The Unconverted “Believer” (16): The Good Works of True Believers (2) 05/30/2021

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Pastor Jason will come and read for us our New Testament reading which is Acts chapter 20 in which the

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Apostle Paul meets with the elders of the church at Ephesus in the town of Miletus, about 15 -20 miles south of Ephesus as he was passing through that way.

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By the way, I neglected to mention visitors, we welcome you and if you wouldn't mind taking a moment filling out a visitor card for us and just hand it to an usher perhaps on your way out so we can have a record of your visit.

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We'll send you a letter telling you a bit about our church. We're happy to have you. Acts chapter 20,

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Pastor Jason. Acts 20.

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After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

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When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months and when a plot was made against him by the

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Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

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Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secondus and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy and the

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Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Trous, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and in five days we came to them at Trous where we stayed for seven days.

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On the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them intending to depart on the next day and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

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There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered and a young man named Eutychus sitting at the window sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

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But Paul went down and bent over him and taking him in his arms said, do not be alarmed for his life is in him and when

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Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten he conversed with them a long while until daybreak and so departed and they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted.

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But going ahead to the ship we set sail for Assos intending to take Paul aboard there for he had arranged intending himself to go by land and when he met us at Assos we took him on board and went to Mytilene and sailing there we came the following day opposite Chios.

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The next day we touched at Samos and the day after that we went on to Miletus for Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not have to spend time in Asia for he was hastening to be in Jerusalem if possible on the day of Pentecost.

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Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him and when they came to him he said to them

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You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia Serving the

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Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the

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Jews how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and Teaching you in public and from house to house testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ and Now behold, I am going to Jerusalem Constrained by the

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Spirit not knowing what will happen to me there Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me

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But I do not count my life Of any value Nor is precious to myself.

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If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God and Now behold,

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I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again

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Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the

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Holy Spirit has made you overseers To care for the Church of God which he obtained with his own blood

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I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and From among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them

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Therefore be alert Remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears and Now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace

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Which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

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I Coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel you yourselves know that these hands

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Ministered to my necessities and to those who are with me in all things I have shown that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the

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Lord Jesus how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive and When he had said these things he knelt down and prayed with them all and there was much weeping on the part of all

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They embraced Paul and kissed him being sorrowful Most of all because of the word he had spoken that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship

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Let's pray Our Father We thank you for this text of Scripture And Lord, I pray that we would heed the warning that we would pay careful attention to ourselves

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That we would pay careful attention to the doctrine that we hear to the doctrine that is proclaimed

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And that we would always line up the things that we see the things that we hear with what the scripture says

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We pray Lord that we would never be deceived that we would always stand firm in the truth

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Help us Lord to be centered on the work of the Lord. Jesus Christ on the person of the

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Lord. Jesus Christ We pray in all things Lord that you would build your church We pray that you would build the churches in New England and the

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United States in the world We pray that false teachers would be shown for who they truly are

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We pray Lord that your kingdom would advance and we are so excited Lord and thankful to be a part of your work

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So Lord, we pray that you would help us as we continue our worship in the sermon Help us

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Lord to hear what the word has to say We pray that the Spirit would take those words from our ear to our heart and that we would live them out to the glory of God We thank you

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Lord in all of these things in Jesus name. Amen Well, let's return this week to Ephesians 2

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Which will Continue to address Ephesians 2 8 through 10 in particular

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Last Lord's Day. I intended to set forth really in one sermon this entire

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Subject addresses subject the good works of true believers, but Due to time constraints we weren't able to do so and so I was only able to address about half the pages of notes that we had before us and So I felt the need to stop rather abruptly at an appropriate place where we could pick up today

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To continue this important matter But last week we were able to reinforce from Ephesians 2 1 through 10 some very important truths

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Regarding the nature of our salvation that Paul set forth in this epistle to this church at Ephesus and so the passage clearly teaches us that God saves us by his sovereign grace

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Not by our works, but rather we are his work. We are his workmanship by grace

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He saved sinners through his sovereign grace by creating and then sustaining faith in them faith that justifies him faith

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That saves them But the major thrust of what we emphasized last week was the purpose for which

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God saves his people All too often the gospel of salvation is presented only in terms of God forgiving sinners of their sins

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So that they may escape hell and enter heaven This is really a truncated gospel message

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And I think it's one of the major causes of nominal christianity christians in name only in many churches because the gospel they've been

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Taught and they believed is this is how I can have my sins forgiven. This is how I can escape hell

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This is how I can get to heaven as though that were The overarching purpose that God gave forth his son to bring salvation to us

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But we saw here in other verses That God has a far greater purpose and design for those whom he saves from sin and only to escape his condemnation

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Due to their sin and this is set forth here in Ephesians 2 8 through 10 we read of the purpose for which

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God saves his people and That is that they might live lives characterized by good works and So here again are those verses?

