Sanctification (part 3)

Well, I don't know what has taken place in your week or what you've experienced or what's gone on. What you've seen with your eyes or heard with your ears or experienced in your life. Maybe you went out to eat and you looked at a menu at a restaurant and it was wonderful.

It was absolutely amazing. And it just kind of like the old phrase, the meal that you got was just incredible. But what we're going to talk about this morning far exceeds that. Maybe you saw your favorite television show this week.

Maybe you went to a movie and it was the special effects that were on that. And the plot and the whole story was just wonderful. It was just like beyond your belief what you could think would be seen on a screen like that.

The Unspeakable Gift of Salvation Compared to Earthly Pleasures

But what we're going to talk about this morning blows that off the charts. What we're going to be talking about this morning is just a continuation of the study of sanctification, which is which is a component or a part of what takes place in the life of a person who is a sinner, who has been saved by grace, a sinner who had characteristics and attributes that were far from God, far from godliness, far from holiness, far from purity.

Think about the life of the of a person who was born into this world with a fallen nature, whose understanding is darkened, the Bible says. That's just one description. Maybe you can help me out. What other descriptions are there for a person who is graceless, Christless, hopeless, a person who is not saved?

What is another description the Bible uses of that person or how is how they describe Vida? Dead, dead and trespasses and sins. It's not like we're we're just doing the best we can and we're floating where what is that when you're dog paddling on the top where we're on the surface where we're doing the best we can to get through this life and we're holding ourselves up as Pastor Steve would say, it's solo bootstrapper.

We're just holding ourselves up by pulling ourselves up by ourselves, by our own power. No, the Bible describes us as being dead and trespasses and sins, which means we're not on the top of the water.

We're down the bottom of the lake or bottom of the ocean dead. And we need life. We need to be brought back to life, just like Lazarus, who was dead in the grave. Jesus needed to speak life so that and say and by the power of God for him to be raised back to life again.

What's another description of a person who is lost? Well, that's another description. But what about what about Peggy? They love the things of this world, right there. They're they're lovers of the world.

In Ephesians two, it says their life is going in the vein or in the course of this world. They're like in the river of this world. They live in it and we love it. And that's what our life was like before God came and saved us.

What else? What's another description? It's Pastor Steve in the domain of darkness, we were held captive in that domain, and John Wesley knew that very well. We were in a prison. We were in a in a dungeon.

And he says, when God saves us, the work of regeneration is God's. I defuse that quickening ray. We sang that song last week. God's I defuse the quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off.

My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed the where you see what I'm talking about. This is an unspeakable gift. This is something that we could never have done for ourselves. The subject of salvation, when we experience salvation, it's better than that restaurant.

It's it's better than that movie. It's better than that. It's better than that entertainment. Whatever it was, that sporting event that you went to, whatever it is better than better than anything else you experienced this week, because God rescues sinners out of the pit, out of the domain of darkness.

And he translates us into the kingdom of his dear son. He brings us into the kingdom of light. We are raised from the dead new life in Jesus Christ. And this is not something that we could have bought.

This is not something that we could have earned. That is this is not something that we ever deserve because it is all by grace. It is the unmerited favor of God. God saves us by his grace. And when God saves us and God, as we saw the example of the children of Israel, when God saved them, when God delivered them, when God redeemed them out of Egypt, out of that captivity, out of that slavery of four hundred years, when God took them out of Egypt and brought and was bringing them to the promised land, one of the things that God was going to do and we've and I've quoted this almost every class as we've been going through this, he he got them out of Egypt and then he works in their lives to get Egypt out of them.

And when he gets them out of Egypt, of course, he is setting apart a people for his own name. Setting apart, that's the idea behind sanctification, when God has sanctified us, yes, positionally in Christ, he has set us apart for himself and that's a positional sanctification.

But what we've been talking about and hopefully what we're going to get in today and it'll be a bit more practical, too, so that we can go out here and say, I know that God has saved me. I know that I've been delivered from the penalty of my sins.

