1039. The Work of the Holy Spirit in Sanctification

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones Senior's intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything, so he established daily chapel services today.

That tradition continues with fervent little preaching from the University Chapel platform today on The Daily Platform or continuing a study series entitled breath of life, which is a study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Today Dr. Alan Benson, VP for student development and discipleship will bring a message on sanctification or continuing our doctrinal theories on the breath of life dealing with the Holy Spirit has working in our lives. Two weeks ago we talked about the work of regeneration. Today were going to talk about sanctification. I hope that today's message will encourage you and encourage you in your walk with the Lord. I want you to try and in a sense grasp the glories of your salvation, the gift of God's grace really.

I want to do is stir in you a holy passion to pursue Christ because I believe that's what the Holy Spirit is doing in believers. I want to stimulate you if you will, to our righteous jealousy for Jesus. I want to stir you to a holy covetousness for Christ and yes I'm using those words on purpose you think wow jealousy, and covetousness are we supposed to get rid of those things. Yes, I hope I have your attention because I think we understand what those things are and what they mean.

I think we understand the strength of the terms as our president talked about from James four on Monday the these are these ideas of of things that flesh out the strong desires of our heart and and really what I want to do today is is stimulate you to back kind of strong desire for Jesus.

For Christ, ask a question you ever struggle with your walk with the Lord. I'm not asking you if you ever struggle to walk with the Lord.

The different question asking if you ever struggle with your walk with the Lord.

Are there times when you think about your walk with Christ and the things that you struggle with and you're not happy. Are there times you are frustrated with the fact that you seem too much or too often are there times your frustrated by the fact that you don't pray, praise, and read the word of God the way that you wish you did.

You hear people talk about the Bible coming alive to you and it's like the words jump off the page and that just that just doesn't happen enough. You have this tension. This sense of frustration. Listen, the apostle Paul, take your Bibles and turn if you would to Romans seven verse 14 says for we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. Verse 15 for that which I do I allow not for what I would do I not think I want to do things I will do.

I don't do that.

But what I hate that July if then I do that which I would not I can send the law that is good. While she rightly condemned me. Now that is no more.

Either do it, but sin that dwell in me, for I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwells no good thing for to will is present with me.

But how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would. I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do ever struggle with your walk with God. If I do verse 20 that I would not. It is no more I do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find the law that when I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in logon after the inward man I see another law in my members will bring against my mind. It's bringing into captivity law of sin which is in my member Paul, almost coming to a crescendo of this ongoing struggle and conflict in verse 24 says all wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death that's going to dumbbell deliver me from this rotting corpse of sin struggling verse 25 pieces. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the rush, the law of sin ever struggle with your walk with God, you're not alone. Paul had that struggle in fact not offer that every genuine believer to some degree or another, has had this struggle is having this struggle and it's a holy spirit empowered struggle when the challenges we face when we face this struggle is that we want something more, we tend to oversimplify sanctification, almost making it robotically ask ourselves is praying and reading the Bible really that affected we want some form of experience you want to feel something sees something because we really long to know that we are being changed. Well that is incensed what last week was all about for you as a believer. Paul writes in Romans eight verses we know very well and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, the agency behind that is God working all things together for what good it is salvific or salvation good. The accomplishing of his full-blown redemptive plan and restoring the image of God in his creation.

He is working all things bad things, trying things together in a formulaic way, to them who are the called according to his purpose for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to what be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

All of the trials that led to the need for all of the comfort that we talked about last week is the passionate, passionate working of God through the trials of life by his Spirit in the lives of his children to transform them into Christlike today I want us to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification and really what is going to see 2.1 understanding sanctification. I really want to get to the practical and that is unleashing sanctification, understanding, sanctification. It's a big word. It's a it's up big doctrine is a sense in which sanctification is an umbrella word for the entire doctrine of so tear out your salvation. We can rightly speak of sanctification past, present and future, and so I want you to think for a minute just in getting took to heart our topic. The stages the stages.

If you also think if we will, maybe I do a play and there is there is seen one talked about Ford's regeneration. The first subjective spiritual contact between God and a spiritually dead center. Is this work of regeneration. Holy Spirit grants divine life to the spiritually dead at the time of saving faith. He actually places this center into a relationship with God, uniting him to Christ in a judicial identification by the work of Christ in his death, burial and resurrection that provides an ethical basis a platform for the application of the saving benefits of the atonement. That's a lot of word what is it mean Paul captures this idea with his favorite phrase about our identity and it is that we are in Christ and regeneration. The work of Christ on our behalf.

