Completely Done 3 – Sanctified

[0:00] To the third installment of Completely Done.! So this idea, this truth that God secures us in the Christian life through a series of acts of God.

[0:17] ! You know, a golden chain that keeps us and sustains us and makes us eternally secure. You know, you think about our culture right now.

[0:30] Everybody is desperate for security. You know, we live in a culture that's just trying to control everything, trying to prove yourself, but also trying to secure yourself.

[0:48] And Christianity is the only thing that offers true security through a work that's not done by us, but done by God on our behalf and done by God in us.

[1:01] And that's kind of what we're going to study. So the first week was called, which included, you know, regeneration, conversion, work of God, and cause us to be born again.

[1:12] Last week was justified and adopted. So these two acts that coincide with God accepting us and then welcoming us into His family.

[1:24] This one's a little bit different to think about in this rhythm, but sanctified. So sanctification, sanctified, set apart for God and for His purposes.

[1:37] And so sanctification, though I think sometimes we might not think of it, is a part of this golden chain. Sanctification, just like justification and like our calling, flow to us through our union with Christ and is a part of what God does in us as we await glorification.

[1:56] And so Romans 8.30, that's where the golden chain comes from, from William Perkins. Those whom He predestined, He also called. Those whom He called, He also justified.

[2:07] Those whom He justified, He also glorified. So if you're an astute listener, you notice sanctified is not in there. And nevertheless, it is a part of the order of salvation, the smart guys would tell us.

[2:21] And so it is important. But it's assumed in there that there's sanctification. In fact, what Paul has been arguing from Romans 6 to 8 is a part of what God does.

[2:32] When He justifies us, He sanctifies us. And so I'm going to read our statement of faith. This is the little, you know, it's only a handful of sentences that address sanctification.

[2:44] And then we'll kind of break that out as we go. We should have a little bit more time for questions if you're so inclined. So you should have this on your outline.

[2:55] As the all-sufficient Savior, Christ also sanctifies us. So this is right after the section on justification. Hence the also. Christ also sanctifies His people, cleansing them from the impurity of sin and setting them apart for God and His service.

[3:14] The renewing work of the Holy Spirit breaks their bondage to sin and Satan and raises them to new life, enabling believers to put to death sin and grow in likeness to Christ.

[3:27] Sanctification is therefore both a definitive, that means like a point in time, definite act of God, and a progressive and ongoing, perhaps more gradual work of the Spirit.

[3:44] So we're going to kind of break this out kind of the way we did last time, which is essentially a series of points on the meaning of sanctification. The first is the meaning of sanctification.

[3:56] What does this word sanctification mean? What is, you know, it comes from the word for holiness, to sanctify something. And so whereas justification, the context is the courtroom, as we talked about last week, this awareness that we need to be accepted before God, before a holy judge.

[4:17] The context of sanctification is the worship of God. You know, another guy, another author put it this way, if justification is a judicial concept, sanctification is a spatial concept.

[4:32] This idea that, and we see this immediately in our Bibles, God is the holy one, is separate from all that is unholy. So we know that God is separate from all that is made because of His, because of His difference and His ontological difference.

[4:48] He is the eternal God. We are finite creatures. We are, He's the creator. We are the created. And so in the beginning, God, God reigned over all things.

[4:58] God was from all times, from everlasting to everlasting. And yet, He's also different from us after sin in our nature. God has no impurities at all.

[5:11] God is light, and in Him there's no darkness at all. And so there's a separation between God and man. That's why He says it's a spatial concept. There's this separation between God.

[5:21] God is holy, and man is sinful. And we see that throughout the Bible. Immediately in the garden, you notice, after Adam and Eve sinned against God and ate the apple, their eyes were opened to see that they were naked, and they hid, right?

[5:39] So they had this inner awareness of their guilt and their shame. But they don't just continue to live in the garden, happily ever after, and continue to walk with the Lord. No, the Lord pushes them out of the garden.

[5:52] That's a symbol, or more than a symbol. That is an act of separating the sinful from the holy. The garden was God's place.

[6:03] The garden where man was called to live before God, unmediated access to God, and God separated.

