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CPC Sunday School | The Holy Spirit #4 (Mark Evans)
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The transcription discusses the concept of sanctification, which means to be set apart or made holy. It explains that as humans made in God's image, we are called to be holy like God. The transcription also discusses the process of sanctification and how it applies to our Christian lives. It mentions that sanctification is both progressive and definitive, meaning it is an ongoing process but also a once-for-all act. The work of the Holy Spirit is crucial in our sanctification, as it conforms us to the image of Christ. Overall, the transcription explores the meaning and importance of sanctification in relation to our relationship with God. Heavenly Father, we praise You, we praise You that You are the thrice-holy God, the God before whom even the mighty angels must shield their eyes, crying out to You, Holy, Holy, Holy. And so You have commanded us to be holy as those who are made in Your image, in Your likeness as those who are the Imago Dei. And so we pray for this time that You would teach us, that You would further show us more and more of Your revelation of how it is that we are to be holy, particularly of the great work of Your precious Spirit, a Spirit that Christ Himself has won for us in a fullness of measure, a Spirit poured out upon us, that we would be more and more transformed and conformed to the image of Your Son. And so we pray as we learn that we would not simply learn in the sense of intellectually, although that, of course, is included, but also have a knowledge that we would go out and live as such, that we would live as becomes Christians united to the risen Christ. And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. All right, so we are on the work of the Spirit in our sanctification. Hopefully these are not flip-flops. A lot of these classes are sanctification with the Spirit being secondary, but that is a little bit of the nature of the class. So we're talking all things sanctification today. Last week we covered, if you remember, justification, Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. We receive it by faith alone. Paul did a wonderful job outlining that. But today we're talking about what is...we'd be in order this time...what is often next in the order salutis, which is sanctification. So here's what we're covering. What is it? What are some aspects of sanctification and then how does it apply, perhaps most importantly, to our Christian life? So let's just start here. What does the word, the term, sanctification mean? Just in layman's terms, very simple layman's terms. Set apart, okay? What else? Holy. Yeah, to be holy. And that's certainly the right answer as well, yeah. But to be holy would just be simple...so I'm going to start very...I'm going to say a lot of things you probably already know and maybe we'll ramp up from there. But yeah, simply put, sanctification, the word means to be holy. And you see that in the very definition of the word. This is the Greek word, hagiazo, which is the verb, to make holy, to make something holy. It occurs 28 times in the New Testament. If you started to throw in nouns and other uses of it, it would be even more than that. But very frequently used in the New Testament, no less so in the Old Testament. And to your point, Lee, you see it in like a lexicon's definition, the idea of taking something and consecrating it, taking something and setting it apart would be a fine understanding of what holiness is, dedicating to service of God. We have similar understanding just in everyday language, right? You could see parking that is reserved parking, it's parking that is set aside, set aside for something special, set aside for a particular use. But let's ask again kind of a dumb question, a properly stupid question. What kind of holy? What is our pattern of holiness? After all, you can think of it this way, utensils in the tabernacle, they were set apart. The oil was not just ordinary oil, it was holy anointing oil. The priest's garments were holy garments. The plates were holy plates. Now who among us would say, I want to be holy like the holy plates in the tabernacle. I want to be holy like the holy oil that was used. You'd probably say, that's a good start, but something's missing there. You're not quite fully encapsulating what it means to be holy. If we just said it means being set apart. So what I'm leading to is we are, and this is a very obvious point, but I'm the point I want to try and tease out, we're to be holy as creatures, specifically creatures who are made in God's image. That is how we are to be holy. Hopefully you're saying, duh, of course. So let's just go down that rabbit hole a little bit more. Very famous text on holiness, as he who called you is holy, and there's that Greek word again just so you can see it's going to be spread throughout the New Testament. You also be holy. So you see the obvious logic. God is holy, therefore you be holy like God. As he is holy, you be holy. Very basic logic. So in other words, we're to be holy humans, holy humans, not holy utensils, not holy oil, not holy garments. We're to be holy humans. But what is a human? What is an image bearer? Believe it or not, in theology, when it comes time to define the imago dei, the image of God, that actually becomes a very complicated question that has a lot of nuanced answers to it, that has a lot of dispute to it, depending on who you ask, what theologian you ask from a various tradition or denomination will have a different way to answer that question. So it's not as a straightforward question as you might think when you ask the question, okay, I'm to be a holy human, but what is a human? What does it mean to be human? And so one of the most basic texts you can go to, that the Reformed theologians almost always go to, when it comes time to define what is the image of God, would be this verse from Ephesians. We're created like God in, and you see those two concepts, those two words, true righteousness and holiness, true righteousness and holiness. So the imago dei consist of, the first part, righteousness, which you could loosely define as a