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Paul wrote for by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast and Then we've emboldened italicized verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works and that preposition therefore

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Is not just a simple explanatory Conjunction but it describes purpose

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For the purpose of good works, that's the purpose for which God saved us not just to escape hell as important as that is

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But he saved us for the purpose Living lives characterized with good works which

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God hath prepared beforehand that we should walk in them Now again, of course the scriptures teach were not saved by our works

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But we were saved so that our lives would be characterized by good works As God has revealed and defined good works to be in his

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Holy Word We read elsewhere Jesus Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every

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Lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people Zealous for good works there again.

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We have the purpose for which God saves sinners That we might be a people zealous for good works

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Obviously good works are not the ground of our salvation The life and work of Jesus Christ is the ground of our salvation.

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Thankfully And good works are not the means of becoming saved faith is the instrumental means that God uses

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Salvation is through faith alone, but good works characterized saved people they're the product of grace and This is so much the case that good works are one of the evidences of having become truly saved by the grace of God Lord willing next

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Sunday. We'll begin to address biblical assurance of salvation and a life characterized by biblical good works is one of the

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Ways in which people can have assurance of salvation as we'll show The true believer has repented of what the

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Bible calls dead works Which were all those ways of living independent of God's will before we were converted

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Those ways pursued to his own effort according to his own desire design that all changed when we

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Were saved by God's grace. And so now as a saved man, he the Christian produces good works as he lives for and before God and These works performed by the true believer which are produced by God's grace through faith

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Will be judged at the last judgment. We addressed that a couple weeks ago The final judgment is a judgment according to works and the good works of believers will testify on their behalf on that day

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Demonstrate prove to everybody there that we are true Christians by how we live not by Merely what we claim to believe about what our lives testify.

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We believed in this life It may be in the last moments of death like the thief on the cross

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But he gave evidence that he was truly saved by the grace of God He showed a lot of evidence while he hung there on that cross faith in the resurrection

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Faith and knowing he was getting what he deserved the death penalty Faith he knew Jesus was going to enter into his kingdom that day

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He had faith that he can enter that kingdom to even though he was a guilty sinner died for his sin He could enter by grace and he so he asked

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Jesus He had all kinds of evidence of saving grace in his life, even in the last moments of his life on the cross

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He had good works at the end of his life that Demonstrated God had saved him by his grace in contrast to the other thief who continually railed against Jesus as he was hanging there as well and so our good works at the last judgment will demonstrate the reality and legitimacy of The Christians faith in Jesus Christ or else it will reveal the hypocrite

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The nominal Christian the one who is just claiming or thinking he or she was a

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Christian But really life was characterized by self -directed self -willed

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You know doing your own will rather than conforming to the will of God set forth in the

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Holy Scriptures and so after last week we We were able to firm last week that God saves us by his sovereign work not ours and secondly

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That God has created his people so that they would live lives characterized by good works But now today this morning we want to begin by addressing the nature of the good works that characterize true

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Christians What are good works? biblically speaking Well, the

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Word of God of course reveals to us what these good works are and we could Describe them in several ways first good works are those that are in accordance with the will of God That might seem to be obvious, but it needs to be stated

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The doxology of the epistle to the Hebrew states it Now may the God of peace who brought up our

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Lord Jesus from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting covenant make you complete here.

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It is in every good work to do his will Working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever

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So here you can see good works are those according to the will of God and therefore, you know consistent with the scriptures the

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Word of God These works are the obeying and fulfilling of God's will set forth in the

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Bible. In other words the moral law of God That is contained in the

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Bible Now prescribe the kind of works that God regards as good which should be performed by his people

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John wrote the world is passing away in the last of it But he who does the will of God abides forever that describes a true

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Christian The standards or commandments devised by men not taught in the

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Word of God Cannot be said to be good works in the sight of God Many people are in this matter

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We read in Matthew 15 the words of our Lord Jesus in which he repudiated the commandments of men

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Declaring that God only regards the worship of people that is in accordance with his commandments

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We read the account the skies Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying why do your

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Disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they do not wash their hands when they eat bread

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He wasn't talking about they weren't challenging their hygiene They're talking about not ceremonially washing their hands before eating not found in the

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Bible, but it was according to their tradition Jesus answered said to them

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Why do you transgress the commandment of God who refers to the scriptures? Because of your tradition for God commanded saying honor your father and your mother and he who curses father mother let him be put to death, of course, and you know statement and application of the

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Fifth Commandment But you say well you set it aside by saying where whoever says to his father and mother whatever

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Prophet you might have received from me as a gift of God Then he need not honor his father and mother thus you've made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition hypocrites

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Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips

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But with their heart their heart is far from me in vain. They worship me God doesn't give him any regard whatsoever

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Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men We may conclude that the

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Lord's standards for living were the commandments of God, but not the commandments of men All works that are not said or thought to be good works that are not prescribed in the

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Holy Scriptures are not good works in the sight of God and Yet the world of course has all kinds of good works

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They describe and define as good and they commend themselves for God has no regard for them

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Unless they are set forth according to what his will is as revealed in his

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Bible the Holy Word of God Today this principle is commonly disregarded not just by people in the world but by people in the churches

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Many people think that God is pleased and accepts the devotion of anyone who is genuinely sincere

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No matter what form that devotion takes sincerity seems to pass the test in a lot of people minds.

