In this discussion of Chapter 13 of the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689, Jason Dohm discusses the topic of sanctification. This is such an important doctrine to understand when the world and those within the church are nearly identical nowadays in doctrine and behavior.

He breaks down different attacks and misconceptions of this doctrine. Mere external compliance does not mean that regeneration has occurred.

In my session yesterday on Of the Holy Scriptures, one of the points of the confession was that not all things are equally plain, but that all things that are necessary are what the Confession calls clearly propounded or clearly set forth. Over the last 24 hours, I felt like we've had a couple of speakers just take us down into bottomless wells. What about God's providence? I mean, it just felt like there's no bottom at all to the well we were down in. And what about Christ as mediator?

Well, this one of sanctification, I feel like it's not a shallow well by any stretch of the imagination. But it doesn't feel bottomless to me. It feels much more straightforward. But there are absolutely some spirited attacks against the doctrine of sanctification. So it's really important that we're here.

This is a doctrine that really requires spirited defense of the spirited attacks against it. Here's my exhortation. This is the eighth session today, and you've all got content leaking out of your ears. And so here's what I'm asking of you. Take a half page more notes of whatever you've been taking.

If you've been taking a page of notes per session, take a page and a half. If you haven't been taking any, take a half page of notes, because if you don't, it's the last session of the day. And I'm going to be working really hard to impart to you things that are really important, and you're going to lose it all. So please take copious amounts of notes. You'll be glad you did.

Even if you never look at them again, you'll remember more from this talk if you take some notes. So help with the notebooks. So we've been saying this over and over again, but we've been saying it over and over again because it's true. And that is that there's a logical flow and progression to the confession. That's why we started with of the Holy Scripture, and we've seen how these things logically follow one on top of the other.

It's particularly true of the chapter of sanctification. We're right on the heels of what? We're right on the heels of justification. And then adoption. We have become the children of God and now the logical implication of that is that God trains his children.

This is a child training chapter. We have been adopted by God and God does as a father what all fathers do for their own children. He trains them. He brings them along and he causes them to make progress. Here's what Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 13 through 15.

Till I come, Timothy, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Paul's writing to Timothy, and he tells Timothy to give attention to a certain list of things.

And when he gets done with the list, he says, Give yourself entirely to these things that your progress may be evident to all. This is what God desires. This is what God is doing as a father, as he disciples us, as he trains us. He's Calling us to give attention to a certain list of things and to give ourselves entirely to them that our progress may be evident to all. This is such a critical doctrine in our day when statistically the church and the world are identical.

Divorce rates, same. Adultery rates, it's the same. Naturalistic worldview, we test just slightly better than your average public schooler that's not even in a church. And so our doctrine's the same. Our behaviors are the same.

And this means something. The doctrine of sanctification, when we begin to get a grasp on it, we have to translate that and say, wait a minute. This is a major problem. Something is grotesquely amiss here. So to the confession point one in the confession reads this way.

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 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 are 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. There's three paragraphs in this chapter. Thankfully that's the longest one and you would think Paul wrote that because it's a lot of commas but no periods. But we'll break it down phrase by phrase here.

So the framers of the confession start with who? The who of sanctification. And that is the born again, those who are justified. That's what the whole first sentence here is about. That the objects of God's child training of sanctification are those who have actually been born again.

Here's an attack in the church on sanctification. External compliance equals sanctification. External compliance equals sanctification. That is an attack on this doctrine. And it can look something like this.

My children are learning to behave. They didn't used to clean up their room. Now they clean up their room. They didn't used to say, yes, sir, yes, ma'am. Now they say, yes, sir, yes, ma'am.

I think they've been born again because they're tidier, because they're more polite. And so we look at external compliance. Now, of course, regenerate children will be growing in external compliance. I'm not arguing that these things don't have a relationship to one or another. But external compliance does not necessarily mean that an act of regeneration has happened in the heart.

And of course this is what Jesus taught, Matthew 23, 25 through 26. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish but inside they're full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee first cleansed the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also. Jesus is defining sanctification for us. True sanctification.

Biblical sanctification. And that is when you clean the inside of the cup, there's an outworking so that the outside of the cup is also clean. Now there's a counterfeit to that that may look a lot like it on the outward structure, but it's not sanctification at all. It's hypocrisy. It's actually wearing a mask.