kind of moral excellence, a rectitude that reflects God's character, that reflects God's character. Secondly, holiness, that you could think of, and this is certainly not a complete definition, but as being set apart or devoted to God. Holiness is a word we use a lot, right, it's got kind of a religious, a very religious meaning to it, so I want to make sure we grasp, or at least dig a little bit deeper into what holiness is. So here's another way to think of holiness, that I've always found helpful. Okay, God, one of God's attributes is that God is holy, right, we'd all agree with that, God is holy. Now oftentimes holiness is defined merely as being set apart, again, holy utensils, you take a common utensil, you set it apart, now it's holy. So it's this idea of separateness, which is not a bad definition, but I would want us to consider that's not the fullness of what holiness is, and again, one way to get to that idea is just think about God, God's eternally holy, right, before the world is created, God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as holy, cannot be anything other than holy. Now is God set apart at that point from the world? Well no, there is no world to be set apart from, right, God is not created in any chain, God is eternally holy, existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So in that sense, you could say, okay, holiness doesn't necessarily only mean separated from the world, God's eternally holy, when there's nothing to be separate from, it's just God. So another way to think of it is that the persons of the Trinity are devoted to one another, glorifying one another, loving one another, the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, through the communion of the Spirit. And they do that in this perfect, perfect plenitude of holiness, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, perfectly devoted to loving, glorifying one another. And the idea of separateness is not so much there, again, separateness is not wrong, but you see it in this idea of holiness, the triune God existing in a kind of pure devotion to Himself. Here's the way Sinclair Ferguson puts it, in a sense, holiness is a way of describing love. To say that God is love, and to say that God is holy, in a sense, is pointing to the same thing. All right, does everyone see that? Any questions on that? Again, just think of God eternally existing before He was created in the world, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, perfect fellowship, perfect devotion to one another, doing what holiness does, glorifying each other, glorifying the persons of the Trinity in this perfect communion bond, in a perfect plenitude of love. And that's why Sinclair Ferguson says, if you want to say God is love, and God is holy, in a sense, you're saying one and the same thing, it's pointing to the same reality. And to me, this shines a lot of light on holiness, which certainly means separation from the world, but also this positive idea of being completely devoted to God. Devoted to God, glorifying God, loving God. Any questions on that concept of holiness? So to go back to that verse, what is the Imago Dei? We're created like God, in true righteousness and holiness, so not just set apart, but transformed to reflect the being and the character of God. So Reformed theologians, this is Hodge commenting on that verse, and I just want to point out here that he's saying, what is the image of God? Well, it doesn't only merely consist in man's rational nature, man being able to think, nor that man has immortality, nor his dominion, but especially in this righteousness and holiness, which are inseparable from the possession of knowing God. And then he goes on to say, that's set apart from the Pelagian theory, if you might remember, he covered that, this idea that sin's impact did not impact man in terms of man being spiritually depraved. He also says that's not like the Romish doctrine, as in Roman Catholic doctrine, that man was given this kind of supernatural boost, this supernatural step ladder that would get man elevated to where he needs to go. No, he's simply saying, Hodge is simply saying, here's a good pictorial of our Reformed understanding of who man is. Man's created in the image of God, as righteous, as holy, that's who man is. With the Fall, we become utterly depraved, and we go on to be, and I won't go into that because that was covered in the last class in terms of justification. Compare that with the Roman view, Roman Catholic view, man's created good, but he needs a boost, a super added gift, a donum super additum, to get him to where he needs to be. He loses that in the Fall, but man's not dead in sin, in the way we would say that man is dead in sin. And so the sacraments come, and they infuse grace into man, and man works with that infusion to become more and more holy and righteous. And we're not that, right? So the Reformers are saying, no, man's very essence is that man is created holy and righteous. That's how Adam was made. That's what it means to be in the Imago Dei. I love this section from Hodge, righteousness and holiness were concreted in the first man. And I love this part, just think of Adam, he opened his eyes, he saw what was visible, he sees the beauty of creation, right, everywhere he looks, he cannot not see the beauty of creation. And when he does that, he turns his mind upon God, right, purely, utterly devoted to God, and was filled with all holy affections. So you can see how Romans 1 contrasts that, rightly contrasts that, right? We lose, you lose, you can, you have the, when we're fallen, we have the perverse ability to look at the world, to see beauty, and not see God, right, that's what we become. We no longer see the beauty in the world and immediately turn our gaze to God in holy affections. And that's what's lost in the fall. So again, just to review, the Imago Dei means, I think it would mean more than this, but we're saying as a baseline, means we are holy and righteous. So that brings us to the problem of the day. Okay, well how does God, how is God going to recover or restore or repair the image of God? The image of God is not lost in the fall, but it's marred, it is, it's greatly marred. Again, we lose that