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Oh God Knows your heart. He knows how sincere you are It's the thought that God approved such works it said but this is not true

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The Jews had a zeal for God, but that zeal was without knowledge Paul declared It was that zeal that moved them to crucify

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Christ and persecute his people Fervent devotion apart from sound doctrine is to worship

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God in vain Good works have to be set forth in the

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Word of God the Holy Scriptures second In order for someone to perform good works that God recognizes and accepts those works must be done from obedience to God with the right biblical motives

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So it is not just enough to do the right things it has to be done in the right way with the right motives

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In other words, and you'll get some people reacting to this. This means that only the works performed by true

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Christians Can be regarded as truly good in the sight of God Now our

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Confession of Faith states this there's nothing In Aaron about our confession, but I think we do believe it reflects what the

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Bible teaches Works done by unregenerate that is unconverted men, although for the matter of them.

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They may be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and others

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Yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith Nor are done in the in a right manner according to the word nor to a right and the glory of God they are therefore sinful and Cannot please

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God or make a man meet to receive grace from God and yet their neglect of them is more sinful than Displeasing to God the last verse and he in Romans 14 says whatever is not of faith is sin

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Whatever good works we do if it's not born out of faith in what God has told us in the word and and Doing is it on to the

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Lord? They're not good works as the Bible describes and defines them Yet so often even evangelical churches you end up with a kind of moralistic sermonizing and teaching

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Where the Bible is preached from but it's a mirror merely a passage it gives moral instruction and many times

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Jesus Christ has never even brought into the picture and People go forth. They think all this is what the

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Bible teaches and I'm gonna do it But they're not doing it with the right hand the right motives It's not good works, although they might think themselves to be quite good and quite holy

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Just like the Pharisees Now only true Christians can produce what the

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Bible regards a good works in the sight of God Our Lord declared that the way his disciples could be identified and distinguished from those who are false was by the fruit of their lives in other words by their good works and Jesus spoke of the

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Impossibility of an unregenerate man an unconverted person to bring forth fruit unto

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God. It's not possible but at the same time Jesus suggested it would be a

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Commonplace thing to see fruit produced in the lives of his disciples And so he declared these words consider the implications of them

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Sermon on the mount beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. They look like Christians They can be in the pulpit but inwardly they're rabid as wolves you'll know them how by their fruits

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You know their speech their actions their doctrines how they're living

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Do men gather grace from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? No Even so and Jesus said this every good tree bears good fruit.

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That's a truism every true Christian bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit a

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Good true a good tree cannot bear bad fruit on the other hand or can a bad tree bear good fruit

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See an unconverted person cannot bring forth good works that God approves of Good works by definition have to be done.

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Not only they have to be in accordance with the Word of God, but it has to be done with the right motivation and desire to Please God out of love for God Now it's important for us and this is important because all of us can fall into this this wrong way of thinking

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It's important for us to understand when we speak of the need and importance to produce good works that these works must be performed as Christians as What has been historically referred to as?

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Evangelical obedience by or through evangelical obedience not legal obedience

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We mentioned this once in a while because it's such an important principle and we want to rehearse it here This involves the right motivation for keeping

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God's laws or commandments We are to obey God's commandments. We're to do as well.

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We're to do good works because we love God Legal obedience is the desire and motivation to obey

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God's commandments due to fear of God's punishment Rather than due to love for God and we're not as Christians To be doing good obey

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God's commandments Because we're afraid of what will happen to us that God is going to get us if we don't that's legal obedience

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Legal obedience is enslaving and powerless to transform a person to become holy before the

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Lord It may prevent them from doing some things, but it can't make them Christ -like When we were converted to Christ We were to shift our understanding of our desire and motivation and obedience to God's commands

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We're to obey God because we love God But further we obey

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God for this is what it is to love God. This is how you love God by doing his will

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Sadly however too many Christians still cling to a sense of legal obedience rather than Evangelical obedience or obedience in accords with the gospel and sadly

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Again, any one of us can fall into this wrong way of thinking We all even

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Christians have a tendency to become rather legalistic We're not to obey

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God out of fear of what God might do to us if we fail to do so Rather we are to obey

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God out of love for who he is and for what he's done for us in Christ Those moved to obey through legal obedience will continue in misery and defeat

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But when we become saved from our sin through the love of God manifest to us by the grace of God in Christ We're to embrace the spirit of evangelical obedience

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We've referred in the past to this classic Puritan writer on this subject Samuel Bolton In his book the true bounds of Christian freedom

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He speaks about God's law and how as a Christian we are to look to God's law not out of legal obedience but evangelical obedience and So we set forth the nature and role of the law the bounds of Christian freedom

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For the New Testament believer. So here are Bolton's words that address the transition that we undergo when we're converted to Christ To live according to evangelical obedience.

