Pt. 17 LBCF Chapter 13 Of Sanctification

All right, we're continuing with the confession of faith.

We're in chapter 13. Remember, we're in part two. Remember, we've broken up the confession into four parts.

The first part was foundational. Second part, who can tell me what's the second part? The covenant.

All right. There's seven, which specifically said of God's covenant. And then everything right up through about chapter 20 is considered to be part two.

All right. So of sanctification is chapter 13. Now, just I have a couple of explanations and I want to talk a little bit about the word sanctification, the theological concept of sanctification before we get into the confession itself, because the word is used in different ways.

So I want to examine some of those differences. Biblically, sanctification and literally means to be set apart from common use to use by God.

That is probably the most concise and best definition. But then it takes on some different connotations as we look at the theological concepts.

So theologically, the term is used of individuals to be set apart from sin to righteousness in a progressive manner.

Now, that being said, at conversion, the Christian is definitively set apart.

All right. So I know a lot of people. How many times have you heard that your salvation really comes in three basic parts?

You're justified, you're progressively sanctified, and then you'll be glorified, you know, at the end of the age.

All right. That's kind of a common. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's true. But the word sanctification and the concept of sanctification is more than just progressive sanctification.

OK. And you might even ask yourself, notice that this is chapter 13.

All right. And remember how we have been looking at the logic in the order of the chapters of the confession.

They're not just randomly put together. There's an order. And if you notice, justification came, then adoption, and now sanctification.

And what's the next chapter? Anybody know? Saving faith.

You might say, wait a minute. Doesn't saving faith come just before sanctification?

You know, you might think that. If you're thinking that, you're wrong.

All right. They knew what they were doing when they put chapter 13 of sanctification. Because at conversion, what happens is you are set apart.

God calls you apart from out of humanity for his purpose.

All right. So there's a definitive sanctification. All right. Now, something else

I want to and I want to say this ahead of time as well. So as we go through this various paragraphs, and there's only three paragraphs.

So it's a short one. So I'm hoping to get through two chapters again tonight. But the sanctification, remember, in fact, remember what we said when we did justification.

That justification was not a moral declaration, but what?

A legal one. Sanctification is a moral transformation.

Because it's when you are sanctified, when God the Holy Spirit sets you apart for work, you know, for use for God instead of common use.

What he does is he changes your heart. The Holy Spirit regenerates your heart. All right.

Giving you the ability to repent and to follow him.

And so it is, in fact, a moral. You are definitive. It's not just a legal declaration like justification is.

Now, both are necessary. You need to be legally not guilty of the crime because Christ has paid the price.

He has paid the penalty. So you need that legal justification. But in order to be progressively sanctified, you need to be definitively sanctified at conversion.

Does that make sense? Okay. See, and this is what's important. If you're ever dealing with a

Roman Catholic who knows his Roman Catholic theology, who can tell me what's the biggest criticism that a

Roman Catholic apologist will level about our view of justification? Not by faith alone, but what do they call our view of it?

Almost. Illegal fiction. They call it illegal fiction.

All right. In other words, because we're saying we are positionally, but we're not yet morally. But see, they're not taking into consideration the doctrine of sanctification.

That's why you need the doctrine of justification as well as the doctrine of sanctification.

All right. So that's why it's chapter 13 and not chapter 14 or 15.

All right. So if we look at it, the chapter is divided into two parts in three paragraphs.

Okay. Paragraph 1A. Now this is the inception. It's inception in definitive sanctification.

Now remember, when we talk about definitive sanctification, this is the moral change that takes place when God, the

Holy Spirit, regenerates your heart. That's when you are set apart. Okay.

They who are united to Christ, effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified.

We'll get to that in a minute. Okay. The last phrase indicates the definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification.

Now notice, this is right in the main definition of what sanctification is, and it says, also farther sanctified.

So there is that sanctification which takes place at conversion, and then what is expected? Progressive sanctification.

You can't have one without the other. If you are definitively sanctified, you will be progressively sanctified.

You can't be progressively sanctified unless you are definitively sanctified. Okay. Again, making sense?

Okay. So that last phrase is a good indicator of our view of sanctification, that it is both progressive and definitive.

Now notice the source of the sanctification, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection.

You can't just decide to be sanctified. You won't decide to be sanctified. And again, we've already looked at the fall of man, and are you seeing the logic in how the confession has been put together?

You know, because at this point, if we've been following the confession through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, you should be saying, yeah,

I should have had a V8, because why?

Because of the fall of man, the state that he's in, it's only through Christ's work that any of this can happen. So, and that's what we've been building upon.

That's why, that's one of the reasons I love our confession of faith so much, because it just lays it out in such a logic and cogent manner, that by the time you get to each of these, you should just be going nodding and saying, yes, yes,

I see. Of course, that's the way it is, okay? All right, so this is the first statement.

This is the first half of paragraph one. Paragraph, second part of the paragraph talks about its increase in progressive sanctification, all right?

