This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. We open up tonight with Bruce Ware, and Bruce was my theology professor in 1990, which is a while ago now. God used Bruce to change the way that I think about God. And I love Bruce Ware. And I love to listen to him preach. Normally, theologians are not good preachers. That's true. What do you think? Tom is in full agreement. He's a New Testament scholar, not a theologian. So I love to hear Bruce preach because he is filled with passion for Christ. And so, brother, please come and preach God's Word to us. Well, thank you so much, Brian. I just want to say this, that I love Brian Borgman. I do. I do. In fact, I said to Tom when we were finishing dinner tonight, I said, oh my, Don't you just long for more pastors to be like Brian? So you got a good guy here. You know that, don't you? And what a wonderful privilege it is for Tom and me to be here on this 20th anniversary of this marvelous fellowship of believers. We praise the Lord for his sustaining grace and his guidance and provision. and additions to your family over the years and the ways in which God has blessed you. And it's just wonderful to see. It's a great demonstration of God's blessing upon a faithful leadership team and faithful people. And we pray that God would keep you faithful for as long as you're here, for as long as he has you here, to be faithful to his word. It's also a privilege to do this with Tom. Tom and I go back to Western Seminary together as students. So that's even longer than what I taught at Western when Brian was a student there. And we became friends then and have been Dear friends, ever since, and we have the privilege of teaching together now, our offices are across the hall from each other, our houses are about three blocks away from each other, and we never see each other. So it's fun to come here and see Tom, you know. We have busy lives, so what can you say? But anyway, what a privilege. We just delight to be here with you during this very special time in your church's history. Well, my part this weekend is to bring three messages on sanctification. Tom is going to go through part of Ephesians with you, and I'm going to do more of a topical study on sanctification. And the topic tonight I hope you have the handout there. I'm relying upon that because we're going through a lot of passages, and if we turn to them in our Bibles, it would just take forever. So I thought it would be better just to print them out and have them in front of us. We're going to be looking tonight at Growing in Holiness, the Christian's New Identity. And really, why it's important to start here when we think of sanctification is very simple. God wants us to know who we are in order to understand how we are to live the way he calls us to live. We act out from the heart what we are. So we have to start with our identity, what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a follower of Christ, the work that he has done to make us new creatures in Christ so that the being precedes the doing. And if we don't get that right, if you rush to doing before you understand being, then you're a legalist. Then you're, you know, involved in moralism and legalism and defeatism because it will never happen. You don't have in your own self, nor do I, the ability to live the way God calls us to live, but He has granted us by Christ in the Spirit to be new creatures and all that is entailed in that and out of that then we live the lives in progressive manner that God has called us to live. So the first session tonight is on really our new identity in Christ and what I hope you'll take away from this is just reminders. I mean, there's nothing here that most of you, I'm sure, here don't know already, but reminders to take home with you of who I am. Christian, do you know who you are? Do thoughts come readily to your mind when you think about what it means to be a Christian that help inform you of who you are, out of which then you are called to live your lives? So, this is what we'll look at together tonight. Now, first of all, By way of introduction, let's just be clear that the doctrine of sanctification really does have two parts to it, sometimes called positional or definitive sanctification, sometimes then progressive or incremental sanctification. And both of these senses of sanctification are in the Bible. They're very important, both of them. And take a look with me at first of all at positional sanctification. I'm at Roman numeral 1A on the outline. Positional sanctification might be understood this way, the present position or status of believers from the moment of their conversion of being definitively and unalterably separated unto God in Christ. Thus, they are called saints or holy ones, indicating their irreversible new identity as those who are separated from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to the kingdom of God's beloved son. So, positional sanctification admits no increase or decrease. You cannot be more positionally sanctified tomorrow than you are today. You cannot be more in the kingdom of Christ tomorrow than you are today. You cannot be more a child of God tomorrow than you are today. There is no increase or decrease in this. We are citizens of the kingdom. We have been set free from the dominion of sin. And these truths are just glorious and weighty, and they need to inform our minds and our hearts of what God has done for us in Christ, as the basis then by which we have empowerment from His work within than