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I might just interject this too I'm almost hesitant to do so because I always run short then at the end of the hour

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But oftentimes a person who's about to be converted to Christ goes through this stage of legal

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Obedience, they start reading the Bible. They start reading the commandments They see they're in sin So they make efforts to change and modify their behavior and they're thinking as legal obedience

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They're afraid of hell they're moved to do this and what happens Of course the Holy Spirit shows them through their vain efforts

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They can't do so and they come to feel worse and more guilty by the end of it than they did when they started

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That's my God's design He wants to bring us to the place where we see our total helplessness and uselessness and guiltiness so that we cast ourselves on Christ alone and Then out of love we begin to do the things

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That before we tried to do but couldn't do but now out of love and the power of the

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Holy Spirit He enables us to do now Bolton speaks about this previously in other words before conversion

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The principles of obedience were legal and servile now they are filial in other words as if in a family and Evangelical in other words according to the gospel as the law was given with evangelical purposes so it is now kept or obeyed from evangelical principles principles of faith love and delight which causes the soul to obey and Facilitates the whole of obedience the love of Christ constrains us

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Compels us Paul wrote yet is the obedience free? Love knows no difficulties things impossible to others are easy for them that love

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The grounds of obedience differ heretofore up till now up till conversion fear now love

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Previously the strength was our own Now we have fellowship with the strength of Christ Our works are said to be wrought in God by union with him

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John 3 21 and by fellowship with him as we can do nothing without him so we can do all things who

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Christ who strengthens us and This strength he has promised the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee and that Thou shouldest keep thy commandments

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Deuteronomy 26. He tells us that he works all our works in us and for us

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The required works of grace in us and of duty for us the ends before were justification in life

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In other words before we were converted. We thought we're going to be saved by our works. It was legal

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We thought that that's how you earn your salvation We thought we're gonna be justified before God by keeping his law

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Now there for other ends We don't live that way any longer But rather to glorify God to dignify the gospel to declare our sincerity to express our thankfulness

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Before we obeyed but out of compulsion of conscience now we obey out of promptings of nature

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It's a part of our new nature. He's given us Which so far as it works works to God as naturally as stones move downward roll down a hill or sparks fly upward

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Thus then it is that we preach the law not in opposition to but in subordination to the gospel

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The law is under Christ, of course not under Moses as we shall show at length later

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He expounds on that later in his book and then to all believers Bolton wrote these words

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And lastly under this head, let me exhort you all to judge of the law, right? View the law of God rightly and then let it be your care to maintain it.

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Let not Moses take the place of Christ You don't go to the law directly. You got two tablets of stone in front of you

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You go to the law directly through Moses, but at the same time make a right use of Moses When works and obedience take their right place when the law is rightly used and it is holy just and good

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That's what Paul declared in Romans 7 as a Christian But if we use it as our life in other words in order to gain life

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Or to become righteous through our own works Then we trampled the blood of Christ underfoot and make his life and death in vain

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Let the servant follow the master let Moses follow Christ The law grace obedience faith and then all act their proper and design parts

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Remember what Zacharias said he was the father of John the Baptist you were redeemed that you might serve

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That you might live unto him that died for you Reason from mercy to duty not from mercy to Liberty in other words to live any old way you want to live

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Oh beware that the great things of Christ do not make you more careless Take heed not to abuse mercy

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It is a sad thing when Christians abuse the grace of Christ the justice of God prevails with others

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Oh, but God would have his tender mercies prevail with you I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice

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The reasonings of Saints or Christians are to be from engagements of mercy to engagements of duty

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Having such precious promises. Let us purge ourselves from all corruptions of the flesh and spirit quoting scripture none

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But venomous spirits will spider -like suck poison from such sweets or draw such inferences from mercy as may be

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Encouragements to sin. Hey, it's forgiven. I'm forgiven. It doesn't matter how I live. I'm under the blood of Christ.

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No, that's Wickedness, it would be a sad matter if believers should grow more slack and sluggish if that which should quicken them slackens their hands

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If a man should say in his heart Christ died, I need not pray so much Christ had done all therefore

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I need do nothing the doctrine we advance should strengthen and not weaken your engagement to duty should heighten not lessen your engagement

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To duty it should quicken and not deaden your hearts affections. It should inflame and not cool your spirits and That's what evangelical obedience looks like and Then third our ability to do good works unto

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God is due to his grace working in us, of course by means of the Holy Spirit It's impossible for a fallen man to order his life consistently according to the direction of Scripture apart from experiencing the new birth being born again and Being enabled thereafter by the

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Holy Spirit to live for God now we read of this in Romans 8 Paul is contrasting the non -christian with the

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Christian For the law the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is made me free from the law of sin and death

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For what the law could not do that is to make you a holy person in that it was weak through the flesh

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We couldn't do it because of our sin God did see what the law couldn't do God did

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By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin He condemned sin in the flesh for what purpose?

