August 23, 2023 Show with Austin Huggins & Joe Jacowitz on “Sanctification: How to Grow in Holiness”

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August 24, 2023

August 23, 2023 AUSTIN HUGGINS, pastor of Christ Evangel of Bagdad, FL, *AND* JOE JACOWITZ, pastor of Christ Bible Church of Pleasanton, CA, & founder of FirstLove Ministries, who will both address: “SANCTIFICATION: HOW TO GROW IN HOLINESS” & announcing the upcoming conference with these 2 guests @ Reformed Baptist Church of Tama, Iowa!!

00:02: Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of Founding Father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer
00:10: George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend
00:16: Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,
00:23: Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.
00:31: Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
00:38: Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have a view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.
00:50: It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.
00:57: And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,
01:10: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.
01:20: This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Wednesday on this 23rd day of August, 2023.
01:28: I just want to give another update on my brother Andy, since I know that many of you in the
01:35: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listening audience have been praying fervently and regularly for him, as is made evident by the number of emails and social media posts that I have been receiving, mounting up to the hundreds.
01:53: And Andy is still in the nursing home, where he will likely remain until the
02:00: Lord takes him home. He, right now, is on the second day of—actually,
02:12: I'm sorry, he just completed a second day of being off the intravenous antibiotic treatments.
02:19: They took him off the antibiotics for two days because the level of antibiotics in his system was too high, so they wanted to give his body a rest, but I believe they restarted those antibiotic treatments today.
02:35: He seems to be responding well to these antibiotic treatments, and I believe
02:44: I may have even forgotten to remind you why he is getting that. He has a very life -threatening blood contamination situation called sepsis, which can be deadly, but thankfully, so far, the antibiotics appear to have kept the sepsis at bay.
03:08: Since he had a doctor's appointment today, I'm hoping to hear an update on his progress, and next time we are together, that would be tomorrow,
03:19: I will hopefully have another update for you, and hopefully a praise report. But please also pray, not only for my brother physically, but pray for him spiritually.
03:30: He has professed to be a Christian for decades, but his profession has been extremely inconsistent, and I don't have a settled peace and confidence about the genuineness of his conversion.
03:43: So, I'm asking all of you to pray that if he is not already born again, that the
03:51: Lord has mercy on his soul and saves him, and that his profession is very crystal clear, believable, and credible, where I am left with no doubt about where he will spend eternity.
04:06: I would appreciate that greatly even more than my prayers for his physical healing, but I do pray for that as well, that I may enjoy having my brother with me on this earth for as long as the
04:21: Lord chooses, and so please keep those things in prayer, and I will keep you updated.
04:29: Today, I'm thrilled to have on the program Austin Huggins. He is a returning guest pastor of the
04:36: First Baptist Church of Baghdad, Florida, and we were also scheduled to have
04:42: Pastor Joe Jackowitz of Christ Bible Church in Pleasanton, California, and founder of First Love Ministries, the ministry that actually live streams
04:52: Iron Trip and Zion Radio through First Love Radio. He was called away because he had to quickly go to a hospital where a congregant is on her deathbed, and so hopefully we're going to hear some update from Pastor Joe on that as he ministers to this couple, the husband of the dying woman and the woman herself, and perhaps
05:25: I can share that with you either later in the broadcast or tomorrow. But today we have
05:31: Austin on the program to discuss sanctification, how to grow in holiness, which is also the theme of the upcoming conference featuring
05:40: Austin Huggins and Joe Jackowitz at the Reformed Baptist Church of Tama, Iowa, and this conference is coming up very quickly.
05:50: It's going to be held on Saturday and Sunday, August 26th and 27th in Tama, Iowa, or Tama.
05:58: We don't really know for certain how to pronounce that. But it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Austin Huggins.
06:07: Hey, Brother Chris. It's good to be back with you. And for the sake of prayer from our audience, can you remind me and inform them of the woman who appears to be on the brink of eternity right now, where Joe Jackowitz fled his study to be at her side at what might be her last moments on earth?
06:31: Can you let our listeners know? Yes, please, please be in prayer for Mrs.
06:37: Betty Carney. She is the wife of one of the oldest members in the church.
06:44: A bit of a difficult history and a checkered past, not going into all of that, but a number of those things have resulted in her health being what it is.
06:55: And like your brother, Pastor Joe is ministering to her not only physically, but also spiritually.
07:04: Her testimony is one that we could certainly be praying for, pray for her husband.
07:10: There's a lot there that could really use a lot of prayer. So keep Mrs. Betty Carney, keep her husband, and keep the members of Christ Bible Church and Pastor Joe as well who's going into that circumstance in your prayers.
07:20: And Brother Chris, I just want to let you know my heart goes out to you for your brother Andy. We're certainly praying for him here during our prayer meetings for First Love.
07:31: Well, thank you very much and extend my gratitude to the saints there at First Baptist Church of Baghdad, Florida.
07:39: Can you tell us something about that fine congregation? Yeah, I would love to.
07:46: Obviously, in our original interviews years back, I was pastor of Christ Evangel Church.
07:51: Yes, and I made the mistake of initially promoting today's interview with that name.
07:57: And I realized when I saw the flyer that is now First Baptist Church, I recalled the fact that there was a merger of some kind, if I'm not mistaken.
08:08: You are not mistaken. You are very correct. Christ Evangel Church and First Baptist Church Baghdad merged just last year.
08:16: So the First Love Publications warehouse is here. All the ministries we were doing before added to their number.
08:24: And so both myself and Pastor Stephen Ringel, pastor here at First Baptist Church Baghdad, we have the distinct privilege of ministering to the brothers and sisters under our care here in the panhandle of Florida.
08:39: Great. And tell us about the theological position and so on. Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
08:45: First Baptist Church Baghdad is an SBC church. We, Christ Evangel Church, were the 1689
08:54: Blended Baptist Confession of Faith. And over the period of a year, our little congregation was meeting in their building.
09:01: And as Pastor Stephen and I got closer and we discussed more of the theological underpinnings of why we believe what we believe, he was already a
09:11: Calvinist. We were able to make a lot of headway on a number of items, on a number of things regarding, you know, 1689 positions, regulative principle of worship, plurality of elders, a number of different things.
09:26: And the Lord really brought a lot of those things together. So I have taught on Wednesdays through the 1689 here, and we all have approval to go ahead and adopt that, which we're in the process of now.
09:40: Obviously, we have a plurality of elders, and we are steadily moving in this direction.
09:46: So in one hand, it's a church merger. In another hand, it's also a church reformation. And you've already mentioned something about the geographical location, but perhaps you can mention some major cities that are near Baghdad.
10:00: Well, the closest major city would be Pensacola, where Mount Zion and Chapel Library are located, one county over.
10:07: Yeah, I have been there. And I went to a Bible conference years ago at a church that was not the church conducting the conference.
10:19: The facilities were being rented because it was a huge facility.
10:25: But while there in Pensacola, I had the privilege of staying in the home of the late
10:33: Leroy Shelton, who was running the
10:39: Chapel Library and pastoring Mount Zion Bible Church before being called home to Christ for eternity.
10:49: And so then I had the privilege of being welcomed to stay there while in town with my pastor, actually, my former pastor,
10:59: I should say, Mike Gaydosh, who was actually the one who plunged me into the waters of baptism back in the 1980s.
11:07: And we were both attending this conference. And I can recall, if I'm not mistaken,
11:13: Pensacola, although in Florida, does not have an East Coast time zone, right?
11:19: That is correct. We're in that small section that's actually central daylight time. Right. And so perhaps one day
11:27: I'll be back there for another visit. Now I know another church I can visit in that area.
11:34: Amen. Well, we'd love to have you, brother, whenever you find yourself headed back this direction. Amen. Well, why don't you give our listeners—well,
11:42: I have it right here, actually. The website for First Baptist Church of Baghdad, Florida is fbcbagdad .org.