[6:13] We see the same thing in the tabernacle, you know. Even though God was with His people, and we saw it in the pillar of fire by night, and the cloud by day, God was with His people.

[6:26] And yet, when God told them to construct the tabernacle, and how to worship Him, He lived in a separate tent. That they just weren't able to go into whenever they wanted to.

[6:37] They needed to prepare themselves. They needed to cleanse themselves. We see it in the temple as well, with the holy place separated from the common place. And so, Isaiah 59 says, The Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, or His ear dull that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have made a separation.

[6:55] So, why is this separation between God and man? Why is there this spatial separation? Because of our iniquities. Your sins, Isaiah 59 says, have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.

[7:09] I didn't put all the scriptures in there, because I wanted it to fit on one page. And, you know, it's a little cumbersome. You probably didn't want to follow along with all of them. But, obviously, God, in the Old Testament, God rescues His people.

[7:24] He sets them apart for Himself. You know, we think about when God sent Moses into Egypt. He said, Let my people go, that they may worship me.

[7:37] So, there's people that were slaves. God calls them to worship Him. If you remember in Exodus 19, He said, I delivered you on eagles' wings to be to me a kingdom of priests in a holy nation.

[7:52] And so, God sanctifies His people. That's what's going on. God, He rescues them, and then He sets them apart from all the other peoples of the earth to be His people.

[8:03] Then He gives them His law and how to walk it out. And the same thing happens to us after salvation. There's this reality that God rescues us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Son so that we would be a kingdom of priests unto God.

[8:19] So, there's a separateness that is good and right from us and the world. In fact, Paul says, you know, in 1 Corinthians several times, he talks about the way we relate to the world, you know, when he's judging an unbeliever for some gross sexual immorality in the church.

[8:33] He says, But we don't judge the world. So, you can open up the New York Times or Wall Street Journal or whatever is your newspaper of choice, and you're going to read all sorts of things that would incur discipline within the local church, but our responsibility is not to judge them.

[8:48] Also, Paul says, you know, there should be a difference in the way Christians relate to one another when it comes to legal matters than the way the people in the world relate. So, they're separate.

[8:59] I find it striking, 1 Peter 1, which I think you do have, Paul applies these same categories to us. You know, he says, You yourselves are like living stones are being built up into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

[9:17] All of that is sanctification language. Spiritual sacrifice, the holy priesthood, you know, that reminds us of Leviticus. Then he says, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim His excellencies.

[9:35] So, there's this idea that we, after conversion, when we're sanctified, sanctified, we're set apart to worship God. So, in the same way as justification, sanctification is through our union with Christ.

[9:50] And, you know, Hebrews 10, 14, hits this, By a single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Provokingly, 1 Corinthians 1, 30, says, And because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

[10:12] All the benefits of salvation flow to us through union with Christ. You know, I think one of the most provocative metaphors in the New Testament that capture this is the vine and the branches.

[10:27] The Lord says, I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in Him bears much fruit. is capturing this idea. Even there, he talks about pruning the vine and changing the vine.

[10:41] But it's capturing this idea that the life that we need to walk and serve the Lord to be devoted to Him is through Jesus Christ. You know, same context where Jesus says, Sanctify them in the truth.

[10:55] Your word is truth. And so, first and foremost, it's through Jesus Christ. So that's kind of generally the meaning of sanctification. I think it'll make more sense as we go. So, secondly, the agent of sanctification.

[11:08] So, you know, obviously, there's a real sense of which all that God does, all three persons of the Trinity are at work. And so, it can kind of, you know, it's kind of a three-fold cord that is not easily broken or split apart.

[11:22] And so, as Ecclesiastes said, and yet, the agent of sanctification most often attributed in the New Testament is the Holy Spirit. So, unlike justification and adoption, which are acts that are done outside of us, for us, sanctification is an act of God done in us.

[11:43] God does a work in us that is, that changes us forever. We're made alive. You know, John 3 says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

[11:59] That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit. Now, water and the Spirit is not a reference to baptism there. We know that because the very next sentence says, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit.

[12:15] So, this new birth is not about passing through the waters of baptism. Rather, that's a reference to Ezekiel 36, that God says Ezekiel 36, my people cannot fear me.