And we see this, this is what it says, really and personally through the same virtue by his word and spirit dwelling in them, the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the

Lord, okay? Now, notice how, remember what I said, you can't have one without the other.

So, definitive sanctification is first in a logical progression, and then that's followed by progressive sanctification.

So, the character of our sanctification is real and personal. Remember, it's not merely just legal, it's a moral change, okay?

You now have, remember we went through the four states of man when we're talking about justification, you know, the non passe peccari, passe peccari, you guys remember that, okay?

When you're saved, you have the ability not to sin, the passe non peccari, all right?

And that's what this is talking about, really and personally, all right? That's the character of the sanctification.

It's not just, in other words, it's not just a theoretical concept, all right?

But it's true, something that truly happens in the person. It's sourced through the same virtue.

What virtue? The merits of Christ, okay? It's means by His Word and Spirit.

It's the Word, the Holy Spirit working through the Word. Remember, we've seen this over and over again.

The Holy Spirit does not work in the heart of man apart from the proclamation of the Word. Whether it be a preacher preaching or sitting down in the living room and one

Christian sharing the gospel with another, but it's always by the Word and the Spirit, all right?

And then what's the substance of it? And again, I love the way our forefathers did this because this,

I do this a lot and before I even knew that they did it, I like to define things negatively and positively, you know?

So, the substance of it, first negatively, the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed.

Does that mean that you're never going to sin again? No. What it's talking about is the reign of sin.

That's what Christ conquered on the cross, was the reign of sin over the believers, all right?

You no longer are in bondage to sin, you have the ability to make a righteous choice, okay?

So, the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified.

In other words, the hold that it has on you is weakened more and more. That's negatively, that's what progressive sanctification is.

The more you are sanctified, the less and less you should sin, okay?

That's a growing faith, that's the whole process of sanctification, okay?

All right, so that's spoken of negatively. Positively, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces to practice all true holiness.

That's the positive side. I now, I can differentiate between right and wrong,

I know right and wrong, and I can positively say, I want to do right.

Not just that I can do right, but I have the ability to choose, and it's my desire to choose to do what is right, okay?

So, you see it negatively described and then positively, and then what do we see?

The necessity. This is important. Without which no man can see the

Lord. Now, why is this so important? Remember, when was this confession written?

1677. I'm just being this stickler, but it was officially adopted in 1689, but it was written in 1677.

I just like to get you thinking once in a while, but long before dispensationalism was a system that was worked out.

That didn't come until 1830s. You know, that was the seeds of it.

Does anybody remember, I'm looking at ages here. There's only going to be, there's only going to be a couple who are going to remember this name.

Does anybody remember the name Zane Hodges? You do? Yes, okay.

Do you remember what his big premise was in the books that he wrote?

Keep that up, you may not get much older.

His premise was, he took faith alone where it was never intended to go, and said that if you pray the sinner's prayer, you just believe that's all that's required.

You don't have to do another thing, and you're guaranteed you'll be in heaven. Easy believism to the nth degree.

In fact, John MacArthur wrote a book specifically to refute his theology.

It was called The Gospel According to Jesus. If you've never read the book,

I heartily recommend it. It's a great book. Even though John MacArthur is a dispensationalist, he refutes this easy believism.

Notice our confession written hundreds of years before Zane Hodges, without which no man shall see the

Lord. If you're not being progressively sanctified, if you're not definitively sanctified and progressively sanctified, you're not going to see heaven.

The Puritans had a saying, no holiness, no heaven. And so that's what this is saying.

So we're seeing the increase in progressive sanctification. So this chapter is talking both about definitive sanctification, and it's talking about progressive sanctification, all in one.

But you just have to make sure that you understand that there's a distinction, but you can't separate them.

How many times you hear theologians say that? You can't separate them, but you can distinguish between them.

Okay, all right. So that's part one, the description of sanctification. Part two are the distinctions of sanctification, and that's paragraph two, talking about struggle with sin.

I like this chapter, this paragraph, because I can really identify with it.

I can live right up to this, you know. The sanctification is throughout the whole man, yet imperfect in this life.

There abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part. Whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

Now that's the whole paragraph. Notice it says the roots of the struggle.

What are the roots of the struggle? Even though the sanctification affects all of you, that means every aspect of your being, all right, yet it's imperfect in this life, all right.

And there still abides some remnants of corruption in every part. Now what is that talking about?

Yes, it means even the way you think. Why do you think we have great theologians who disagree on some major points of doctrine?

Because we are still affected by sin in every aspect that includes not just the body, but the way we think, our will, our emotions, our desires are still somewhat affected.

And that's what we're putting to death day by day. The Puritans love to talk about the mortification of the flesh, okay.

And that's what this is talking about. The roots of the struggle, there's still this remaining corruption in us that we are trying to put to death through progressive sanctification.

How are you sanctified? How does progressive sanctification work?