to live out what He has called us to live. Look at just a few sample passages of this positional sanctification. Jesus actually to Paul in his commissioning to go to the Gentiles in Acts 26.18, sends Paul to open the eyes of these Gentiles so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among all those who have been sanctified by faith in me. Do you see it? So this is definitive sanctification, sometimes called positional sanctification. They are set apart. You know, the root meaning of sanctification, as it is with the word holy, is to be set apart. So we are set apart unto God in Christ through faith. The minute we believe, we are His people at that moment. So this is what Jesus is announcing Paul to proclaim to the Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. Amazing, isn't it? At the beginning of this book, of all books in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified, perfect passive participle, Those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints, by calling. With all who are in every place, call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. In other words, I mean, here is a people that obviously need to make much progress in the faith, these Corinthian believers, but nonetheless, Paul addresses them as those who have been sanctified. That is, those who are truly believers among the Corinthian church, the professing believers, those who are truly believers, are God's people. They have been set apart to Him. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 6, similarly, such were some of you, he lists a number of sinful ways of life that they have turned from, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. and in the spirit of our God. Look how he parallels there justification with sanctification, just as justification is a completed act that happens at the moment that you believe, therefore having been justified by faith. So there is a sense in which sanctification is every bit as much definitive. You are set apart unto God in Christ and that cannot change, that is irreversible, that is inviolable. You are Christ's from that point on. Colossians 1, 13 and 14, he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. So again, this transference has taken place. We are in the kingdom of Christ. Hebrews 10.10, by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So there are other passages as well, but here's a sampling of texts that indicate this definitive work that happens. And then from that comes progressive sanctification. What is that? Here's a definition. This is the continuous operation of the Holy Spirit in joining the believer's willful participation to strengthen our newly imparted disposition toward holiness, freeing us increasingly from the power of sin and renewing us increasingly into the image of Christ. So unlike positional sanctification, progressive does admit increase. That is, there is this incremental increase in Christlikeness, in growth in holiness. And the other two sessions that I'll do with you on Saturday and Sunday talk about progressive sanctification. Tonight, the focus is on positional sanctification, our new identity in Christ. But look at just a few verses here that speak of sanctification in a progressive way. Romans 6.19, Paul writes, I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification, right? So this will lead to sanctification. Or in Colossians, let me pass up this one right now. Just notice, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and the increase that is part of that. 2 Corinthians 3.18. Paul writes, we all with unveiled faces behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into that same image that is the image of Christ from glory to glory. I take it that means in incrementally increasing degrees of glory and this is from the Lord the Spirit. So the Spirit focuses our eyes upon Jesus. We behold his glory and in seeing who he is, we are drawn to become more and more like him from glory to glory increasingly like Him through the whole of our lives. And I would argue for all of eternity, this is what the Spirit does, is focus our attention on Christ so that we long to be like the one we adore, we love, we cherish, we treasure. God has made us so that we long to be like what we love and adore. When we see Christ in His fullness, sin removed, that's what we will long to be forever. the work of the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 4.3, this is the will of God for you, your sanctification. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality. So again, Paul, and by the way, in the context here with the Thessalonians, unlike the Corinthians, he has nothing but positive things to say about them. He admonishes them nonetheless to grow in their faith, to increase in the ways in which they are following Christ, and so pursue sanctification, he says. 1 Thessalonians 5.23, may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely. In other words, this hasn't happened yet, so sanctification must increase. 2 Timothy 2.21. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. Okay, well, we see here now just at least a sampling of passages that speak of the term sanctification and the concept of sanctification in both of these senses. One being something that happens the moment we believe that is irreversible, that is fully formed, fully given, that we are in Christ people, joined to Christ, new creatures in Christ. And we're going to look at many of those things tonight in the section that follows. But progressive sanctification then that grows out of that, we grow to be more like Him because we are now in Him. We take on His character because of the Spirit that is at work in us. We are temples of the Spirit. The Spirit works in us to make us to be more like Christ. All right, now, Roman numeral two, I'm gonna go through here with you. We won't have time to look at all of the passages, but I wanted you to have a listing of them anyway to look at later. 