I know that Christ died on the cross and he was buried and he rose again. And in his body, he bore my sin. I'm a believer now because God has done something. God has saved me. God has given me the gift of repentance.

I've turned from my sin and faith. I've believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ and God has delivered me from the penalty of my sin. But sin still remains because what still remains? Somebody tell me. Sin still remains in the believer's life because what still remains?

Yeah, you're looking at it right in the room, right? Is that what you're going to say, Steve? You look around, just look at yourself, look in the mirror, look around and we have a body. And Paul said, who shall deliver me?

In Romans 7, who's going to deliver me from this body, this flesh, this self? The sin is still remnant there and it is not going to be completely removed until we get where? To glory, right? To heaven.

And then 1 Corinthians 15 says at that time, when the Lord either comes to snatch us up or we die and go into the presence of the Lord in one day, this will take place. This mortal will put on immortality in a moment.

And the twinkling of an eye, we will be changed and we will we will be given a glorified body. Therefore, when the body is then removed at that time, sin's presence is removed from us. Ultimately, we will be ultimately sanctified fully, completely.

Ultimate sanctification. But until that time, from now, when when we have been going through our lives and we've we were there was a point in our lives when we were not saved and then God in his mercy revealed Jesus Christ to us.

And at a point in our time in our life, God visited us. God arrested us. God stopped us from our pursuit of sin. And think about our lives before we were saved. It was not getting better and better and better, as the world says.

Throw money at it. Throw education at it. Throw science at it. Throw psychology at it. The world will be better. So, you know, we could we could just get better because because we can do this ourselves.

No, we got worse and worse. We went from iniquity unto iniquity. There was a decline. There was more of a bondage. The chains were were even more so upon us. And we were held fast in in in sin and nature's night.

And we could not overcome that. And it got worse and worse and worse. The opposite is true for the believer. What is God desiring to do? Not for us to get worse and worse and worse, but for us in our lives to become more pure from and more pure as we're going on?

We're people who've been set apart by God. God set us apart in his heart and mind before the world ever was. When he when we were chosen in Christ, called to be what visions chapter one to be holy and we become more pure, we become more holy.

We go from glory to glory. Second Corinthians 318. It's it's we go from faith to faith, from glory to glory. We become we're becoming more and more conformed to the image of Christ. And what's happening in our lives is not this.

The positional sanctification being set apart for God is already taken care of past. The the ultimate sanctification is the future. When we leave this body and we're given a an immortal body and we go to heaven to be with God forever.

Now, here we are in the that's future. Here we are. We're in the present and in the present. Progressive sanctification is taking place. Here's a definition. You have one on your page. I'll give you another one.

Sanctification is the experience beginning in regeneration by which every believer is set apart to God's purposes. And if you're taking notes, you're not going to get this, I'm sure, because I'm going to talk too fast.

If you want it, you can get it afterwards. But sanctification is the experience beginning in regeneration by which every believer is set apart to God's purposes. That makes sense, right? God sets us apart for his purposes.

And we are enabled to progress towards moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

And that's that's progressive, progressive sanctification. It continues on through our lives. And as we see, and if you're looking at the notes, you can see part B down on the first page. There are three stages.

And the first one, it says sanctification has a definite beginning at regeneration. If you turn with me, we're not going to look at all those verses, but turn to first John chapter three, if you would, please.

First John three will be the first text that we look at. Sanctification has a definite beginning at regeneration. It starts someplace and we're regenerated. We looked at that chart or that order of salvation last week, and that's something that God does.

We don't do that. God regenerates us. We are born from above. We are born again by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit within us. We are given new life in Jesus Christ. And we're regenerated. And then there's there's something that takes place in the life of the believer.

First John chapter three. And I'll begin reading. Let's see. How about first John three nine? We'll just look at that one verse. First John three nine. Whoever, whosoever is born of God. Now that's speaking of regeneration, right?