[12:27] And so, I'm going to come to them, I'm going to cleanse them with some real water. You know, the waters of regeneration is what Titus 2 calls it. I'm going to take their heart of stone out and put in a heart of flesh.

[12:43] I'm going to cause them to fear me. You know, ultimately what the Bible says is, why are you different than any other person? Why do you find it easy to believe the things of Christianity?

[12:54] And yet, maybe some of your family members or some of your children or some of your neighbors do not. Why? Ultimately, because God has done this work. He has made you alive.

[13:07] Yet, suddenly, things make sense. And so, that work of regeneration begins where the Spirit causes us to be made new. You know, it's very important.

[13:18] We could go on and on here, but there's this idea that God, what is flesh is flesh, He says. And all of us are born in the flesh and yet, suddenly, we're pulled out of the flesh and filled with the Spirit.

[13:33] We are in the Spirit and the Spirit is now in us, working in us. We're made alive, you know, and completely changed.

[13:45] And so, that agent of sanctification setting apart us for God is the Holy Spirit. So, it obviously begins with regeneration, but it continues there.

[13:56] We're set free. We're delivered from death. You know, those who are in the flesh will die. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God, Romans 8 tells us.

[14:07] But look at that, Romans 8.10, But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life, because of righteousness, you know, suddenly these things come alive.

[14:18] So, we're delivered from death through this work of God in us. He raises us from the dead. Once we were dead in trespasses and sin, but now we're made alive according to the work of God.

[14:32] We're delivered from sin slavery. I love the way Ephesians 4 talks about it. We went through this not too long ago, but he's talking about, he's exhorting the church there not to turn back to living the way they once lived.

[14:46] You know, don't live like, you know, that's always an appropriate sermon. Don't live like those people down the street, you know, or don't live like the people in our culture. Don't use your phone like all that or whatever it is, you know, whatever the hot button issue is right now, you know, but look at the why he says, don't live that way.

[15:04] You know, think about that. He says, that is not the way you learned Christ. Assuming that you've heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.

[15:15] Well, what is the truth that's in Jesus? To put off the old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.

[15:26] So this idea that when Christ came, he set you free from that old way of life. You know, in so many ways, it's like you were enslaved and you didn't know it.

[15:42] The chains that were invisible to you suddenly became visible. I remember after becoming a Christian, I think the chain of caring what people thought and craving for them to think well of me and how it dominated my life was suddenly visible.

[16:06] I remember like going to my first community group on a Friday night, Jason Hill's community group. Eric probably remembers him. And going on a Friday night and he said, hey, we're just going to have a time of prayer.

[16:21] I was like, what does that mean? And then I noticed that everybody was praying and they were praying kind of in order which meant it was going to be my time to pray in just a minute. I don't think I'd ever pray out loud in front of more than like one or two friends.

[16:36] And I just remember thinking, well, how can I make my prayer good? You know, it started laying out in my head like, well, I'll start with this phrase and this will wow everybody and then I'll reference this scripture or whatever.

[16:52] And it's like, and then when it got to me, I think I just bumbled around, you know, the utter failure, probably like 20 seconds where I talked like the micro machine guy and it was just terrible.

[17:03] But I was, I was so filled with guilt like in a moment of trying to worship God, I was aware. But imagine how often I, you know, it was, it was a gift of grace because I actually saw the chain.

[17:17] Like I saw the wrestle where so much of my life, I didn't see it. I just lived for the praises of people with no restraint. And so, you know, though sometimes when you first become a Christian, it doesn't feel like deliverance immediately because you, you have that bit of fight and yet it is because you can see.

[17:38] That's why, um, J.C. Ryle has said that Christians should be known by two things, inner peace and inner warfare. Why? Because there, there is a war being waged for your soul and when you become a Christian you just realize you know about it now.

[17:54] Like you're awakened to it. So, we're delivered from Satan. This is, this is incredible. 2 Timothy 2 just to think about Satan, you know, and, and how he's at work in our life and we've been learning a little bit about that from Job but, um, um, Paul is talking about Timothy and the way he should act and he said if you can act in a certain way he said, God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.

[18:27] So, you know what you were doing before you became a Christian? You were doing the will of the devil. You ever thought of who your teammates were? Well, it was you and the devil. And, uh, it's awakening us.