concrete and natural ability that all of our affections are holy affections, all of our thoughts are righteous thoughts. That is, that is gone. So that brings us to today, inter-sanctification, that is what we're talking about today. So we can say sanctification means becoming like the true image of God, to be, or we can say more specifically, to be like Christ, who is himself the image of the invisible God, right? We're not, we're not aspiring to be like holy utensils, or like anointing oil, or like the priest's garments. I know I'm saying obvious things, but I'm trying to drive home a point that we are to be like Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. The verse we've pointed to so often in this class, rightly so. God has foreknown us, he's predestined us unto what end? To be conformed to the image of his Son. Okay, so Murray puts it this way, that's the goal of our process of redemption, is conformity to Christ. You'd want to say, you'd want to bear in mind, all aspects of the order of salutes have that goal, right? To be called, to be justified, to be adopted, to be sanctified, to be glorified, right? All those things are working together so that you, as Christian, become conformed to Jesus Christ. Okay, so before we get to our sanctification though, let's talk about Christ's sanctification, Christ's own sanctification. Was Jesus Christ sanctified? What say you? Yes and no. Anyone else? No? Yes? All right, we've got a yes and no, we've got a no, we've got a yes. We have a house divided at this point. All right, Brian, go ahead. I would say yes, obviously, in the fact that he was set apart from the world. He existed for his foundation in the world, but, I mean, at the same time, there was no need for him to be made righteous. So, I don't really know how to answer this question. Okay. Who said yes over here? Okay. John. Right, right, very good. Okay, very good. Right, right, yeah, very good. Good question. Yeah, we'll get to that. And then, Eric, your no. Defend your no. I agree with everything that John said. Don't back down. No, defend your no. Come on, stick with it. If the word sanctification means to be holy, I would say yes. If the word means to be made holy, I would say no, because Christ was not made holy. He was holy from the beginning. Okay, very good. Okay, so you can see, yeah, when you answer this question, all kinds of further questions arise, right? Well, let's review a couple of verses that are typically brought up, right? He had to be made like us, right? He had to be like us in every respect in order to become our merciful and faithful high priest. He suffered when tempted. He's able to help those who are also being tempted. There's a very great verse on it. Jesus increased, right? He increased. He grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor, not just with man, not just with man, but with God. That Jesus progressed in his growth in that regard. Okay, this is another great one in terms of we're thinking about the ministry of the Spirit. You see this. Jesus is led specifically by the Spirit. The Spirit leads him to this head-to-head confrontation with Satan. In a way that he, I would submit, he does not lead us into head-to-head confrontations with Satan of this like. He's led in the head-to-head confrontation with Satan because he specifically comes to destroy the devil, to destroy the one who has the power of death. So that's a great clear instance of Jesus being sanctified as far as being led by the Spirit to do battle with Satan. Here's Owen on it. Christ's human nature, that's obviously a very important point, not his divine nature. Christ's human nature was sanctified and filled with grace according to the measure of its receptivity, which I want to say was a full receptivity that none of us have. Babin's great on this. At this point, it's important to note that the activity of the Spirit with respect to Christ's human nature, again, a very important point, not his divine nature, does not stand by itself, beginning with, and this is to your point, John, with conception. So starting with conception, right? The Holy Ghost coming upon Mary. But this is also another important point. It does not stop there, right? Continued throughout his entire life, even to the state of exaltation. And now we're going back to the image of God. The true human who bears God's image, it would be inconceivable for even a moment without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And here's Babin's point. If that applies to us as humans, right, us as humans in general, we can't have communion with God apart from the Holy Spirit. It cannot happen. How much more powerfully, how much more does that apply to Christ's human nature? How much more, not less, how much more does that apply to Christ's human nature? And here's a great one, right? So we're thinking in terms of, again, what you said, John, the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary. The Holy Spirit is set apart at birth, but it does not stop there. You see going right up to the cross. How did Christ offer himself? Offered himself through the Spirit. Offered himself through the Spirit in terms of finishing the work that the Father had given him to do. So that's what we want to say, right? Christ is the prototype. He is the pattern of our sanctification. He was not just sanctified for us on our behalf. He is our sanctification, right? He has become to us our sanctification. So that's just very important to bear in mind. When you think of sanctification, right, don't think of it as an abstract concept. So much of this class is trying to say union with Christ. How am I sanctified? I'm united to Jesus Christ. Christ is my sanctification. So with that, let's talk about our sanctification now, okay? And enter the renewing work of the Spirit. We're going to go back to this verse. How are we made? We're made in the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness. Those are not just religious words. That means really reflecting and embodying the nature, character of God. But right before that verse, you see this language of renewal. And so often the language of renewal is the work of the Holy Spirit. Even if the Spirit is not specifically mentioned there, Think