10 different categories, and it's not an exhaustive list, but it is a very important list, 10 categories that answer the question, who am I in Christ? Or, Christian, here is what you are. This is our new identity. And it really begins with a work that God did before He even created the world. We are, and of course this is something that God did before He created the world, but nonetheless, we enter into it through faith. But what we enter into is the reality that we have been for eternity the chosen people of God. I mean, it just is tragic in my mind that the doctrine of election is, for so many Christian people, a troubling doctrine, a divisive doctrine, a doctrine to stay away from because it might cause problems, instead of it being a doctrine to embrace to relish the fact God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless. The only hope we have of becoming those holy people that progressive sanctification is leading us toward is because He chose us to that end before He created the universe. This is why Paul begins in Ephesians 1 with that declaration that that joyous affirmation of election is the basis for all the rest of the work of salvation that God does. And so indeed, the election of God is a precious thing. Well, look with me at some of the passages here. Deuteronomy 14, in regard to Israel, he says of them, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Explain to me, someone, why it is that Israel was able to embrace the identity marker of being the chosen. I have a novel on my bookshelves at home by Chaim Potok, a Jewish novelist, entitled The Chosen. It is very clear Jews have been able to embrace this concept without the kinds of negative connotations that attach to it for Christians. I don't understand it. But yes, they were the chosen people and we are the chosen people. What is the last time you thought of yourself as chosen? Well, let me just encourage you to think biblically. This is a concept you ought to bring to mind regularly. You are chosen by God for what? Ephesians 1, 3 and 4, verse 4, he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless. In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself. So when you think of Being one of the chosen, it immediately should bring to our minds what we are chosen for. chosen to be a child of God, chosen to be holy and blameless. To take that to heart is one of the most important things we can do to reshape our senses of identity so that we know who we are when we act in this world, when we live with our wives and husbands and children, when we carry out the work that we do in the workplace. We are the chosen people of God, chosen to be holy and blameless. It matters to see this. Colossians 3.12, so as those who have been chosen of God, Holy, set apart. You see how these concepts all run together here, don't they? Set apart holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Notice a couple of things here. One, notice here and other texts as well, the close association there is between the love of God and election. You see it? as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved. Beloved. He loves his own with a saving love, with a commitment to bring about everything that is good for them. He holds back nothing from those whom he loves in this way. And it's marked by, He chose us to have all of the riches of Christ. So indeed, what a glorious thing. So yes, as those who have been chosen, holy and beloved. Now here's the second thing to notice. Look at how progressive sanctification flows out of positional. Knowing who you are in Christ, chosen, holy and beloved, live now this way. So live out what you are. Express in action what is true of your heart, your new heart as God has remade it. Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and so on. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, we should always give thanks to God for you, beloved. Brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. The Spirit sets you apart to believe in Christ. I take it is what Paul means. He sets you apart to put faith in the truth of the gospel, to put faith in Christ. And notice again the connection with love. Brethren, beloved by the Lord. How is that love expressed? He chose you for salvation from the very beginning before before he created the universe. He chose you for salvation first Peter. 