[18:37] Just like Paul says he was called, Acts, Acts 26, he said, I've been called to take the gospel of deliverance from Satan to God. And so, that's part of what, what we're delivered from at conversion.

[18:51] And so, that is the work of the Holy Spirit setting us free, making us alive. We're sealed and set apart for God. See down there. As we talked a little bit about in the Old Testament, but, but, uh, not, not completely.

[19:05] What is it in the Old Testament that sets apart holy leaders and holy places for God? What is one of the things that sets apart holy leaders and holy places for God?

[19:16] Anybody can answer. Anointing. Anointing. Yes. Yeah, I think that's exactly what I was looking for, you know. In the Old Testament, um, generally, the leaders were the ones anointed with the Spirit.

[19:35] That's the reference. Their anointing is, is the same word for, uh, what we translate for Messiah. Uh, literally means anointing with the Spirit, like you'd anoint, I mean, anointing with oil, like you'd anoint a king, the king, the, the anointed, as we talked about in, in Psalm 2 last week.

[19:52] But it was also anointed with the Spirit. Now we have Bezalel, Bezalel, and Oholiab, who were anointed to do great things and build things in the temple. But generally, it was the Spirit. And that's what's striking in the New Testament when Joel 2 said the Spirit will fall on all flesh.

[20:07] But, the Spirit also, sorry, I've got to finish that thought in a minute, but the Spirit also set apart places for God. You can think about when the temple was established and Solomon's praying in the temple.

[20:19] Does anybody remember what happens as Solomon's praying? The cloud fills. The Shekinah glory fills the temple.

[20:32] What is the cloud that's a symbol of the presence of God? Well, the God does the same thing in you and me when we become Christians. He sets us apart.

[20:43] Once He lived in a temple with zip codes, now He lives in you. He makes your heart and your life a dwelling place for Him.

[20:57] I remember when we became a Christian we used to sing that song, Sanctuary, Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary pure and holy unto you. Did anybody see that growing up? I can't remember the rest of it.

[21:10] Yeah, tried and true? But, you know, it's actually very biblical and wonderful.

[21:20] 2 Corinthians 1.22 gets at this, It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

[21:38] So, He has set us apart. He has sealed us. Now, there's several things going on there but sealing also is a reference to ownership. So, you'd put your seal.

[21:49] If you were running cattle out in the county and you were taking them to auction, you'd put your seal on that cattle so everybody knows this is your cow and whatever is processed from that cow or whatever it's sold for belongs to you.

[22:03] Well, the same thing, God does that. He seals you with His Holy Spirit. The Lord knows who is His. Whose are His? And He seals us with His Holy Spirit.

[22:14] And He indwells us and fills us. And I love, so we get back to the temple language in 1 Corinthians 6. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God?

[22:28] You are not your own for you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your Bible. In your body. Sorry. Tripped that up. But, you know, that's actually a passage where Paul's talking about the way to live now.

[22:42] You know, it's a sanctification passage in 1 Corinthians 6. And he said, Do you not know? This would help you live unto God if you remembered that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

[22:53] That's incredible if you think about it. So, in the Old Testament, everybody went to the temple. when they knelt to pray three times a day or five times a day, they would turn wherever they were.

[23:08] They would turn towards whatever direction, cardinal direction Jerusalem was because that's where the temple was. Well, now he's saying you are a temple. What God was doing in the Old Testament, he wants to send to all the nations.

[23:23] Now, the Spirit doesn't just fall on certain leaders, certain specific called leaders. It falls on all people. All might know God.

[23:34] All might commune with Him. And so, the Holy Spirit, our hearts become a dwelling place for the Spirit. And we are bought with a price. So, that's wonderful language that goes back to that slavery language.

[23:48] You were redeemed. You were once a slave and now you've been redeemed. You've been bought. You are not your own. John Calvin famously has this statement.

[23:59] You know, this paragraph from the Institute. I am not my own but belong holy to God. I could read it right now. But just tremendous.

