What does it mean that Jesus saves his people from their sins (Matt 1:21)? We often explain this wonderful truth in terms of salvation from the penalty and guilt of sin - Jesus suffered the wrath of God in the place of sinners and so the Christian is freed from the judgment of God. This is true, but that is not the full extent of the salvation Jesus gives. He not only saves from the penalty of sin, but also the ongoing power of sin: Jesus saves his people from sin's power so that they grow in holiness and obedience to him.
The National Center for Family Integrated Churches presents Sanctification, a message given by Kevin Swanson at the Power of the Gospel Conference. It's great to be back at the NCFIC conference tonight. It's been a good year. Probably the highlight of the year was being a part of the first family discipleship conference in Russia out in St. Petersburg last March.
It's encouraging to see that we have brothers and sisters around the globe that are doing something similar to what we're interested in. That is a daily family discipleship for our children. And this was a homeschooling, home discipleship type of conference. And I got to thinking as we were crossing the border, Karl Marx's vision for education was to replace home education with social. That was sort of the crux, the real center point of the Communist Manifesto, if you've read the Communist Manifesto.
He was very committed to replacing the family with the state and replacing home education with social, his words not mine, And we were there to do just the opposite. So I'm here to tell you Karl Marx is dead. And Jesus Christ is very much alive. And his kingdom will move forward. And lead, follow, or get out of the way.
Jesus' kingdom is coming. So we're excited about that. Well, my topic tonight is sanctification. But first some comments on the gospel itself. You know it's scary to see Evangelicalism starting to collapse.
Evangelicalism went from 20% of America to 30% between 1970 and 1985. Now it's tapered down to about 18% and it's losing, it's lost 6% in 6 years. At this rate, evangelicalism will no longer exist in America in 18 years from now. So it's, I think, incumbent upon us to be sure that our roots are very strong, very deep, by the grace of God, by the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts, and by the preaching of the Word of God, that we understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. You get ten evangelical pastors into a room, I found they don't all agree on the gospel.
That's scary, I find that scary. I've had this happen several times where kind of together with some evangelical pastors, people who are supposed to know something of the gospel and we define it differently. So that bothers me. Now my encouragement to each and every one of you is to get your definition of the gospel from the word of God itself, this book here. Revelation 14, 12 gives us a bit of the gospel.
I'm gonna back up to verse six, read from verse six, just so we have something of the gospel from the outset here. Revelation 14 in verse six, John writes, "'I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, "'having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people saying with a loud voice fear God give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of water." Then we read in verse 9, A third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." And then down to verse 12. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
So whether or not these are the end times, I don't think is material for my short exposition here. But brothers and sisters, do you see how it's important to be on the right side of this? I hope you can see that from the outset here. There are those who serve the beast, who have a mark on his forehead, and then there are those who have the patience of the saints, and the faith of Jesus, and the commandments of God. This is the distinction here.
Those who align themselves with the beast, who is evidently a very powerful person or being or institution that persecutes the saints and seems to celebrate sexual decadence. So you have that, and that seems to be something that's very popular today with our most powerful governments. They seem to be enforcing, encouraging sexual decadence, and they seem to also want to move towards persecuting the saints or to those who oppose sexual decadence. And then you have the lambs, children, those who fear God, give God the glory, and hold to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. So you see, there's a battle going on for the faith in our day.
We have such apostasy, represented by those who don't fear God, represented by those who are antinomians, as they are opposed to the laws of God, and represented by those who don't believe that Jesus saves them from their sins. So very simply put, there are those who do not believe the everlasting gospel and those that do. One of the things we have done recently is put together a series of books called Keep the faith based on these verses on the everlasting gospel and keeping the faith of Jesus and the commandments of God. And we pulled out the major sins of the day, the commandments of the day that people oppose and refuse to keep and specifically with the first volume, those that refused to teach the fear of God as the beginning of knowledge in education. And we contrast that with 1900 years, or 2000 years of the greatest Christian leaders, the greatest Christian teachers, writers, the Puritans, the Reformers, the church fathers, who took a very strong position on a godly education for children and then we did the same thing for family and sexuality.
On the one hand you have those who are questioning the commandments of God, they refused to keep the commandments of God and there on this side, we have about 2, 000 years of faithful men who wrote very strongly about a biblical perspective on sexuality, family, egalitarianism, and education as well. And my encouragement is to continue putting your roots very, very deep, first of all, in the Word of God, and then take on the godly counsel that come from previous generations. So I'd encourage you to hang on to the commandments of God. Keep the commandments of God and keep the faith of Jesus by the grace of God. Now what is the gospel?
The gospel is very simply, first Corinthians 15, Paul says, here is the gospel, the gospel is Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day. It's just that simple. Matthew 1 21, you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That is the very simple definition of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, the modern world has done us great disservice in presenting a wrong gospel in that they question whether the gospel is that which saves us from our sins or merely saves us from the guilt and the punishment of our sins.
If you think about Matthew 1-21 and 1 Corinthians 15, you're gonna find immediately that God has laid out a gospel in which He has brought our Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. This is the good news. And this includes an element we call sanctification. So first of all, from the outset, I'd like to establish the absolute necessity of sanctification in the salvation package that Jesus gives to us. Now this is unpopular today.
Think of the Charlie Rich song that came out in the 1960s and 1970s called Rolling With the Flow. While other guys are raising kids, I'm raising Cain just like I did. Jesus loves me, this I know, so I'll keep on rolling with the flow. That is one of the best synopsis of American religiosity. Jesus loves me this I know, so I'll keep on rolling with the flow.