11:50: F -B -C for First Baptist Church, Baghdad, B -A -G -D -A -D .org.
11:56: Well, today's theme is a lot more controversial in today's church than one might normally think by seeing the title,
12:12: Sanctification, How to Grow in Holiness. The reason why it's so controversial is that there are those who distort the gospel, or I might even go as far as say are enemies of the gospel, on polar opposite ends of the biblical understanding of sanctification.
12:32: You have the Church of Rome. You have the Eastern Orthodox. You have most, if not all, of the cults—well, all of the major cults.
12:43: Right. Who have a misunderstanding of sanctification where it is made synonymous with justification.
12:52: Right. Obedience to God and holiness are what actually cooperates with the death of Christ, and in the case of the
13:04: Roman Catholic Church, combined with the merits of Mary and the saints actually justify us before God.
13:11: And that is a damning heresy, as we even see in Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, that to add works to one's faith in order for salvation to be merited is a lie from the pit of hell.
13:30: It is no gospel at all, as Paul said. He said any one bringing you that message was to be anathema.
13:39: And, of course, the Judaizers were the primary focus of Paul's message about that.
13:47: But then on the other polar opposite end, you have many within evangelicalism in our day, and it's not just a modern phenomenon.
13:57: It has existed for quite a long time, unfortunately. But you even have Baptists and others who believe that sanctification, you know, that's a nice thing.
14:08: What a wonderful thing it would be if you were involved in the process of sanctification in your life.
14:17: It'd be so nice. It'd be so beneficial for your witness for Christ and your happiness being a disciple of Christ.
14:26: But you can still go to heaven without being sanctified. As long as you raise your hand when you're six years old at a
14:34: Bible camp and make a profession, even if you become a serial killer when you're a teenager until you're dead, you'll still be in heaven.
14:45: Because, after all, sanctification is only a wonderful option, but it's not necessary.
14:51: And both of these things will send people to hell. Yeah, and not to get ahead, but you remember we had that conference on the doctrine of regeneration here at Baghdad at the beginning of this year.
15:03: Once they jettisoned a biblical understanding of the miracle of regeneration, of necessity you have to jettison a biblical understanding of sanctification.
15:12: Because if the creature's not new, if salvation is simply a kind of, you know, phraseological, theoretical, sign on the dotted line, the contracts made, you know, this kind of once saved, always saved, to the exclusion of a biblical understanding of the perseverance and preservation of the saints and understanding the marks of regeneration.
15:39: Then you have this entire culture that is just an outflow.
15:45: Once the one is discarded, everything that flows from it is discarded. If you can no longer identify a
15:51: Christian as a Christian by any of what the scriptures give us, then you really don't have any basis or any standard by which to judge or understand whether or not someone's even regenerated or saved or not.
16:05: And can you tell us about specifically the conference you are going to be conducting with Pastor Joe Jackowitz at the
16:12: Reformed Baptist Church in either Tama or Tama, Iowa?
16:19: Yeah, and as a side note, I don't know how to pronounce it either. I've never stepped foot in Iowa. But we'll be having –
16:29: First Love Ministries will be having conferences on life there where we will be gathering together a number of churches and presenting sermons and messages on the topic of sanctification, how to grow in holiness.
16:43: We'll be discussing sanctification, the crosswork of Christ as that which we look to and place our hope in, how sanctification.
16:53: How does it affect influence within the church? How the means of grace play into the process of sanctification?
17:01: The history of sanctification, some of its misrepresentations, sanctification as it relates to worship and various other things.
17:08: Basically insights in overcoming Lord -willing besetting sins for Christians. J .C.
17:14: Ryle was of the opinion, and I agree if you've ever read his book Holiness. Yes. Holiness is essentially agreeing with God in everything, in our mind state, in our mentality, the way we think.
17:28: Having our minds renewed after the scripture in such a way where things that I may call merely accidents or oversights, the
17:38: Bible calls sin. And I'm agreeing with God in the way that I think, and that enables me to lay hold of biblical precepts in the way that I deal with those things.
17:49: So there's going to be a number of subjects and issues regarding personal devotions, some modern heresies, faithful service, worship, and how this sanctification is to be the life lived of the saint as he journeys through a world that's not his home, looking for a city whose builder and maker is
18:10: God. Amen. And by the way, I want to throw in another plug for another J .C.
18:15: Ryle book, The Upper Room, which can be purchased at Banner of Truth, banneroftruth .org.
18:24: I would actually prefer, however, that you purchase it from CVBBS .com,
18:30: Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service. The reason being is that CVBBS .com sponsors
18:36: Iron Trip and Zion Radio, and you're not going to be hurting Banner of Truth at all by purchasing from CVBBS, because CVBBS purchases the books from Banner of Truth.
18:46: And so everybody wins in that situation. And please, if you have never read anything by J .C.
18:53: Ryle, please purchase books today or as soon as possible by him.
18:59: You can never go wrong with anything he's written. And please do not be put off if you discover beforehand—well, you're going to discover it now anyway, as I'm about to tell you.
19:13: J .C. Ryle was an Anglican bishop, and there are many Christians in the 21st century who are puzzled by anybody from a
19:24: Reformed background and a Reformed Baptist background promoting the works of an
19:29: Anglican because they're looking at Anglicanism of the 21st century, whereas the vast majority of it is either
19:37: Romish or absolutely leftist, wackadoodle apostate.
19:44: And I have to reiterate and remind you that there is a remnant—or, yeah, there is.
19:51: I guess that's a grammatically correct way of phrasing it. There is a remnant of biblically faithful Anglicans who
19:59: I interview on this program, actually, and some of them are so theologically
20:07: Reformed that you could barely distinguish them from Reformed Baptists, other than some of the liturgy and church polity and so on.
20:20: So don't let the term Anglican frighten you away from reading books by giants like J .C.
20:30: Ryle. Yeah, J .C. Ryle was definitely a giant and in a different league to compare him to the modern -day
20:38: Anglican. But Dr. Martin Lloyd -Jones had a tremendously high and favorable view of J .C.
20:44: Ryle. Charles Spurgeon said J .C. Ryle was an evangelical champion, one of the bravest and best of men.
20:50: You know, if you were to read his works, there would never be much of an inclination that he was Anglican, except for maybe some of his positive references to the
20:59: Church of England or where they made a statement. But only insofar as it was correct against Scripture.
21:06: And so his work on holiness, by the way, speaking of books and getting books by J .C. Ryle, for those who will be coming to the conference, the conference is free.
21:13: We will be distributing hundreds of books, booklets, and tracts for free. And one of the books that you'll be receiving is this book,
21:20: Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots by J .C. Ryle. So all books, all literature, meals, and the registration are free of charge.
21:30: And for those who would like to RSVP and register for the conference this weekend, who happen to be in the
21:35: Iowa area, they can just go to firstloveministries .org. And on the front main page there, just under the banner, they'll see a link there to register.
21:44: Great. And also I want to give a plug to Chapel Library since we mentioned them before. If you know anybody that's sick,
21:52: I urge you—in fact, I urge you to buy a very large number of these booklets because they're, first of all, so inexpensive and they're so valuable.
22:04: The booklet by J .C. Ryle titled Sickness, it was given to me where I first discovered it when
22:13: I was a new Christian and as an adult had the chickenpox, which can be a lot more of a horrible situation than when a child has chickenpox.
22:24: But I remember a Reformed Christian recording artist from the days of the
22:32: Jesus movement, Marge Snyder. Marge Snyder Hegeman, actually, is her married name.
22:40: She sent me a booklet in the mail. It was Sickness by J .C.
22:45: Ryle, and it ministered to me greatly. And, of course, I'm sure it will minister to people who are even in a lot more serious and perhaps even life -threatening physical situations through reading this booklet.
22:59: And I believe that Sickness may be a chapter from the
23:07: Upper Room, but right now I can't remember. I just know that it's an excerpt from a larger work of Ryle.