Whoever is born of God does not commit sin or does not practice sin. Oh, brother Dave, I'm in trouble. I'm a Christian. I've believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I've repented. God has given this me these gracious gifts.

I believe that God has saved me based upon what the scripture says. What salvation is all about. God has come into my life and and saved me. He's given me a new nature. My my ticker has been changed. I got a new want to I want to be set apart for God now.

I didn't want that before. I was oblivious to that. And weren't we when we were graceless and Christless and hopeless? We were thinking about ourselves and I want to and our desires were for pleasing us and pleasing the flesh and the lusts thereof.

But now I've been I'm a I'm a Christian and so and so in my life, I can look back and see what God did when he convicted me of my sin and I believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ by the work of God. And I'm a believer.

I'm forgiven. I'm a child of God. But I still sin. We talked about that before. The struggle is still there. It's because we're still in this body. We're still in with it's with the lusts and temptations that in the baggage that we have from the past, but.

This verse here says, whoever is born of God does not commit sin. And what is it saying there that person does not practice sin, what is it? Is it saying they never practice sin? No, Steve, you end up the pattern.

The pattern of their life is not sinful. It's not that is not what's prevalent. That is not the tenor of their life. That is not the the fiber of their life. The power of sin has been broken and we have begun to be a people who, yes, sin, but will not be sinless.

But we are a people who sin less as as God, the spirit works upon us and we're convicted of sin. And sometimes I don't know about you, but when I was first a believer, as I said last week, there were times when I didn't even know it was sin until I read in the word of God that it was.

And then by the spirit of God enabled the power of God enabled to say no to that and to and to look, look at the pattern of the life of Jesus Christ and say, I want to live like him. And God enables you to do that.

Bruce, you had your hand up. Absolutely. Before we were saved, did we enjoy our sin? Did we enjoy it? Yes. And some of us more than others, yet God in his in his might delivered us from that. And now when we sin, what is our attitude towards sin?

You kind of talked about we don't enjoy it, but what else? What else? What other word would you use? We hate it. We despise it. Why do we despise it more than more than anything else? And it doesn't let me give you a clue.

It doesn't have to do with us. Why do we despise sin so much, Charlie? Right. Our our our lives are to glorify God. And one of the ways that we glorify God is that we imitate Christ. We walk as he walked and we desire to be and to fulfill the calling, the holy calling that has come to us.

And as as Peter said in first Peter 115 and 16, as as it is, as he which hath called you is holy. So you be holy in all your behavior or your manner of conversation. And when we don't do that, we displease the Lord.

We bring disgrace upon his name because we're saying what we're believers, we're Christians. We've been saved by the grace of God. We have the spirit of God living within us. And yet we sin. That is that is just dishonorable to the Lord.

And it is not, as Charlie said, what we were recreated for, regenerated for to be conformed to the image of Christ. And yet we struggle with sin and it's and it's going to happen. And yet we struggle.

And by the spirits enabling, we don't practice sin. That is not the the tenor of our life. That is not what we're known for as believers. We're we're known for of being different. We're actually known for as the world looks at us as being strange and we ought to be when when the when the Gentile nations looked at Israel in the Old Testament and the things.

I mean, even when they saw them from a distance and they saw that tabernacle in the wilderness, that weird looking thing with that badger or porpoise skin or whatever it was on the outside and the that cloud or fire over their camp and all that stuff.

And all the things they may have heard about about what they did label them most likely as being very strange people. And as believers, the world thinks that way of us, too, for Christ's sake, because what God is working in our lives, because we are set apart for God.

And this verse here says whoever is born of God doesn't practice sin for his seed abides or remains in him and he cannot sin or he cannot continually practice sin. Because if you do, you are not a believer.

If your life is marked by sin, and this is why this study of sanctification helps us so much, because for ourselves, we can glorify God and we can be so, so thankful and so caught up in wonder and awe what God has done as he's working in our lives to will and to do or purpose to do his good pleasure.