As another country music singer said recently, the country music is the only form of music in which somebody gets laid and gets saved in the same song. An illustration of American religiosity, American Christianity, American evangelical Christianity at that. Friends, I remember the story of a homosexual group that was protesting outside of focus on the family a number of years ago and I'll never forget the the the argument made by the leader of these homosexuals who claim themselves to be evangelical Christians, and the leader said, there's people in this building over here that say there's something terribly wrong with us that needs to be fixed. And I read that and I thought, yes! That's it, the man nailed it!
That's really the gospel of Jesus Christ. That there is something terribly wrong with us that needs to be fixed. And this is the reality that sometimes does not sink in to the consciousness of modern man very quickly, but it's essential for the communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever it goes, and then eventually people must get the message down if they were to get the gospel that there is something terribly wrong with you that needs to be fixed, something so wrong with you that the Son of God, the holy, the perfect, the sinless, undefiled Son of God had to come all the way down from the very heights of heaven to the very depths, to the very humiliation, the most humble position possible to die on that cross, to take those nails for us, and to receive that punishment, do our sin, and receive the wrath of God upon him in our behalf. There must have been something terribly wrong with us if that was to happen. The gospel of Jesus Christ includes salvation from sin.
Recently I read a quote from a well-known evangelical reformed writer in which he wrote, the gospel liberates us to being okay with not being okay. The gospel liberates us from being okay from not being okay. Now that's not what we read in scripture. The gospel is the message where we get saved from sin. We get saved from sin, which is the transgression of the law of God.
It's defined in 1 John. The problem with us is we are slaves of sin And the gospel liberates us not from being okay. With not being okay, the gospel liberates us from the problem of not being okay. The gospel liberates us from the chains of sin. This is the gospel when we are relieved of sin, when we are saved from sin, when Jesus dies on the cross for our sin we receive the gospel of Jesus Christ we received the good news and this is good news It is good news to be saved from sin, transgression of the law of God.
You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin. The absolute necessity of sanctification. Let me prove this first of all from Scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Pastor Snyder referred to this last night read a section of it again to you first corinthian six be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers shall inherit the kingdom of God.
In verse eight he says, this is the good news, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were justified, you were sanctified. Praise be to God, The gospel of Jesus Christ saves us from our sins. Amen. But there's the warning there. Be not deceived.
Those of you who believe we can countenance sin and that somehow the gospel delivers us from the guilt of sin and the punishment of sin, but has nothing to do with the power of sin, or the curse of sin upon our lives, here this should This should correct your thinking because here we read these words be not deceived do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers Nor homosexuals nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers shall inherit the kingdom of God See friends. It's it's impossible to say to Jesus. I want to be saved but I don't want to be saved from the guilt of sin, but I don't want to be saved from the power of sin over me. Give me the part of the blood of Jesus that forgives me of sin, but not that part of the blood that cleanses me from all sin. We confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But see, when it comes to salvation, you can't come to Jesus and say, Jesus, I love my sin, it's just the only part I don't like about it is my guilt and the punishment due my sin, so would you please just save me from the punishment but leave me to wallow in my sin and continue in my sin day in and day out, week in and week out, until I get to heaven where I can enjoy some more sin later on. You can't tell Jesus, I'll take the part of the blood of Jesus, just give me all of the cells of the blood of Christ that came from his veins on Calvary, and I will dissect every one of those cells of the blood cells that came out of the blood veins of Christ, and I will take that part of it that will cleanse me from the guilt of it, but not from the power of it. Friends, impossible. Impossible. You cannot separate out, you cannot dissect out the part of the blood of Jesus that satisfies the guilt of your sin, but does nothing for the power and the corruption of that sin in your life, impossible.
Revelation 21, seven and eight also tells us of those who inherit all things, which we take to be some reference to the kingdom of God referenced in 1 Corinthians 6. Revelation 21 7 & 8 reads, he that overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son But the fearful and the unbelieving and abominable and murderers and whoremongers shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire Brothers and sisters this means to us that those who are living out the lifestyle of homosexuality, adultery, drunkenness, reviling covetousness, etc. Will not inherit the kingdom of God unless verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 6 may be applied to them in which they are what? They are washed, they are justified, they are sanctified. These are the ones that will inherit the kingdom of God.
Now we're going to distinguish justification and sanctification here in just a moment. But I'm establishing for you the absolute necessity of sanctification as a part of the salvation gift that God gives to each of his elect. Now you take those families or those churches that are claiming to be Christian and yet they are rife with grudges and unresolved conflicts and it seems that there isn't a pattern of forgiveness going on, there isn't Any concept of biblical conflict resolution going on and you read a verse like Matthew? 615 if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses. How do you take that?
How do you take that now? I think you have to take it for the plain words that are expressed here. If there are feelings of bitterness that characterize families and churches, and these churches are not resolving conflicts and there isn't the spirit of forgiveness and there isn't the emphasis on forgiveness within the body, I think they need to hear Matthew 6 and verse 15. There is something essential about forgiveness in the life of a Christian. Listen carefully.
If you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses. If you will not forgive, neither will your heavenly father forgive you. There seems to be something very important, something very necessary about Christians forgiving each other. One of the ways I like to put it is that bus drivers drive buses. If you ever ran into a bus driver that didn't drive a bus, he gave you your car, there it was, his business card, bus driver, and he said, well, by the way, I don't drive buses.
He said, I'm a bus driver but I don't drive a bus. You'd have to conclude he's not a bus driver. Well, if somebody comes to you and says, I'm a Christian, but I don't forgive anybody, I think you'd have to conclude that they're not a Christian because Christians forgive others Christians forgive, it's what we do God forgives us, we forgive others We have received the forgiveness of $100 billion, and as we become aware of that, we increasingly forgive others. Here's $100, friend, go ahead, keep it. No problem here, $200, you owe me $1, 000?
