It's been a few weeks, I guess maybe three or four weeks since I was last covering Sunday school. Derek, Pastor Bowman, covered a few. And the last one I felt actually really works well. The topic that I have today fit well with what he discussed in his last one, which was our Christian responsibilities. The chapter that we had come to, that I'd come to as I was working through these, the Westminster Confession with the youth, was of sanctification. And two weeks ago when Derek was up here, he talked about our responsibility for personal holiness. And so, of course, that would be part of what we would talk about when we discuss sanctification. So, as I said, I'm a little bit disorganized. The first question when we talk about this, before we jump into this chapter, is something I'll put to the youth first, and that is, what is sanctification? We talk about sanctification here. Who could give me the definition of sanctification? Yes. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. That's very good. There's a shorter definition as well. That's the, that's the catechism answer. And that's good. That's true. Anyone else? So this is from the, Webster's Dictionary of 1828. Sanctify is from two Latin words, Latin sanctifico, well, it's from the Latin sanctifico, from the Latin sanctus, holy, and facio, that's the way Google told me to pronounce that, to make. So it's to make holy. And so sanctification, we're discussing the process of being made holy. I know for many of you this is old news, and this is old news, if I can put it that way. This is old knowledge, things that many of you know already, but I think there were a number of helpful points here. We've talked already about in the previous chapters, The fall of man, we've fallen holy. God's covenant with man, Christ the mediator, free will or our lack of it, our wills are enslaved. to sin, and then the last really big one that we talked about here was justification, and that is, what is our definition of justification? Anybody remember that? Paul. Yes, we're declared righteous, we're declared holy or just, or it uses, in a number of these verses that we'll look at, it uses the term sanctified as well. We are declared just or holy through the free act of God's grace, through an act of God's will. At that moment, of course, we are not, there is something that's changed in us. We are changed through that act of God. from being dead to being alive. We know in our Christian walk that we are not at that time holy in ourselves, we continue to sin. And so the next question then is, so do we remain in that state, do we remain in this state of mixed, we do some things that are holy and we have some holy desires, and others that are unholy, do we remain like that just as we were when we were saved, when God made us alive, or over time, do we become more and more holy? More and more, like God, have hearts and desires that are changed more and more into His image, and I think we already know the answer, most of us already know the answer to that, and that is that we do grow over time, and so that's what we're looking at here this morning. And, you know, as I'm teaching the adult Sunday school and even teaching the kids Sunday school. My methods of doing this are changing somewhat. So I know at some point I'll probably have a whole outline, something drawn up for you all. I don't have that yet as I work through some of these things. So this time I won't call on the kid, I won't be calling on the youth to recite some of these. We'll just try to move through them and I'll read them myself. But chapter 13 of Sanctification. They who are effectually called and regenerated having a new heart and a new spirit created in them are further sanctified really and personally through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection by his word and spirit dwelling in them and The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened, the individuals, being more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And we'll look at, we'll read just a few of these verses here this morning. So as we work through that. We were sanctified or grow in Christ further through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, first of all. And we'll see that in 1 Corinthians 6.11. And such were some of you. And I think we all know those verses that precede that. List of sins, list of sins that people had followed, those Corinthians had been in, had lived in before. such were some of you and such were some of us. And so we looked back at the fall of man and both our original sin and the sins that we had committed before our salvation. In one sense, those are all just as serious as the worst sins listed in that list there. There, as some people have put it, cosmic treason. We committed treason against God. Any one of those sins was enough to result in our punishment forever. So such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And then Acts 20 and 32, 20 verse 32, and now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up. So we're looking at. The focus there is on God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. So they're making the point that it is through the word of grace, it's through the word of God, that we are built up, that we are sanctified. By his word and the spirit dwelling in them, And there we had, so again, the same idea found in John 1717, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. And Ephesians 5.26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. So we're seeing there repeatedly that same refrain of we are sanctified through the Word of God. We're sanctified by being in the Word of God, by hearing the Word of God preached. That's a key component. when we look at if we are saved and we are being convicted of sin, we still have that sin dwelling in us, we should be and we must be convicted of that. And the question then we should have is so how do we, what are the tools of our warfare? How do we fight against that? The major one of those that we see repeatedly here is the Word of God. I can tell you from my own experience, that's something I failed in when I was a young person. I was convicted of sin, and I didn't go to the Word of God. I wasn't spending that time in the Word of God. There have been seasons in my life where I had things that kept me busy. I didn't stay in the Word of God. And falling into that leads us, it leaves us vulnerable. We don't have the weapons. We're not using the weapons of our warfare. We need to be in the Word of God daily. We have the Spirit dwelling in us. And we are aided in that fight as well, we're strengthened in that fight as well by the Spirit in us, but we also should be in the Word. So through those things, the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed and the several of us there are more and more weakened and mortified. And we'll see that again here in Romans 6 verse 6. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. And again in Galatians 5.24, they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. And in Romans 8.13, If we live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you live through the spirit, you do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. So that's that first section there. Several of us thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. And there was one final verse there. As we finish on that theme, 2 Corinthians 7, 1. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So we'll move on then to section two. So we've seen the truth of our sanctification. We should be growing, we must be growing. We grow through the Spirit in us, we grow through the Word. Through that the dominion of sin is destroyed and over time we are strengthened in these saving graces. Number two, this sanctification is throughout In the whole man, so there's no part of us that should remain in sin. We don't see the sanctification occurring in just one part of our body and one part of our life. We should see this, we must see this throughout all parts of our life. We should expect that. Yet imperfect in this life. there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And let me find my section there. That's something, 1 Thessalonians 5.23, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly And I pray God, your Holy Spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to be sanctified, that's the verses there, sanctify you wholly. That's our goal, our desire to be sanctified in every part of our lives. There's no part where we should excuse sin. Say, well, I'm growing over here, I'm growing in my love for others, but I'm still using God's name in a vain way. I'm allowing my... anger to take control of my life in certain areas. That's my besetting sin. We'll hear that term sometimes, a besetting sin, and might try to excuse that as, well, I've grown over here, but I don't really need to grow over in this other area. That's not biblical thinking. That's not gospel thinking. We shouldn't do that. We should be sanctified holy and I think this is a prayer, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. That's Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians. That should be our prayer for each other, for one another as well. As we're gathered together in the weekly prayer meetings, the Sunday evening pre-service prayer meeting, Wednesday nights, just in our daily prayer life, as you think of yourself and of one another, make that your prayer. That one another, each one of us would be sanctified wholly. That God would work that in us. You make the comment here that there still abided some remnants of corruption in every part. The verse they use there, a couple of verses, actually I have three marked here. First John 1.10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. There's no point where we can say that, where we can say in this life that we have not sinned. Even on our best days, we still sin. And then Romans 7, 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good, I find not. And verse 23, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. And in Philippians 3.12, I'd say this one was particularly applicable. So we are seeking to follow after God, follow after Christ as our example, as our great high priest. We haven't already attained into that holiness, but we're seeking that, we must be seeking that. We see there this irreconcilable war. There is an ongoing battle. I'll come to this later. That's one of my concluding remarks here. But there's a battle. There's a war there. We're not observers in the war. We don't just stand by and watch it. We must be fighting this every day. And we're fighting it in the power of God, in the power of the Spirit, through His Word. But there's a war. We don't just sit and hope that things get better for us. We must be fighting. And we come to the final point here, number three. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome. And so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. And just a couple of verses there, 1 Peter 2.11, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. That's part of that war that we saw. And then I already read this one, Romans 7.23, which is They remarked on Romans 7.23, I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. And I think we could also apply that second half of Philippians 3.12. I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. We are seeking after. And again, going back to the previous, chapters on why we are saved. What does God see in us? Why did he choose us to be a particular people? It's not for these works that we are seeking after. God didn't choose us because he saw that we would do good things. He chose us when we were evil. He chose us apart from anything that we did. But now that we are saved, Now that we have been converted, we've been translated from the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of the devil, into the kingdom of light, how should we behave ourselves? And how can we behave ourselves? Those are the two points, let's say, that this particular chapter in the Confession makes. We should be seeking after holiness. We attain that through the means of grace, through reading the Scriptures, through hearing the Scriptures expounded, through the preaching of the Word, through prayer, through godly conversations. And over time, we should, we must seek increasing victory in those areas. There's a particular term that was used in one of R.C.' 's commentaries on this particular passage. In his commentary on this chapter, he talked about monergism versus synergism. I don't know if we've talked about that in the youth Sunday school. We talked about that one Sunday, I remember that. Does anyone remember, recall the meaning of synergism or monergism, either one? No one? So, we typically use those terms, those theological terms, when we're talking about salvation. Synergism, The prefix syn, S-Y-N, would mean together or with. And erg, or I forget the Latin phrase, I have that pulled up on my phone somewhere, but that's too far away, comes from the Greek word for work. So synergism is a working with. And when we apply that to salvation, the question was, how are we saved? Is it us working with God? That would be the Arminian concept of God, Christ through his death makes salvation possible. And then we, in some portion of us that's not tainted by sin, We cooperate then with God, we choose God. We're not really dead in sins, we're just sick. God offers us this medicine and we can choose it, or we cannot choose it and then we die. He used that same term, he used the same, it's not one that we would typically apply to this particular topic, the topic of sanctification, but I felt like it was a helpful one. In that chapter, they comment frequently, a number of the verses they use comment on the power of God working in us. God has chosen us for good works. He has ordained good works. And so there are some who, in the Reformed camp, might say, I need to just wait and let God work this in me. They would look at sanctification as a monergistic work, that it's solely God's act in us. We just kind of stand by and we wait for us to get better. We wait for our lives to improve. We may not think that, we may not have thought through how we're acting, but we may in effect be behaving that way. we're not fighting, we're not trying to work, trying to find a way to fight the sin that is in us. We just kind of accept that it's there and hope that over time we will become more sanctified, become more holy. And R.C. made the point that in sanctification, this is a synergistic, work. This is a synergistic work. God has ordained these good works for us, and he has given us the means to do them. We should be part of that. We must be trying. We must be fighting against the sin that's within us. as we seek to glorify God in all that we do. We've heard from the pulpit many times, we're not seeking a bondage theology. This isn't to put us in bondage. I don't say those things to put us into bondage somehow, but as a means of glorifying God, these are things we must be doing. We should be fighting against sin in our lives. We pray that God will give us the strength to do that. He has given us the means. We should be seeking after that. We should be seeking personal holiness. That's the conclusion I would say of the matter. We do have a little bit of time for questions. I hope, again, that I haven't made anything more confusing. Anyone have any questions? clarifications. It's my first read R.C.' 's comments there on monergism and synergism. We tend to be so focused, and rightly so, on the monergistic work of God. It is God that saves. We sometimes can apply that to ourselves in sanctification as well. Thinking about it a little further was helpful. It was helpful to me. Well, it seems simple. Trust and obey is pretty simple, but it is very difficult. And then you find that working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, that is why we want to not sin and hide God's word in our heart. Yes. Is there more that he said in light of that that we can do? Prayer, fighting sin, employing me, Are you talking about R.C.? I don't remember too many other specifics from his particular comments there. I mean, certainly using all of the means of grace. Those are all ways that we are further sanctified, being present during service. As we gather together, we hear the Word of God preached, and God works through us through those. the Lord's Table, prayers, corporate prayer, personal prayer. Those were some of the main things that he talked about. And another to me is certainly our conversations with one another. Not that every single conversation has to be quoting Bible verses to one another. I don't think it's sinful to have conversations about other things. Sometimes the weather is a little bit odd, and we can talk about that, or it's been very cold recently, or what have you. But those are other ways, I would say, in which we can fight the good fight. The most difficult thing I find is the ebb and flow of that sincerity, even though you're doing all the external things that you can do. It's just that hard. You just have to keep fighting. It can be easy because we're fighting a long battle. For some of you, you understand sprint versus long distance running. This is a very long distance run. This is a run that for some of us could be 95 or 100 years as we fight this fight. It can be easy, and at times we may become discouraged in that fight as we see that I'm fighting this sin over and over and over again. I don't seem to be able to get that victory. The correct response isn't to give up and to give in to that sin. to continue, we must continue that fight. All right. Well, let's pray and we'll conclude. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the encouragement that it is to us, for the knowledge that the work that you have begun in us, you will complete. We thank you that you have promised, you've given us these means to fight against sin, to be sanctified further, to defeat more and more the sinful man, the sinfulness that remains within us. We do pray, Lord, that you would help us in this fight, that you would encourage us as we continue the battle, and that we would, to a greater and greater degree, be able to honor you through our lives, that we would be a worthy sacrifice, that we would that we would be more and more holy. Help us each day. Give us grace. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.