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Here's another purpose clause so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us

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Who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit? See there clearly shows that the law of God continues to be the standard for Christian behavior

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But only through the Holy Spirit are we enabled to live accordingly not perfectly

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But it is our rule For those who live according to the flesh in other words according to sin set their minds on the things of the flesh

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But those who live according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit Here to live according to the

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Spirit is to live with the law of God as your rule For to be codily minded is death

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That's the non -christian fleshly minded but to be spiritually minded is life and peace

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Because why he explains why this is the case because the carnal mind this is the unregenerate the unconverted person

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He may be very religious, but he's unconverted the carnal mind is enmity against God For it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be it's impossible for an unconverted

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Person to live according to the law of God So then those who are in the flesh cannot please

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God and so Paul declared it was not possible for an unregenerate person an

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Unconverted person to be subject that is willingly obedient to the law of God He is averse to God that is the sinner ordering his life according to his to maybe

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God's moral law He doesn't want to he's that's contrary to his way of thinking and living

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He rebels under it. He has no interest desire or ability to keep the law of God The unconverted person cannot be subject to God's law, but the true

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Christian can be and will be God saved him through Jesus Christ in order that the righteous requirement of the law would be fulfilled in him and again to call upon our 1689

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Baptist Confession, which is not inspired, but we think it reflects biblical truth Christians ability to do good works is not at all of themselves

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You know as Christians we can't have in and of ourselves to do the good works But holy from the

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Spirit of Christ the Holy Spirit and that they may be enabled there to there unto they may be enabled to Do unto good works besides the graces.

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They've already received That is the desired love for God and and for his word There is necessary an actual influence of the same

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Holy Spirit To work in them to will to desire and to do of his good pleasure yet They're not hereupon to grow negligent.

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In other words, you're not totally passive contrary to so much teaching about Sanctification so -called

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Keswick view of sanctification. You're not to be passive, but you were to you were to be active as If they were not to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the

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Spirit Well, I'm not gonna act or do it until I feel led by the Spirit No but they ought to be diligent and stirring up the grace of God that is in them and it's just about quotation from Scripture of Course we should understand that though the

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Word of God tells us that Christians are characterized by good works And he places a new and holy nature in us that aspires to knowledge and conformity to God's law

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So that we will manifest good works that does not mean that it is an easy task for us to accomplish

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It's not Again we would say it's still impossible He put love in your heart for him and as well, but he did not put the ability in you to do so You need the

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Holy Spirit to give you ability day by day and That's one of the early frustrations of a new

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Christian They think because they love God that they have the ability in and of themselves to do the will of God Only as we trust

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Christ without me you can do nothing. Jesus said we need the Holy Spirit And so Christians must realize acknowledge.

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They are powerless to do the will of God Unless apart from the continual bestowal of the power of the

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Holy Spirit and So to read further in Romans 8 we were there earlier

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We can read of Paul writing of the struggle of the Christian to live a holy life Even well, it's absolutely necessary that he does so this is where the fight comes

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He's writing to Christians, but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit In other words, you're not unsaved

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You're not unconverted But you're converted in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you Now if anyone who does not have the

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Spirit of Christ, he's not of his you're not a Christian and If Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin, but the

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Spirit is life because of righteousness You have no ability in and of yourself, but the Spirit Can enable you?

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But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his

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Spirit who dwells within you Therefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh

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We don't have the license to live in sin for he says in verse 13 if you live according to the flesh you will die

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You live like a sinner you're gonna die a sinner. You're gonna be damned like a sinner regardless of what you claim to believe But if by the

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Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, that's what Christians do By the

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Spirit, that's the only way we can you will live For as many as are led by the

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Spirit of God These are the sons of God and being led by the Spirit isn't some kind of subjective feeling

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I feel that the Spirit leading me here They're being led here in this context is being led and empowered to order your life according to the law of God the

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Word of God and So here we read it's absolutely essential that we live manifesting good works in our lives

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But in order to do this we must not live according to the flesh In other words in our own strength thinking that we have the ability the wisdom

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We must repent of our sinful actions But this is only made possible by the

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Spirit as we call upon Jesus Christ To enable us to live for him and not for our sin

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We ask him to empower us with the Holy Spirit every day to strengthen us to resist

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Temptation and to order our lives in obedience to the will of God that is his righteousness

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The Lord taught me this lesson the hardest thing I ever did in my life as a Christian was quit smoking

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About a year after I was converted Because I like smoking. I was a two -and -a -half carton man a week

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That 25 packs a week and I liked it But I knew

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I was like I had to quit or put my Christianity on the shelf I just felt that way and man

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I love God or I thought I did and I thought that would that wouldn't a I couldn't understand why I couldn't beat it and Then I finally realized

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I don't have the ability Lord unless you intervene, I'm a goner and That's when he you know when

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I came to that Nothing and cast myself wholly on him all of a sudden

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He took away that nicotine fit and it I was delivered. I was 10 o 'clock on a

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Sunday night and it lasted until 10 o 'clock the next morning at a smoking break during at work and Nicotine fit hit me.