Here's, keep it, keep it, keep it. You owe me $10, 000, keep it for yourself. Go ahead and offend me. Owe me something right now. Just offend me right now.
I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you. I've been the recipient of all this grace and forgiveness myself. Now I want to forgive you.
And I can hardly wait to forgive you. This is what a Christian is. This is a picture of the Christian. Now, I know that some will take these verses and they'll say, well, but don't those verses imply that my forgiveness will merit the forgiveness of God. It doesn't say that.
There's nothing in the passage that says that. So don't take it to that extent. Be oh so careful and cautious. It's talking about things that are concomitant, they come together, but it doesn't say that one merits the other. There is no merit here, but there's concomitance.
God forgives, we forgive, and it naturally follows. Now let's get back to this idea of salvation for a moment. What does the Bible say about salvation? It is assumed by many that salvation equals justification. Now the reformed world Doesn't believe that.
The Reformed world speaks of an order of salutis, an order of salvation, which salvation comes as a package deal. You get all these different aspects of salvation as a package deal. When you order it all together, it comes all together. You don't take one piece at a time. It's the whole thing comes.
You don't buy one piece at a time. It all comes together. By the way, you don't buy any of it. But salvation does not equal justification. This is a fatal flaw in American soteriology.
Salvation in Scripture, I'm going to give you a bunch of verses, applies to two different aspects. One is the already state of salvation and what we would call a not yet state of salvation. Already state of salvation is found in 1 Corinthians 1 18. In which we read, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are being saved, present passive participle. It is the power of God.
That is, there is a sense in which we are being saved. Someone says, when were you saved, what do you say? Well, let me tell you brother, I am being saved. This is what it looks like for a person who is being saved and use the present passive participle in order to express that to them. Now there's another sense in which salvation is not yet in that We have not realized every aspect of salvation yet.
Listen to 1 Corinthians 5, 5. Paul talks about delivering such a one as Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. That's a not yet idea of being saved, the idea of being at some point in the day of the Lord Jesus being glorified. Matthew 10 22, you shall be hated of all men for my sakes, but he that endures to the end shall be saved. What does that mean?
That means final glorification. Romans 13 11, that knowing the time that now it is high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation Nearer than when we believed now wait a minute some of you say I thought I believed a long time ago And that's when I was saved and now he's saying that I'm gonna be saved later on well. Yeah, that's because salvation includes something that is not yet, praise God, glorification. First Peter 1 and verse 5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And then verse 9, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, and then verse 10, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.
So, friends, salvation is an already and not yet phenomenon in our lives, and it involves a package deal. Here's an example of that in Titus 3 and verse 5. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. So salvation must necessarily include their regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. In 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, God has shown you to salvation through sanctification and belief of the truth.
Now here we have salvation including sanctification as well as saving faith. So now you see you have pieces of salvation that are revealed in different aspects here, these passages. Romans 8, 29, 30 is probably one of the most famous examples of this, whom he did for now he also did predestinate to be conformed the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren moreover whom he did predestinate he also called whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified. Let me say this my friends, A halfway salvation is not a salvation. Can we all agree on that?
If God says, I'm coming, I'm going to save the people. But it's only a halfway salvation. I get justification, I don't get sanctification. I get sanctification, I don't get preservation, perseverance of the saints. I don't get glorified.
Friends, that's not a very good salvation package. Wouldn't you all agree? When God saves, He gives you the package deal. 1 Corinthians 5, 15 and 17, If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished in this life. We only have hope in Christ. We are of all men most miserable Eventual glorification, the final resurrection of the body, essential, essential to the Christian faith, according to the Apostle Paul. Let's move on. I wanna now take a look at sanctification.
And I wanna show the connection between sanctification and adoption and justification. And you'll find it in the larger catechism of the Westminster confession, number 75 and also number 77. Let me read first on sanctification and then the connection between justification and sanctification. First of all, what is sanctification? Sanctification is a work of God's grace whereby they whom God has before the foundation of the world chosen to be holy are in time through the powerful operation of the spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God, having the seeds of repentance unto life and all other saving graces, put in their hearts and those graces so stirred up, increased and strengthened so that they are more and more dying to sin and rise unto newness of life.
Now, question 77, wherein do justification and sanctification differ? Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ in that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ, in sanctification his spirit infuses grace, and enables to the exercise thereof, in the former sin is pardoned, in the other it is subdued." There it is. Now, the first reformation was key. Because the first reformation established the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Our works do not pay for our right standing with God.
And that was established by the first reformation. The doctrine of justification was established by that first reformation. It was a powerful reformation and it had huge impact upon nations, upon the entire missionary movement, upon the entire globe. What would have happened if the first reformation hadn't happened? Well, the kingdom of God would have languished, but Jesus would not have it to be so.
Praise be to God that justification by faith alone was established and that justification and sanctification were not to be mixed. Distinct but not separate is what we like to say. That there is a non-separation mentioned although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification. I'd like to say that the second reformation needs to focus in upon the doctrine of sanctification and its right relationship with justification, that they are to be inseparably joined and yet maintain their distinction. There have been some in our day who have tried to move back to the doctrine of justification by faithfulness, in which they take the faith, they take the works, and they put it in a blender and turn it on high.
Now if you take some bananas and apples, put it in a blender, and turn it on high, is it possible to distinguish them once you've mixed them? It's impossible. It's why the mixing is such an issue. You mix justification, sanctification, There's no way now to distinguish it, and if you are justified by faithfulness, and justification, sanctification are mixed in the mix, then we're back to merit again. It's what makes it so dangerous.
Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. Let me read that to you. It's a critical text because it brings out sanctification as well as justification, so I'd like to read the text for you. Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. For by grace Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God?