And so Jesus is teaching against thinking of external compliance as being the same thing as sanctification. You remember the Olympics was held in Beijing a little over a year ago. And there were lots of stories about old broken down decrepit buildings that the Chinese government actually put a canvas covering on. Beautiful. Painted.

People in the windows, smiling Chinese people in the windows, painted in the windows, never moving. And from a distance you'd say, this is modern Beijing. Look at the progress that China has made. But if you lived in that building and you had to contend with the plumbing, you would know that it was only canvas on the outside and that the insides were as broken down and decrepit now as they ever had been. And this is what we have to guard against and this is what the confession is teaching against.

And the confession is teaching this that sanctification begins and only ever exists in the environment of justification. With someone who's been born again, with someone who's been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light. Those are the only people who are ever sanctified are those who have already been justified. And we dare not confuse external compliance with the inside of the cup being cleansed and that working its way out. That is real sanctification.

Having addressed the who, the confession then moves to the what. And the what is that the saved are sanctified. The saved people, born again people, actually make progress. They're sanctified. And sanctified, as the Bible talks about it and as the Confession talks about it, is a process and not a destination.

It's an ongoing trend line. It's not a one-time event where victory is declared once and for all. But we'd have to say this, it is a doctrine of hope, isn't it? It's a doctrine of victory. We're not always going to be like we find ourselves to be.

Haven't you been discouraged from time to time about the sins, the besetting sins that keep cropping up and you find them? This doctrine actually gives us hope that it won't always be that way that God is supernaturally able to bring us out of that so that we have progress and that is evident progress not just to us but to everyone else. Here's what Paul writes to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1, 2 through 4. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing beloved brethren your election by God. So I've underlined and italicized some words here, and that's on purpose.

Paul here is writing to the Thessalonians about the elements of 1 Corinthians 13. Do you recognize that? Faith, hope, and love. Here they are. But he's putting them in a certain context.

He says, work of faith. In other words, your faith is flowing out into work. Labor of love. Your love is flowing out to labor. Your patience of hope.

Your hope is flowing out into patience. So these virtues that are so beautifully put forward in 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, faith, hope, and love, actually are things that God plants into a new believer and they produce things. This is the doctrine of sanctification that seeds are planted when a person becomes a new believer and they actually work their way out. That when the inside of the cup is clean, the outside doesn't stay the same. There's an outworking so that when faith is resonant, it works its way out and it manifests itself.

And something you can see, there's work. In the Thessalonians, Paul recognizes that there's faith there because he sees the work. And Paul recognizes that there's love there because he sees the labor. And he recognizes that there's hope there because he sees the patience and he knows that there are seeds that have grown up into things. And then he says this at the very end, knowing beloved brethren, your election by God.

It's the justification of God that has begun this work that then works its way out. This is the doctrine of sanctification. And what is really being taught by Paul and by the framers of the confession is that realities produce things. It's really simple, isn't it? Realities produce things.

And if things aren't being produced, then they aren't really realities. It's faker. It's faker realities. It's hypocrisy. Now, here's another attack against point one of the doctrine of sanctification.

Carnal Christian theology. Have you run into this? Carnal Christian theology. Now carnality is addressed in the New Testament. So carnality is actually a New Testament concept.

But the people who are advancing the doctrine that I'm speaking about go directly to Revelations 2 and 3, the letters to the churches, and they say, look, they're overcomers and they use that to split Christians into tiers. And Revelations 2 and 3 is talking about Tier 1 Christians. They're the overcomers. They're the ones who really understand more and strive more and accomplish more. So the overcomers will receive a greater reward.

But there's this second tier that have believed, that have intellectually assented to the things that are necessary to be saved but there's no change in their life. There's never any change. You could go your whole life, you could go decades and not ever see progress. And you'll be saved but there sure won't be much for you at the end of the line. And the concept is introduced that there can be a Christian, a Christian for decades that's no different, decades later than the day that he is quote unquote saved.

Well 1 John, the whole book is an all out assault against this doctrine. So I've got a couple of selections, but there would be much more in 1 John. 1 John 2 29, if you know that he, Christ, is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. Now 1 John talks about practices frequently and what is meant is persistent pattern of life, ongoing pattern of life. So when we see that in 1 John, that's what's meant by practice.