2-9, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." So indeed, one of the identity truths, identity markers of our lives as believers is that we are the chosen people of God. That should never be a basis for arrogance. How can it be? What in the world did you and I have to do with being chosen? And the answer is nothing. Nothing. There's nothing in us that commends us. There's nothing in it that deserves it. There is no explanation when you look at us, why we should be those chosen by God. But nonetheless, He did. He did choose us, so He gets all the glory, and we are humbled rather than arrogant because of it, but humbled to realize it is true. I have been chosen by God. You know, my own parents, who have now gone to be with the Lord, struggled with this doctrine. I became reformed in my understanding when I went to seminary back in, you know, another millennium, actually it was. Quite literally, I mean, that's how old I am. And I would come home and tell my folks about what I was learning, and it was very troubling to them. But eventually, over time, they came around, they began to see. And my mother, my dear mother, in the very last years of her life, she would tear up at times when she was reading her Bible. I would be with her and she would tear up and I would say, Mom, what are you thinking? And she said, I just can't believe that God chose me. And it became to her a precious doctrine, a humbling doctrine, but a doctrine that produced within her just welling up of thanksgiving to God for his kindness. This is what it ought to do with us, my friends. Okay, chosen of God, the second category, second theme is closely related, called by God. The calling of God comes after his choosing us. He chooses us and then brings us by calling us. So here are a number of passages that speak of the fact that God calls us to be his own. Romans 8, 29 and 30, those whom he foreknew, he predestined to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified. Notice in this verse that the calling there has to be what theologians call effectual calling, which is another name for irresistible grace. Effectual calling or irresistible grace is a calling that affects our salvation. So it's effectual calling. It's a calling that is not the general call, the Billy Graham crusade, you know, the call to all people out there to repent of their sins and to come and be saved. That's another kind of call in the Bible. You find that a number of places, a general call to all people, come, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. come to the waters and drink, and so on. There are many examples of the general call in the Bible, but this is not it. This is the effectual call. How do you know that? Well, look, who is called in this passage? Those whom He foreknew, He predestined to become conformed to the image of the Son, whom He predestined, he called. So don't you see that it is a calling that comes just to some? It's not a calling that goes to everybody out there. Now, it may happen when the calling goes to everyone, but there is at that moment a special call that goes to some, the predestined. And notice what it does. And those who may be predestined He called, and those whom He called, He justified. So all of the predestined are called, and all of the called are justified. Therefore, it is a calling to some, and it's a calling that works, that effects their salvation. So again, I mean, honestly, friends, be humbled, be amazed, be deeply grateful that God, in His mercy, not only chose you, but what good would His choosing do? Given our sin, if He didn't call us effectually, we would never come. We would never have eyes open to behold the beauty of Christ and come to Him. So He chooses us and calls us in a way that brings us to faith in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.9, I think this is also the effectual calling of God, where Paul writes, God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son. Isn't that a precious concept, called into fellowship, to be one with Him, to be united with Him, to share in His life, to have the joy of His presence, to be called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Also, 1 Corinthians 1.22 and following, for indeed, Jews ask for signs, Greeks search for wisdom, But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block, to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Notice the point here, that Jews as a category reject Christ. Gentiles as a category reject Christ. But the called, is that a third category then? We've got the Jews and we've got Greeks and we've got the called. Oh no, no. We've got Jews who as a category, as a general principle reject, Gentiles as a general principle reject, but then those who are the called from among Jews and Gentiles, they come. So God calls some from among Jews, some from among Gentiles, and because they are called, they come. This is effectual calling. You, my friend, are you a believer in Christ? Are you saved? Have you trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins and your only hope for eternal life? then you are called by God. That is why you put your faith in Christ, because he called you, he chose you, he called you to be his own. Boy, just let it well up within you the incredible significance of what it is to be a Christian, one chosen by God, one called by him. Let's see. You know what? I just am telling you right now, I'm not going to be able to look at all the passages in the time we have, unless we have another, you know, several hours tonight. I'm just looking here. No, I know we don't. So we're going to skip over a number of these, but you have them here. You can look at them yourself later on as well. So let's move on. Union with Christ is the next one. Union with Christ is actually a hard item to put on the list because there's a sense in which everything is wrapped up in union with Christ. I don't know. It's an umbrella concept. So I have it on the list, but it actually explains the whole list, even election. Remember Ephesians 1, 4? We are chosen in Christ. before the foundation of the world. I mean, isn't that amazing? So there's a sense in which all of this has to do with God's work to bring us into Christ, to join us with