The atoning work is ethically applied to a dead center and that we are then in Christ to listen to Romans three for all of sin and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God is set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed to the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him who believe it. In Jesus, so you hear words that we connect with salvation, justification, redemption, and propitiation through the working of Christ. God remains God and is God. He is just in finding a pathway by which he can rightly justify you bring this to seen to than this justification. Justification is now. This judicial act where God imputes or credits to the center. This redeems center. His account of Christ's perfect obedience.

The eternal law of God.

Now, rather than you having a slate that you had messed up and God wipe clean.

God takes the slaves and he breaks it and says I am no longer keeping score and taking the righteousness of my son and I'm impugning it to your account and what does that look like it looks like the fact that you can now be adopted as his son that you are a joint heir with Christ positionally. He pronounces and forever treats this now redeemed justified sinner is righteous, his guilt is for ever gone. He is eternally saved and he is eternally safe. Ephesians 1 pulses having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us except in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace to how to Christ.

Make that possible. He said in John 17 and 19 for their sakes by sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the true Christ consecrated dedicated set himself apart in redemptive obedience to the will of God, so that through that work. You and I could be set apart for God, sanctification, what glorious salvation we have. You're sitting here then you say I struggled with my walk with God. Start first with this fact that you ravel that you rejoice that you praise God for the salvation work that he has done for who you are in Christ and allow that become the basis on which you pursue sanctification, I say to you that you start with some sense of guilt and distance. You'll struggle and struggle and struggle. Start with your position in Christ with a rejoicing heart with appraising a heart that longs to be worthy of the redemption that you have through Christ start with the fact that you are his child that you are accepted in the beloved and understand then from that starting point what it is. The Holy Spirit is doing in your life, because we have a glorious salvation, but we have a great struggle little understanding terminology.

Could you hear these things regardless doctrine we hear the terminology of old man and new man.

I can say a lot about that. I want to keep it really simple. Those are if you will, salvation, term, I was an old man, but when I was saved I became a whole new man, a bran new inverted man. I am no longer an old man. However, he also terminology old nature and new nature. And these are sanctification terms. I am no longer an old man condemned after the law, depraved, dead and blind. I'm a new man redeemed justified spiritually alive illuminated. However, this whole new man still has an old nature that is bent toward sin and some sinfulness.

It still has a strong desires of the president talked about on Monday from James four sanctification present, sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit to root out the old nature with its old man desires and nurture the new nature with its Christlike desire that the work Holy Spirit is presently doing in the child of God simply speaking, simply speaking this present sanctification that we talked about today. It is the working of the Holy Spirit through the word of God to make the child of God like a son of God. It's a working of the Holy Spirit through the word of God to make the child of God, like the son of God, is the cleansing if you will, of the corruption of sin in the believer.

So a definition Anthony Okemos of this that gracious operation of the Holy Spirit involving our responsible participation by which he delivers us justified sinners from the pollution of sin renews our entire nature. According to the image of God and enables us to live lives that are pleasing to him.

That's what were talking about. So understand if you will. Some of the terminology and I will go in with his primary Old Testament word, a primary New Testament word cut – and hug God so they both work together they mean the same thing, they actually mean to set apart to dedicate more strongly to consecrate. There's a sense in which they were household words, they were religious words, something that was consecrated to a particular purpose.

This is the word that was used it means to set apart so one of the things you need to understand is that the value of the setting apart is not in the term I set that apart. It actually is and what it set apart to or what it set apart for where it finds its moral value. For example this terminology was used in the Old Testament of of temple prostitutes. They were dedicated to a purpose that did not make the moral we have religious applications. The tabernacle. The altar in the tabernacle was set apart for purpose. The priests Aaron and the priest were set apart for that purpose.

There's divine applications God speaks of himself as a holy and sanctified, he has set apart one of the dynamic understandings of our God is is total otherness. He's completely set apart from everything else in that there is no defilement or corruption or connection to it in God's set apart so with regard to office and what the Holy Spirit is doing in us a theological application has to be this, what am I being set apart to ignore all kinds of ideas about sanctification today so we hear words like discipleship is a part of it is holiness that a part of it is, but we have these ideas today that somehow this is about spiritual formation or spiritual growth and it is but we have to understand, into what spiritual formation and things like contemplative prayer prayer that you just go alone and you go into yourself and you find there in the vacuum us and volume its depths of your being who you are supposed to be and you grow and develop in the data. Now you're really spiritual. I would say to you if you don't start spiritually or just deeper in the despair that you were in. There's an object.

The Holy Spirit driven object to which we are being set apart to and that is what we must understand understand that that is a working that is begun in salvation in regeneration so quickly understand. We talk about sanctification were not talking about a second blessing sanctification idea where our carnal nature is eradicated. Whether that be through crisis or or not it is a process that God initiates, and for our salvation work and is completing he will be gone a good work and you will prove permits until the day of Jesus Christ. It's a process and a progress of our position in Christ becoming our practice through Christ as we are made like Christ.