Then 1 John 3, 9 through 10, whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness, whoever does not have an ongoing pattern of life, of righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 1 John 5, 4, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Now here's your overcomer.

For those who want to go to Revelation 2 and 3 and look at the overcomers, here they are, they're people with faith, they're people with saving faith, period, amen. There are not two levels of Christians, those who overcome and those who don't. Those who have saving faith overcome the world so says John in 1 John 5. Here's what this means. We can expect our brothers and sisters to be making progress.

We ought to expect our brothers and sisters to be making progress. In fact, we ought to rebuke brothers and sisters who we don't see making any progress. In a world where you can be a Christian for decades and make no progress, be no different, there'd be no reason to rebuke anyone at any time. What's there if there's no expectation? And yet, God hasn't told us that that is the world that Christians live in because He's a Father who's training his children.

And he's ordained these secondary means. One of them is, he's told us that when we see each other lagging behind, we ought to come, alongside with humility, and approach one another about lack of progress. The expectation is completely based on the fact that God is a faithful Father and that when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in a person that it's actually effective. It's actually blasphemy to say that the Holy Spirit can take up residence in a person and produce no fruit over a period of weeks, months, years, decades. The confession has addressed the who and the what.

Now the confession addresses the how. His word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. His word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is just like justification. If we go back to our chapter on justification, That was the mechanism for how we're justified.

The word of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And now we're in sanctification and we have the second mechanisms in place. Isn't that beautiful? Here's an attack against these mechanisms. We'll call it sola bootstrappa.

Sola bootstrappa. Just put your back into it, brothers. A little more effort and you'll make some progress. And It's just a spiritual twist on Alcoholics Anonymous. Seven steps and a little more effort and you too can be sanctified.

And this attack on the doctrine of sanctification is alive and well in the church today. Here's what Jesus says about the matter. John 17, 17. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.

A key mechanism in sanctification is not your own labor and efforts, although we'll talk about the part that we have to play in sanctification. God says a key mechanism is truth through the word of God. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. How about 2 Corinthians 3.18, Paul writes this to the Corinthians.

Of God. 25 are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Sanctification is an increasing conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ from one level of glory to a higher level of glory to a higher level of glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord works this in us.

That's why it's called the fruit of the Spirit. It's not called the fruit of your efforts. Love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness self control. Not the fruit of your efforts, it's the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit comes and indwells and produces fruit the spirit is the route those things are the fruit and we have apart in that but the root of it is always the spirit of god the true fruits of the spirit What kind of environment does the doctrine of Sola Butstrappa produce in your church?

Produces a harsh environment, an environment with no patience because after all your problems are just your lack of effort, your lack of putting your back into it. Scott in our webinar on this chapter said something that's so true. Our knowledge is always ahead of our obedience. Our doctrine is always ahead of our practice. And we're trying to get our practice up to snuff with the light that God has given us to walk by.

Isn't that what we find ourselves doing? God has given us a little more light. There's things illuminated out in front of us. We haven't walked there yet. It's our job to walk there.

But we have to realize God has us on a curve. He has you on a curve. He has you on a curve, and it's not the same curve. And God took 10 years to bring me to this point on my curve. But now I'm going to insist that you come right here on this curve in this category.

Now, God took 10 years in my discipleship process to bring me here. But now you just need to put your back into it and get right here on the spot. This is the environment that it creates in a church. It's very toxic, very disruptive. Next, the confession says that the dominion of sin is destroyed.

You used to be a slave of sin. But now you're not a slave of sin anymore. You used to do only what was contrary to God because all your choices were slanted in that direction. Steve talked to us about that at length and Dan also today. But now that's broken.

It's broken. So We can make different choices now because we have an affection for God that used to be just warfare against God. Here's an attack against that. The devil made me do it or the whatever made me do it and the whatever is an external agent of corruption. Anything from the outside that is causing me to sin against God.

But it's from the outside, believe me. I love to be obedient, but You don't know the neighborhood I live in. And so it's always something external. And we're just the victim of it. We'd love to make progress, but we're being victimized by all these things.

Romans 6 is an all-out assault against that attack. Romans 6 is the counter-attack. And I'll give you three selections all from Romans 6 that attack that. Romans 6, 1 through 7. What shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death. 24 Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

12. For we have been united together in the likeness of his death. 13. Certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, 14. That the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin. 30. Later, just a few verses later, Romans 6, 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you, the dominion of sin has been broken in those who have been born again, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6, 22, just a few verses later, But now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life. 08.