23:13: But go to chapellibrary .org, chapellibrary .org, and type in the search engine
23:20: Sickness by J .C. Ryle. And I strongly recommend it. It may even be from holiness, but I'm not sure.
23:30: I have a feeling it's from the Upper Room. But anyway, we're going to our first commercial break.
23:35: If you have a question for Austin Huggins on sanctification, our e -mail address is chrisarnson at gmail .com,
23:43: chrisarnson at gmail .com. As always, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the
23:50: USA. Don't go away. We'll be right back with Pastor Austin Huggins and our discussion on sanctification right after these messages from our sponsors.
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34:14: royaldiadem .com, and mention Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. We are now back with Austin Huggins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Baghdad, Florida, and we are discussing sanctification, a very important aspect of the
34:33: Christian faith and life. And if you have any questions for Austin, please send us an e -mail to chrisarnsen at gmail .com.
34:42: Give us your first name at least, city and state and country of residence. Well, first of all, can you tell me and my audience why it is that you and Pastor Joe selected this as a topic for this conference?
34:56: What was perhaps pressing upon your heart that made you realize that the body of Christ, no matter how long a brother or sister may have been in the faith, they still may need to be educated further on this very vital issue?
35:12: Yeah, I suppose there was probably a positive and a negative influence. You know, the positive influence would quite simply be that as a
35:22: Christian grows in sanctification, as a
35:27: Christian grows in the fruits of the Spirit, as they grow in spiritual disciplines, in maturing and deepening in their love for Christ, laying hold by faith on the promises of the
35:39: Lord in the day -to -day lives that they live, feeding themselves upon the hope that is in Christ alone, growing in humility and meekness and in courage for spiritual things, zeal for the
35:52: Lord's house, spiritual hungerings, and even especially repentance. We find that a large sum of the
36:00: New Testament, especially in terms of its exhortations, find the Christian within the context of a local church, journeying homeward, growing and being conformed to the image of Christ.
36:13: He is a sinner who's been saved and redeemed by grace. He is justified by faith alone, apart from works, in Christ alone.
36:24: He's one who's been pardoned, forgiven, one who's been made accepted with God on God's terms.
36:30: He's been given a saving interest of Christ by grace alone. And as he journeys heavenward, now as Philippians 2 says,
36:38: God is working in him to will and to do for his goodwill and pleasure.
36:43: So he's now called to work out his salvation with fear and trembling. He is called to enter into this precious, narrow way in which he's been called to, to being conformed to Christ, and that the graces which the
36:58: Holy Spirit has planted in his heart might grow and mature and develop in the actual experience of the life he lives.
37:05: And perhaps as we look at this, really what is an ongoing miracle of the presence of God within and through a believer, truly preparing them for an eternity, there is perhaps been a, just like in Ryle's day, just like in Men Who Went Before, a confounding of justification with sanctification.
37:33: Now, obviously, when I use the word sanctification, and in the context of this conference, we're using it in the progressive sense rather than in the definite and positional sense.
37:44: We know that when a believer is born again, he is permanently, positionally, and definitely set aside and separated unto
37:55: God for God's purposes, and that is something that is done once he is upheld in that position.
38:02: It is final. It endures to the very end. Scripture also uses sanctification in another sense in which a
38:10: Christian grows and abounds yet more and more, being a good steward of the manifold grace of God, working out what
38:17: God has worked in. And in this sense, this is where theologians call the progressive sanctification, the actual conditional experience of a
38:25: Christian's life. And this vitally important outworking of grace in the life of a
38:32: Christian truly affects everything from the health and strength of the local church, the health and strength of our ability to proclaim the gospel from sanctified lives.
38:44: You see in the book of 1 Thessalonians, Paul reminds the church at Thessalonica, he says,
38:51: For ye see what manner of men we were among you, brethren. And he gives that as an example of, you know, when they come, they didn't come in word only, but they came in power and demonstration of the
39:00: Spirit. Paul seems to testify that the character of who they were amplified and was synonymous with the gospel they preached, that how they lived and how they behaved did not contradict the gospel they proclaimed, but rather it was harmonious rather than hypocritical.
39:20: And in the positive sense, the church needs to be reminded of that. The churches need to be strengthened in that.
39:27: Our gospel witness, our gospel presentation needs to be, as Paul said in Titus, the doctrine needs to be adorned in all things, to adorn the doctrine.
39:37: We are called to perfect holiness in the fear of God. And in the negative sense, there has perhaps been a tremendous assault, especially in the
39:48: American contemporary churches, like you were speaking of earlier, Chris, where either in one hand it's set aside because it places too much of a clear gospel demand upon the life, as Romans 12 would indicate, that to be a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service, the churches are filled with many unsanctified and unregenerate creatures who do not truly have a saving interest in Christ nor a love for Christ.
40:20: As Paul says, if any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be anathema. But they're making up by and large a culture that has imbibed and drank deep on a form of antinomianism, a form of lawlessness, a form of understanding
40:36: Christianity only in terms as a fire insurance out of hell or something, but that Christ does not touch the life,
40:44: Christ does not touch the experience. There's no way that we interact with the living
40:51: God through his scriptures and the actual growing of our life. And it deals tremendous violence and damage to the local church, to the believer's life, so much of how he thinks, how he understands the world in which he lives, how he walks, his influence to others as a witness, as a light in darkness, as salt to the decay around him.
41:15: Either we are being conformed to the image of Christ and we are a blessing to the local church and a blessing to our homes and to our families, to our wives and children.
41:26: Or we have nothing more than the religion of talkative from Pilgrim's Progress, where all his religion is in his tongue.
41:33: He can speak pleasantries in one hand just as much as he can at the ale bench,
41:40: John Bunyan wrote. Or he's even a highly educated doctrinal speaking person, but his life bears no evidence or no fruit of the doctrine he preaches.
41:53: And in either case, it would be better for him that he kept his mouth shut rather than present the gospel of Christ in a hypocritical fashion.
42:01: So it's for all these reasons. We have Russell in Bohemia, Long Island, New York.
42:10: And Russell asks, Would it be accurate to say that in predestination, election and justification and regeneration, we are passive, but in sanctification, we are active and cooperative?
42:28: Absolutely. A hundred percent, Russell. Thank you. You know, Dr. Dalkor, who you have on this program from time to time, a good friend of mine, he gets in a lot of trouble sometimes with some groups of people because he's very adamant to reinforce this very point that was just made.
42:44: That in terms of salvation, you know, the carrying out of election, the regeneration, we are passive.
42:53: God is doing the work. It's monergistic. But when the Scripture talks about our working in us to will and to do for his good will and pleasure, we could not will our salvation.
43:04: We were not saved according to human will or the will of the flesh or the will of man, it says in the Gospel of John. But it doesn't talk about progressive sanctification in that way.
43:13: Dalkor would use the term synergistic sanctification. And as we ought to be very defensive and protect monergistic salvation or monergistic justification, we need to be careful that we don't confuse terms.
43:31: According to Scripture, sanctification in this progressive sense is very much synergistic.
43:36: We are not passive. We are to be actively involved, even as the Bible says, working out our salvation with fear and trembling.
43:43: So I really appreciate that. And that's very important. In fact, it reminded me of when
43:49: I interviewed my friend Jerry Johnson, who is the producer of one of the best presentations
43:58: I've ever seen on Calvinism. It was a DVD series that came out, I believe, over 20 years ago now called
44:06: Amazing Grace, the History and Theology of Calvinism. But when
44:11: Jerry was on my program exposing the heresies of Charles G.
44:20: Finney, the 19th century revival preacher that for some reason is very popular amongst fundamentalists and others, and I'll explain why that's strange to me, but Jerry referred to Finney as a monergist.
