?

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Put to death therefore, verse 5, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

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On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, too, you once walked when you were living in them.

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Kind of sounds like Ephesians, does it not, in verses 17 through 19 in chapter 4?

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Yes, it does. In these, you once, too, walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.

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Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

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Okay, that's interesting. Abendroth, what are you saying? I'm saying put off, put on is fine language, but please, dear

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Christian, start off with this, seeing that you have put off the old self, old

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Adam is gone, right? You're no longer in Adam, right? You're in Christ, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge.

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This has happened, and this is something that we need to remember as Christians in Romans chapter 6, things that have happened, and what

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I'm saying here is it's sanctification. Yes, the triune

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God sanctifies, and yes, we respond with holy living.

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But at the top of the list of holy living is sanctification by faith.

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That's my point. I think this is forgotten. We think of, all right,

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God does his work, and we kind of respond. Okay, fine.

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That's better than a transactional Christianity, right? I would do this, then God loves me. God is sanctifying, and we respond, but how do we respond?

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Well, we respond with mortification and vivification, and we're renewed, and we're passive when it comes to sanctification, and yet then we do respond.

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How do we respond? Well, we put off lying and put on telling the truth, verses 25 and following,

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Ephesians 4. That's all true. I'm just wanting to add the one extra step that we always seem to forget about, and that is believing what

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God said about us. If you read Romans chapter 6, in union with Christ, that's all stuff that you need to believe that you wouldn't know unless God tells you, that you're united with Christ.

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I can give you another example of sanctification, response to God's sanctification with faith, maybe at the top of the list.

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Did you know Jesus is praying for you? You know God is conforming you to the image of Christ?

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I don't really see it. Maybe long -term, I see it, but day after day,

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I don't really see it. I don't know it. I can't feel it. I can't experience it. I know it's true, though, because it's in the

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Bible, and that's going to help me as I respond with other things like obedience and holy living and forgiving other people, not being bitter.

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What's missing is the faith side, remembering in your holy living. I almost said sanctification.

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Remember, as God sanctifies you and you respond with holy living, don't forget to remember some of the most important things, and Colossians 3 helps us, that you have put off the old self and that you don't have to live that way anymore.

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Well, that's the point. For the Christian, we're not enslaved to sin anymore. You don't have to do that sin.

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You have been given the Spirit of God. He indwells you. You're united with Christ. You don't have to say to yourself, hmm, does

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God like me or not? You're free, and that makes it much easier to obey.

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I actually can obey. I'll perfectly know exactly as God wants to know, but I can, as a child wants to honor

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Father, I can obey. One of the missing elements in holy living is understanding that God's the sanctifier and that we respond.

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There are consequences and fruits and evidences of God's sanctifying work, mortification, vivification.

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That's true, but it's starting here in Ephesians 4 and starting here in Colossians 3 with, in these things you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.

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Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth, do not lie to one another. What's the reason why we shouldn't do that?

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Is it even possible for us to do that? And here we get the answer, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self.

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This is what God did to us, and of course, we should respond.

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Let's read in the ESV Study Bible, the section here in Colossians 3, and see if they can give us any more help.

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I don't know why that pen, Saul, is here. Colossians 3, self is rending of man.

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Paul picks up here what he has said earlier about Christ circumcising Christians by removing the body of flesh,

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Colossians 2. He employs the metaphor of taking off and putting on clothing. The aorist tense of the two participles suggests that it is an event that has already taken place.

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A qualitative change of identity has already occurred in the lives of believers.

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It now only remains for them to bring their behavior in line with their new identity.

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Well, there you have it. Good for them. That's exactly right. What's my point?

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Yes, as Christians, we want to obey God out of gratitude, and we want to say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

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We want to not be bitter, but to be kind and forgiving. We want not to steal, but to work.

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We don't want to lie. We want to tell the truth. But I want to add in today something else, and that something else is, see what

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God has done. Don't forget your identity in Christ. That's what's missing in a lot of preaching today, is they just give people the rules.

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They just give people a bunch of law. They give people morality or pietism, and again,

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I'm for law, but I'm for the law when it's used lawfully.

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A qualitative—okay, Christian, let's make it practical. Dear Christian, you're struggling with whatever sin you're struggling with.

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Did you know, to quote the ESV Study Bible, a qualitative change of identity has already occurred in your life?

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Did you know that? Of course, now we begin to think about conduct fitting of an officer.

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My son or my daughter's—your last name's Abendroth, at least before my daughter got married, and so you want to act like an

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Abendroth kind of thing. It now only remains for them to bring their behavior into line with their new identity, but the starting point as we think about holy living is believing this very fact, and then by believing it, we can say to ourselves,

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I actually can do this. I actually have the power to do this because the Spirit of God, Ephesians 3, is dwelling in me and giving me strength, and I'm learning from God about the knowledge of the

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Lord Jesus and His love for me, and this is motivating me to respond this way out of gratitude and out of thankfulness and out of a heart that says, you know what?

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Thank you, Lord, for this, and this is the least I could do for you. Well, anyway, my name is Mike Abendroth.

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This is No Compromise Radio. A missing element, I think, in holy living is thinking about this, and of course, the thinking person isn't like the old feudal of mind thinker that they used to be.

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Now we want to have a mind that's actually thinking through the issues, and that's what Paul does in Colossians 3 and Ephesians chapter 4.

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You can write us info at nocompromiseradio .com. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible -teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.