[24:10] And so, and then D down there, sanctification, we continue to grow and change by the power of the Spirit. So, the Spirit works in us. I love 2 Corinthians 3. It says, the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

[24:24] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

[24:38] Romans 8, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. I think the idea is what God claims as His own, He perfects.

[24:49] So, God moves in and God begins to change you and transform you and conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. So, every aspect of our life is meant to be directed by the Spirit.

[25:03] You know, sometimes I think the Holy Spirit, we kind of leave that for the more Pentecostals in the Christian world. And yet, according to the New Testament, all of us are supposed to be people that are walking in, step with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit now lives in us and is trying to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.

[25:26] And so, our life is to be lived with Him and unto Him. And He is to govern and direct every area of our life for His glory.

[25:38] In the same way, the temple was a place devoted to God because God dwelt there and the cloud dwelt there. So, too, our lives are to be devoted to God.

[25:48] You know, one of the things I would always tell our new members when I do a new members interview is that even though you don't think about it, far more people in your life notice that you're a Christian than you realize.

[26:06] You know, like, your neighbors, they watch you when you leave in certain hours of the day. Sunday. They watch you how you treat Sunday differently.

[26:18] And, you know, and some of the greatest witness can just be a consistent witness. You know, sometimes we think we've got to be like Taylor and bow with the gospel and very smooth in our communication skills and yet often just living devoted to God, living unlike the world.

[26:39] You know, I remember we've hosted lots of community groups over the years and people be like, what was going on last night? He had like 25 cars there. You know, it's a great opportunity.

[26:49] Well, it's very normal. Just friends hanging out. And yet we're all part of a small group because we're following the Lord together. We want to know Him. And that's a testimony.

[27:01] You know, sometimes people, people rarely have people into their home. I read a study some time ago that, you know, the average person has one night of hospitality a year.

[27:15] Paul and Fran had that like every three days, you know. And so, you know, well, that's a way we're to live differently. Like, if you think about our culture, our culture like holds on, clings to money big time, you know.

[27:31] And yet as Christians, money generally is supposed to flow through our fingers, flow out. I mean, we've got to take care of our, you know, we've got to bear our own load, take care of our family and stuff like that. But generally, we're supposed to lose a lot in between the fingers because we're living differently.

[27:49] Money is not where our treasure is. And so, that change and transformation can be tremendous. All right, the form of sanctification. The form.

[28:00] So, sanctification, as the definition captured a little bit, sanctification is both definitive and progressive. So, it's point in time and ongoing. So, point A down there, this is what I wrote to try to sum it up.

[28:13] Sanctification is definitive in that God raises us to new life, sets us free, and sets us, it should be an us, apart for Him at one definite point in time. Sanctification is definitive in that God raises us to new life, sets us free, and sets us apart for Him at one definitive point in time.

[28:32] One of the most beautiful articulations of this is 1 Corinthians 6, earlier in it, than where we just referenced. He says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

[28:45] And then he lists out all these unrighteous that won't inherit it. But you, and then he says, actually, right before that, he says, Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.

[29:05] That's capturing what we're talking about. This sanctification happens at a point in time. You're justified, you're accepted by God, all of your sins were placed on Christ, all of His righteousness was credited to you, you're accepted before God once for all time, it never changes, but you are also sanctified.

[29:24] He filled you with His Spirit. He set you apart for Himself. At one point in time, once you were not set apart for God, and the next moment you were set apart for God, it's a tremendous, amazing, and it's so important because I think when we start to talk about sanctification, we often mainly and only think about the ongoing work, and that's an important thing.

[29:48] But, it is important to point out that the New Testament, when it uses the sanctification language, this word sanctified, it most often refers to the point in time. It refers to what God did when He intervened in your life.

[30:00] You know, I love the way Paul does this. Now, if you remember Romans 5, Paul's making this argument about how we were dead, and we were dead in sin, we were made alive to Christ.

[30:11] You know, he said, and Adam all died, and Christ are all made alive, and then, you know, where grace, where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more, and then, Paul asked himself this hypothetical question, what shall we say then?

[30:25] Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? What do we do? You know, if grace abounds over our sin, do we continue in sin that grace may abound?

[30:37] You know, why don't we continue in sin is ultimately what Paul is saying. And have you ever pondered, how would you answer that question? So, if someone said, okay, now I'm a Christian, and God forgives all my sins, why should I live any differently if He's going to keep forgiving all my sins?