44:39: And he said, now hold on a minute before you get totally baffled or upset. What I mean by that is that he's the bad kind of monergist where God is not involved at all in the salvation of the sinner.
44:54: And it made a lot of sense when he put it that way, which is going back to my bafflement as to why so many fundamentalists love
45:03: Finney and consider him a hero. I think it's because they don't read him carefully or at all. Sure.
45:10: And because he is more Pelagian than the Roman Catholic Church is. Sure. So very bizarre.
45:18: Well, thank you, Russell. And keep listening to Iron Troupe and Zion Radio and spreading the word about the program.
45:28: The whole concept of you telling our listeners how they can grow in holiness may be on the surface seemingly in opposition to the doctrines of sovereign grace or Reformed theology, as if a human being, a sinner, can follow certain steps on how to be more holy in the presence of God.
46:02: But the Scriptures would provide attention for us in those areas that make them no less biblical.
46:11: If you could explain that a little further. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's entirely possible.
46:16: We are guilty of having a catchy tagline to get your attention, only to explain ourselves more thoroughly later.
46:23: But like you said, we're not presenting this idea of, okay, here you are picking yourself up by your own bootstraps or that holiness is the result of human ingenuity or human will.
46:36: Rather, we are turning to the Scriptures. We're acknowledging that God has given us in his word what we essentially call means of grace.
46:47: And I mean, just a child would understand where the Scripture says, you know, draw nigh unto me and I'll draw nigh unto you.
46:55: The Lord says if anyone will come to him, he must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
47:04: That there is a growing and abounding in grace like Peter writes in 2
47:09: Peter 1 of adding to faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge so on.
47:15: That there is this working out your salvation with fear and trembling, a human responsibility. And God has given us in this
47:22: Christian life the promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Now, that's not just some platitude on God's part.
47:30: Very much we are living day to day through experiences, through tremendous highs, very painful lows.
47:38: We experience the loss of loved ones. We have to, like Paul, learn how to abase and learn how to abound.
47:44: Learn what it means to be Christian in each of the various circumstances and situations in our life that the
47:52: Lord himself is bringing us through. Even trials. Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial as though some strange thing happened to you.
48:00: You know, faith becomes purified when it goes into the furnace of affliction and it emerges from it in the hands of a
48:09: God who's working out all things for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose in such a way that Christ would be evidently formed in you.
48:19: And I use the word evident, meaning that it would produce fruit. That the fact that you do belong to God would be evidenced to A, those who are watching you, and two, even to yourself.
48:34: The New Testament gives us means by which to lay hold of in assembling with the saints in the church, partaking of the word of God that is preached, being regular in our reading and study and meditation upon the scriptures.
48:50: Being in prayer with the living God. You know, praying, actively engaged with God in communion, in fellowship.
49:00: Not just wrote liturgy, but actually engaging the heart and the mind of God through the heart and mind of the scriptures by reason of that spirit which has been given to us whereby we cry out,
49:13: Abba, Father. It's relational, it's real, and the way a baby grows and the way a child grows in this, as we've been made new creatures in Christ Jesus, we grow in a maturity.
49:26: And that plays out over time, it plays out through circumstances. So I say all that because when God says he will never leave us nor forsake us, he has given us precious promises in scripture.
49:37: He hasn't left out anything that pertains to life and to godliness. He's given us all things.
49:44: And we simply want to equip the body of Christ and equip the churches with, in one hand, a very passionate and clear reminder that it is entirely possible to go through the mechanics and the motions and even articulating the doctrines of Christianity.
50:01: But until we lay hold of the means of grace and we really mature in these things, we may have missed the same thing that the church in Ephesus missed, which our
50:17: Lord rebuked them in Revelation chapter 2. They were correct not only in their doctrine, but in their practice.
50:25: They found out those were false teachers and false apostles. Literally, they couldn't stand them, they couldn't endure them.
50:30: But when it came to this one singular matter, that they had forgotten their first love, it was significant enough of an offense that the
50:40: Lord of the church threatened to remove their lampstand unless they repent and do the first works.
50:46: And I think that we could stand as the modern
50:52: American church to be reminded of that and to have that same severity of an exhortation delivered to us, but in a way that would be a cup of blessing as fellow men to fellow men to say, here are the precious promises of the
51:09: Lord given to us, these means of grace, that by laying hold of them, he promises to be with us in the circumstances that we may grow, that we may mature, that we may produce fruit and therefore glorify our
51:22: Father in heaven. So that's the idea underpinning the tagline, if you will. Amen.
51:28: And we have to go to our first commercial break. I'm going to remind you, please be patient with us, folks, because the middle break is always a bit longer than the other breaks in the show, because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1
51:41: FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us to have a longer break in the middle of the show, because the
51:48: FCC requires of them to localize Iron Trip and Zion Radio and all of their programming geographically to Lake City, Florida, where they're located.
51:57: And while they do that, we simultaneously air our globally heard commercials. So please use this time wisely.
52:04: Write down as much of the contact information as you possibly can for as many of our advertisers as you can so that you can more frequently and successfully respond to our advertisers.
52:14: We hope that means that you often purchase their products, use their services, visit their churches.
52:21: But when you cannot do any of those things, there's one thing that anybody listening can do without question, unless you're real lazy, and that's no excuse.
52:32: If you really love this show and you don't want it to disappear and you're grateful to God that there are individuals, there are churches, there are parachurch ministries, there are businesses, there are corporations, the leaders of which love this show so much that they share the wealth with which
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53:04: Simply contact our advertisers using the contact information in their commercials and say thank you for sponsoring
53:11: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. It's as simple as that. That should go a long way in convincing our advertisers that their money is not being spent in vain on this program.
53:22: And of course, use this time to write down your questions for Austin Huggins on sanctification and send them to ChrisArnzen at gmail .com,
53:32: ChrisArnzen at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.
53:39: Give us your first name at least, city and state and country of residence. Don't go away. We'll be right back with Austin Huggins after these messages.
53:45: The Mid -Atlantic Reformation Society presents The Future of Christendom 2023,
53:51: The Gospel at War. September 15th to the 16th in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania featuring
53:57: Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. We are excited to be including a formal debate in this year's conference.
54:03: Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries will be debating Dr. Gregory Coles, author of Single Gay Christian, A Personal Journey of Faith and Sexual Identity.
54:12: The debate topic, Is Gay Christian a Biblically Acceptable Identity for a Member of Christ's Church?
54:18: So come join us for the 6th Future of Christendom Conference. The event will take place at Spooky Nook Sports in Mannheim, Pennsylvania and will run from Friday evening through all day
54:27: Saturday with an invitation to the Sunday morning worship service of the Independence Reform Bible Church. This will be a weekend packed with practical teaching with a theme of the
54:36: Gospel at War in many areas of our culture including government schools, the Supreme Court, missions, feminism and even the church pulpits.
54:43: Head to futureofchristendom .org. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries here.
55:03: I'm very excited to announce that my longtime friend Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia again for the
55:12: G3 National Conference. That's Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd on a theme that I've been preaching, teaching, writing about and defending in live public debates for most of my life, the sovereignty of God.
55:25: I'll be joined on the speaking roster by Steve Lawson, Voti Baucom, Paul Washer, Virgil Walker, Scott Anuel and Josh Bice, founder of G3 Ministries.
55:38: And there's more great news. Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio can get you a 30 % discount off the registration fee.
55:45: Go to g3min .org, that's g3min .org, and enter promo code
55:51: G3ISIR, that's G3ISIR for the 30 % discount.
55:59: Chris Arnzen, I look forward to seeing you all Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd at the
56:05: G3 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on the sovereignty of God. Make sure you stop by the
56:10: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Exhibitor booth and say hi to Chris Arnzen while you're there.
56:15: Go to g3min .org and enter promo code G3ISIR for your 30 % discount off the registration fee.
56:38: It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners from all over the world.
