I might take a moment before I begin just to say I had to look long and hard to find a question to stump your pastor in his examination. But I did find one given enough time. Also, I do bring greetings from our church, Christ Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, as well as from the moderators of the denomination and from our Presbytery, Westminster Presbytery, the RPCGA. When Pastor Rudell told me that he would try to save me some time to preach, I wasn't sure we were going to have any time once he started because I'm hungry and ready to eat now. So, if I pass out, please just understand I went beyond my time and I'm famished. But if anything happens like that, please, whoever comes to my rescue from the emergency medical group, do not let them turn my head around thinking that the collar is on backwards. It hurts and causes great discomfort. If you will, turn with me to Hebrews 12. I want to look at verses 14 and 15 as our text dealing with the biblical doctrine of sanctification. Negative and positive considerations. Hebrews 12, verses 14 and 15. Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble. And by this, many become defiled. Shall we look to the Lord our God in prayer? Again, Father, we ask that You would bless Your Word to our understanding. We ask, O God, that as Your people, we would yield to what You command of us and that we would do all that You have commanded that we would be a people that would be pleasing before You. Our desire, O God, is to glorify and please You in all that we say and do. Now give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive that which Your Word and Spirit would teach us. For we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. J.C. Weil wrote concerning the subject of sanctification, and I quote, The subject of sanctification is one which many, I fear, dislike exceedingly. Some even turn from it with scorn and disdain. The very last thing they would like to be is a saint or a sanctified man. Yet the subject does not deserve to be treated in this way. It is not an enemy, but a friend. It is a subject of the utmost importance to our souls. If the Bible be true, it is certain that unless we are sanctified, we shall not be saved. Note, if you will, just a few things carefully before we begin. First, the writer of Hebrews tells us that we must pursue peace with all men, not with just some. It is our responsibility as the people of God to maintain God's law toward all society. As Paul says, love is the fulfillment of the law. And how we love our enemies, our friends, our own families, our spouses, is by keeping the law of God toward them. We must pursue peace, he says, and holiness, without which, he says, no one will see the Lord. Bishop Ryle says in the final comment that I read, it is certain that unless we are sanctified, we shall not be saved. The Westminster divines were very, very careful when they wrote the Westminster Confession. I often refer to them as being the precisionist theologians. With great detail and with great caution, they wanted to ensure that we not confuse the doctrine of justification with sanctification, but at the same time, not separate them so far apart that we lose our understanding of the redemption that has been brought unto us. With fundamentalists often in our generation, They have divorced sanctification from justification. Confused the people often in their understanding of these important doctrines. The same is true in the current debates on justification, where justification is now seen as a synthetic, that is a cooperative work, between God and man, and sanctification is lost in justification, and justification is seen as a progressive work of God in the salvation of the soul. We need to make the distinction between justification and sanctification. Justification may be defined as that legal act of God by which He declares the sinner righteous on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and the work that He has done in atoning for sin. Justification is not a process or renewal, such as sanctification is, and does not affect the condition of the sinner, but his state before God. It differs from sanctification in several particulars. Justification takes place outside of the sinner in the tribunal of God. Remember this, you will never feel justified. It's not something that happens within you. It is a legal, or we call it forensic declaration wherein God has declared you right based on the alien righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to you. And our sins, of course, imputed to Him. Double imputation. Now, the Roman Catholic Church teaches, if you read carefully, single imputation. They talk about justification by faith. Of course, they don't talk about it faith alone. But what you don't have is the second doctrine of imputation, which is our sins unto Christ. because they are a semi-Pelagian church. That means they believe in that synergistic work of justification. Justification removes the guilt of sin, guarantees eternal life to its recipient. It is not just that we have been forgiven of our sin. You must remember this. If God had only forgiven us of our sin and had not also granted eternal redemption, security