We personally are just so elated and excited about what God is doing. But in the life of the believer, as Christians or as a local New Testament church, one of the things that we do is when we get together is we start talking about things and hopefully we're talking more than the weather we get past the weather, the superficial things, those subjects, you know, the weather, how you doing, you know, it's almost robotical, mechanical sometimes, how you doing good, you know, and it doesn't get very deep.

But when it starts getting deep, and we and we ought to get deep, and we ought to get past that, and be able to just kind of go up to each other and look each other in the eye and say, how are you really doing, what's really going on in your life, and when somebody begins to say, it's bad, of course, if you're going to ask that question, be ready to help, because because it's going to take a bit of sacrifice and patience and love and long suffering, but but in order to be able to figure out how you can help a person, you're going to need to know where they are.

You really need to know, as you're dealing with anybody inside or outside the church, I don't have the other, the drawing, the order of salvation with the line from election to regeneration, all the way through, if you if you look at that, it's on the last page, you need to know where a person is there in the order of salvation.

And I know that's not a perfect drawing. It's not a complete drawing, as I said before, but you need to know if you're talking to someone who's regenerated, or if you're talking to somebody who thinks they're regenerated.

And the questions that come up in the struggles that they have, and you begin to judge righteously, and it's okay to do so, Jesus didn't say you couldn't, you couldn't take the little speck out of somebody's eye, it's okay to do that, but first take the log out or the beam out of your own eye, but you have to judge righteously judgment, you have to know what fruit is being born in this person's life or not being born in order to counsel, or if you if you find out if they're a believer, then you can help them with that.

You can help them with the scripture, the scriptures and point out what their need might be and help them along to progress in their Christian life, or you might need to call them to question to say, hey, the fruit that's in your life is not unto holiness, it's not under righteousness, and it appears as if that you don't even know the Lord that you are not a believer based upon the scripture, this corrupt or evil fruit on your tree of your life.

And you need to take in what you think you have as salvation and throw it out the window, and you need to fall on your knees and beg God for mercy and be saved, and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved, and then you can start this dealing with the subject of sanctification, but sometimes people get all messed up and they're dealing with sanctification with a person who needs to needs to be regenerated first, so it's very helpful as we work with other people as we're ministering to other people to understand these things.

So this is something, this progressive sanctification takes place after regeneration, and if there is no regeneration, there is no sanctification, and if there is true biblical sanctification in a person's life, that person has been born again, because God has begun a good work in that person, right?

God has begun a work, and when God begins the work, he finishes it, and he'll complete it, and he will perfect that work. Secondly, we see here that sanctification increases throughout life. Under B, number 2, sanctification increases throughout life.

Do you remember that verse in Philippians chapter 3? Let's turn there. In Philippians chapter 3, here's the Apostle Paul giving his testimony, and you know how it is when it comes to testimonies. We're testifying of what God is doing in our lives, and you remember in Philippians chapter 3, one of the things that Paul said, that one unique thing, I just can't believe what he did.

He said, I've made it. I've arrived. I don't need to grow anymore in grace. I don't need to progress on anymore in my Christian life. I mean, I am at the pinnacle. I am the best. I know all things. I've subdued every sin, right?

Brother Dave cut it out. He didn't say that, and he didn't. What did he say? In Philippians 3, verse 13, he says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. He says, I haven't made it. I haven't arrived.

He says, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the goal of the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul knew that you don't come to a place in your life where you're sinless. Paul knew that you don't come to the place in your life where you rest on your laurels and you don't read anymore, you don't exercise, you don't pray, you don't fellowship.

You don't come to the place in life where you just rest on the past and you just coast into heaven. It's always this pressing. It's always this desiring to please God. It's always desiring to imitate, to go on, to wrestle, to be pure, to be holy, to put off things, to put on things throughout as you as you read, you never come to a place.