Not of works lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Which God hath before ordained? That we Should walk in them As we take a look at sanctification now, I'd like to bring out three things that make sanctification, or the doctrine of sanctification, burdensome, intolerable, and a real burden to the people of God. Three things. Number one, here's the first. And this is one reason why it can be dangerous to preach the doctrine of sanctification in the church.
Some have abandoned it because they find so many dangers in preaching the doctrine of sanctification. They just turn away from it and I believe that also constitutes something of the modern day apostasy. So many different strains of apostasy in modern day Evangelicalism, I can hardly count them, but that's one of them, is to abandon the doctrine of sanctification. And they do so because they've seen a lot of mistakes made in the preaching of this doctrine. But here, three things that make sanctification a real bummer.
Number one, separating grace and faith from the process. That's number one. First thing you can do, if you want to make it a bummer, you separate grace and faith from the process of sanctification. Now I distinguish again, justification, sanctification, in this way, the catechisms do this, justification is an act of God's free grace, it's an act, it happens, it's not a process, sanctification is a work of God's free grace within us. So the first thing that you can do in the process of sanctification is to remove grace and remove faith from the process.
And this, my friends, is devastating. What does Ephesians 2, eight and nine say? For by grace are you saved through faith. What is salvation? What is salvation?
Salvation is what? By grace you are saved. From what? What are you saved from? What are we saved from?
Sin, thank you. By grace you are saved from sin, Through faith, but that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So let me ask you this, does that apply to justification or sanctification? How about a yes? We are saved by grace and through faith, And this radical separation of grace and faith from sanctification is devastating in the body of the church.
And it comes sometimes by way of this artificial distinction between evangelism and discipleship. This idea that we get people justified, we get them saved, which typically people think of as a justification, regeneration element. But then that's evangelism. And now we're going to ship them off to a discipleship ministry somewhere. We're taking the people who are saved, We're moving over to the discipleship center for the next five, six, eight years where they're gonna be discipled through these series of messages in which people receive all of the 15 rules on how you're gonna keep the fifth commandment, the 75 rules on how you're gonna keep the eighth commandment, and you go through all of this discipleship, and you're living in discipleshipville, you've moved from Faith Town over to Worksville, and Worksville is like six miles north, hang a right, you'll see it on the left, it's way over there, And so you're up here in Worksville working away and working away and working away.
It's not by grace, not through faith, but you continue to work away, work away. And then finally you're so burned out on all the legalism and all the sanctification, discipleship that's going on up here in Worksville, and you move back to Faith Town, where you hear the gospel, and you hear the grace, and the grace, the grace, the grace, the grace, the grace, the grace, the grace, for about two weeks, and then you move off to San Francisco and wind up in total apostasy. That's kind of the way American apostasy works. My suggestion is that you live in Faith Works town, distinct but not separate, and that town resides in Grace County. The separation of evangelism, disciples, faith and works, massive separation, always results in an antinomianism over here, sans any sanctification, or a works-based legalism over here.
And people will reverberate back and forth from legalism to antinomianism. Back to legalism, back to antinomianism. Why? Because they're forgetting the unity, the unity of justification and sanctification distinct but not separate, not to be separated but the distinction is essential. James 2 in verse 26, as the body without the spirit is dead.
So faith without works is dead also. It's impossible for me to separate my body from my soul. I can't just send my soul over here. Hang on a second, the body's just going to hang out over here while the soul's over there. No, the body and the soul work together, and yet you can distinguish them.
It's not hard for you to distinguish them. You know that what's invisible about Kevin Swanson is his soul, what's visible is the body, and yet it's impossible to separate the two. You maintain the distinction while not allowing for any separation, much like the heads and tails of a coin. If I was to give you a coin and say, just give me that heads, I don't need the tails, give me the heads. No, no, no, no, you're giving me the tails.
I want the heads. Give me the heads of that coin. It's impossible. It's impossible. You can't separate a heads and a tails, and yet you can distinguish them, can't you?
Distinct, but not separate. This is the picture we're given by scripture in James 2 and verse 26. So three things that make sanctification a real bummer. The first is separating grace and faith from the process. And by the way, you're in counseling with somebody and you're saying, why are you hanging in there with that porn habit?
You got this anger issue coming back again and again. Why do you argue with your husband all this? Well, I've been trying, I'm trying to obey him. I've been trying to submit him. I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't.
I'm, I try, I try so hard. What's the problem here? What's the problem here? The problem is we're not relying on the grace of Christ, the power of his death, the efficacy of his blood to wash away sin, the incredible influence of the Spirit of God that does the work and powers us. Yes, we work out our salvation by fear and trembling, but it's because God works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
First mistake, separating grace and faith from the process. Here's the second mistake, and that is separating forgiveness from the process. And this is why I like the beautiful story of the sinner woman who comes to the feet of Jesus. Jesus is in the house of the Pharisee, and Pharisee warns him, heads up, two o'clock, sinner. A sinner, she's coming in, she's coming in, she's getting closer, she's touching you.
She's touching you. Sinner woman. And the woman is weeping over the feet of Christ. She washes his feet with her tears. She's kissing his feet.
And Jesus turns to the Pharisee and says, Simon, take a look at this woman over here. When I came to your house, you didn't give me anything to eat. You didn't wash my feet, you didn't kiss my feet, no tears, no tears. But this woman has not ceased to wash my feet and wash them with their tears since she's been in this place. And then he turned to her and said, Simon, to whom much has been forgiven, She shall love much, and to whom little is forgiven, he loveth little." What a beautiful passage.
And friends, I truly believe that the resolution of sanctification, justification, the inseparability of this great doctrine comes in this story in which it's impossible. Here's why the stories are important because you can't cut the story in half. Here she is at the feet of Christ. She understands her sinfulness. She understands the gift of salvation.