Christ. But there are some passages that speak very powerfully about our being united to Christ and what that means for our lives. For example, John 15, where Jesus says to his disciples, abide in me, and I in you. I mean, isn't that just a precious thought that this interpenetration of our lives, the intimacy that that reflects? Abide in me and I in you. Do you have an intimate relationship with Christ? Are you growing in the knowledge of Christ? This is what he wants to happen with because we are called to be a people who abide in him. A branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him He says it again there, that dual nature of the abiding, he bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. So the doing of the Christian life flows out of the being of united with Christ. You see it? We cannot do, we cannot bear the fruit we are called to bear unless we are consciously aware of our being in Christ, abiding in him, experiencing his life day by day as we know Christ better and better over time. Romans 6, boy, this is one of these passages Paul is so disturbed at the thought. Remember how he ends chapter 5 of Romans, where sin increases, grace abounds all the more, right? So here he ends with this glorious declaration of the supremacy of grace over sin, and then he worries, ah, is it possible that people might take that to mean this, shall we continue to sin that grace might increase? Oy vey, I think, you know, would be the Hebrew here, right? No, this cannot be, God forbid. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Well, when did that happen? Don't you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. So here is this marvelous passage that speaks of our union with Christ in his death and resurrection. We are united with him. I mean, one of the things we ought to think about often is the fact that his death is our death. His death to sin, where that sin is conquered, that sin is paid for, is our death to sin. And His resurrection to newness of life is our resurrection. We have power by the power of the risen Christ and the Spirit who is given to live lives that increasingly grow in honoring Him. So indeed, union with Christ in His death and resurrection is of enormous importance. Romans 7, likewise, look particularly at verse 4. He's using the analogy here of a woman who is Her husband dies and so she's freed at that particular point. And so at verse four, he says, therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God. So again, Paul emphasizes in chapter seven as well. the fact that we are united to Christ in his new life that we have in him, died to the law through the body of Christ, that we might be raised from the dead in him. Romans 13, 14, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Again, don't you see how the living of life flows out of the being of who we are in Christ? Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't think he means by that that there's ever a point in your Christian life when you're not in Christ, as if Christ has left you and now you have to put him back on. I think he means in your own mind and heart, remember, bring to mind and consciously embrace the reality that you are in Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ as a conscious, deliberate way of thinking, a realization of what is true of you as one who is in Christ. And because of that, then, you make no provision for the flesh, because who are you? You are an in-Christ person. And so, indeed, you don't want to go in that direction. Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Isn't that amazing? Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. To realize that I am in Christ, Christ is in me, this interpenetration of union with Christ enables us to understand who we now are that is totally different from what we were before we were saved. Galatians 5.24, now to those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So indeed, being in Christ establishes for us the basis for our change of life, our outward behavior, the way we talk, the way we live with others out of newness of life in Christ. So we are a chosen people, a called people, united with Christ. Next, we are a people whose justification must lead to sanctification. Do you all believe that in this church? that justification must lead to sanctification. Now, let's not confuse the two of them. They are different. Justification is a legal declaration of righteousness that God does to sinners as sinners based upon the righteousness, not of us, but of Christ, imputed to us the glories of that doctrine, but a justified sinner is one who now receives the power of the Spirit to begin a transformed life. Or another way to think of it is that the work of Christ on the cross involves defeat of sin in two different ways. It pays the penalty of sin. And that comes to us by faith. When we put faith in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us and our sin is forgiven. But then Christ also on the cross defeated the power of sin. He paid the penalty of sin and defeated the power of sin. And the power of sin is then defeated in us through this progressive sanctification that he brings about in our lives. And the two go together. I mean, to say you can be justified and not sanctified is like saying Christ's death only paid the penalty of sin, it didn't conquer the power of sin. Oh no, it did both. It's a glorious, triumphant death and resurrection whereby He conquered sin in its fullness, the full penalty of sin paid, and the full power of