[31:01] Alright, somebody's got to answer. What would you say? Well, you belong to Him. You belong to yourself.

[31:12] You belong to Him. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good answer. Probably informed by our class a little bit. What else? You want to glorify Him. You guys are giving all the great answers.

[31:23] Yeah. I would actually argue, I think most often, we probably would say, do you not know that you owe God a debt of gratitude?

[31:35] Or something like that. Or, do you not know that you've been baptized? You're not supposed to live like that. Do you not know that the law says, you know, obey your father and mother?

[31:46] Honor your father and mother? I think so often we go back to those things. But guess what Paul says? Paul says, how can we live to sin, how can we who died to sin, live in sin?

[31:59] Very provoking argument. He says, ultimately, the reason we don't go back to doing those things is because God caused us to die to sin.

[32:14] We were sanctified one point at a time. So this is important, putting justification and sanctification together. We're delivered from the guilt of sin by believing in Him who justifies the ungodly through the death of Christ.

[32:25] We're also delivered from the power of sin by believing in Him who delivers the ungodly through the risen life of Christ. Once we're under the guilt and condemnation of sin, but we've been redeemed through the blood of Christ. Once we're under the rule and reign of sin, but we've been delivered through the death of Christ.

[32:39] So this idea that you were once sold under sin, under its rule, but you have been made alive through being sanctified through Jesus Christ.

[32:51] Through His Spirit coming to dwell in you, uniting you to Christ and delivering you from the tyranny of sin. So I think one of the most consistent problems with sanctification is when we live like we are still slaves.

[33:11] You know? You know, I think, I get some of the songs out. There's a song called Break Every Chain, Break Every Chain, Break Every Chain. I sort of get what the prayer is, but if you are a Christian, Christ has broken every chain.

[33:28] You don't have to pray for Him to break any more chains. And so often, I feel like what really makes us struggle in the Christian life is we live like we're still in chains, but we're not.

[33:43] We've been set free. And some of the most perturbing areas where we feel like we can't grow are areas where we live like we're still in chains. And so, expect great things of God.

[33:55] God can change you. Now, sanctification is also progressive in that the work of cleansing us of sin and making us like Christ will not be complete until glorification.

[34:05] So, we're exhorted to continue to put sin to death. So, Hebrews 12 says, Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.

[34:18] So, even though we've been set free, we've been made heirs with Christ, let us still lay aside every sin which clings so closely and run with endurance the races set before us.

[34:30] Let us strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. So, this idea of sanctification being definitive and progressive is just vital for us to know and to live in the good of and to enjoy.

[34:51] I think one of the most beautiful ways these two realities of sanctification are captured in literature are captured in the character of Eustace Scrub in the Chronicles of Narnia.

[35:06] So, he appears in several books and he is a thoroughly twerp. I mean, he's a thorough twerp. You know, he is a punk. He complains, he grumbles, he doesn't work hard. You know, in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the gang arrive on an unknown island and Eustace wanders off the trail.

[35:22] He's dead weight, you know, on an adventure. He's overtaken by a dragon and then he turns into a dragon. So, it's kind of letting Eustace actually see for the first time that he is the enemy.

[35:35] You know, his sin, he is a dragon on the inside and his wrist is hurt and he longs for relief and so he wants to get washed. Then Aslan the lion appears and Aslan, he has this moment with Aslan who represents Jesus Christ in the Chronicles of Narnia.

[35:53] Takes him up on a mountain, they look down on this garden, inside the garden is a well and that's what Eustace needs for relief. And Aslan says, you must undress.

[36:05] And Eustace thinks, dragons don't wear clothes, but that's not what Aslan means. He says, you must remove your skin, you must take off everything. And so, Eustace does.

[36:16] It's a very provoking scene because Eustace begins to peel off his skin, layers and layers of his skin. When he thinks he's done and begins to get into the pool, Aslan says, wait, I must take off more.

[36:32] He takes off more of his skin until he's completely peeled. So it's a very graphic picture. I think it's a graphic for that reason.