Now, people will take the verses like we looked at in first John three verse nine and misinterpret it, misimply it and say that you can come to a place where you stop sinning. But one of the one of the ways they get around that, and I think I may have been a little bit fuzzy because somebody came up to me on the class that I covered this thinking that the Christian point of view is doing this.

But no, a wrong way to justify or to come to a place where you can say that a Christian stops sinning is a wrong way, is by redefining sin or recategorizing or categorizing sin. And by saying there are some sins that are just deliberate.

And those are the types of sins that we have been rescued from when Christ saves us. But in the life of the believer, there are ignorant sins or ones that are not deliberate. And those aren't really sins.

So they put them on kind of like over here. But to me, sin is sin. Scripture, when you look at the scripture, it does not matter. Sin is sin. We can't categorize them. And if you were to go to it, you don't have to go there.

One of the verses that just nails it for me as far as the life of the believer is as far as will we have sin in our lives? Yes. First John 1 8 says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

So the sin is going to be there. But as this point to says, sanctification increases throughout the life. God is working on us. And how do you think what would you say if you think back on the prayer of the Lord Jesus, the true Lord's Prayer in John 17?

There is a phrase in there that tells us how God is setting us apart for himself and making us and working upon us. Does anybody know the verse in there, John 17? It's easy because it's 17. Yeah. John said I saw a couple of hands.

You knew that Jesus was praying when he was praying. He says he's praying to his father and he says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. God uses the word of God in our lives to come to bear upon us for conviction of sin as we read through or for encouragement or for help to know the direction that we should walk in, how it is that we should order our lives in a way that would bring more glory and honor to him and for us.

And really isn't the pursuit of our life and the pursuit ought to be that we desire to be holy, that we desire to be more pure. And that has to do with it has to do with every every aspect of our lives.

As far as the speech being always with grace and seasoned with salt. You see those words, they're put away, lying, you know, Paul writing to Timothy when it comes to the passions and lusts of the body.

He says, he says, just kind of play with youthful lusts. No, he says, flee youthful lusts. But follow, flee this, follow that. You see it put off this, put on that, but flee youthful lusts, but follow righteousness and faith and charity and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

And we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord. Doesn't it say that in second Peter three, we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. We are being conformed more to the image of Christ and it is in greater degrees and some and lesser degrees and others.

And it's and when you look at that and consider that it much of that does have to do with the aspect that we are responsible when it comes to our portion of sanctification. God is working in us to will and to do of his good pleasure.

But we ought to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. We ought to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. We ought to be a people who who order our lives and exercise necessary spiritual disciplines so that we will grow, so that we will.

As Paul wrote to the to the church in Rome, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

So we're to we're to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Then he goes on in verse two and he and he says, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There's this idea of Ephesians chapter five being washed by the water of the word.

And John and John, 17, 17, Jesus prayed, Father, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Jesus said in John 15, three to the disciples. Now you are clean through the word which I've spoken unto you.

It has something, this power in the word of God. And we know that it's powerful. But when we read it. When we study it, when we memorize it, when we meditate upon it, when it becomes part of our lives and we hide it in our hearts.

So for what reason? So that we can get more awana stickers. Yeah, that's great. Do we do we hide the word in our hearts so that we get a free Bible? We don't do that, do we? Some churches do. No, we hide God's word in our hearts so that we might not sin against him.

The word of God being used. And if we're not sinning against God, what does that mean? We're sinning less. And it is God. And we must understand this, that God is working in us, but we are responsible.

We sing this song, don't we? We're responsible. Take time to be holy. Speak off with thy Lord. Abide in him always and feed on his word. Make friends of God's children. Help those who are weak. Forgetting in nothing his blessings to seek.

And every verse in here has to do with our responsibility so that we are set apart. So that we fulfill the desire of the Lord for us to be pleasing in his sight, to be more holy and to be more pure. And how do we do that?