56:53: Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,
57:01: Dr. Joe Moorcraft. I'm Joe Riley, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai in County Kildare, Ireland, going back to 2005.
57:11: One of my very favorite guests on Iron Sharpens Iron is Dr. Joe Moorcraft. If you've been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr.
57:19: Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia are largely to thank since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.
57:27: Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming is in Forsyth County, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.
57:34: Heritage is a thoroughly biblical church, unwaveringly committed to Westminster standards, and Dr.
57:39: Joe Moorcraft is the author of an eight -volume commentary on the larger catechism. Heritage is a member of the
57:44: Hanover Presbytery, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, and tracing its roots and heritage back to the great
57:54: Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Heritage maintains and follows the biblical truth and principles proclaimed by the reformers, scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone,
58:05: Christ alone, and God's glory alone. Their primary goal is the worship of the triune God that continues in eternity.
58:11: For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com.
58:18: That's HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com. Or call 678 -954 -7831.
58:25: That's 678 -954 -7831. If you visit, tell them
58:30: Joe O 'Reilly, an Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener, and a toy in County Kildare, Ireland, sent you.
58:51: When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the
58:57: New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the
59:05: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the
59:10: NASB. This is Darrell Bernard Harrison, co -host of the Just Thinking Podcast, and the
59:16: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Tom Buck at First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas, and the
59:25: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Kent Keller of Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, Georgia, and the
59:32: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Andrew Rapport, the Founder and Executive Director at Striving for Eternity Ministries, and the
59:41: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Mark Romaldi, Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Greenbrier, Tennessee, and the
59:50: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Christopher Cookston, Pastor of Prineville Community Church in Prineville, Oregon, and the
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01:08:05: Before I return to Austin Huggins, my guest today, as we continue to discuss the topic of sanctification,
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01:10:20: Also, folks, don't forget about the conference that we are discussing right now, the conference featuring my guest,
01:10:30: Pastor Austin Huggins of First Baptist Church of Baghdad, Florida, and Joe Jackowitz, president of First Love Ministries and pastor of Christ Bible Church in Pleasanton, California.
01:10:41: This conference is being held Saturday and Sunday, August 26th and 27th at the
01:10:47: Reformed Baptist Church. And I've just had this pronunciation corrected by the pastor of this church.
01:10:55: It's the Reformed Baptist Church of Tama, Iowa. Thank you very much for the correction.
01:11:02: And the theme is the same theme we are addressing today, sanctification, how to grow in holiness.
01:11:10: If you would like to register for this free conference, go to firstloveministries .org,
01:11:17: firstloveministries .org. Please mention that you heard about them from Chris Arns and of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
01:11:23: Also, please don't forget about the three -day conference that I have helped to orchestrate for my friends at the
01:11:30: Mid -Atlantic Reformation Society in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This three -day event is being held
01:11:36: September 15th, 16th, and 17th at Spooky Nook Sports and Events in Mannheim, Pennsylvania, which is in Lancaster County.
01:11:46: And the theme is the gospel at war. There are a number of speakers. On Saturday, September 16th,
01:11:53: Dr. James R. White of Alpha Omega Ministries will be debating Dr. Gregory Coles, who identifies himself as a gay
01:12:01: Christian. And the theme will be, Is Gay Christian a Biblically Acceptable Identity for a
01:12:06: Member of Christ's Church? That's Saturday, September 16th, 3 .30 p .m. to 6 .30
01:12:12: p .m. But as I said, the whole conference, of which that is just a part, is
01:12:17: Friday through Sunday, September 15th, 16th, and 17th. If you would like to register for this conference, go to futureofchristendom .org,
01:12:25: futureofchristendom .org. And you can register. The sooner you register, the less expensive it will be for you to do so.
01:12:35: And don't forget about my free pastor's luncheon. If you're a man in ministry leadership, you're invited to this free event
01:12:42: Thursday, October 5th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m., at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, which is in Perry County, Pennsylvania.
01:12:50: My speaker will be Jeff Noblitt, one of the most powerful preachers I've ever heard in my life. And he is the founder and president of Anchored in Truth Ministries and the pastor of Grace Life Church of the
01:13:02: Shoals in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. And not only will you have free admission to hear
01:13:08: Pastor Jeff preach what I'm sure will be a powerful and challenging and edifying and encouraging message, and not only will you get free food and a free opportunity to fellowship with your colleagues in ministry, some of whom you may have never met before and some of whom may be old friends that you haven't seen in years, but you'll also receive one, maybe even two, heavy sacks of free brand new books personally selected by me from publishers all over the
01:13:41: United States, the United Kingdom, who have donated these books at my request as they've been doing going all the way back to the 1990s when my late precious wife founded what began as annual pastor's luncheons.
01:13:54: Now they're biannual pastor's luncheons. So if you would like to register, if you're a man in ministry leadership, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com
01:14:02: and put pastor's luncheon in the subject line. That's Thursday, October 5th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at Church of the
01:14:08: Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania. And by the way, Pastor Jeff Knoblet is my guest tomorrow on Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Thursday, August 24th, 4 to 6 p .m.
01:14:18: Finally, if you're not a member of a biblically faithful, Christ -honoring, theologically sound, doctrinally solid church, no matter where you live on the planet
01:14:27: Earth, I have lists of biblically faithful churches spanning the globe, including the
01:14:34: First Baptist Church of Baghdad, Florida, and Christ Bible Church of Pleasanton, California.
01:14:41: No matter where you live, I've helped people all over the world find churches, sometimes even within just a few minutes from where they live, that are biblically sound,
01:14:49: Christ -honoring churches. So if you are in that predicament, you do not have a biblically sound church where you are a member, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com
01:14:58: and put I Need a Church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you could send in a question to Austin Huggins.
01:15:04: chrisarnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence.
01:15:12: We have B .B. in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, who asks, Will Pastor Austin give us vital signs of life that are indispensable and absolutely necessary in order to be a litmus test that someone is truly born again and a part of the sanctification process?
01:15:38: Amen. Well, I mean, first off, what a tremendously important question. Obviously, the essentials are there.
01:15:48: Repentance and faith. Repentance towards sin.
01:15:54: Repentance turning towards God from sin. Faith in Christ alone, a real faith, a faith that produces works according to James, a faith that causes us to trust in the provision and the power of God rather than in the strength of our own flesh like Hebrews 11 demonstrates because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
01:16:20: A love, a genuine love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, if any man love not the
01:16:26: Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. It's in the strongest terms. So they sound preciously simple.
01:16:33: Obviously, in terms of maturity, these things develop, you know, the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.
01:16:44: But when we talk about someone who's genuinely born again, the immediate evidences are a change in relationship with sin, a change in relationship with God, a love of Jesus Christ, and a hungering and thirsting after the word that you may grow thereby because you've tasted that the
01:17:00: Lord is gracious. I would just put these few, and I want to keep it simple because of the nature of the question, but those few things would definitely be at the bedrock in the bottom.
01:17:12: Now, we have to remind our listeners that there can be charlatans or even false converts that are unconscious of the fact that they are false converts who for a season demonstrate these fruits.
01:17:35: So if someone were to cease producing these fruits in their life, and especially when a lengthy period of time elapses and there's no repentance and so on, even if this person were to, unbeknownst to us in the future, demonstrate that they were truly children of God because they returned to the faith, we at the time, while they are in the midst of their rebellion, have to treat them like unbelievers, don't we?
01:18:11: Yes. Well, I mean, Matthew 18, among other passages, give us that perspective.
01:18:18: First Corinthians, dealing with the sin that occurred when a man took his father's wife to wife. The church at Corinth patted themselves on the back for being so tolerating of open sexual immorality.
01:18:31: Paul says, I would rather that you had mourned and put this man out from among you. And there was to be this separation, what we call being removed from the church.
01:18:44: When you look at King David, you see a man in one hand who was for a season able to seemingly suppress the truth and unrighteousness, terrible sins, great evils.