There's two more verses that I'll give you, one from Galatians and one from second Corinthians and the preface to those verses is this Paul is writing these things to people and if it's not to believers it's insanity you never write these things to a dead man. Never, ever, ever. But they are written to alive men, people who have been taken out of death and given life. Galatians 5, 24. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Now this is not an exhortation to crucify your flesh. This is an acknowledgment of the reality that those who are born again have been united with Christ in his death. They have been united with Christ in his death and the power of sin has been broken. The dominion of sin is over. Finally, 2 Corinthians 7, 1.

Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God to someone who has not 22 received these promises is completely nonsensical. 23 And yet we have these exhortations from God because they're promises that have been given to men who have been given new life in Jesus Christ. So point one in the confession ends with this, that for the Christian there are two trend lines. And the first is a decrease of the lusts. Now, it's not a straight line.

It looks more like a stock chart where there's a trend, but in between the points there are ups and downs but with the lusts it's a downward trend. Not always downward every moment of every day but a downward trend and for the increase of fruit there's an upward trend and this is what we should expect to find in Christians. Not perfection but trends in a good direction where the lusts are decreasing and the virtues, the fruits of the spirit are increasing because God has indwelt and God is effectual. Point two of sanctification. This 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 wart, the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. So point two begins with this. Sanctification is throughout the whole man. There's no part of the man that is left untouched by the sanctifying work of God.

God touches every part And he's causing progress in every part of the man, but not perfectly in any part. No part of the man is perfectly sanctified this side of heaven. No part. Now, there are a couple of attacks that I'm going to lump together because they come from very different angles but the result is very much the same. The first is the attack of the Scholastics, Thomas Aquinas and his ilk.

And they believed that the mind wasn't fallen. Boy, they were worried about what your body could do to you. Lots of bad things can happen in the body, but the mind left untouched. And so you could trust your reason implicitly. You could reason your way into all sorts of wonderful things.

A second attack, which again is from a very different angle but leads you to a similar place is the Gnostics. That the spirit is pure but the material things, the body is evil. So in both cases there's a separating out of portions of the man and saying that some things were touched by corruption but other things were untouched by corruption. A defense against these doctrines starts in Genesis 8 21. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma.

Then the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake. Although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. So, question. Pre-flood, post-flood. Post-flood, post-flood.

They're coming off the ark, they make an offering to the Lord, this is the aroma that God is smelling. So this is not when the world is overrun with all sorts of filthiness, we got eight people who we sort of like in Bible terms. And the world is going to be populated just by their offspring and yet God says that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Isaiah 6-5, So I, Isaiah said, Woe is me for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts. Isaiah, regenerate or non-regenerate?

Regenerate. Isaiah, more sanctified than you or less sanctified than you? More sanctified than you probably. We don't know for sure but I'm guessing I know you people he was more sanctified in and yet in the presence of God Isaiah falls down before God he's so aware 10 minutes before he might have been feeling really good about himself but in the presence of God he's not feeling good about himself. He is prostrated before God Almighty and he acknowledges that he is a man of unclean lips.

Isaiah 64, first half of verse 6, But we are all like an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Now I love these verses because they just eliminate the wiggle room by the comprehensive language. We're all like an unclean thing. All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Jeremiah 17, 9.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jeremiah's not making a distinction here between the regenerate and the unregenerate. I think it would be illogical and exegetically unfounded to say that Jeremiah is only speaking of the unregenerate here. 13.

The truth is that the Bible does not teach even the Christian to trust his or her heart. The Bible does not teach even the Christian to trust his or her heart. It teaches that our hearts must be trained and governed by the perfect, trustworthy Word of God. The confession then moves to the logical conclusion that what is in store for us is a continual and irreconcilable war. That's the words of the confession and it's perfect.

It's what we experience in this life, isn't it? Continual and irreconcilable warfare in which we can have progress and we can have victories but we can never have peace that's what the confession teaches because that's what the Bible teaches Galatians 5 17 for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 1 Peter 2.11, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Here's an attack on this doctrine. Let go and let God.