sin defeated in what He did on the cross. So indeed, justification should lead, must lead, to sanctification in the lives of believers. I mean, James makes this very clear, does he not? I won't read all of this here to you, but notice, let's pick up at verse 23. The scripture says of Abraham, that he believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of God. And then James says, you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. So what James is meaning here is not that Works provide the basis for justification, but works provide the necessary expression that justification is real. A person really is saved, really has been forgiven of their sins, as evidenced by the change of life that has come about from them. So, there is no way that you could truly be justified and not be sanctified, says James. The two are intricately connected together. Romans 5, likewise, the justification by faith that he announces in verse 1 is then followed by life that hopes in God. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. So the point is that by faith we enter into, as justified people, a new living reality. You know, another way to think of this is that saving faith is not merely an instantaneous, one-time expression of faith, but it's the beginning of a life of faith. True saving faith is living faith. True saving faith is persevering faith. And if it doesn't persevere, then it hasn't been true from the very beginning. It has been a false profession at the beginning. So what Paul is indicating here is this justification by faith has an extension in the grace in which we stand, and we live within that then. Ephesians 2, 8 to 10 is helpful as well. By grace, you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast. Then verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. that God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we're not saved by good works, we're saved by grace through faith, but we are saved for good works. It just couldn't be clearer, could it, than it is in this text. Let's see, Galatians 2.16. Paul writes, nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ so that we may be justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the law, since by the works of the law, no flesh can be justified. Just a few verses later in 220, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God. So, I mean, how could you possibly miss it that the justification by faith apart from works that is announced in verse 16 is followed by a life of faith? a life that is in Christ that is announced in verse 20. The two go together. Don't separate them. What God has joined together, let no man bring asunder. I mean, it is a beautiful pairing together of initial saving faith that expresses itself in ongoing faithfulness, justification in sanctification. All right, next category, adopted into God's family. And of course, this is another one of these beautiful themes that helps us understand what it is to be a Christian. It is to be a child of God, to be brought into his very family. I mean, this is as intimate as it gets. This is just precious. So for example, in Ephesians 1, 5, in love, he predestined us to adoption as sons. through Jesus Christ to himself. So the Father bringing us into the family. I've oftentimes wondered the Father's design to have all of us join Christ as brothers and sisters of Christ. I know that this is a, what, a human way of thinking of it. It obviously doesn't match what happened in the councils of God exactly. But imagine the moment the father tells the son of his desire to bring many, many people into the family, and that Christ would be the one who makes it happen. So that his inheritance is shared with millions of others. And the son says, yes. Isn't that amazing? The love of the father to design it, the love of the son, the son, the only son, to do all of the work necessary that we might be sons and daughters of God. How amazing that is. Romans 4, all who have been led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. They've not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father. Likewise, in Galatians 4, He redeemed those under the law that we might receive adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. It's as though, even as he writes this, he's thinking, can it really be? And yes, and such we are. but it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. When he comes, we will see him and be like him because we will see him as he is." So there is this joyous affirmation that we are children of God, sons and daughters of God. Now, in many places, it is sons. It's not children generically. or sons and daughters. And I think that women believers need to just come to terms with this, that it's not an insult to be called a son of God. In fact, it is a benefit because sons are the ones who receive in a family what? The inheritance, right? So oftentimes, in context, the sonship is tied to inheritance, and so that's a very, very good thing. So if you women have difficulty thinking of yourself as a son of God, remember, us men believers, we're part of the bride of Christ. So we've got our, you know, gender issue to deal with here as well. I frankly think ours is the harder one, but you can think what you wish, but anyway. So adopted into the very family of God. Boy, do you think of this often? I mean, here's part of what I want to just challenge you with is, do these thoughts capture your mind? Do you think about them? I'm chosen. I'm called. Wow. I'm adopted into the family of God. I've been justified to be sanctified. Do these thoughts come to mind readily? Next category, temple of the Holy Spirit. Again, some beautiful passages here that speak of who we are now as those who have the Spirit residing within, the temple of the Spirit. Do you not know, 1 Corinthians 3.16, that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? And this is plural in this particular passage, referring to the body of Christ broadly. as a collective whole or a temple of the Spirit of God. But in 1 Corinthians 6, it's very individual. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, that you are not your own? You've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body." So there's a sense in which we together collectively are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and each one of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit. But just think for a moment the significance of that concept, of that reality, given the Old Testament background of the temple where the presence of God dwelt among his people. This is the fulfillment then of the covenant promise of God that I will be with you, you will be my people, I will be your God, and I will dwell in the midst of you. How did that happen in the Old Testament? In the temple. So now, oh, that temple becomes us. He dwells in us. the privilege that is there, the power that is there. It is just an unspeakable privilege to be those who are the temple of the living God. We together as we gather and we individually, temples of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, in Romans, 8, 3, and 4, the Spirit comes within that the law might be fulfilled, the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The Spirit comes within to enable us to be obedient to God. I mean, the point of the law, as we know, the tutor to lead us to Christ, is to help us show we could not do it, what the law could not do. weak as it was through the flesh. The law was a perfect standard of righteousness, but the law was impotent to enable or to empower people to keep that law. So what did God do? Send His Son, send the Spirit that we might now be able to keep the law of God, the law of Christ as that comes down to us in the New Covenant. Okay, let me skip over these other ones. You can look at them. I mean, these are marvelous passages. Romans 8, 9 to 11, and Galatians 5, which you're very familiar with. The fruit of the Spirit there. Just a comment on that. that that fruit of the Spirit is the Spirit living within us. So this is not a self-improvement program. You know, I'm going to work on being more loving, you know, love, joy, peace. Yeah, I'm going to just, you know, take these one at a time and work on these. No, this is walk in the Spirit and you won't carry out the desire of the flesh. This is the work of the Spirit within to enable transformation of character. So it is reliance upon the Spirit, meditation upon the Word of God. I know you know this, but Ephesians 5.18, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. The parallel text to that in the book of Colossians is Colossians 3.16, let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you. So Word of Christ, Spirit, are joined together. I mean, there is no power of the Spirit apart from Word. And the Word is itself powerless without the Spirit who is there. So both together have to be involved. Okay, the next category is people of the New Covenant. Again, I think, you know, the Jews understood they are a covenant people. They knew that. They knew they were under the covenant of Moses at Sinai. And I think Christian people don't typically think of themselves as a covenant people, but indeed they are. We are a people of the new covenant. Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood. And what that new covenant is, is remarkable, because the heart of the new covenant is this. that what the old covenant could not do because we were not changed people, we could not keep that law. God now does by remaking us from the inside out. I will write the law on your hearts, he says. I will put my spirit within you. So in the new covenant, we are granted by God internal empowerment. to grow in becoming the people that God has called us to be. So when you think of yourself, I mean, the many things we should think of is to think of yourself as under the new covenant, within the new covenant, those who have believed in Christ. Jeremiah 31, you can read that yourself later. I just did a very quick summary of that. And Jesus, of course, acknowledges this happens through his shed blood. The new covenant is inaugurated 2 Corinthians 3, let's look at that just for a moment. 2 Corinthians 3, 1 to 6, Paul writes, are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need some letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ cared for by us, written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts." So here's what Paul is conveying, is that Christ, by His Spirit, is writing, as it were, the law on our hearts, is remaking us by remaking our hearts. Christ, by His Spirit, writing upon us the letter, the letter of truth, the letter of transforming revelation of who Jesus is that remakes us from the inside out. We will never be transformed from the outside in, as if instructions to a hardened heart would ever be successful. So, what has to happen is pliable, warm, vibrant, new hearts that, in fact, are written by the Spirit of God in such a way that we will live out from our new hearts the lives that He has called us to live. Next