How does a Christian grow in sanctification? In this clip Jason Dohm, using 2 Peter 3:18, shows how sanctification begins on the inside and works its way out and finds it source in Jesus.

So at the very end of his second letter, 2 Peter, Peter gives what I think is a great definition of sanctification. He doesn't use the word sanctification, but I think he describes it. Here's how he ends that letter in 2 Peter 3, verse 18. He says, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." So, this is what sanctification looks like. Now, that works its way outward.

This is internal sanctification. Growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That means certain things externally, but it's not fundamentally external. Fundamentally, it is growth in the grace of Jesus, growing in his grace. It's growing in the knowledge of Jesus.

The externals are defined in Scripture, and It's defined by the commandments of God, Old Testament, and New. It tells us what we shouldn't be doing, what we should abstain from. Those things are never designed to keep us from good. They keep us from good. When we're doing things that God prohibits, we're actually kept from the better things.

That's the nature. The laws of God are laws of love. The New Testament is so clear about that. So we're not being kept from good things. On the other side, the things that we are commanded to do are acts of love.

They're, again, laws of love. And so the laws of God do tell us what the external should look like. But this isn't mere mechanical, sterile, cold, hard duty. Right, these are laws of love. They keep us from the love killers and promote the things that are loving to God and man.