She understands the forgiveness that Jesus gives her and the value of that. And that motivates her love for him. She loves much because she's been forgiven much. And the difference between the Pharisee and the sinner woman is simply found in the recognition of the self-consciousness of that sin. As you know, there's no difference.
There's no essential difference between the Pharisee and the sinner woman. Jesus said, I came not to call sinners or to call the righteous but to call sinners to repentance. And here this woman understands who she is And it may partially be to the fact that she is a social outcast. And we don't have many social outcasts today. You could do almost anything and everybody loves you.
The front page of the newspaper. But it might be the serial killers found on death row or something like that. Still, there's some people who find that to be socially unacceptable, maybe for another 10 years or so in our brave new world. But back then, they certainly had a sense of certain sins that were recognized to be sins by the society about them. But of course, Jesus expanded the definitions of sin in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and elsewhere, such that hopefully as those sermons are preached and as the Word of God begins to penetrate, men and women begin to understand that they are in desperate need of Christ's salvation as well as anybody else.
But here this woman, she has sinned much, she's been forgiven much, and she loves much, and Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And so the obedience, the obeying much, hinges on loving much, which hinges on forgiven much, which hinges on sinned much. So as we hear the word of God preached, brothers and sisters, I trust you begin to understand something of the depths of your sin, something of your need for salvation. This is the reason why the law of God must be preached in our churches because the law of God defines sin for us. Sin is the transgression of law.
So as we begin to get this self-conscious realization of how much we have sinned against God. And what a tremendous price the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid for us and the worth of that forgiveness, then we begin to love, then we begin to obey. So fundamentally, what's wrong with a guy who's saying, Jesus loves me, this I know, I'll keep on rolling with the flow. The problem is that he does not know that Jesus loves him. He doesn't know that Jesus died on the cross for his sins because he doesn't know very much about his own sin.
He doesn't understand or at least isn't recognizing and believing the judgment of God hanging over him. And so until the people of God understand something of sin and they understand something of what Jesus did on that cross for them, Friends, they won't love Him. They won't keep His commandments. Occasionally I hear people a little uptight with the imperatives. I have to worship Jesus.
I have to obey Him. I have to love my wife as Christ loved the church. I have to flee fornication, I have to be modest, I have to, I have to, I have to. What's the problem here? It just seems like I have to do so much for this Jesus.
It just seems like I can't do enough for him. Just seems like it's just too much for Jesus. Now that wasn't what this woman said. Why? Because she knew what Jesus did.
She had received, or at least in some way by faith apprehended something of his acceptance. The mere fact that she could touch him. Mere fact that he allowed her to come that close. A bit of that acceptance was noted, apparently on the front end of that meeting with that woman. And so she received his forgiveness and she loved much and she served Him.
So I think the goals of our meetings, brothers and sisters, by the power of the Spirit of God and the preaching of the Word, is that you understand how much you've sinned, that sanctification is more of a self-consciousness of our sinfulness. It's more of a recognition of the forgiveness of Jesus. Maybe we thought yesterday that he only gave us $10 billion by forgiving our debts, but today in the message as we heard the word preached again and it pierced you right down to the cutting of the marrow of your very heart, you realized, wow, Jesus did way more for me than I thought. Today I've found that I owe him $50 billion, but no, I don't anymore, because he forgave it. And so there's more of a self-consciousness of our need.
There's more of a self-consciousness of what he did in his forgiveness. It's more of a love for him that flows from that and more obedience and more service and more worship. Now do you see how it would be a tragedy for somebody to take that picture and cut it right into that story. It's impossible to cut a story anyway. She's just sitting there at his feet, weeping at his feet, what are you gonna do?
Now wait a minute, we're gonna pull aside the sin much and forgiven much, and we don't wanna move on the sanctification, the loving much, and the obedience anymore, so we're just gonna focus on antinomianism, and we're just gonna focus on the, well, we're not gonna focus on the law, because we don't want to get into the sin very much, but we're just going to focus on the forgiven much. But then it was just forgiven much, and we're not looking at the sin, the breaking of the law of God. Then now we're back to a cheap grace, and why in the world did Jesus have to die if it wasn't sin to begin with? And now it's antinomianism and cheap grace on this side, and if you cut it on the other side, what do you get? What happens if you cut away the cross?
What happens if you move on in the sermon, you have a 48-part series on sanctification in your churches and you forget all about the cross, forget all about forgiveness, forget all about the promise of forgiveness that Jesus gives us, and you just work over here. Friends, you know what happens. Eventually, again, that's legalism. Back to legalism, back to legalism. So the minute you cut the unity of the story in two, which happens in the theological constructs in the minds of way too many evangelicals, you will wind up with a legalism when you're over here in the area on the right hand of the cross dealing with the third use of the law and you're going to wind up with an anti-Nomianism on the other side.
Here's another quote from a modern evangelical reformed thinker. The Christian life is not a move from vice to virtue, but rather the move from virtue to grace. Well, what do we say to that? It is most definitely a move to grace, but it's not a move from virtue to grace. It's a move from vice to grace and a gracious sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in our lives.
Thirdly, here's the third negative of separating out Justification and sanctification but also adoption and that is preaching sanctification the third mistake you make is to lose identity in the process. First was to lose grace Second was to lose forgiveness and the third is to lose identity in the process. Give you an illustration to maybe help you to understand what I'm saying here. In the winter times in Elbert County, Colorado, it gets cold. Big snow storms occasionally will lose the electricity.