Word of God. Fellowship with other people. Take time to be holy. The world rushes on. Much time spent in secret with Jesus alone. Communion with the Lord. By looking to Jesus. Faith in Christ. Like him you will be.

Your friends in your conduct his likeness shall see. And ought they not see that? Isn't that the whole idea of it? God saves us out of Egypt to get Egypt out of us. God saves us from sin not to leave us in sin.

But so that we will be people who pursue to run in the opposite direction. Pursuing to be like Christ. Desiring to be holy as the God who has called us is holy. And that will glorify the Lord. And that will put the world in wonder.

Because they'll look at us and they'll say, hey, I used to be just like you. I went to school with you. I worked with you before. And something happened in your life. And we can testify that it wasn't us.

It was God. We are what we are by the grace of God. And God began to work in us. Now, I have my wife sitting in the back row. And you can ask her this afterwards. There have been some projects that I have started.

And I was gung ho, ready to roll. But they sat there for years and did not get completed. When God begins this work, brethren, I mean, just think about this. It is not going to stop. Turn, if you would, to 1 Thessalonians 5.

1 Thessalonians 5. Paul's prayer for this church. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23,. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. That word means entirely. It means all the way through. And on your sheet down at the, in part D, down the bottom of page 1, Sanctification affects the whole person.

Your intellect is going to be dealt with. It is going to be renewed through the word of God. Your emotions are going to be controlled by the grace of God. Your will, it speaks of there, is going to be made willing to do God's will.

In your spirit and in your physical body, you will glorify God because God is working in you. And this is something that is progressive. It will increase throughout your life. And let me give you, let me go to, with you now to Romans chapter 6 because here we are going to see some practical examples of what it is, how are we to think and how are we to act when it comes to this subject of sanctification.

I mean, what are we supposed to do? In Romans chapter 6, the Apostle Paul does a great job talking about this subject of sanctification and our part in this, what it is that we ought to do. You notice on your sheet too, and I know I'm bouncing around a little bit, but I just want to cover most of this.

Some of this we already have, so that's why I will skip a little bit. But in part C, it says God and man cooperate in sanctification. As much as, and many times as I read that, I still have a problem with the word cooperate for me.

I mean, it's just, and I don't know the best word to put in there, but I'll put it this way. Let me ask you a question. Why do you, if you're a believer, why do you love God? If you think biblically, because he first loved us, 1 John 4, 19.

We love him because he first loved us. Why is it that you believe in your life as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, why is it that you believe that you take steps towards holiness? Vida? That's exactly where I was heading.

She said the Westminster Catechism says that sanctification is a work of God's grace by which we are enabled to become more holy. And Bruce? Right. Exactly, and that's the verse that I was going to turn to, but I know that I won't get through this class if I go to every verse.

But that's it. We love him because he first loved us. And we pursue to do this part of the working out of our salvation because God is first working in us. If he wasn't first working in us, we would have no desire for this.

We would love our sin and we would still be in it. We would not desire to be more like Christ. We would not desire to put these things away. But because God is working in us, the Spirit of God, our body is a temple below the Holy Spirit, and God the Holy Spirit is working on us because he is working.

For it is God who is working in you. Philippians 2, 12. It is God who is working in you. Because he is, the result of that is that we are enabled to be able to work in our sanctification or working out our salvation, or we are enabled to be more holy.

It's because of him first. He is the what then? He is not only, he is the author or he is the beginner of our faith. He is also the finisher or the completer of our faith. Yes, he is the source of it all.

But in so doing, in his purpose to bring him glory, his desire was for us to have our part in this. And our part is to be a people who focus in our lives on obeying the Word of God so that we are more conformed to the image of Christ, so that we become more pure in our speech.

We become more pure in our thought life. The baggage is dealt with. Sin is put down. We want to put on love. We desire to be patient, more patient when it's in our relationships with others. When we live in the world, we don't want to be conformed to the world.