01:18:57: You know, it is possible for a Christian for a short period of time to appear not to produce any fruit, to fall into a situation where they backslidden.
01:19:09: But like David, they can't remain in that condition. The Lord says in Hebrews chapter 12 that he scourges every son whom he receives.
01:19:19: You know, every child receives discipline. There's no child who doesn't receive that. But in the other sense, like what you're talking about here,
01:19:28: Chris, is, you know, look at Judas Iscariot. What better example, what more horrifying and terrifying example do we have than this one who followed our
01:19:38: Lord Jesus Christ? And not for three months, but for three years. You know,
01:19:43: I often think about John chapter 6 when Christ spoke to the crowds who were looking to make him, you know, the bread king of Israel because he had filled their bellies.
01:19:53: And he essentially told them, I am the bread of life, you know, that a man may eat thereof and not die. And told him to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood.
01:20:02: And the whole crowd turned away. You know, they didn't stop to ask questions even though he had said his words were spiritual.
01:20:09: They turned back and, you know, John chapter 6 verse 66 said they turned back and they followed no more with him.
01:20:14: But Christ turns and looks at the 12 and says, well, you go away also. And we always rejoice because, you know, we almost kind of wish we could be there to say the words
01:20:22: Peter got to say. You know, Lord, where else will we go for you have the words of eternal life?
01:20:28: But the horrifying thing about that moment is Judas is with them. Judas is with the 12 when everyone else has gone away.
01:20:36: And it is possible to, at least on the surface, a great work of the flesh.
01:20:44: A great work of, you know, human degrees of self -denial to appear for a season to be following Christ.
01:20:56: And yet we know it was Judas who ultimately betrayed our Lord. And his testimony would forever be sealed by betrayal, revenge, and suicide.
01:21:09: And this should be a clear and a stark reminder to us who consider these things that, yes,
01:21:17: A, we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. But for a man like myself, and I'm sure
01:21:23: I could speak for a number of others, you know, I was not saved until I was 24 years of age.
01:21:30: Leaving the U .S. Navy, I had been out for about a year at that point. I was a veteran living like a devil in absolute wickedness.
01:21:38: Now, if you had asked me if I was a Christian, I would have said yes, because at 12 years old, I made a verbal profession of faith.
01:21:45: I prayed the sinner's prayer. I walked in front of the church and was publicly baptized at 12 years old in a middle -of -the -road
01:21:52: Baptist church down in Navarre. And, you know, for years, on the order of 12 years,
01:22:00: I lived without ever truly demonstrating spiritual fruit.
01:22:07: I never really grew in sanctification. I grew physically. I grew mentally. I grew emotionally.
01:22:13: I grew in other, you know, surfacy forms of maturity. I was in Sunday school. I was going to Wednesday night.
01:22:19: I was memorizing scriptures. And on the surface, I had a sound moral compass and nothing to alert or to alarm those closest to me.
01:22:28: Yet, inwardly and in secret, I lived a life of duplicitousness, of hypocrisy, and clear rebellion against God and my parents, only just not visible to anyone but to myself.
01:22:41: And even with that clear duplicitousness and hypocrisy of heart,
01:22:49: I consoled myself that I was truly regenerate, even though I remember this is true.
01:22:55: I remember I was on submarines, you know, for five years. And, you know, we were around the whole
01:23:02: Pacific Theater essentially during that five years. And I can remember a number of times this kind of thought passed through my head.
01:23:08: You know, for any reason, this submarine goes down and does not resurface. You know, I'm going to pray the sinner's prayer one more time just to be sure, you know, it took.
01:23:19: You know, because I had no assurance of salvation. I didn't have what, you know, Romans talked about the spirit conferring with our spirit that we are the children of God.
01:23:29: You know, my life didn't bear any fruit of this supernatural miracle of grace.
01:23:34: You know, I was simply a verbal professor living with a visible and a conscious violation of everything
01:23:43: I verbally said and believed to be true. Yet at 24, when it pleased the Father to reveal
01:23:48: His Son in me, there was such a marked change in my relationship with God and my relationship with sin and my love for the scriptures and for His word, my hunger.
01:23:59: And I realized after a little bit of time, I said, you know, reading through the gospel of John, seeing what the spirit does when he has come, convicting the world of sin, righteousness and the judgment to come, guiding us into all truth, the comforter who in Romans helps us to pray, who by the spirit of adoption enables us to cry out,
01:24:25: Abba, Father, a very tender and gentle and humble position before God our
01:24:30: Father. You know, the Holy Spirit that's illuminating the scriptures, enabling us to taste and see that the
01:24:36: Lord is good. None of this had been true in my life until this miracle of grace had taken place at 24 years of age.
01:24:43: So if anyone is listening and you're in a place where you have no assurance of salvation, where your life is not producing fruit, where you see and you're resting on one single historical event, some sinner's prayer or some preacher who looked at you and said, yes, you're definitely saved, some past event, and that's all your hope,
01:25:07: I would encourage you to heed the words of the Apostle Paul. Test yourself to see if you be in the faith.
01:25:15: And as he says elsewhere, do you not know yourself if Christ be in you, lest you be reprobate?
01:25:21: We're not saying that all our hope and confidence of salvation rests in the things we do, but rather Scripture is very clear that if you are hoping and placing your faith and trust in Christ, then the
01:25:34: Spirit is with you. He will give you assurance of faith through your meditation in the Word, through times of prayer, through the fruit that he produces in your life.
01:25:44: And that's the evidence of something God has done ultimately. Well, this question from an anonymous listener coming up is very much hinged on some of the things you just said.
01:25:57: So your answer may include repetition, but I think that perhaps there could be more clarity to bear upon this issue.
01:26:06: The anonymous listener says, I have been hearing from both sides of my head people who disagree over how we are to have assurance, and some of them are
01:26:22: Reformed and some are not Reformed. You have those that say that the only reason we should have assurance is when we look to what
01:26:34: Christ has accomplished on our behalf. But at the same time, there are those who, as you know, among those that would espouse easy believism and chief grace, who say to trust in what
01:26:50: Christ has already done and you have nothing to worry about, you're born again even though you never bear fruit.
01:26:59: It becomes more complicated when Reformed people who do believe in lordship, salvation, and in the necessity of sanctification are among those that say we only have confidence and peace of assurance when we look to what
01:27:16: Christ has done for us. But isn't there some way that our deeds are at least a litmus test, as was mentioned earlier, as to whether or not we are truly in Christ?
01:27:30: Yeah, I actually really understand and I appreciate his question. It might be her question because it's synonymous.
01:27:40: Yes, I apologize. Whoever they are, I appreciate their question. But let me say just a couple things by way of introduction and then
01:27:50: I will repeat a few things. But I believe it was perhaps
01:27:56: Josh Bice a year or two years ago. If any of his guys,
01:28:03: Bobby McCreary or anything, hear me and feel free to write in and correct me. But I believe it was him who said, you know, we were so appreciative for men like Paul Washer who rose to the challenge because we were coming into a generation of Christianity that had forgotten about what regeneration was.
01:28:22: And we needed to recover regeneration. Now we need a man to stand up and recover sanctification.
01:28:29: You know, it was something to that effect. And I remember pondering on that for a while because it does seem that, you know, if you go back and talk to kind of the old guard that are of the last generation, you know, some of the language that they used about the issues they dealt with in their day centered around words like, you know, dealing with the emergent church, dealing with new
01:28:53: Calvinism, dealing with neo -Calvinism, dealing with these, you know, this compromised flavor of stuff that the biblical doctrine and biblical theology was mixing with the trends and the behaviors and the fruit and the culture of the world around us.