Nobody? Through the Holy Spirit, Scripture reading, all the means of grace.

What does that mean? Firstly, corporate worship. Corporate worship is one of the big ones. Administration of the sacraments, all right.

That's one of the factors that came in when the eldership here decided to go to having communion every week, all right.

Because if it's a means of grace, why would we absent ourselves from grace, especially when we need grace more than we've ever needed it, all right.

So that was part of it. There was a lot of discussions about how often and those types of things.

It was the same thing about why we switched to having wine instead of grape juice.

More biblical, okay. So we see the roots of the struggle, the nature of the struggle, the continual and irreconcilable war.

What does that mean? It means you can't walk with one foot in each kingdom, all right.

Remember what does James say? It's a double -minded man. He's unstable in all his ways. You cannot walk with one foot.

You know what they say about the guy who tries to walk down the middle of the road? Gets hit by trucks coming in either direction, okay.

And so that's the nature of the struggle, continual and irreconcilable.

The combatants, the flesh against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. That's the battleground.

That's why it's so important. Why do you think we fought so hard to keep our church doors open during this pandemic?

Because we're just rebellious? No, I'm kidding.

Because we understand that one of the major means of grace is corporate worship and the fellowship of the saints.

And that's why we have fought so hard, you know, doing whatever we could to try to keep our doors open without somebody coming here and padlocking the door and hauling the elders away to jail, all right.

And this is why, because you need, this is the struggle that we have, and you need the church.

Remember right from the very beginning, we are made social beings, and the church is a social institution.

What's that? Oh, okay.

So that's our struggle with sin. That's part two. Paragraph three is progress in grace.

This is still under part two, the distinctives of sanctification, all right. In which war, although remaining corruption for time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome.

And so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after a heavenly life in the evangelical obedience to all the commands which

Christ as head and king in his word has prescribed them. All right, that says a lot.

Difficulty in the progress. Anybody here got the sanctification thing down?

You got it, you got it nailed, you know exactly how to work this out? If you do,

I'd like to schedule a counseling appointment for you on self -deception. Remaining corruption for a time, and in fact, you know, at periods of time, you may have more or less progress in your sanctification because of the corruption that still remains, all right.

And again, this is why continuous supply of strength from what?

The sanctifying spirit of God, the regenerate part does overcome. And so the saints grow in grace, does overcome. You are, if you're a true believer, you are an overcomer.

All right, I'm going to ask the question, I know everybody knows it. If I walk up to you and I say, how you doing?

What's the worst thing you can say to me? Go ahead. Hanging in there.

It will probably be followed by a pretty stern lecture. Because if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, if you've truly been sanctified and justified, you are not a hanger in there.

You're not a coper. You are an overcomer. You more than conquer in Jesus Christ.

Just read the end of Romans 8. Read the seven letters of Christ to his church.

He who overcomes, and by the way, in all of those seven letters, what he says about the overcomers, those are all the promises to the elect.

So who are those who overcome? It's only the elect that are overcomers.

So we should not walk around. We could be under fierce attack in this country.

Doesn't matter. We still are more than conquerors, right? Just think of the apostle

Paul. Arrested for what? Preaching the gospel.

Where does he wind up? In Rome. What does he do when he's in Rome? He's writing letters and preaching to Caesar's household.

Look at those letters. Through his persecution and his arrest, we got a good portion of the

New Testament was written for our edification today. So you don't know what you're called to go through, how

God is going to use that for his glory. But the promise is that everything that happens to you as a believer in Jesus Christ is for your good and his glory.

So don't ever tell me that you're hanging in there or that you're coping. Don't need that.

As far as I'm hearing, coping is that little saw that you do on the filigree. If you're coping, then you can say you're coping.

All right. The quality of the progress, the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

And by the way, if you read this, some of this wording has found its way into our church covenant.

If you notice, every time we accept new members into the church, we stand, we read the covenant together.

Take that covenant out and read that periodically, all right? Because it's all, it's nothing but based on scriptures, nothing man -made that goes into that covenant.

And you'll see this, the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after a heavenly life.

Where does that sound like? Does it sound like the apostle Paul? Pressing on, reaching for it, you know, knowing

I haven't got it yet, but I'm reaching, I'm pressing forward. All right. All right. And evangelical obedience, there's that nasty word, obedience.

All right. What is the great commission? Not just merely to make disciples. All right.

Not merely to tell them to go out. What is it? Teaching them to observe, in other words, obedience.

Obedience is a key in sanctification. Obedience to all the commands which

Christ has head and king and his word has prescribed them. Remember, we believe not only in sola scriptura, what else?

Go ahead. Tota scriptura, all of the scripture. There's not a part of the scripture that is not important.

I know a guy who was saved by reading the lineage of Jesus Christ.

It just so struck him. He was reading, I think it was in Matthew, and he was reading the lineage of Christ.

And he says, of course, he's the Messiah. And he was saved. So don't skip over some of those parts.