And imagine one of those winters, I have to go outside and split the wood. The heater is off because electricity is off, so I'm down below splitting the wood and I have a bad back. I'm looking up, I'm seeing my son sipping hot chocolate in the kitchen with his legs up on the counter. And I look up there and say, hey, son, come on down. Pointing my back.
Come on down, old dad, trying to split the wood, keep everybody warm. Come on down. So let's say the sun comes down. He says, dad, what do you want? I need a little help here, dad, son.
He says, dad, How many logs do I have to split to be your son? What do I say? Son, you're already my son. You don't have to split logs to prove it. You don't have to earn your sonship.
Dads don't count logs. You're with me. You were, you know, father, son. The family's due. I keep everybody warm.
Come on, let's split some wood. So he sort of gets it and he starts splitting wood and a day or two goes by. He looked down. Sure enough, he split six courts. I come down, son, what are you doing?
I love you son, what a great job. Oh, this is fantastic. Son, I'm gonna get you a brand new Camry. And we'll go out to country buffet, our favorite restaurant, and we'll have a good time. And he says, no, no, no, no, dad, that splitting six chords is like 140 bucks.
That's not a camera. Son, son, son. Dads don't count logs. Sons split cords, dads buy cars. That's what dads do, that's what sons do.
See friends, the problem is that when you begin to count the cords and count the logs, you're giving way to slave talk. Slaves are in the quid pro quo. Slaves tell you, how many logs do I have to split in order to not get whipped? Make dinner tonight. That's what slaves say.
But sons, just serve. We read in Galatians 4, you are no more a servant but a son. Son. And this I think is the essence of the parable of talents. How do you explain the talents?
Here you've got a guy who receives one talent, Another guy gets two, another guy gets five. Two of them double their talents to four and ten. The other doesn't do anything. Hides it in the ground. His master says, you are an unprofitable servant, take your way to the torturers.
Why did he say that? But that the servants referred to him as a tyrannical master. It was the perception of the master that above the half-hearted obedience. The relationship that we have in Christ, in the family of God, is critical for the obedience, for the activity within the family of God. You see, adoption is critical, friends.
I call it the cheese in the toasted cheese sandwich of soteriology. Justification, sanctification, cheese. Toasted cheese sandwich, distinct but not separate. Don't you love it? Somebody say that's pretty cool.
Thank you, sweetie. Matthew 15. We have Jesus condemning the Pharisees for their displacing the law of God by their traditions. But then later on the passage, verse six, Jesus said, you did it because your heart was far from me. In fact, when he tells the goats to depart at the end, he says, depart from me, you cursed, you workers of iniquity.
You workers of lawlessness. And then he gets to the core of it. He says, I never knew you. See, it's a relationship that matters, really matters. Relationship matters.
And relationship displaces all notes of quantity. I did a sermon on repentance one time, and somebody said, well, how much repentance do I have to do in order to be saved? Slave talk. How many logs? How many logs?
How much do I have to do in order to get by? How many, how many? That's not the way sons talk. Of course, I'm getting down to motive. Motive must be love.
So the question for all of us is who are we? Who are we? We're sons, we're friends in Christ. Listen to Colossians 3, 3. Your life is hid with Christ in God.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness which is idolatry. Let me give you two points to outline the process of sanctification. I don't have much time left. But here's two points. Number one, the first point, and we read this in the definition of sanctification, the Westminster larger catechism.
First point is the seed of sanctification where the root of sanctification is repentance. And repentance comes about as a result of regeneration. God changes the heart. Men were called to metanoeo, a change of mind, and that delivers a change of life. But do remember repentance is essential in the process of sanctification.
And repentance is a lifelong endeavor. According to the first thesis of Luther's 95 Theses, it is a lifelong endeavor. So the basic problem, of course, is our mind is messed up. And the first area in which you need to repent is in the assumption that there's something, that there's nothing wrong with your mind, that your mind is okie-dokie, everything's okay. So as you hear the word preached every Sunday or on Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, remember that the Word of God is there to renew your mind.
It's there to readjust the way you think about things. So you need to have a change of mind regarding the necessity of a change of mind. That's the first thing in repentance. Repentance is the great unifier that brings us all together for a common purpose on a Sunday morning. Obviously worship is as well.
We all come as those who are grateful for the work of Jesus Christ for us. But we also come because we come from all these different backgrounds that we might continue in the process of renewing minds and repenting in various areas. Now what is essential here are the areas of repentance, sanctification, mortification, listed in Colossians 3.5. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Sins to confess and to repent of.
Covetousness, the idolatry and materialism. A failure to care for the poor. Bible refers to these often times in the context of repentance. Any form of idolatry, Ezekiel 14.4, therefore speak to them and say to them the says the Lord God anyone in the house of Israel takes his idols into his heart sets the stumbling block was iniquity force face yet comes to the Prophet I the Lord will answer him as he comes with a multitude of idols that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord, repent and turn away from your idols.
Turn away your faces from all abominations. Brothers and sisters, wherever there are idols that are displacing, in some way, eroding your ability to focus, to worship the true and living God, to serve the true and living God, if there's something that's getting in the way, There's some more important element in your life that is trumping the worship of God, the worship and service of God. That is something to repent of. You need a change of mind concerning the essential element of your life, the emphases of your life, the priorities of your life, you need to have a change of mind in those areas. We are to have a change of mind in those areas that represent the salient sins of the day.
Whether it be statism, whether it be the lack of fear of God, in the way that we do our worship, in the way we do our education. Doesn't matter if you're homeschooled, private schooled, public schooled. It seems to me that the worship, the fear of God, is sadly lacking in most education today, which is affecting the way that we worship on Sundays as well. Wherever there is pseudo-love, pseudo-justice, or pseudo-knowledge, we need a change of mind concerning those things. A change of mind concerning the empty forms of entertainment that become more important than the word of God in our homes.
Or the big sins that have easily ensnared us. I don't know what those sins might be in your life, but it might be pornography, or gluttony, or drunkenness, or slothfulness, or rebellion against husbands and fathers on the part of daughters and wives, anger among fathers, dishonoring children, dysfunctional courtships that result from dishonor, and lack of love paid to our sons and our daughters. These are wicked things from which we must repent. But four of the five areas of repentance called out in Colossians 3 and verse 5 are sexual in nature. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we need to address any form of ungodly lust or sexual sin that has crept up within our own lives, within our own hearts, within our churches today.
80% of young men are addicted to pornography, according to recent surveys from covenanteyes.com. 80% of young men 18 to 25 are hitting the bad sites on a weekly or monthly basis. You start opening these things up. You start confessing these things. And by the way, the first step in the area of repentance is to open it up and to confess it.
This is also a first step in the area of mortification. I'll get to that in just a moment. But it's important for you friends, if you have these sins in your life, that you open them up and start confessing them. And don't minimize them. Those who minimize their sins and refuse to confess them are in trouble.
And I call them to repentance today based upon the authority of the Word of God. Much of the emasculation of men in our day I believe is tied into the problem that they're hitting the wrong websites on a regular basis. And here's what you're going to find. You're gonna find where fathers are hitting the bad websites in the basement in the first generation, the sons will become homosexual in the second generation. It's happened often.
I've seen it a lot. And it's because according to the church fathers, pornography and some elements like that associated with pornography is homosexuality-lite. They always consider it to be homosexuality light. Because it doesn't involve a real woman. So see, even as I speak right now I'm trying to change your mind somewhat towards this wretched sin of pornography and gratifying your sinful lusts through that means.
And the word of God today is calling you to mortify these sinful lusts, confess these sins, and bring these sins to the cross of Jesus Christ for forgiveness. Jesus said if you confess your sins, I am faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. That's the promise from 1 John 1.9. Take that home with you. Now sometimes some of you may need a fundamental shift in your mind, repentance is a way of life, but there's a point at which a person is converted.
I know this has been preached earlier today, but there are fundamental, poor ways of thinking, bad ways of thinking that need to be changed in your mind. Jeffrey Dahmer had a tremendous testimony before he was put to death, and I was amazed to find his profession of faith, and I interviewed the man who baptized him, it was an amazing interview, a tremendous turnaround, this man's life before he died. Probably the worst man who's lived in our generation. If people are trying to think of a horrible figure to bring out, somebody who, most dastardly sinner that has lived in the last 20, 30 years. Friends, this is an example of that.
Praise be to God. He got a hold of him the last six months of his life and he had an interview with NBC, MSNBC a day before he was put to death, or somebody murdered him in the prison cell. And here's what he said, this is what Jeffrey Dahmer said, potentially the worst man who ever lived, according to social standards in our day. This is what Jeffrey Dahmer said, I considered myself to be nothing more than an animal, a piece of cosmic dust." But he says, Now I have come to understand that Jesus Christ created me and everything else began to fall into place. Isn't that something?
Praise God. That man had a tremendous turnaround in his heart and mind. And until you understand like Jeffrey Dahmer did that Jesus Christ created you and you are accountable to him and he died on the cross because we are rebels against him. Friends, you haven't repented. So first, it begins with a fundamental change of mind.
And once that happened in his mind, he was in his right mind and he began to read the word of God and apply it to various areas. Incredible. Well, the second element of sanctification is a holy violence to the destruction of the flesh. This is warfare. You're called to warfare.
A violent, painful, intense warfare much like storming a castle. Men will wade through blood for an earthly kingdom and crown. What will they do for the heavenly? This is what sanctification involves. We are called to battle.
We're called to mortify, putting to death the sinful flesh. Thomas Watson said, if we get to heaven, we must force our way. We must besiege it with sighs and tears and get the scaling ladder of faith to storm it. We must not only work but fight. A Christian is commanded to warm-hearted service.
He must charge through the whole army of his lusts, every one of which is stronger than Goliath. The Christian has no time to lie fallow. He must be either praying or watching on the Mount of Faith or in the valley of humiliating. This is the life we're called to. Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas.
Isaac Watts. Sure, I must fight if I would reign increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain supported by thy word. This involves the holy violence to ourselves. As the Puritans would say, our flesh is like a boa constrictor, it kills by embracing.
So what do you do with a boa constrictor that's wrapped itself around you? You hack at it. You cut at it. Like a mountain climber up on that cliff out in Utah who was there for an entire week, his arm caught in that crevice. He pulled out a dull pocket knife and he carved at his own arm and carved at it and carved at it and carved at it.
What the word of God calls us to is something more painful than that, brothers and sisters. It's something that's far more personal to ourselves than even our own arm because it's a flesh that is within us that we must cut out, and we do so by the grace of God, by the power of the spirit of God, and we work and we work at cutting those pieces of flesh out of us, we hack at it, we hack at it, and we hack at it. This is the process of sanctification, to the violence to ourselves. It's also a violence to the world. A violence that is extensive and intensive.
2 Corinthians 10 5-7 speaks of us casting down imaginations. Every high thing that exalts itself above the knowledge of God in Christ, it's every high thing. We go after everything. There's any kind of input out there that's worldly, that's based in flesh, lust, and pride. We go after that thing.
But then verse seven of the passage reminds us that we do not, we cannot avenge all disobedience until we have perfected our own obedience, So is this personal application, individual application to ourselves that is a precursor to the avenging the disobedience that is out there. Yes, it is important to go after the fleshly, lusty, evil, unrighteous things going on in the world around us. I interviewed a fellow recently who's got a ministry to set the captives free, this horrific child slavery going on in Cambodia and Thailand. Worst form of sexual decadence known to man that is largely encouraged by the Western sexual decadence that's come out in the last 50 years or so. This demonic thing that's been let loose on the world is awful and Christians are out there fighting for justice and trying to bring mercy out there.