You have heard it. Let go and let God. Just stop trying and just let God come with his pixie dust. And he will sprinkle you. And with no effort, just effortlessly make progress.

And forget this warfare stuff. Your problem is you're trying too hard. No warfare, just let go and God will do his work. 001. And sanctification becomes mystical.

The Bible never teaches that sanctification is mystical. It does teach that it's the work of God. That much we can agree to, but it does not teach that it is mystical. 44 It teaches that there's a primary cause, almighty God, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Word of God, 45 but that God has ordained secondary means, secondary causes. 46 So he places you in a church where you'll be under the ministry of the word of God, where you'll have brothers and sisters around you who will exhort you and rebuke you when you need it.

13. And he puts you in a family Where you have these relationships where you're working together, living together in tight quarters where sin 13. Rises to the surface as things heat up. 14. Just like the dross comes right to the surface.

15. This is part of sanctification. 16. These are the secondary causes that God has established, that God has ordained. Even though God is the primary cause 26 as the Puritans love to say duty is ours results are God's God has given us a duty and yet he is the Lord of everything.

42. He's the God who gives increase. 43. And so he's always governing the results. 44.

So the counsel of scripture and sanctification is that there are some things that we ought to put on. Colossians 3 has a list of things that we ought to put off and another list of things that we ought to put on. Ephesians 6, exactly the same way, a list of things that we ought to put off, a list of things that we ought to put on. And the truth is in the category of sanctification, both need our attention. There are things that we ought to starve.

But if we just starve without feeding the other things, we find ourselves stunted in our sanctification. The opposite's true. We find ourselves just feeding this group of things, but paying no attention to the things that ought to be starved, our sanctification is stunted. There's a man I know who says this really frequently, there's a war on, act accordingly. And that is good counsel to Christians.

There is a war on. This is what the Bible teaches. Act accordingly, brothers and sisters. Here's an attack that's already been talked about today, but I'm going to reference it again. Sinless perfectionism.

Christian perfectionism. It's an old heresy, but a modern day proponent that is very widely appreciated in the homeschooling community is Michael Pearl. Why would we say that again? It's already been said today. Why would I even take the time to say it?

Because he is so widely appreciated because he actually has many helpful things to say about child training. So it becomes the Trojan horse to get the ministry of a heretic into your library. And I use that word judiciously, but Michael Pearl is a heretic who rejects core doctrines about the nature of man and about the nature of God and it makes him a false teacher that ought to be avoided by Christians. And if you think that a wrong view of the nature of man, a rejection of natural depravity, and a rejection of the sovereignty of God and salvation won't work its way into a child training manual, you've lost your mind. Child training is all about the right understanding of the nature of man and the nature of God.

If you don't understand those things, while you might have some helpful things to say that will help people with their child training, there's a lot of harm that is right there beside it. And you'll find yourself having to separate the wheat and the chaff all the time in those materials. So I don't really have a strong opinion on that. But this is a man who's got a CD set called The Bondage of the Will where he actually goes after the teachings of Luther and Calvin and he advertises it as a refutation of the ancient heresy of Calvinism. So this is who you're dealing with.

Here's what Richard Baxter says, on warfare keep as far as you can from those temptations which feed and strengthen the sins which you would overcome. 22. Lay siege to your sins and starve them out by keeping away the food and the fuel which is their maintenance and life. 23. Richard Baxter knows the results are God's but here he's talking about our duty and he says lay siege to your sins, lay siege to them.

Don't treat them as your friends, treat them as your mortal enemies in this warfare that we're engaged in. 1 John 1, 8 through 10. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 16. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now of course this passage blows up sinless perfectionism, But it also is very helpful in us seeing the sovereignty of God and human responsibility side by side, all said in the same breath. And it shows us the interaction that we have the duty to confess our sins and yet God is the one who is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I don't believe in this text that cleanse us from all unrighteousness is simply a restatement of forgive us our sins. I think it's speaking to sanctification here.

That God is doing a cleansing work, an ongoing cleansing work and conforming us into this image from glory to glory. Romans 7, 21 through 25. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 26, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity 27, into the law which is in my members.

28, O wretched man that I am, Who will deliver me from this body of death? 13. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 14. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

15. Paul is acknowledging in his letter to the Romans the ongoing that the continual, irreconcilable warfare that we can expect in this category of sanctification, it is continual and irreconcilable. You remember all the trouble that George W. Bush got in when he went on that aircraft carrier and put up the big banner, mission accomplished, right? And that just came back to haunt him.

