This sermon by Eric Bechler, titled 'Of Sanctification,' examines Chapter 13, Paragraph 1 of the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession. It delves into the doctrine of sanctification, explaining how those united to Christ through effectual calling and regeneration are sanctified by the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in this process by applying the work of redemption personally to believers, enabling them to become more holy. Sanctification is described as both a definitive and progressive process, where believers are set apart as holy through a past act of God but continue to grow in holiness throughout their lives. The sermon distinguishes between justification, a legal declaration, and sanctification, which involves a real change in the believer's nature. It emphasizes the necessity of sanctification for salvation, stating that without it, there is no justification or ultimate glorification. The sermon concludes with a call to diligent spiritual discipline and devotion to grow in grace, highlighting the lifelong nature of the sanctification process.

Chapter 13 of sanctification, paragraph 1. 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 holy body of sin is destroyed and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified. And they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Okay, this week we begin our chapter on sanctification. Before we dig into our paragraph this morning, I would like to speak at what sanctification means and how it is, how it fits with the effectual call, justification, and glorification.

The word sanctification means to set apart, to consecrate, or to make holy. Noah Webster defines it as the act of making holy in an evangelical sense the act of God's grace by which the affections of men are purified or alienated from sin in the world and exalted to a supreme love to God to make holy. It's interesting that when we look at the persons of the Godhead, we have God the Father, we have God the Son, and we have God the Holy Spirit. We don't normally say God the Spirit, but we say the Holy Spirit. Dr.

Sproul states, in the economy of redemption and the functions that are performed by the persons of the Godhead, the Father initiates the plan of redemption. The Son accomplishes the redemption and the Holy Spirit applies the work of redemption to our lives personally. It is by the Holy Spirit that we are regenerated in the first place through His indwelling work. He is the one who is working in us to affect our sanctification, to make us actually holy. We see this to some degree in the layout of the London Baptist Confession.

In chapter seven of covenants with man, we see God the Father initiating a plan of redemption. In chapter 8 of Christ the Mediator, we saw God the Son accomplishing this redemption. In chapter 9 of free will, we concluded that our free will is not able, our free will is not able on its own to gain us the redemption accomplished by Christ. Our redemption comes only from the Holy Spirit's work in us. Then chapters 10 through 18 cover the application of that redemption accomplished by Christ, from the effectual call to the assurance of grace and salvation.

In fact, we could state that chapters 10 through 18 cover the Holy Spirit's work in our redemption. We can look at Romans 8 to see what is the Holy Spirit doing. In verses 29 through 30, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called them, he also justified.

And whom he justified them, he also glorified. We see there is an order to the process of salvation. It starts with, God the Father for knowing and predestinating the elect, those chosen before the foundations of the world were laid. Second Thessalonians 2.13, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. And those He predestinated, He called.

And this is that effectual call, that inward call we looked at in chapter 10. And remember that the effectual call refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. And that everyone that receives it responds in faith. So first is regeneration and then faith. And from faith, we are justified.

Thus, effectual calling and regeneration lead to faith. From faith we are justified. The lead of faith. Faith yields justification and then comes sanctification and finally glorification. Dr.

Sproul makes a distinction between sanctification and justification. In the evangelical world, techniques have been developed to win the people to Christ, such as the altar call, the raising of the hand, the saying of the sinner's prayer, the signing of a card, and the outward expressions of affirming the gospel. However, we have to remember that justification is by faith, not by the profession of faith. A mere profession of faith justifies no one. There are people who make a profession of faith and evidence absolutely no difference in their lives.

Justification must be distinguished from sanctification, and sanctification is never the grounds of justification. But if there is no sanctification going on in one's life, that is the clearest evidence that there is no justification. Sanctification follows justification necessarily, inevitably, and immediately. With that, Let's look at our paragraph this morning. It begins, They who are united in 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.

So, those who are united to Christ have been by definition effectually called and regenerated. They have a new heart and a new spirit within them. This was made possible from the work of Christ through his death and resurrection, and we are sanctified by faith in Christ and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We can look at Ezekiel 36, 26, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. In Acts 26, 18, to open their eyes and to turn them from the darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

And also in 1 Corinthians 6 11, and such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. I've always thought of sanctification as a process starting when we're saved, wherein we move from sinfulness to holiness and not fully being completed until we die and go to heaven where we are glorified. However, it's not so simple a matter as this. If we look to scripture, scripture gives us a picture of sanctification, both as something that has happened as a completed action and as something that is ongoing, So both. As an example, we can look at 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints.

The Greek word for sanctified has a grammatical tense there of the perfect passive participle. I had to look that up because I was public schooled. This means that it represents an action that was completed in the past but has continuing results. In the commentaries I was looking at, they labeled these distinctions as definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification. And Dr.

Sproul explains, In several places in the New Testament in which some variation of the Greek word for sanctify is used, It has special respect to a past definitive act of God by which believers are said to be, to already have been sanctified. In 1 Corinthians 1-2 that I read, 1 Corinthians 6-11, 2 Timothy 2-21, The scriptural usage of the word in Greek, hagiazo, in its various forms carries the idea of being holy or being in a state of holiness or being made holy. It's used to refer to a completed reality on the basis of the finished work of Christ. This is our definitive sanctification, the decisive breach with sin that believers have already experienced and are being set apart as God's holy people. This flows from the work of Christ.