of Titus 3.5 that we read last week, right, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit. We are to put on the new self, put on the new man, so that we could be renewed after the image of God. Reminder, as always, like everything else in the Order of Salute, sanctification is a Trinitarian work. God sets us apart. God the Father sets us apart. To be like Jesus Christ. And how is that going to happen? Who is the agent that's going to make that happen? The Spirit is the one who is going to conform us to the image of Christ. Great verse on that that shows all three persons working together. God is forenonus in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience unto Jesus Christ. All three persons of the Trinity working together. That's always something to just bear in mind, that the outward works of the Trinity are always inseparable. The persons are always inseparable in their works. Okay. So, yeah, this is just a recap of that. So, Father predestines us to be conformed to the image of His Son through the work of the Spirit. All right, so let's talk specifically a little bit more about the Spirit. And most theologians would agree that it's specifically, though all three persons, of course, are inseparable in the operations, that it's the work of the indwelling and the directing of the Holy Spirit. So let's get into a little bit more of the specifics. All right, what is a common way we describe the nature of sanctification? It is progressive. Yeah, it is progressive, which is certainly correct, right? It's an ongoing process. We say things like we're all a work in progress. None of us is perfect. We're on a journey. Blah, blah, blah. All great. So that's not wrong. But let's introduce another concept, and that would be this, that there are two aspects to our sanctification, your sanctification. Certainly progressive, ongoing, continual, right, day by day. We're being more and more conformed to the image. But there is a definitive, a once-for-all sanctification, a definitive sanctification. So let's explore that concept that comes before the progressive nature. Such were some of you, but you were washed. You were, and there's that same Greek word, hagiazo, that we've seen before, could be translated holiness. You were sanctified. You were sanctified, as in it's done, done deal. It's happened. It's not progressive. It is complete, and it is finished. Murray puts it this way. The language of sanctification is often used with reference to a decisive action that occurs at the beginning of the Christian life and that characterizes us for the rest of our Christian life, a decisive, once-for-all action. And Murray goes as far as to say if you don't describe it that way, if we thought of sanctification only in terms of a progressive, ongoing work, we're missing something. We're missing something very big. We're missing something very important about what it means to be sanctified in a non-progressive sense. Here's an example, a famous question. Paul says, should we continue in sin that grace may abound? So we just keep sinning, keep on sinning, because we know it will magnify more of God's grace. He anticipates this objection in Romans 6. And he gives a very pivotal answer. It is a big no, but look at how he says no. By no means, right? How can we who died to sin still live in it? Important point, Paul's not exhorting here. He's not saying be dying to sin. Try to die to sin. Think about dying to sin. No, he's saying you have died to sin. It's done. That part of you, done, gone, crucified. If you've died to sin, therefore, how could you still live in it? He's making a statement here, a definitive statement. Christians have died to sin. And that is what we're talking about when we talk about definitive sanctification, that we are dead, not dying, though that's true. It's a different part we'll talk about in a minute. Christians are dead to sin, which means many things. Here's just a few. Sin is no longer our master. The dominion that sin once had over us, right, the stranglehold that sin once had over us, the death grip, that is gone. This breach has occurred. Our old man has died. We are new creations in Christ. And that is not a progressive work. That's a once-for-all thing. Here's another great way to link it to the risen Christ. And this is just providential. I didn't plan this for this particular day, but this is just how it worked out. Think of it this way. The death that Christ died, he died to sin, right? He dies at the death of a condemned sinner. That is the death that Christ died, once for all. And now he lives. The life he lives, he lives to God. And just see the connection. So you also, you too, because you're joined to him, you too should consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God. And that is a definitive once-for-all statement that has occurred in the life of the believer. Here's Murray on it once more. Regarding this freedom from the dominion of sin, the victory over the power of sin is not achieved by a process, nor by striving, nor by working. Once for all, by union with the risen Christ and the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. Very important in terms of thinking of sanctification that way. Not achieved by a process, but once for all. And even our confession, I think, recognizes this. In this last phrase here, God sanctifies us, it's actually called so on and so forth. The dominion of the whole body of sin, not some, not part, not a little bit, but the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed for the believer. Again, why? Christ, the death that he died, he died to sin, so you too must also live. So that's why another way to think of sanctification just means become who you already are. Become who you already are. This is who you are in Jesus Christ. You're dead to sin. Now grow up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Become who you already are. This is who you are, set apart. The nerd speak for that is just the indicatives ground the imperatives. The statements ground the commands. Indicatives ground the imperatives, or just more simply, become who you already are. Any questions on this? Very important to understand definitive sanctification. Mr. Morris. I think that's good for what we've been studying in Eden, driving that point from foot off to foot on. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, that's great language as far as sanctification goes. Okay, so that's the definitive part, all right? However, of course, though we are freed from the power, from the dominion of sin, there absolutely still remains indwelling sin. The pollution of sin is still there. So while the power is gone and destroyed, there is still going to be indwelling sin. And that's why there are two aspects to sanctification. Cleaning up the pollution of sin that is ongoing and will be until the day that we die. So that's why it is also right, provided you think of sanctification definitively, to then think of it progressively. Confession, of course, says this. You see this language of more and more weakened, and then our graces are more and more quickened. Obviously, this is progressive language, right? More and more, more and more. We'd also want to say that sanctification is necessary. We have, in at least evangelicalism, an absolute allergy to saying this. Like, this is not... I don't know why we just balk at this, but you should say it with a straight face. Absolutely necessary, must be sanctified. Cannot not be sanctified. Every Christian is a... There are no non-sanctified Christians. You see the confession there, without Mitch, no man shall see the Lord, coming right out of Hebrews. Right, for the holiness, which again, that concept of holiness, in fact, right to who we are as image bearers, without which no one will see the Lord. This is the target of our sanctification. And this is helpful. I've heard a number of theologians have said this. This may seem like... You might look at this and be like, well, yeah, but I don't... To me, this was always a helpful phrase. When you become a Christian, and you're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and you're justified, and you're declared righteous, it is right to remember nothing about the nature of sin has changed. Absolutely nothing, right? There's nothing about sin that changes the character of sin. Being a believer, right? Sin is nothing in terms of its offense to God, contravening the holiness of God, contravening who you are. There's nothing that has changed about the nature of sin. Now, we can talk about many other things that have changed, but nothing has changed the nature of sin. And that all the more compels us to sanctification and to fight the fight of sanctification. All right, so going back to our allergy of saying it's necessary, and maybe this is why. Well, if you're saying it's necessary, does that mean that my sanctification is works-based? It's merit-based, right? It's me, me, me. I'm the one doing it. Well, just remember, how does the definition... Who remembers the catechism definition? How does it start for sanctification? The work of what? What? The work of God's free grace. The work of God's free grace. There's nothing about... This is, I think, where we get tripped up. It's like, okay, justification. I get it. That was all God's grace. Now, sanctification. My turn to take the wheel. Now, I'm going to drive this thing home. Absolutely not. Now, the one difference... How does justification start in the catechism? Act. Very, no doubt, a very deliberate change of words. Justification is the act of God's free grace. Act is a much more constrained, definitive, once-for-all, you're declared righteous forensically in Jesus Christ. We've just changed the word from act to work to recognize the progressive nature of us being transformed from one degree of glory to another. But what stays is the free grace. Right? You're not earning your sanctification. There's nothing you're doing to earn being made more and more holy and more and more like Jesus Christ. It is just as much a work of God's free grace when we're renewed after the whole man in the image of God. The other very important thing to remember as far as this renewal goes is that just as depravity affects the whole man, my mind, my heart, my will, all parts of me, we would say, so too does sanctification. It affects the whole man. My mind, my heart, my will are being renewed. After what? After the image of Christ in true righteousness and holiness. A good way to think of the whole man involves the concentration of his thought, his interest, his heart, his mind, his will, and purpose upon the prize of God. The whole man is just as much involved. Now that said, equally true, it affects every part of me, but it is imperfect in every part of me. So it's not confused definitive sanctification with any kind of perfectionism. It is going to be imperfect in every part of me until the day I die. All of me, but imperfect in me. And probably the best verse that shows why our sanctification is progressive is this idea of one degree of glory to another. You see how it is we're sanctified. We behold... I mean, there's a great book, I don't know if anyone's read it, We Become Like What We Worship. Has anyone heard of that book? It's a great book by G.K. Beal. It just teases out the basic idea that as humans, whatever you worship, you're going to become like that thing. So you see, like, in the Old Testament, the idols that are worshipped that are dumb, that are deaf, that cannot see, that cannot hear, that cannot speak. And when you worship those things, you become like them. You become dumb, deaf, cannot see, cannot hear, cannot speak. And so that's just the basic truth of humans. Whatever you set your heart on, that's what you're going to become like, for better or for worse. And so you see here, how is it we become like Christ? We behold the glory of the Lord. This is why worship is so important, right? A Christian would say, I'm going to be holy, but I'm not really going to focus on the worshiping God part. I'm going to be more of a doer. You're going to say, man, brother, you're way off. Like, you've got to behold the glory of the Lord, and you'll be transformed from one degree of glory to another. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. This, of course, is God's word for us. Your sanctification, same word there again, agiosmos, you could say your holiness, same word, that you abstain in this case from sexual immorality. Okay, so that's why, yeah, it is right to think this. We are a walking contradiction, right? I mean, we are old man, new man. We are a walking war on two feet. That is the reality of what sanctification is. In terms of how we're sanctified, and this has been a common theme through these two instruments, if you will. Remember Christ's words, sanctify them by the truth. Thy word is truth, but not word alone, right? Word would not be enough alone. For the Spirit comes. He is the one who guides us into all truth. So let's look a little more specifically of the help of the Holy Spirit. How are we going to get the help of the Holy Spirit? Great quote here by Murray. And just pay attention to this language. It is as the Spirit of Christ and as the Spirit of him who raised up Christ from the dead, that the Spirit sanctifies us. Don't ever think of the Spirit working in us apart from the risen and glorified Christ. Don't ever, so very providential. Today, Lord's Day, celebrating the resurrection, this is all very providential. Because remember what Christ said, the Spirit is going to glorify me. He's going to take the things that are mine. This is right before, this is Jesus talking to his disciples right before the crucifixion. And the Spirit is going to declare, or that word would be like tell again. That word, anangelio, is related to the word angel. Remember, angels are often described as messengers. It's like Christ is saying, the Spirit is going to come and message to you the things that are mine. Which is why Christ could say, I mean how astounding, he tells them, it's better for me to leave. Now who among us would say if Christ was here, right, Jesus is here and you have the choice. You can have Jesus here or he can leave and you can have the Spirit. I think most of us, I want Jesus here. I want him right here. I want to see him and talk to him. And he says, no, no, no, it's better for me to go away and to send the Spirit because the Spirit will, anangelio, he will take the things that are mine and show them to you. And just a point of clarification, right, are there two Spirits? Even the Confession says the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Christ. Murray just referenced the Spirit of Christ. 2 Corinthians speaks of the Lord who is Spirit. You know, are there two Spirits, the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ? What do we think? Are there two Spirits? Okay, thank you. Good, good. But just to clarify on that, right, why then that language? Why that language? And one way to think of it is that economically, which again doesn't mean finances, but just means the way they work, what they're doing, they are one. They are united. Not ontologically, not in terms of their being, right, their existence. They are two distinct persons forever and ever and will always be two distinct persons. So why then this language? And it is a really important language. Ferguson puts it this way, with respect to the Spirit's economic, I'm sorry, actually that would be with respect to Christ's economic ministry to us, just meaning Christ working in us, Christ working in us. I love the way he phrases this. The Spirit has been imprinted with the character of Jesus. That's what it means when Jesus says, I will send him as the alos paracletos, the other comforter, another comforter to be with you, such that it's better for me to leave and send my Spirit, right, my Spirit. The Spirit has been imprinted with the character of Christ. Any questions on that? Very important, very important for our sanctification, Christ sending the Spirit, another comforter. Okay, with that said, then let's talk about the effort of our sanctification, the work that is ours, that is ours to do. Perhaps. Oh, man. Okay. Is your sanctification, is it the work of man or the work of God? Which one is it? Work of God, both. Anyone up for man? Jensen, you up for man, man's work? No? All right. Is it the work of man or the work of God? In a sense we could say yes, yes to that question. So let's talk about that. Who's doing the work? Let me rephrase it. God's working in us does not go off because we work, nor is our working suspended because God works. There's no give and take here, right? And this is good. Neither is it strictly one of cooperation, as if God's doing his part, I'm doing my part, and we kind of synergize together, you know, God does his 50%, I do my 50%, and the end result is sanctification, right? That would not be a good way to think of it, all right? Nor God's doing 99%, I'm doing 100% or I'm doing 1%, and we kind of get the desired result. It's a great way to put it. God works in us, and we also work. But the relation is that because God works and only because God works, we work. So it is a mystery, but we are the ones working, right? We are the ones working, absolutely. We are putting forth the work. And the only reason we are putting forth that work is because God is at work in us. And that's why a coach used to say there are no shortcuts. I mean he was talking about a sport, but he said there are no shortcuts. Like the only way you're going to get this is by tireless, complete effort, over and over again, grueling, exhausting effort. And that is the nature of sanctification. I think Ferguson is thinking of that holiness movement where holiness was like this transcendental experience. You levitate off the ground, and you have a halo floating above your head. I don't know. And it's important to see. It's not an experience. It's the reintegration, which is obviously a very important word. Why would it be reintegration? Because we were created as this integrated Imago Dei in true righteousness and holiness. That has been fractured. Now it's got to be reintegrated. Reintegrated. Rebuilding of a ruin. Same imagery. Building. Knocks down. It's a skilled labor, a long-term project, and it demands everything that God has given us for a life of godliness. Okay, let's go on to the uses now for the Christian life. Just how dependent are we on the Spirit? A little bit? Somewhat? Who knows, right? Here's Owen's take on it. The Holy Spirit enables us to perform every duty required of us. Without his enabling, we cannot do anything. We cannot do anything, right? You're as