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I thought I was gonna die But had I fallen back into my old pattern of thinking

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I love you God. I'm not gonna go there. I would have fallen But I learned my lesson and the

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Lord gave me sustaining power again, he took it away Temporarily and so I had to live that way depending upon him every day every hour and as the weeks passed

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You know that desire and addiction was broken and I'm delivered it from it for four years

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You know, I get a whiff of it and it was like the call of the wild We Don't have the ability in and of ourselves

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Although we may have the love desire to only God can enable us to defeat sin

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You don't have the power to do so We need the Holy Spirit and only when we call upon the

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Lord Jesus daily Jesus said without me you can do nothing and it takes a while for the

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Lord to You Know to teach us that To where we know that by experience not just in in our heads and so We must rely upon him not our own resolve because only true

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Christians can truly do good works before God it Exposes and convicts those who are without Christ who still live in their sin

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Thomas Manton wrote a sermon on On Ephesians 2 10 and so I read it it was about 40 pages long on this verse

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And he but I wanted to apply or read these words For the reproof of many professing

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Christians who are not more prepared for the Lord made ready for every good work Alas, some are to every good work reprobate quotation of Scripture Titus 116 unfit for any

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Christian practice and Others all their holiness standeth and being less vicious or or wicked than others you compare yourself with others

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I'm pretty good compared to them If they avoid greater crimes, though, they freely practice the less they are accounted good men.

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Well, he's a good Christian, man Some talk but do nothing like cypress trees tall and beautiful but unfruitful

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Or the carbuncle a far -off seeming all on fire, but the touch discovers it to be key cold

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Their zeal is more in their tongues and in their actions and others are very unready arguing for mediocrity

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Disputing every inch with God beating down the price of religion Christianity as low as they can and as little worship and charity may be and will do no more than need it and as well

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If they do that True goodness like honey droppeth on its own accord.

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It flows down naturally and As always desire us to do more for God Psalm 71.

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I will praise thee more and more at fourth the Holy Scriptures describe and define the good works of God's people to be fought of five different kinds and Again relying on Thomas Manton.

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He put these together What what are good works what and what categories are they well first there's acts of God's immediate worship both internal and external

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The internal acts are faith and love and trust. Those are good works delight and reverence

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External as to pray read here to be much in communion with God and all parts of worship

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Without works of piety. We're practical atheists God's people do certainly make conscience of these the internal acts are the life of their souls

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The external are their soulless their strength and their support Their songs in the house of their pilgrimage they're refreshing in the way that's one kind of good works

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Secondly, every man must labor in the work to which he's called in other words your secular work

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You're serving Christ in that secular job that you're doing as a Christian God is pleased to appoint and accept the duties of our calling as a good work to be

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Profitable to human society and your place is good. The new nature helps us to be

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Third works of righteousness and justice to hurt no one to give everyone is due to use fidelity faithfulness in our relations

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The credit of religion is much concern and just dealing of them that profess it in other words with other

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Christians God would have the world know that religion is a good friend to human society in short

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They do not make conscience of paying their debts and using justice equity honesty and all their dealings are robbers thieves and enemies to human society

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For as to relieve the poor to be good to all to help others by our counsel or admonition

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Now if you do not mind this kind of good works your unfaithful stewards and the good thing committed to your trust

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You must not deny God his own when he or any of us have need of it.

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I Always think of that we're so privileged so affluent in this land and we read about people who are scavenging just to get enough food to feed their families every day and that I sense a responsibility

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We're not better than they and God has given us the means and privileges. Surely we have a responsibility to a measure in Helping people and then fifth.

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I think there is another sort of good works which concern ourselves And that it personally that is sobriety watchfulness mortification put into death sin

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Self -denial a man owed duty to himself Take Titus 2 12 talking about the grace of God teaching us that denied on godliness and worldly lust

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We should live soberly these conduce to our safety Or they're conducive to our salvation is what he's saying and security sense assurance and So good words come in different forms

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For let's consider true believers good works are due to God's grace in the matter of particularly progressive sanctification

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I Knew we weren't going to get it through all of these pages But I felt it was important to at least that you have them before you we've gone through some of these things before But they're important In one of our earlier messages in this sermon series on the unconverted believer we stated that nominal

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Christianity is often the result of a truncated view of salvation promoted and believed by Evangelicals well -meaning well -intentioned evangelicals many believe that salvation is limited to the sinners

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Justification as important as that is justification before God through faith alone in Christ alone

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People are told how they may obtain God's forgiveness of their sins if they only believe in Jesus Christ as their

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Savior their personal Savior But these people are not taught that biblical salvation

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Encompasses more than simply being saved from the guilt of our sins before God.