It's not a counteraction of our carnal nature that since we know as Keswick theology that somehow we come into this balance of the victorious or higher fly through an act of consecration were theirs is neutralizing in a happy place of our old nature is not either a form of legalistic asceticism that somehow in order to be spiritual Apple live a life of continuing self-denial that I have to work in the more miserable I make myself the more spiritual I it actually is a working of the Holy Spirit that I get the opportunity through his initiation to partner with him in lipids. 213. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Ephesians 316 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with his might, by his Spirit in the inner man. It's a process that crickets 318 but we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, from 1° of glory to the next, even as by the spirit of the Lord.

A systematic incremental transformational works of the spirit of God into what the object is Christ friend.

The object is Christ, set apart to be like Christ. Like the son of God. We read Romans 828 where he says were predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Colossians 3 since we are renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created. Paul struggling for the churches in their spiritual growth, said my little children.

Galatians 419 of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you Christ today as we think about sanctification.

I want us to end by considering unleashing sent what I do with that. What should I be doing. How should I be acting. How should I be thinking I want to give you. Just two simple ideas, one in your heart today. Determined to pursue hard after crimes. Also, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection for the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, young people, I challenge you today pursue hard after Christ.

Do you know him you know what he is like the understand what he did. You know why he did it do know his relationship to his father do know his relationship to his creation to understand his relationship do you do you identify with Christ as your behavior say I identify with Christ's dear relationship say I want to be noticed by being identified with Christ, if you want to grow spiritually struggle with your walk with God today make this decision. I am going to pursue hard after price. I want to know him receipt. I think the most practical way for us to unleash sanctification. Is this not just to pursue hard after him, but to do it by passionately imitating Christ if I long to see the image of Christ fleshed out in me the best pathway is to image Christ by imitating Christ. Therefore, I have to know.

I have to know what he did after know why he did it. So a few things I want to be like Christ. I should serve like Christ. John 13 you know the scene is there. His disciples walk in they defile themselves by sitting down the Passover meal and looking around was no one to serve them so they don't cleanse themselves the way they suit.

Should Jesus says this it by then your Matt Lord and Master washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done merrily merrily I send you the servant is not greater than his Lord's.

Neither is he that is sent greater than he that sentence if you know these things. Happy are ye if you do them. Jesus says here's an example to follow. You want to grow spiritually. You want to be more like Jesus than serve like Jesus served find somebody not for your own glory not to deprecate yourself.

Not to say now I'm really spiritual, but to say I want to be like Jesus and Jesus served his friends as well as for his glory. We want to be like Christ. I should treat others as Christ did.

Romans 15 Paul talking about bearing infirmities of the week says this in verse three. For even Christ pleased not himself into that passage.

Verse six is that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ wherefore received be one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God listens. If you want to truly grow spiritually decide things you are going to treat others as Christ did. How do you treat them. Go read the New Testament see how Christ treated people do you look down on people to use them for his own ends. They mistreat them or did he elevate them was EA a respecter of persons. They pick his favorite city have Ms. Kraut decide who he would be better by being around and you'll find that Jesus did just the opposite. His passion was people was always to better them for serving them to grow in sanctification is a Holy Spirit prompting you is prompting you to be like Jesus being like Jesus means that you are going to treat others as Jesus did. Thirdly, I want to be like Christ. I must deny my sinful flesh deposit.

I therefore, the prison Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith your called Ephesians 4 to we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man under the measure of the stature of Christ continues in verse 15 of Ephesians 4, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things after talking about the sinfulness that pervades broken man at the end of Ephesians 4, verse 20 he says, but gee have not so learned price want to grow spiritually. Don't go into this asceticism sounded as I will do that I will do this look to Christ and for Christ wasn't like that. Jesus. Lastly, if you want to be like Christ pursue the mind of Christ. You know it well.

Philippians 2 think that in this context. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation took upon in the form of a servant was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion to hear that being found in fashion as a man here. He is the creative creative Lord of glory.

The one whom the angels are Dorothy comes to earth and so makes himself like a man that would man found and when they sampled and when they evidenced him.

They said he's just a man to come to you not know who you are your tempted to say that, don't you know who I am. Here's Jesus they find him to be a man, what is he knew he humbles himself and becomes obedient unto death, even the death of the cross would be like Jesus, hear me get over yourself.

It's not all about you start living like it's all about Jesus, but have the image of Christ. Work with the Holy Spirit (learn to imitate Jesus. Paul writes this in the very God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to create salvation over what a great struggle we face pursue hard after Christ father, we ask that you would do it for your glory in Jesus name, amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Ellen Benson, VP for student development and discipleship at Bob Jones University.

Thanks for listing and join us again tomorrow as we continue the study of the Holy Spirit here on The Daily Platform