01:29:11: And I think for some of the younger generation, I say younger referring, you know, to mine,
01:29:16: I'm only 35 years old. We are raising children, we're married, and we live and move and dwell in this reformed
01:29:27: Christian social media culture that is largely, whether they realized it or not, mixed in with what was once called neo -Calvinism and new
01:29:37: Calvinists and, you know, the emergent church. You know, you had guys like Mark Driscoll and, you know, et al,
01:29:43: I won't go through everyone that I think fits the bill, but who left a lasting impression and influence on a number of people who came into the faith during the time at the height of their preaching.
01:29:55: And these guys, you know, they sewed into reformed theology an antinomianism that the really old guard, the
01:30:07: Martyn Lloyd -Jones and the Spurge and the Whitfield and, you know, Jonathan Edwards would not recognize nor would they tolerate the
01:30:14: Puritans, Matthew Henry. I mean, these terms were very clear in their minds. You know, justification was one thing.
01:30:21: Sanctification is another. There's, you know, dealing with the doctrines of the cross, propitiation, expiation, justification, redemption, imputation, adoption, regeneration, reconciliation, glorification, the sanctification.
01:30:33: These terms were clear, and they had to be in the minds of the saint if he would understand how to rightfully apply the hope of the gospel to his own heart, looking at what
01:30:44: Christ has done. And it is this conflation of sanctification with justification that adds to the confusion.
01:30:53: It's this antinomianism that, you know, comes in that says it really doesn't matter how you live or what fruit you produce, none of that matters, that's come in.
01:31:01: And so you've ended up with this, you know, screaming social media chamber of people.
01:31:06: Some of them agree with one another, but they're using different terms to explain what they mean, so they think they're in conflict.
01:31:13: And then you have people who are saying a lot of the same things doctrinally, but they mean something totally different when they talk about sanctification and how to adorn it.
01:31:23: And there's this mess. And one of the sermons, actually, I'm hoping to kind of address that, if the
01:31:28: Lord will give me grace, is sanctification and its misrepresentations. Because so often there are people who say, no, if you are looking for any kind of subjective assurance outside of what
01:31:44: Christ did on the cross, you are inherently wrong. Well, then I ask, I understand what you're trying to say,
01:31:51: I understand why you're making your stand in general, but when it comes to this one piece, what do you do with scriptures that say the
01:31:58: Spirit confers with our spirit that we are the children of God?
01:32:04: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, whereby you are sealed unto the day of adoption.
01:32:10: Because in that one verse you have a subjective experience of potentially grieving the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, with an objective reality that He has sealed you unto the day of redemption.
01:32:20: It's this Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 6. Shall we continue to live in sin that grace may abound?
01:32:27: God forbid. How shall we who are dead to sin continue to live any longer therein? So you have an objectively,
01:32:34: I am dead to sin in Christ, I'm dead. Well then, why are you living any longer in it? Romans gives us the idea of, you know, we were once slaves to unrighteousness, slaves to sin.
01:32:46: Now we have been made slaves to righteousness. Even the champion verse we run to after Romans 7, getting into Romans 8, where it talks about henceforth there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
01:32:58: It literally says, who live after the Spirit, not after the flesh. You constantly have this two sides of the coin between an objective and a subjective understanding of what has been done in the believer in his salvation.
01:33:14: Our justification stands outside of ourself. Our righteousness is outside of ourself. It is seated in Christ, who is our righteousness.
01:33:23: And definitively, not to add confusion, He is definitively our sanctification. But when you talk about the
01:33:30: Spirit dwelling within a believer, producing fruit, walking worthy of the gospel to which
01:33:36: He's been called, not grieving the Spirit, adding to His faith all these virtues, you're talking about a progressive sanctification, and that is happening, that ought to happen.
01:33:48: And it's because of that that Paul can say, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's where Paul can say, test yourself to see if you be in the faith.
01:33:58: The simple question is, Paul asked you to test what? Yourself. Yourself.
01:34:04: So, I mean, you cannot escape the subjective inclusion of what Christ has done when
01:34:11: He regenerated us and made us new creatures in Christ. So, I mean, that's a long way around, but there's so many people,
01:34:20: I think, that are saying things that perhaps they're not clear yet in their own thinking about where, one, a doctrine of justification begins and ends versus sanctification.
01:34:34: And the more they speak, I think the more confusion they create. But we have to go to our final break right now, and if anybody has a final question that they'd like to submit, submit it now or forever hold your peace because we're rapidly running out of time.
01:34:49: Chris, I'm going to get in trouble if I don't at least say one time, please go to the firstloveministries .org
01:34:56: and register for the conference. That's all. Thank you. Okay. We will be right back after these messages. The Mid -Atlantic
01:35:02: Reformation Society presents The Future of Christendom 2023, The Gospel at War, September 15th to the 16th in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, featuring
01:35:13: Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. We are excited to be including a formal debate in this year's conference.
01:35:19: Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries will be debating Dr. Gregory Coles, author of Single Gay Christian, A Personal Journey of Faith and Sexual Identity, the debate topic.
01:35:29: Is gay Christian a biblically acceptable identity for a member of Christ's Church? So come join us for the sixth
01:35:36: Future of Christendom conference. The event will take place at Spooky Nook Sports in Mannheim, Pennsylvania, and will run from Friday evening through all day
01:35:43: Saturday, with an invitation to the Sunday morning worship service of the Independence Reform Bible Church. This will be a weekend packed with practical teaching, with a theme of the
01:35:52: Gospel at War in many areas of our culture, including government schools, the Supreme Court, missions, feminism, and even the church pulpits.
01:35:59: Head to futureofchristendom .org. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries here.
01:36:17: I'm very excited to announce that my longtime friend Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia again for the
01:36:25: G3 National Conference. That's Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd, on a theme that I've been preaching, teaching, writing about, and defending in live public debates for most of my life, the sovereignty of God.
01:36:38: I'll be joined on the speaking roster by Steve Lawson, Voti Baucom, Paul Washer, Virgil Walker, Scott Anuel, and Josh Bice, founder of G3 Ministries.
01:36:51: And there's more great news. Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio can get you a 30 % discount off the registration fee.
01:36:59: Go to g3min .org, that's g3min .org, and enter promo code
01:37:04: G3ISIR. That's G3ISIR for the 30 % discount.
01:37:13: Chris Arnzen and I look forward to seeing you all Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd at the
01:37:18: G3 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on the sovereignty of God. Make sure you stop by the
01:37:23: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Exhibitor booth and say hi to Chris Arnzen while you're there.
01:37:28: Go to g3min .org and enter promo code G3ISIR for your 30 % discount off the registration fee.
01:37:54: This is Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.
01:38:01: Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support
01:38:06: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers who strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our
01:38:23: Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end for which we strive is the glory of God.
01:38:29: If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some
01:38:43: Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.
01:38:52: Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.
01:39:00: This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign
01:39:06: Lord, God, Savior, and King, Jesus Christ, today and always.
01:39:28: As host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations.
01:39:34: A church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.
01:39:44: Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world.
01:39:51: They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship
01:39:58: God in spirit and truth. Grace Covenant Baptist Church endeavors to maintain a
01:40:03: God -centered focus. Reading, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism, and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship, performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.
01:40:17: Discover more about Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace
01:40:26: .com. That's gcbcnj .squarespace .com.
01:40:34: Or call them at 908 -996 -7654. That's 908 -996 -7654.
01:40:43: Tell Pastor Dunn that you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.
01:41:06: If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.
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01:42:24: That's ptlbiblerebinding .com. I'm Brian McLaughlin, president of the
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01:44:29: Puritan Reformed is a Bible -believing, kingdom -building, devil -fighting church. We are devoted to upholding the apostolic doctrine and practice preserved in Scripture alone.
01:44:41: Puritan Reformed teaches men to rule and lead as image -bearing prophets, priests, and kings.
01:44:47: We teach families to worship together as families. Puritan is committed to teaching the whole counsel of God so that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.
01:45:01: We sing the Psalms, teach the law, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, maintain discipline, and exalt
01:45:07: Christ. This is Pastor David Reese of Puritan Reformed in Phoenix, Arizona.