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And so this is what we stated earlier Salvation is God's rescue of the believer from the guilt and penalty of sin.

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But in addition salvation entails much more And therefore the gospel must include much more

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To limit one's message and offer salvation as only God's forgiveness of sins is not to proclaim a complete gospel

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It's become a false gospel for it no longer produces or results and biblical salvation for those who embrace it

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Salvation is deliverance from sin in its entirety. Yes from its penalty of condemnation and damnation.

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That's justification But secondly from the alienation of sin That's a reconciliation and adoption thirdly from the power of sin that dominated our thinking and living.

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That's our Sanctification and then fourthly lastly from the very presence of sin when the

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Lord comes to receive his people unto himself This is what salvation is not just forgiveness of sins and if we're telling people you can have forgiveness of sins heaven your home you escape hell if you simply believe on Jesus as your personal

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Savior yet they go off living like the devil they're gonna die a sinner's death and We've propped up their delusions.

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We've told them they have peace peace when there is no peace We're praying we're playing the false prophet and I fear that many churches have many people

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That have that kind of view of salvation They're unconcerned about holy living.

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They don't seem to have a love for holiness a desire to Learn and obey the word and order life according to the word.

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They're doing just enough They think they can continue to claim to be Christian But they're living just like non -christians in the world

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It's scary to me Now it's this third aspect of salvation that shown forth in the life a true believer

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Characterized good by good works that we want to focus on. This is what progressive sanctification is

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So let's define what is sanctification according to the Bible The basic idea of sanctification of believers is that God has set them apart

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That's what sanctify means to set them apart That is God has separated them from the sinful practices of this fallen world in order to bring them into holy service of God You know that the temple was sanctified set apart the articles of furniture were set apart the

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Utensils used in the temple tabernacle were set apart. They were sanctified Christians are set apart sanctified

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Now it's important that when we talk about sanctification we're talking about two major categories and One is what's called definitive

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Sanctification and the other is progressive We want to focus on progressive, but we have to of course define definitive

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Definitive sanctification speaks of what God does for his people when he first converts them unto Christ by his grace

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He sets apart every one of his people unto himself in this sense definitive sanctification was a once -for -all definitive act

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God defined it God Did it and it's the same for every one of us as Christians God sanctified us set us apart when we became

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Christians First Corinthians 1 1 through 3 speaks of this definitive sanctification now sure this church of Corinth was a messed -up church

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It was filled with problems But look how Paul described them Paul called to be an apostle of Christ to the will of God Sosthenes our brother to the

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Church of God, which is at Corinth to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus He's describing them all as in this

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Group that have been set apart by God sanctified Called to be saints.

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They're called holy ones. That's who God regards them as All true

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Christians are equally sanctified in this definite sense It speaks of God having caused believers to have entered a new relationship with him through his son

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Jesus Christ You were different God regards you as different from all others in the world you were his

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Among his own he set you apart from them You're favored Most of what

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Paul wrote about in Romans 6 speaks of this definitive sanctification Paul argues a true believer in Christ has not only died with respect to his former life and sin

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But he's been raised with Christ and newness of life. That's true of every one of us as Christians Paul set forth the spiritual truth that God has placed believers in a new relationship with him

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Having severed their former identity with their sinful life having translated them into new life in in Christ It's what

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God does for all true converts of Christ at the moment of their conversion Anthony hokum a solid reformed guy address this from Paul's epistles

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Both Ephesians and Colossians It's a common teaching. Not only does Paul teach that believers have died to sin

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He also affirms that they've been decisively and definitively raised with Christ using verb tenses

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That describe instantaneous or snapshot action Paul asserts that God made us alive with Christ Even when we were dead in transgressions and God raised us up with Christ Though we were by nature sit dead in sin

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God mercifully made us who are believers one with the risen Christ thus raising us up with him

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This raising is described here not as a long process, but as something that happened at a certain point in time

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The Colossians furthermore are not told they must progressively be raised with Christ They are told since then you have been raised with Christ heiress tents mean it happened

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Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand in these of in light of these texts

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We conclude that one sanctification means not only a decisive break with the enslaving power of sin, but also a decisive irreversible union with Christ in his resurrection

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Union by means of which the believers enabled is Enabled to live in newness of life and because of which he or she has now become a new creature as a result of our

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Definitive sanctification therefore we are in Christ must now count ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus I can't stress to you how important that is

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To see the importance of that as a Christian You are no longer to identify yourself as a guilty rotten sinner

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You're to identify yourself as having been died in Christ and raised with Christ and in Christ You know,

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I'm a Christian and I got a bad sin problem, but you know, I'm not a sinner

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That's not who I am in my identity. I'm in Christ and Every Christian needs to think and believe that Otherwise, you're gonna feel so alienated from God who am

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I this wretched God won't even hear me I can't even go around to the Christian because I'm such a wretched sinner if you're in Christ, you're you're in Christ And that's who you are

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You got a lot of growing to do but you're in Christ as every true Christian is

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That's definitive sanctification and it's true for everybody but when we talk about sanctification we more commonly think of progressive sanctification and Progressive mean is it's ongoing through life

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It's gradual and this is how the Westminster shorter catechism very biblical

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Makes the concise definition. What is question 35? What is sanctification answer?

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Sanctification is the work of God's free grace God does it whereby we're renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are

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Enabled more and more to die on the sin and live on the righteousness If you've been in Christ 20 years, hopefully you're more

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Christ -like today than you were 20 years ago and Hopefully 20 years from now if the Lord tarries will be more like Christ.

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It's progressive Progressive sanctification speaks of God making a person holy

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He declared us to be holy when we are converted now through the Holy Spirit. He's making us to be like we are

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He's making us to become more like we are in Reality, he's making us holy

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Progressive sanctification and we're just gonna shoot through these last few pages just to give you an overview and then we'll close

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Progressive sanctification is the work of the triune God the God the Father sanctifies us now that's positional

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That's definitive sanctification. He did that in eternity past when he elected you out of the fallen humanity

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He set you apart He sanctified you and and the scriptures teach of teach of that in first Peter 1 1 or pardon me first What is first Peter 1 we're sanctified by the

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Father that was in eternity but the Bible also says we were sanctified by Jesus Christ the

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Son and We were sanctified when he died on the cross on our behalf. He set us apart as it were

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He sanctified us and the scriptures teach of that as well And then the scriptures say we're also sanctified by the

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Holy Spirit. This is where it gets into progressive sanctification Where the Holy Spirit is applying you know the holiness of God to our lives and making us more like Christ and Then in the middle of page 9

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Sanctification is the work of God purifying or making us holy in our lives It began with our regeneration

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It's shown for top of page 10 and our desires and attitudes we're new people

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We've got we we came to have desire. We never had before We like think we love things.

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We once hated we now hate things. We once loved it were different There's a new attitude and outlook of the soul toward God and the things of God There's a there's in the soul a love for God.

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There's a desire for compliance to the will of God We become thankful people.

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I wish we had time to read what Thomas Watson wrote about we become praying people

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You know, Paul was on the road to Damascus breathing out threatenings to go get those Christians and you know a few minutes later

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He's a praying man You know, he was transformed prayed to the

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Lord Jesus People who are converted who are being progressively sanctified desire the glory of God Sanctification is seen in the desired and attitudes of the believer toward Jesus Christ.

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He's our Savior He's our Lord. We want to please him More than what we want to please ourselves that is subordinated we died to that we confess that in our baptism and for sanctification spirit is evidence in the desired and attitudes of the believer toward the things of the

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Holy Spirit and What we mean by that is not that we look to the Holy Spirit him and of himself

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But of Jesus Christ to whom the Holy Spirit directs us he testifies of Christ and Then fifthly the sanctification of the

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Spirit is evidence in attitudes opinion of the believer towards sin Sin is still attractive to us it tempts us

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It's desirable in some senses, but we're miserable when we yield to it

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Because sin never satisfies fully does it when you yield to sin?

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It always ups it a little bit. You need a little bit more sin the next time to give you the same buzz

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I've been around us in a while and sinners a while to sin doesn't stand still

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You know yielding to sin in no way brings an end to it it just aggravates it

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And it becomes more and more difficult. I Hope you take the time to read through these notes there.

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It's important good works. They are evidence of true Christianity They are a product of God's grace the same grace that forgives saves not only forgives from the pollution of sin, but from the power of sin and Thank God It's never perfect.

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It's never complete. It's progressive and It's never going to be complete this time this side of death

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Only when we leave this body we die or the Lord comes for us. Will we be perfectly and fully sanctified and Sin will no longer be present

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In our glorification may that day come Soon, let's pray Thank you father for your word and for the clarity of these things that you sent forth

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Help us to take them to heart We acknowledge our God that it was by your grace.

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You put these desires and delights within our souls Our God we acknowledge our our

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Inability and our failures and so many different ways Our God in so many ways we sin and fall short every day

01:03:54

But we just pray our God you would continue to do this wonderful glorious work of sanctification

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Making us more and more like Jesus Christ as we look to you Help us our

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God to please you and the way we think the way we feel the things we value the things we do and we

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Lord did Attempt and desire to do so only as you enable us and so we go forth our fault our father

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We're in faith in your son Independence upon the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us for we pray these things father in Jesus name.