When Jesus died on the cross, he died to the power and dominion of sin as the representative of his people. This has consequence for believers. And it is why Paul tells those who have trusted in Christ that they are to reckon themselves to be dead to sin. Dr. Sproul continues, while definitive sanctification is a once for all act of God in breaking the bondage of sin in believers' lives, progressive sanctification is the ongoing work of God's grace whereby the Holy Spirit enables the regenerate to put sin to death more and more in their lives.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism offers the following definition of progressive sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. The goal of progressive sanctification is conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit unites a sinner to Christ, he begins the progress of renewing the whole person. Because sin has affected every part of fallen mankind, sanctification affects renewal throughout the whole person.

The next sections will break out into three parts. They who are united to Christ are also farther sanctified really and personally through the same virtue and by His word and spirit dwelling in them. What does it mean really and personally here? Robert Shaw explains antinomians. This is people that believe that Christians by virtue of grace are free from biblical or moral laws.

Antinomians maintain that believers are sanctified only by the holiness of Christ being imputed to them, that there is no inherent holiness infused into them, nor required of them." I'll interject a comment here into his passage. Dr. Shaw uses the terms imputed and infused. These are specific words we used in discussing justification a while ago. We have Christ's righteousness imputed to us for justification.

God looks at us and sees Christ's righteousness, and we are declared justified. Yet we still have sin. Our nature hasn't changed. In contrast, some believe that we are infused with Christ's righteousness, meaning that our nature has actually changed and our nature now has Christ's righteousness in it. This is contrary to Scripture as we find in Romans 3 10 as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.

So with respect to sanctification, where our nature actually changes, unlike with justification and adoption, which are legal declarations, it's more correct to say that we are infused with Christ's holiness rather than imputed or covered. So, back to his comments here. Antinomians maintain that believers are sanctified only by the holiness of Christ being imputed to them and that there is no inherent holiness infused into them nor required of them. This is a great and dangerous error. And in opposition to it, our confession asserts that believers are really and personally sanctified.

Their sanctification includes the mortification of sin in their members. Their sanctification includes also the fruits of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance from Galatians 5. These are personal things. They are wrought in the hearts of believers and produced in their tempers and lives. It is absurd to say that they are in Christ imputed to believers.

They are the effects of the Holy Spirit imparted to us, whose operations are compared by Christ himself to a well of water within us, springing up unto everlasting life. We can look at Romans 6 22, but now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end of everlasting life." In 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24, and the very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it." The second part here, they who are united to Christ are also farther sanctified through the same virtue. The same virtue is referring to the phrase previously used in our paragraph, the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection. This is a source of our being united to Christ and our sanctification.

Without the work of Christ, no one would be justified, sanctified, or glorified. In Philippians 3 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. And in Romans 6 verses 5 and 6 that we read, For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth we should not serve sin." In the third part of this, they who are united to Christ are also farther sanctified by His word and Spirit dwelling in them. And by what means does this farther sanctification take place? It takes place by His Word and the Spirit dwelling in them.

And we read of His Word in Scripture in John 17, 17, sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. In Ephesians 5, 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. We read of his spirit in scripture in Ephesians 3 16 through 19, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." In Romans 8, 13, and 14, for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. It is through His word and Spirit that we are sanctified." Now, in the progress of sanctification, we see two things happening, one negative and the other positive. It continues, the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified. This is the negative. And they more and more quicken and strengthen in all saving graces to the practice of all true holiness.

Through regeneration, our will is freed from slavery and bondage to sin. The dominion of sin over the person is destroyed. It doesn't mean we are without sin because we all sin, but that we are no longer slaves to sin, that sin no longer has complete power over our will. From Romans 6-14, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. The lusts are more and more weakened and mortified through sanctification.

Mortify means to destroy or subdue. In Ephesians 4, 22-25, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." We see in Galatians 5.24, they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. There's a number of other verses that support this as well. Not only the dominion of sin is destroyed and lust weakened and subdued and destroyed, but they, meaning the believers, are more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces.

Quickened means alive and revived to the practice of all true holiness. We see here a progression from sinfulness to holiness. Colossians 3.12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and long-suffering. Colossians 1.11, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness." In Titus 2, 11 through 14, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Finally, without sanctification, there would be no change in the nature of man, no justification, no faith, without which no man shall see the Lord, which is our last part, without which no man shall see the Lord, " which is our last part, without which no man shall see the Lord.

As Dr. Sproul said earlier, if there's no sanctification going on in one's life, that is the clearest evidence that there is no justification. Synctification follows justification necessarily, inevitably, and immediately. If you're not justified, you're not saved. You will not be holy.

You will not be glorified. In Matthew 5, 8, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. In Hebrews 12, 14, follow peace with all men in holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. In Romans 6, 22, but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness and the outcome is eternal life. There's a pattern that we all experience throughout our lives.

The older one becomes, the more sanctified they become, and the more aware that we have imperfections, failures, and sins. The more holy one becomes, the more unholy he realizes he is. This is why Paul describes himself as the foremost of sinners in 1 Timothy 1.15, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. And Isaiah's reaction to the presence of the Lord's glory in Isaiah 6-5, then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Sanctification is not completed until we are raised to glory in the presence of our Lord.

And I'll end with a comment from Dr. Sproul. Sanctification is a lifelong battle. It takes determination to lay hold of the riches of God's grace. It takes diligent discipline, devotion to prayer, and a serious reading of Scripture.

No one gets sanctified with five minutes of Bible reading a day, the word has to be our meat and drink if we want to grow in grace. We don't get sanctified by going to church every six weeks and neglecting corporate worship or fellowship or service. Through all these means of grace, the Holy Spirit works with us to bring us to spiritual maturity. All these disciplines are necessary and involve work. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure Philippians 2 12 and 13 Growth in the Christian life is labor intensive We have to work at it.

We have to study. We have to worship. And even after we do all these things on a regular basis, we find that we are still sinners in need of a Savior. Amen.