category is knowledge of God. This is one of the most important themes really in both Old and New Testaments that The sunum bonum of life, the greatest good really of all of life is to be a people who knows the Lord. And it's through the new, the reason I put this one following the new covenant is because in the new covenant, they will all know me from the least to the greatest. They won't have to teach each one his brother or neighbor saying, know the Lord, they will all know me. So really the knowledge of God is the great good that God has for us. I love John Piper's book, God is the gospel, right? So the gospel isn't the good news that through Christ we get a bunch of stuff, you know, that pearly gates and streets of gold and whatever you think heaven might have for you. No, the great good is God Himself, knowing God. is the great good. And we can see that in the Old Testament, Isaiah 11.9, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in Jeremiah 31, the new covenant. But notice in John 17.3, this is eternal life. Isn't this interesting? This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Now, wait a minute. You shouldn't have an and there. I mean, if you're thinking Old Testament, you know, to know God is it, that that is the great good. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So what Jesus is registering there is the sort of thing he said to Philip in John 14. Philip says, can you show us the Father? And Jesus said, have you been with me so long that you don't know? And you don't know that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one, John 10.30. So indeed, we know God through knowing Christ. This is why Paul in Philippians 3, this is not something different from, say, Isaiah 11.9, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Paul's saying that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, that I may know Christ, because to know Christ is to know God revealed in Christ. So we are to be a people all about knowing God as we know Christ. May God give us the vision for that. This is the great good that we are granted by his grace. New creation. The Bible speaks in holistic ways of the changes that happen to us are, in a sense, a prelude to the changes that take place in all of creation. So we are part of the new creation that God is doing. And even spoken of that way, 2 Corinthians 5.17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So the new creation is the fullness of what God will bring about in the end, and we are a part of that new creation that He has. And then finally, this would be an incomplete list if I didn't have the last item on here, and that is, this also marks us as believers, the ongoing reality of abiding sin. I mean, as wonderful as all of these other things are, it still is true that we fight against sin every day of our lives until we are with the Lord. Either through our death and we're in His presence or through His coming. Until that day, we fight against sin. Romans 13 maybe will be the only one we'll look at right here. But look at the force of this. Romans 13, 11 to 14, do this knowing the time that is already the hour for you to awaken from the sleep. For now salvation is nearer to us than when we believe. The night is almost gone, the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. This is an every day, how about every hour necessity for us believers. So there has to be this awareness that despite all of the glory that we have seen this evening of these aspects that are true of us in Christ and they are absolutely true. But it is also true that the fullness of them will only be experienced as we simultaneously fight against sin, that wants to distort and destroy the glory of what has been given to us in Christ. So, my friends, we must be defensive and offensive. And I think, honestly, the primary weapon that we have is the offensive one. I think some of us think that the primary emphasis is the defensive one, fighting against sin and strategies to avoid sin. Those are all very important things. But honestly, if your heart is not longing to grow in understanding who Christ is and to experience the fullness of Him, then you won't have the motivation to fight against sin as you ought. So the offensive is the stronger weapon, though the defensive is absolutely necessary. So in conclusion, this is a sampling of our new identity in Christ, who we are as Christians, as the people of God, chosen by Him, called by Him, saved by Him, brought into His family, loved by Him, and granted His spirit that He might empower us to live lives that He has called us to live for His glory and for our everlasting good. May God help us to embrace these truths as ours, think about them daily, and then realize the implications of what that means for how we live our lives. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for our time this evening to be able to reflect upon these truths that really do just humble us greatly and cause within us to well up great gratitude for the astonishing kindness, the lavish mercy and grace you have shown to us in Christ. Every one of us in this room, would acknowledge before you freely, we are undeserving sinners. How could you show such love to us? But you have, and we thank you and pray, Father, you would help us to understand better who we are by your design, by your costly work in your Son freely given to us. And may we then live out the reality of that in increasing measure for your glory. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.