01:45:12: Join us in the glorious cause of advancing Christ's crown and covenant over the kings of the earth.
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01:46:43: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida, and the
01:46:53: NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep
01:46:58: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?
01:47:04: Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
01:47:13: Go to nasbible .com, that's nasbible .com to place your order.
01:47:29: If you love Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, one of the best ways you can help keep the show on the air is by supporting our advertisers.
01:47:38: One such faithful advertiser who really believes in what Chris Arnzen is doing is
01:47:44: Daniel P. Patafuco, serious injury lawyer and Christian apologist.
01:47:50: Dan is the president and founder of the Historical Bible Society. Their mission?
01:47:56: To foster belief in the credibility of scripture as the written word of God. They go to various churches, schools, and institutions to publicly display a rare collection of biblical texts, along with a fascinating presentation by Mr.
01:48:11: Patafuco, demonstrating the reliability of scripture. To advance the cause of the gospel, they created a beautiful, perfect facsimile of the genealogy of Jesus Christ from the original engravings contained in a first edition 1611
01:48:28: King James Bible. This 17th century hand -engraved chart shows the family tree of Jesus Christ going back to Adam and Eve.
01:48:39: This book is complete with gorgeous full -size illustrations of Noah's Ark and the
01:48:45: Tower of Babel, and an explanation of why the genealogy of Jesus is so important for his claims to the throne of the universe.
01:48:54: Originals of this work are in museums, and nobody has ever made it accessible to the public in a large book form before.
01:49:03: You can have your own copy of this 44 -page genealogy book for a donation of $35 or more.
01:49:10: Visit historicalbiblesociety .org. That's historicalbiblesociety .org.
01:49:17: Thanks for helping to keep Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio on the air. They seek to bring you the best available
01:49:55: Christian books and Bibles at the best possible prices. Unlike other book sites, they make no effort to provide every book that is available or popular because, frankly, much of what is being printed is not worth your time.
01:50:08: That means you can get to the good stuff faster. It also means you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic, heretical, and otherwise faith -insulting materials promoted by the secular book vendors.
01:50:20: Browse the pages at ease, shop at your leisure, and purchase with confidence at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.
01:50:28: Order online at cvbbs .com. That's cvbbs .com.
01:50:34: Or you can order by phone at 1 -800 -656 -0231.
01:50:40: That's 1 -800 -656 -0231. Please let our friends at cvbbs know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio.
01:50:57: I'm Dr. Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary.
01:51:03: I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,
01:51:09: Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.
01:51:15: It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God, like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in His Holy Word, and to enthusiastically proclaim
01:51:33: Christ Jesus the King and His doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island, and beyond.
01:51:40: I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love, as I have.
01:51:50: For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.
01:51:56: That's hopereformedli .net. Or call 631 -696 -5711.
01:52:05: That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.
01:52:21: Getting a driver's license, running a cash register, flipping burgers, passing sixth grade.
01:52:27: Do you know what they all have in common? They all require training, assessments, and certifications. But do you know what requires no training at all?
01:52:36: Becoming a parent. My name is A .M. Rooster. I'm the president of Truth, Love, Parent, and host of its award -winning podcast.
01:52:44: I've been a biblical family counselor since the early 2000s. And what I've discovered is that the majority of Christian parents have never been biblically equipped to do the work of the ministry in their homes.
01:52:53: That's why Truth, Love, Parent exists. We serve God by equipping dads and moms to be the ambassador parents
01:53:00: God called and created them to be. We produce free parenting resources, train church leaders, and offer biblical counseling so that the next generation of dads and moms can use the
01:53:09: Scriptures to parent their children for life and godliness. Please visit us at truthloveparent .com.
01:53:15: Welcome back. And I have a way that I have heard of explaining the dilemma that the listener who sent in the last email is having with people disagreeing over how we are to have peace, that we are truly a child of God, that we're truly saved.
01:53:40: And it may seem on the surface like it's semantics, but I really don't think it is.
01:53:47: Would you agree with me, Austin, that you can rightfully tell someone that if you want assurance that you are truly a child of God, that you are at peace with God and that you will enter eternity with him when you depart from this earth, you find your assurance solely in what
01:54:06: Christ has done for us, but to determine whether your faith and trust in Christ is genuine, that requires to examine the fruits that are being born from your life.
01:54:19: Would that be a legitimate way to distinguish those two things?
01:54:25: Oh, it absolutely would. At the end of the day, all our hope is in Christ.
01:54:32: It is Christ alone. It is a Christ salvation. We're saved by the works of Christ. We look unto
01:54:38: Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Christ is the one to whom we look in sanctification just as we look to him in our justification and in salvation.
01:54:53: And then, like James says, faith without works is dead. We examine the work of Christ in our life to see that it is truly
01:55:04: Christ who's done the work. Amen. And we have a listener, Gregory in St.
01:55:11: Kitts in the West Indies, Middle Island to be more specific. Gregory says, and actually you already answered this question earlier, but perhaps for the sake of Gregory, since he just submitted this question, you could repeat it.
01:55:26: Is sanctification synergistic or monergistic? Progressive sanctification is synergistic.
01:55:34: Yeah, so in other words, we are not to think that we are just zapped by God and can float on a bed of ease all the way to heaven.
01:55:48: Exactly. In contradistinction to the modern idea, let us eat, sleep, and be merry for tomorrow we're sanctified.
01:55:56: That's not the attitude Scripture gives us. It's to work out our salvation with fear and troubling. Now, for those of my fellow
01:56:03: Reformed Christians who may balk at any notion of synergism, keep in mind people, for instance, throughout the centuries, not only ages ago, but even in our current day in certain parts of the world, who have been tortured and murdered for their faith.
01:56:21: Now, the fact that to deny
01:56:27: Christ may buy someone physical comfort and extend their life on earth, that's an excruciating, and I'm sure can be and has been, excruciating decision to make when being faced with that by rulers of any given nation, whether it be the
01:56:48: Roman Catholic Church of old or Islam today or China or what have you, when you are being asked, deny your faith or at least include the governing authorities in your faith as your higher power, etc.,
01:57:07: or you're going to be tortured or murdered. I mean, that can't be an easy thing to do, and so you are actually being a part of that sanctification process.
01:57:18: That's an extreme example, but I think sometimes you need extreme examples to get people to see with more clarity.
01:57:25: Am I making sense there? Yeah, well, it's the idea that who's the one, by grace of course, but that the choice to obey or disobey comes to.
01:57:36: Who believes? If I'm to look unto Jesus as the author and finisher of my faith, well, whose faith is
01:57:43: Christ authoring? Mine. So I am the one actively participating in this faith.
01:57:48: Christ is not believing for me. He grants me faith that I might believe, and then throughout the circumstances of life, that belief plays out in obedience and looking to him.
01:58:01: Well, once again, the conference on the theme of sanctification, how to grow in holiness, hosted by Joe Jackowitz and Austin Huggins, is being held
01:58:11: Saturday and Sunday, August 26th and 27th, at the Reformed Baptist Church of Tama, Iowa.
01:58:19: And for registration, free registration, go to firstloveministries .org. I want to thank you so much,
01:58:28: Pastor Austin Huggins, for being such a superb guest. I want to thank everybody who listened, especially those who took the time to write.
01:58:35: And I'm urging, once again, our listeners, just out of necessity, if you love this show, folks, and you really want it to stick around, please go to ironsharpensironradio .com,
01:58:45: click support, then click, click to donate now. It bothers me to no end and in a greater depth than you'll ever know.
01:58:54: For me to keep repeating that, I hate doing it, but we are in dire straits, as they say.
01:59:00: We are really in a desperate and urgent situation here, hoping that more people will help support us so that we can remain on the air.
01:59:09: It's ironsharpensironradio .com, click support, then click, click to donate now. I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater