Common Errors Regarding Sanctification (Part 3)

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

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

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

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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Thanks for listening. I don�t know how many people listen.

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I don�t know how soon this is going to happen, but I need to move this studio or I need to get some equipment to do some shows at home.

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I�m going to need there. So I guess that�s pretty minor. But I�d like to be able to do shows at home so I don�t have to always come in on dreary snowy days.

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Our topic du jour is a discussion about sanctification.

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Sanctification. What is it? What is it not? Why is it so important? Why are so many people on so�

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I mean, I�ve got five views of sanctification, right? That book, Five Views of Christian Spirituality, there�s all kinds of books kind of like that five views.

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Well, there�s five views of sanctification, like I just said earlier. What is the no -co view?

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Maybe that�s the sixth view. I try, at least, to be having a reformed view of sanctification.

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So I thought I�d put it up, Common Errors, and this is basically from what I did at Community Bible in Beloit, Ohio, with my friend

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John A. Tucker and the dear folks there. That�s the second time I was there. Assuming I make it, because in real time,

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I leave tomorrow. Last time I was there,

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I rode the bike a lot and stuff like that. I think it�s like cold and snowy, and I�m, who knows, stuck inside talking to John.

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Hi, John. I was supposed to have John on before this whole conference, and I never did it, so shame on me, but it�s just this back thing is killing.

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A little relief. We were talking about one of the errors. I can�t go through the list of errors because I don�t have it right here.

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One of the errors is ignoring who Jesus is, right? Jesus, just kind of initial, but not thinking about Jesus in terms of sanctification.

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I read Romans 6 and thinking about union with Christ in Him, in Him, in Him. John Owen, �While by faith we contemplate the glory of Christ as revealed in the gospel, all grace will thrive and flourish in us toward perfect conformity unto

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Him. Therefore, even as Christians, it is good to regularly think about Jesus, because otherwise the focus is going to go to moi.�

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I�m going to talk about that more later, but I think it does serve the point in this particular case that if you are just only focused on yourself becoming a, let�s even think a good thing.

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I�d like to pray more, I�d like to evangelize more, I�d like to serve my spouse more, I would like to give more,

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I mean, who knows what it could be, right? All good things. I�d like to give thanks more. If it�s the end of itself, it�s the end of all things, it terminates there in this individualistic, private, and self -centered view, as Michael Horton calls it.

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How can I find the victory? I don�t think you�re going to want to go there, because the eyes are going to be off of Jesus.

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Okay, let�s put it this way, because I think Horton�s right. What�s the focus?

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You got a problem, and do you want to focus on the problem or the solution? The problem is us.

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The solution is Jesus, and therefore we�ve got to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, right?

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That�s Hebrews 12. I think that�s very, very important, that you see everything and all benefits found in Jesus, correct, right?

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If we seek strength, it lies in His dominion. If purity, in His conception.

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If gentleness, it appears in His birth. For by His birth, that�s a typo there, for by His birth

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He was made like us in all respects that He might learn to feel our pain.

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If we seek redemption, it lies in His passion. If acquittal, in His condemnation. If remission of the curse, in His cross.

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If satisfaction, in His sacrifice. In purification, in His blood. If reconciliation, in His descent into hell.

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If mortification of the flesh, in His tomb. If newness of life, in the resurrection. If immortality, in the same.

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If inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, in His inheritance into heaven, entrance into heaven.

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If protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in His kingdom.

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If untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to Him to judge. In short,

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John Calvin said, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in Him, let us drink our fill from this fountain and from no other.

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Looking to Jesus. Adoniram Judson, brethren, look to Jesus.

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This sight will fill you with the greatest consolation and delight. Look to Him on the cross, so great is

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His love that if He had a thousand lives, He would lay them all down for you in your redemption.

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Look to Him on the throne. His blessed countenance fills all heaven with delight and felicity.

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Look to Him in affliction. He will comfort you. Look to Him in death. He will sustain you. Look to Him in judgment.

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He will save you. Adoniram Judson, speaking to students at Madison University, New York, 1846.

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That's good. That is really, really important.

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And that was premier protein, 30 grams. I didn't drink 30 grams in that short a time, but maybe 10.

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What do we do with sanctification? Lots of errors. Let's pick another one. Many Christians, here's an error, external obedience only.

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External obedience only. Writing that down with my finger on this iPad. External requirements of the law.

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Is that sanctification? I've got to read my

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Bible today. No devos, no breakfast.

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Now, I'm not telling you, if you don't feel like reading your Bible, don't read it until you feel like it.

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Well, do what you're supposed to do. Begin to read your Bible and then your feelings will follow later. I'm not saying that.

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I often read my Bible when I don't feel like it, because now it's just a routine. I just get up in the morning, unless I have to get up super early.

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Like today, I had PT for my neck. I just get up, read my Bible. I know what you're asking.

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How early was the PT? I know it was early because I couldn't sleep in the night because of my neck.

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I think self -righteousness starts to promote this.

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We don't really think we need Jesus that much, right? We're already saved. So that last section doesn't really apply, right?

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That last error. We just check off the boxes. I go to church. Done. Heart's not really in it.

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Read my Bible, do what I'm supposed to do, and that's it.

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So let's avoid that. That would be an error, right? Because there would be no gratitude in serving and then no affections.

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All right? Now, here's another error. Error number... What number are we at?

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Six? Error six. No more law for the

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Christian. Hey, we're saved. Law's not needed. Remember that old antinomian song?

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Free from the law, O blessed condition. I can sin as I please and still have remission.

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I know it's old, but it's still funny. Sadly. Calvin, nor can anyone rightly infer from this that the law is superfluous for believers since it does not stop teaching and exhorting and urging them to do good, even though before God's judgment seat, it has no place in their consciences.

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So there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We're not going to be judged. But is the law still important for the

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Christian? No need to do any law keeping?

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No need to do any works? That would be wrong, wouldn't it?

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That's antinomianism. Of course we need to obey

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God's law, especially when it comes to the third use of the law.

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Norming, that's what we're after. Not Norman, but norming, directing.

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Third use of the law. We've talked about that in the past, and so I can talk about that again another time.

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Rapid fire, like I said. Here's another error, that you see the law from the judge and not the father.

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So this is directly related. So let's just talk about this.

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Law of God reflects the holiness of God and His nature. The law is good.

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So I need to look up those verses. Law is good, Romans 7. And the law is good, if it's used lawfully, of course.

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And the first use of the law, the law that says do not commit adultery, damns us, condemns us, convicts us, because we realize that we have thought improper thoughts sexually.

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Honor your father and mother, right? Know God's before God.

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But the relationship to the law giver changes. God's law never changes because His attributes and His holiness and His character,

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His essence never changes, right? God is immutable, right? Therefore, since He doesn't change, the law doesn't change.

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But our relationship to the law giver does change, because it used to be, when we were an unbeliever, it used to be one of judge, right?

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Do this and live, we didn't do it, judged. Now we're Christians. So what's our relationship to the law giver?

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Is God our judge? No, He's our Father. That changes everything.

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And if you have to obey the law as a son to stay in the home and to keep the last name of the dad, that doesn't tell me much about the character of the dad.

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That's not really a dad. That's some kind of dictator, some kind of ogre. And we know a father wouldn't do that, a human father.

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And God's better than a human father, obviously. He's the perfect father. He's the heavenly father. Hallowed be thy name, heavenly father.

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Therefore, in summary, God's law doesn't change because God doesn't change. But our relationship to the law giver changes because of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and His work. We now have God not judge, but God the Father as Father.

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And we obey because we're in, not to get in. We obey because we're in, not to stay in.

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So if you have an error, one of your errors is going to be forgetting the relationship you have to the law giver.

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All right, no compromise radio. What else do we have here? Another error is to think that God will accept you if you have a certain level of sanctification.

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I have to be holy enough to be accepted. That's another thing that happens regularly with Christians, sadly.

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Sinclair Ferguson said what I just said earlier, the moment I think, as a Christian believer, that God accepts me because of my level of sanctification, that's the moment

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I've begun to destroy the gospel. We aren't accepted because we've achieved a level, because how'd you do this week?

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What was your level of sanctification this week? There's no possible way we can, as Christians, perfectly obey because we're not yet glorified.

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Glorified, no. We grow progressively, sometimes backwardly, to ungrowth, right?

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David writes Psalms after he has committed adultery with Bathsheba.

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We have to be honest. Heidelberg Catechist 114, but can those converted to God keep these commandments perfectly?

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Because that's what you're going to need. You're going to need to keep the commandments perfectly if you think this is how you're going to be standing before God.

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Can you keep these commandments perfectly? Heidelberg 114, no. It's more than that comma.

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In this life, even the holiest of Christians, like superstar

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Christians, make only a small beginning in obedience in this life.

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Nevertheless, they begin with serious purpose to conform not only to some, but to all commandments of God.

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They make growth. They make growth in a lot of areas. You can't keep the commandments perfectly.

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No possible way. Therefore, if you can't keep them perfectly, you're going to stand before God based on your sanctification that's less than perfect?

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Are your best works tainted by the fall, defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment?

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Yes, that's Westminster Confession. But God accepts you, therefore

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He accepts your works. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio.

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Israel has been pushed back a year, 2022. That's February 23rd through about March 3rd.

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Omaha Bible Church, Pat Abendroth and myself, the two Abendroth boys.

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I'm nine years older than Pat, by the way. I'm 60 now and he's 51. Marcy is our sister and she's in the middle.

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She's four and a half years younger than I am, four and a half years older than Pat. So three

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Abendroths. She is in the Midwest as well with her husband,

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Craig. I have not seen Marcy for quite some time. I see Pat more often just because we're at,

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I don't know, like Bible things together. Anyway, we're talking about common errors in sanctification.

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Here's another error in sanctification. That you don't need any assurance when it comes to sanctification.

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Assurance isn't important. You know, there are pastors that try to keep people on the edge and pastors whacking away, you know, scolding people to try to get them,

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I guess, just somehow to obey, to motivate them for obedience. You'll see it with John Piper.

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You'll see it with Richard Baxter. Richard Baxter said, sincere obedience to God in Christ is a condition of our continuance in a state of justification or of not losing it.

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How's that working out for you? Sincere obedience. How sincere?

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Oh, brother, you, Christian, need to be assured that you're forgiven and reconciled to God if sanctification is really going to happen.

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It's a foundation for personal holiness. In times of adversity,

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Satan will seek to plant the thought in our minds that God is angry with us and is disciplining us out of wrath.

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Here is another instance when we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. It is the gospel that reassure us that penalty for our sins has been paid, that God's justice has been fully satisfied.

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It is the gospel that supplies a good part of the armor of God with which we are to stand against the accusing attacks of the devil.

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Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace. He also says in that same book, nothing so motivates us to deal with sin in our lives as does the understanding and application of the two truths that our sins are forgiven and the dominion of sin is broken because of our union with Christ.

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And one last Bridges comment, if we are going to persevere as committed disciples of Jesus Christ over the course of our lives, we must always keep the gospel of God's forgiveness through Christ before us.

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God's not mad at you, you don't have to try to earn his good pleasure. Since you have his good pleasure through Jesus Christ, the

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Son, then you can go ahead and be concerned about holy living and not trying to walk on thin ice.

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Thin ice, not good for Christian sanctification. Here's another error, that there's only one motivation to live a holy life.

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Now I think guilt -grace -gratitude is true, right? There's nothing wrong with that.

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I think that's the main motivator. Is there something more to help us pursue sanctification?

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And I alluded to this earlier about justification, is that the only reason we should be sanctified?

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Is that the only motivation? Why do we do good works?

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Why do we have fruits and evidences? Lenten Baptist Confession, chapter 16, these are some reasons why.

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They manifest our thankfulness, so guilt -grace -gratitude is good there. They strengthen our assurance, right?

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We do what Christians do, therefore that helps us as the second main motivator for assurance, first one being who

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Jesus is. They edify their brethren. What's a motivation to do good works?

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To edify our brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouth of adversaries, and glorify

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God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus, thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end eternal life.

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There are many motivations for doing good works. We show our thankfulness, strengthen our assurance, edify the brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of adversaries, and glorify

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God. Here's another one. I'm going to do good.

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Here's an error. Doing good so God will keep loving me. Hmm. Didn't I already do that one?

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All right, here's another error. Confusing categories. This is what Rome does. Justification through sanctification.

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This is all, of course, in Galatians, and Romans would allude to it as well, that somehow

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I keep my justification through sanctification. I said this earlier, but this is actually the more precise definition.

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Here's another error. Sanctification is a second blessing. You get slain in the spirit. You get zapped.

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Your sanctification happens all the time, and then you've just arrived, right?

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Slain in the spirit, Ezekiel fell down, faced before the Lord in Ezekiel 128, and then, you know, that's what happens to you.

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That's wrong. Here's another one. Common errors of sanctification, perfectionism, that somehow you can attain to sinless perfectionism.

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This forgets to have the pastor who has got a congregant who thinks they are sinfully perfect.

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This forgets that I need to talk to your spouse. Bob George used to teach this.

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It forgets judicial and parental forgiveness. Before the judge, you're forgiven, but before the father, when you sin, you need to ask for forgiveness, and, of course, he does that.

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And then, lastly, a common error is pietism, looking to self instead of looking to Jesus.

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A tendency to just dial in on self. A lot of spiritual disciplines and other things.

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Well, anyway, my name is Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I hope you've been encouraged by this little scenario.

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Even though we've looked at errors, I'm putting my iPad back here with my NoCo sticker that you can get a sticker for free, not an iPad for free.

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I want to get one of those bigger iPads. This one works just fine for now, though. Mike Ebendroth, self -addressed stamp envelope to No Compromise Radio, 307

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Lancaster Street, West Boylston, Mass, 01583. God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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