Paul is saying, this side of heaven, there's no point on the aircraft carrier where we put up the banner, Mission Accomplished. It's trending in the right direction. There's progress. There is progressive, gradual victory and yet there is continual, irreconcilable war. Philippians 3, verse 12, Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

13. Paul writes to the Philippians that Jesus Christ has laid hold of him for certain reasons. And he is pressing on to discover those things for which Christ has saved him. And he acknowledges that he has not attained, Paul had not attained, Isaiah had not attained. I assure you Michael Pearl has not attained.

You and I have not attained. There is continual irreconcilable war. And yet God is a good child trainer. He is. He is.

He sends His Spirit to indwell His people and His Spirit produces fruit. And we might be discouraged from time to time at the pace of it and think, oh God, I wish there would be more faster. And yet He is faithful as a Father and He is effectual and He will accomplish His purposes. Point three. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may prevail, the regenerate part doth overcome, and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after a heavenly life, an evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King in His word hath prescribed them.

The first thing from this paragraph is something that has been said, but I'll repeat that for the regenerate there's a trend line up and to the right. For the regenerate there's a trend line that though there may be setbacks along the way, there is progress. Your progress can be evident to all or progress ought to be evident to all. And the Confession acknowledges that there will be periods of giving back ground, of backsliding. And yet, and yet, it says in the end the regenerate part doth overcome.

Hallelujah. That even when there are times of discouragement and backsliding that the regenerate part doth overcome. Do we have to look further than Peter to know that that's true? To know that there are times where things are done that you never imagined and yet the grace of God can overwhelm all that. Grace of God is greater than all our sin and God is able to bring us to heaven.

When we've been adopted, when we've been made a child of God, God has the resources required to bring us to heaven, He does. And to have us grow in holiness. And that's where the confession ends that the saints grow. They grow. They make progress.

They grow in holiness and being set apart for God and His pleasure and His glory and His purposes. And they grow in obedience, 0 and obedience that earns 0 merit with him but obedience that flows out of thanksgiving 0 for being saved. 0 I'll close with this verse out of 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul writes this to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5, 21 through 23. Test all things.

Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 14. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 55 God the primary cause is establishing the secondary causes here so that Paul can say consecutively you abstain from every form of evil and then pray to God.

Now the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Paul's not at odds with himself. Paul hasn't forgotten himself between sentences. These things work hand in hand. Duty is ours, results are God.

And we ought to strive. We ought to exert ourselves, but it's not solo bootstrapper. No, not in any way. It's not putting our back into it but it is desiring to honor God with our life and so we do like Paul we press forward we press forward John Owen says this John Owen's got a great book the Mortification of Sin, on this topic. Do you mortify?

Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it while you live. Cease not a day from this work. Be killing sin or it will be killing you. Be killing sin or it will be killing you.

And at the same time, Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. 28. The church should not be statistically identical with the world. When the church is statistically identical with the world it means there's a lot of world in the church. 29.

God is a faithful child trainer. He adopts children and then he starts to train them and little by little he's wiping out the blemishes, smoothing out the wrinkles, wiping off the blemishes and bringing us to heaven. And so the reign of Christ, the kingship of Christ, is not some general nebulous concept, but it is Jesus Christ having victory in your life, and in your life, and in your life, and in my life. And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit doing something, producing fruit so that we're brought along. Praise the Lord.

This is a doctrine of hope. It's something that we should bow down before God and thank Him that He would adopt us, indwell us, and then produce fruit in us. Let's pray. Oh Father God, we thank You for the doctrine of adoption, that You would take Your enemies and bring them into Your household And give them a new heart. Give me, give us new hearts.

And then you'd begin to train us. And you'd begin to have our thoughts conformed more to your thoughts and our ways conformed more to your ways. God, we thank you. We thank you that you would do this, that you're so kind that you would take enemies and not even make them slaves, but make them your own children and then train them, conform them into the precious image of our Lord Jesus Christ. We give you thanks in Jesus' name, amen.

For more messages articles and videos on the subject of conforming the church and the family to the Word of God and for more information about the National Center for family integrated churches where you can search our online network to find family integrated churches in your area log on to our website ncfic.org.