[36:42] Then he throws him into the well. And actually, I think that's a picture of what it means to be born again. God, as it were, peels off all the layers of sin, all the patterns, all the guilt, all the shame, all the ways you've lived.

[37:01] And he causes you to be made new. He causes you to be born again. He throws you into the well, so to speak, and makes you a new creation.

[37:12] He changes you definitively, once for all time. But Eustace is not completely different.

[37:22] I love the way Lewis, I'm going to quote Lewis says after that. He says, it would be nice and fairly true to say from that time forth after Aslan met him for the first time, Eustace was a different boy.

[37:38] Now listen to this. He says, to be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days where he could be very tiresome, but most of those I shall not notice.

[37:56] That's a picture of sanctification. God peels it all off and throws you into the well, causes you to be born again. And you're not completely different right away, but you begin to be different.

[38:11] You know, and we see this again and again in the local church. We see the gospel intervene. You know, see God come and change people and begin to change people gradually and gradually.

[38:28] And you'll notice that, you know, in the Christian life. One of the joys of living in a local church is you get to watch God change people. And day by day it's kind of like, you know, when we grow up we may mark our growth on a little door jam to see how we're growing.

[38:48] And in the Christian life we can't always do that but there can be points where you should remind someone, hey, you're living differently than you used to live. This is different.

[39:00] This is a mark on the growth chart, so to speak. God has changed you. And the reality is we're all being transformed from one degree of glory. And so it's a tremendous gift.

[39:12] Fourthly, and I intentionally left the least amount of time for this, is the means of progressive sanctification. So this class was meant to focus on being sanctified definitively, but sanctification progressively is, it, you know, it comes through means.

[39:31] You know, if you want to be a good football team, you know, you've got to have a good front line. You know, you've got to have a quarterback that can pass. It's not after the money, you know, or whatever.

[39:43] Wide receivers that can run routes. Well, Christian life also comes through means, you know. Sometimes I think we're like, we're like scratching our heads. I don't feel the presence of God right now, you know, and someone will say, when's the last time you like read your Bible?

[39:58] I mean, it was a solid three and a half weeks ago. Well, that might actually be why you don't feel the presence of God. I think sometimes we get the Christian life or sanctification is this mystery, but it's really not.

[40:09] It's pretty clear. And so the means throughout the years and what our statement of faith upholds is what are the main or the primary means of sanctification?

[40:23] They're the Word of God, prayer, and fellowship. You know, and so in the new life that we have through Christ, we're trying to blaze a new trail. I don't know about you, but I blazed a trail in ungodliness.

[40:36] I lived terrible, and I had to break the pattern and begin to blaze a new trail. Sunday mornings change. I mean, when I first came to Christian, so the first time I went to church after becoming a Christian was 24 years ago last week because it was after the Georgia game, and Georgia came down and beat us with 10 seconds left.

[40:55] It was really painful. I really needed to go to church, but I remember I had two friends over staying in my apartment, and they were from South Carolina. They were there for the weekend, and I said, hey, I know y'all came up for the weekend, but I got to go to church.

[41:10] I would love for you to go with me if you want to go, but I kept oversleeping. I was like, I got to blaze a new trail of getting around fellowship.

[41:21] I went to church, came home. They weren't there. I haven't really talked to them since, but the church changed my life. You know, so the Word of God, prayer, and fellowship were blazing a new trail, and that's what we're doing in the Christian life, so it's not a mystery.

[41:37] You know, it's not this riddle that we have to crack. It's not Samson's riddle or something like that. You know, it is, it is what God, God has these means. That's the way He travels in our lives and works in our life to make us more like Him progressively from one degree of glory to another degree of glory because old men ought not get grumpy, and old women ought not get grumpy.

[42:01] It shouldn't be that way. It's a sign that we need to be sanctified, so may God help us. Let me pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your mercy towards us in Jesus Christ.

[42:13] Thank you that you have broken every chain. For those who are in Christ are a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come.

[42:25] Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. We pray that you would, anyone who has not been delivered in this way, either here or listening, you would deliver them through the word of your gospel.

[42:39] I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And that you would continue this work. Lord, we offer ourselves to you sincerely and completely. Come and continue your work.

[42:50] Change us, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Thank you.