But friends, you can't get out there and avenge this disobedience unless you have gone after your own problem in the basement and visiting the wrong websites yourself. You see how that works. So as a Christian, yes, it is important to bring every imagination, every institution into the obedience of Christ. But there's always an individual application that must happen first. There's a perfection, there's a maturation of personal obedience that happens first.
And it happens, of course, by the grace of God, by the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from our sins. This violence to the world happens in the telling of the truth. Telling of the truth concerning those things that tempt, those things that attempt to lighten the issue. Some look at the abortifacient birth control pill as nothing but a means of convenience for any old evangelical family out there. But friends, I think we ought to just tell the truth.
The abortifacient birth control pill is as bad as an abortion when it prevents the implantation of that little person to the uterus of that mother. That's telling the truth. And yes, the world will hate you for it. But when you say that Sports Illustrated cover is a Proverbs 7 woman, and her guests are in hell, They are the cadavers that will burn forever and ever. Friends, it puts a new light on the front page of Sports Illustrated, doesn't it?
When we define welfare as stealing and the abdication of the church, we tell the truth And the world will not like you for it. The world will hate you. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Any friend of the world is an enemy of God. So it's for us to go after the world and maintain a holy violence against the world.
Finally, it is a violence to Satan, our archenemy whom we are to resist steadfast in the faith. And this is pretty straightforward. You resist the devil by using Bible verses as Jesus did in his temptation. And any four year old kid can do this. You can just say a Bible verse.
I have, I believe had a fair amount of demonic oppression in my life over the last year or so. But I will tell you, you recite the Bible verses. And if he's there for two minutes, you recite them for two minutes. If he's there for half an hour, you do it for half an hour. If he's there for two hours, you go after it for two hours.
You recite the Bible verses. And He will go away. Well, in conclusion, my encouragement to you is to continue the good fight. Fight the good fight. Be far on your battle.
Remember this is a battle we fight with Christ, with the power of Christ, standing on the grace of Christ, engaging all of the enemies of Christ. And what has sin or the devil done for you? What has the devil done for you? What has sin done for you? It's my goal tonight to encourage you to hate sin with as much hatred as possible.
But also consider this, what has Christ done for you? I pray these would be tremendous motivations to you. You know what sin does, you know it ruins relationships, you know what evil wicked habits do to marriages. You know these things. You've seen them many times, I'm sure.
Sin has done you no favors. Sin is your enemy. It's your archenemy. Fight sin with all that you have, but remember what Christ has done for you as CT stud great missionary to Africa said if Jesus Christ be the son of God and gave himself for me there is nothing I cannot give for him this is the great motivation and we do remember friends this battle is not long it's it's It's merely a minute or two in comparison with eternity. Probably not even that.
If you were standing in eternity looking at you right now, what would you say? You're looking at yourself. And you looked at the way you were living your life for the last two years. What would you say about yourself? You'd say, too much anemia, not much engagement, not really involved that much.
Why so disengaged? Why not receiving the encouragement from the preaching of the word of God. Why taking all that entertainment? Why not being in the word of God? Why not equipping myself even more with all of the armor of God and engaging the battle with everything I'm worth?
I think those are the things you'd say about yourself right now. And this battle, remember, is important. It counts for eternity. I'm not saying it earns your salvation, but I'm just saying what we engage here for the Kingdom of God is a blessing for eternity. The wars engaged by the physical nations around the globe have very little influence upon what happens in eternity.
But this battle matters for eternity. For those of you who may be a little plateaued in your life, a little washed up, I want you to think about the prophet Samuel, who did most of his mighty acts after he was 80 years of age. A gleam in his eye. Still at 80 years of age, or 85 years of age, or 90 years of age, that great prophet Samuel is engaging, he's anointing David, he's condemning Saul, he's hacking Agag to pieces. He's engaged, man.
He's an encouragement. There's nobody too old to engage this great battle for eternity. You say others have fallen in this battle, but I say others have stood. Don't focus on those who have fallen. Don't focus on those who walk away.
Focus on those who stand. Keep your eye on Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. So get your armor on, fight in faith, stand in the strength of Christ, and maintain a holy resilience in this battle. Yes, I know the enemies keep coming.
They come and they come. Sometimes it feels like you've been up against 10, 000 orcs in the last two weeks. Well, you need to get ready for 50, 000 more. Gain a little gleam in your eye, a little courage, a little faith in the battle, a recognition this battle is not forever and ever, a recognition that there is somebody standing with you, there is somebody fighting with you, there's one who is encouraging you to the battle and has led you in the battle. And one day, there will be two figures, not just one, two figures walking out of the river and up to the castle.
It is the figure of yourself and the figure of your captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, who takes you into that castle to be there in the kingdom of heaven forever and ever, to live happily ever after. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this great battle that you have brought us into. Father, thank you for the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God within us. We thank you for the grace of Christ that enables us.
Father, thank you for the gift of faith that encourages us along the way and maintains that resilience in the battle. Father, thank you for your love for us at the cross of Jesus Christ. We thank you that we just have a picture of that. And Father, we pray that as we continue to fix our eye upon that cross, we would take upon ourselves a piece of that love, a piece of that blood that pours over us and empowers us and strengthens us in overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil in this most important battle we wage. Father bless the remainder of this conference.
May your spirit do the work. In Jesus name. Amen. For more messages articles and videos on the subject of conforming the church and the family of the Church and the Family to the Word of God, and for more information about the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, where you