effective as a branch cut off from a vine. That's how dependent you are upon the Holy Spirit, which, again, is what so pains me with the charismatic movement is, among other things, is I think it's seeped into all of our consciousness that, oh, okay, if people are doing fantastic things like speaking in tongues or healing, that's the work of the Spirit. We've seen kind of a dramatic manifestation of the work of the Spirit. And that's wrong for many reasons, but one of the consequences of that, in my view, is it lost, like, man, just to pray, just to pray a simple prayer, just to give an encouraging word, just to do any single duty, any single duty at all, you are entirely dependent upon the Holy Spirit. You cannot do anything apart from him. This, too, constant and fervent prayer for his help is so indispensable. This is how strong Owen is on this. If you want to know the mind of God in Scripture, very important qualification in Scripture, that without it, all others will not be available. Nothing else will come from it. Nothing. So let's talk about the Spirit to work in us, and there are many more than this, so I just chose three. I mean, we could go through, again, we're dependent upon the Spirit for everything, but let's just go through these three items, okay? So prayer, right, we just looked at this in Ephesians, praying in the Spirit, which is the duty of all Christians to pray in the Spirit. The exercise of these abilities depends upon the assistance of the Spirit of God for us to be able to pray rightly. This is just an interesting way Owen kind of unpacks this. So he says infants can be sanctified from the womb. We'd all agree with that, right? Okay, all right. Infants can be sanctified from the womb, so they're sanctified, right? But it does not follow that a baby has the gift of prayer, right? A sanctified baby would not have the gift of prayer. So then Owen says, from as we know, all those in whom the Spirit of God works, these things like faith and love and desire in a way of prayer, have an ability from Him to express themselves in vocal prayer. So I think all Owen is simply saying is, oh, we see, like we can see in our lives, the Spirit's work in us that is progressive, this gift of prayer that the Spirit specifically and alone provides for us. Do you have a question? John the Baptist, right? Yeah, yeah, right. Yep, yep, just an instance. Yeah. This is good just in terms of the specific, how the Spirit works on us. He works on our mind. He acquaints us with the things that are to be prayed for. Here's how He does it. Inward convictions on our souls and brings to mind, right, Scripture, when it is that we pray. Sometimes when we come to pray, we can only mourn as a dove or chatter as a crane. I don't know, y'all, if you've ever come to pray, like, man, I can't, just words not coming, can't express myself clearly, can't express the sense of my mind clearly. Has anyone ever had that? Okay, just, that's just not me. Okay, good. But we know this, right? What does the Spirit do? The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, right? We don't know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us. And this as we ought, I'm thinking in terms of conforming to the will of God and the purpose of the Spirit. The Spirit comes as our great helper to do, for us to do what we could not do on our own. Another way to think of it, right, the world, knowledge is power, right? This is the world's, who said knowledge is power? Who first said that? Predates television. So Francis Bacon is usually the first one attributed saying knowledge is power, right? Very much an enlightenment figure. And you see that today, right? If we can just get man the right knowledge, if we can just get him the right knowledge in his mind, everything will flow from it. And Scripture says, no, the Spirit is power, right? We see this with Paul's wrestling. I do not do what I want, right? I do the very thing I hate, knowledge not being his problem. Knowledge not in the scriptural sense, but knowledge in perhaps we could say in a cerebral sense. But the Spirit is power, right? Not knowledge. The Spirit is power, empowering us to do what we could not do otherwise. Certainly in terms of the Spirit's illumination, shining light on God's Word, right? Remember those two instruments that God uses to sanctify us, Word and Spirit. But Word alone, right? Word alone can be dead letter, right? Just dead letter to us, not filling our minds, not filling our hearts. So the Spirit comes. The Father gives us the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of Him, in the knowledge of Christ. Certainly in terms of our conviction of sin, you see this in John as well as many other places, certainly help in terms of putting off sin. This is the war on two feet. We have the flesh and Spirit are always at war with one another and will be until the day that we die, and they are set opposed to each other. But the Spirit wars against the flesh. And if we avail ourselves to the Spirit, you see this great promise. You will not gratify the desires of the flesh, right? If we walk by the Spirit, if we're full of the Spirit, we will not gratify those desires. So often missed, but fulfilling the law, walking in God's law that, yeah, set you free. And we're right to think of freedom as doing the will of God. That is freedom, right? Not just freed from sin, but freed to be who we are supposed to be. That the Spirit comes, that the righteous requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us. How often do we talk about this? Those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. This is so much of the promise of the Spirit. God's law written upon our hearts, God's law written upon our hearts such that we could walk it out in the power of the Spirit, according to the Spirit. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's right to say Jesus is true human. He is true human. There is no one more true human than Him. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, kind of Gnostic sometimes even. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We'd be absolutely right to say Christ is true man. As true as, yeah, there never was a more true man than Him. Yeah, I already said this law written upon the heart, right? And you see this idea impregnated in the Old Testament, right? Who is the true Jew? Who is the true Jew? The one inwardly, which is a matter of circumcision, is a matter not outwardly but of the heart by the Spirit, by the Spirit's work, cutting out the heart of stone, giving us a heart of flesh. So that's why one way to think of the Spirit when poured out at Pentecost specifically would be that He inaugurates the epoch, the age to come, the powers of the age to come, the powers of resurrection life, the powers of the United Christ, the risen Christ. This is what the Spirit does. So what's our duty? If we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which would be Christians, it's our duty to cherish it, stir it up, and improve it. Cherish it, stir it up, and improve it. And this is a great way to phrase it. Freely bestowed, carefully to be preserved, right? We know we can grieve the Spirit. We can walk not according to the Spirit. How do we do that? Whoever have benefit of any spiritual gift, so whatever your spiritual gift might be, it's your duty to stir it up by constant and frequent exercise, the ability wherein it does consist. So what are the ways we neglect it? I'm sure there's many. I like the way Owen phrases two ways we neglect the Spirit's work. Undervalue it. It's not very sought after. It's not very important. It's not treated very trivially or underappreciated in the sense that we're not constantly and diligently fanning into flame the gift of the Spirit. I'll probably close on here because there are only a few moments for questions. And then certainly in terms of our assurance, this ties nicely back into adoption, right? How do we know that we are adopted? The Spirit himself comes and bears witness that we really are God's children. And right in line with that comes the idea of the Spirit helping us in terms of our sanctification. I'm sorry, in terms of our suffering. A few more things. Let me just pause. Questions, discussion. Okay, let me just cover one real quick. I'll do one area of sanctification often overlooked. One thing to just remember, Man of the Imago Dei also means man having dominion. Because man was made in the image of God, dominion and rule were granted to him. That's why man is given dominion and rule. So the distinction he makes is, you know, we think of these things. I thought I had a better quote. Okay, I guess I left out the quote. But Owen's basic point is dominion and rule is not the image but a consequence of the image. Because man is made in God's likeness, he is given dominion and rule. So that's another way to think of the Spirit's work that is often overlooked. You think of things like subduing the earth to becoming one flesh, being fruitful and multiplying. These are also just as much the work of the Spirit in terms of who we are and who we've been created to be in terms of dominion mandate. Yes, sir. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and there's, you know, you're going to find different answers. But righteousness is usually expressed as moral righteousness, moral character, moral excellence, moral rectitude, sort of the living out in conformity to the will of God, to the law of God, with holiness being the devotion to God. So, you know, you'd say, man, obviously those two things are, you know, mutually inform one another and are mutually related to one another. But that's kind of the distinction, righteousness being rectitude. Yeah, I think going so righteousness and love are not the same thing. Right. But I think going back to that earlier quote, they would be mutually informing of one another. So, in other words, if you say, I love God, I just I love God so much. I'm not really concerned about living a righteous life. We say, oh, wait, hold on. There's a there's a break. There's a huge breakdown there in the connection. If you love God, you know, you can say like first table of law, second table of law kind of thing. If you love God, you will live a righteous life. Right. It will show up in your walk. Helpful question. OK. Any other questions on sanctification? Spirits work. The spirits what? OK. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, certainly holiness, righteousness, exact same. Right. Same, same, same thing. No, no difference here. I think the difference is to go back to Ferguson's quote. He says that the spirit poured out at Pentecost. The spirit has been imprinted with the character of Jesus Christ. Christ sent him as another comforter of the Christ who has come and accomplished all the work that his father gave him to do. So that would be a distinct, in my mind, a distinct difference. While still maintaining, there's never any kind of change in terms of being in the spirit. But economically, we see this change that the spirit is now coming forth with the things of Christ and declaring them to a new covenant believer. Great question though. Great, great question. But no less so in the Old Testament is David set apart for true devotion to God, true holiness, true righteousness, walking in God's law. All those things would be just as much the same for an Old Testament saint. All right. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do praise you. We praise you for the truths we have considered this morning, that your son did indeed accomplish everything that you gave him to do. That he is risen from the dead, that he is exalted on high, that he is ascended. And from you and from him has come forth the precious and promised Holy Spirit to indwell us, that we might be more and more conformed to the image of your son in true holiness and righteousness. We pray those would not be merely words to us, but it would be the very reality of who we are. And we know we cannot do this of our own flesh. We can never attain to this of our own power. And so we praise you that you have done what we could never do. And so we pray that we would walk in the Spirit. We would keep in step with the Spirit. We would not grieve the Spirit. And we might truly live lives that are pleasing to you and that are glorifying to you as those created in your very image. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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