in the atoning work of Christ to us, an inheritance that is given to us, we would have been restored to Adam's original state with the responsibility of seeking to do the will of God starting over again. It is a divine act which is complete at once and for all times. It is that legal or forensic declaration wherein an individual is accounted righteous before God. Sanctification, on the other hand, takes place inside of man and removes the pollution of sin, and it's a continuous, lifelong process. Now, if I could, I want to give you an illustration. An illustration, Dr. Gordon Clark used to say, It's just that. It doesn't cover everything. Some illustrations prove too much. Sometimes illustrations don't seem to prove enough. That's why they're illustrations. If they proved exactly what they were supposed to prove, they wouldn't be an illustration, but they'd be the thing itself. So, this is an illustration. And I try to give you something that you can comprehend. I know you're very intelligent people. I've heard nothing good from this church, and in talking with the people that I've already met, I know you're intelligent people, but I've got to give you an illustration you can identify with. My wife is in charge of what is called the DUI department. Now, you know what a DUI is. That's drinking under the influence, driving a car, and if you get caught, you have problems. In Florida, most people who have to go before her, and she really supervises now, but when she used to go and have people who come before her, the court would say, you tell us whether these people need treatment. Now, she was called the hanging DUI evaluator. That meant at least three out of four, if not four out of four people who went before her were going to go to treatment for drinking under the influence. Had I ever gotten a DUI, I would not have been sent to treatment because for me, it would have been the death penalty. So you understand the illustration doesn't completely work everything out, but it's important. Now, say, for example, we're in Florida. Pastor Rudell was visiting me. I don't use other people for illustrations because I found out sometimes they can get upset with that. So I'm using myself. I am out with Pastor Rudell. We decide to have a drink, two or eight, 10, 12, whatever it was. I become inebriated and I wreck my car. Now, folks, there are two things that have taken place at that point. One, I am legally in violation of the law that says don't drink and drive. Excuse me, but I am also One is a legal problem, one is a personal problem. So, I call Pastor Uriel up, because he's at the hotel, and I say, you've got to get all the money in the world that you've got and come down to the courthouse because I've had an accident and they have arrested me. You know how that goes. The police officer shows up, your car is wrapped around a tree, looks like it's hugging it. And he wants to know what happened. And you know, you always try to pull the trick one about how the tree jumped out and bit your car as you were driving by. It really wasn't your fault. And of course, as soon as you try to explain that to him, he knows you've been drinking and driving. And he immediately puts you through the breathalyzer test, walk the line, all the things that you know you're going to flunk, and here you are now standing before a judge. A legal problem and a personal problem. Pastor Rudell, in his kindness, comes down and says, I think they should kill him. Just send him to his wife. I beg for mercy. Please don't let him do that to me. Finally, he says, OK, Your Honor, what is the problem here? What do we need to do? He says, well, he's violated the law. We need restoration. So, Pastor Rudell, out of that pocket change that he carries with him, you know, that few thousand dollars all the time, He whips out his money, he pays the fine, and I am, by that judge, told I am now legally restored before the law. The penalty for violating the law has been forgiven. Now, here's where the illustration doesn't go far enough. I am now going to be adopted by the judge's son, so we know that doesn't work. And He's not going to promise me eternal life because He can't do it anyway. So it does fall short, but you're getting the idea of the principle. The law was violated. There needs to be a substitution, and it can't be by me. It has to be someone who's going to pay the penalty for me, because I spent all the money on the alcohol. So, one problem's settled. But you see, there's still another problem. The other problem is internally. I'm still inebriated. I need to become sober. Justification deals with that legal problem that we have with God through Adam's original transgression and the actual transgressions that have followed since that have been committed by us. We need forgiveness of sin. We need the promise of eternal life. We need to be adopted into the family of God. It is a declaration of legal restoration. The fall of Adam was a legal forensic problem. He violated the law of God. He becomes an encroacher upon God's law, a trespasser, and now we need to be legally restored to the law before God. So you can see the difference. Justification deals with the legal aspect. We're looking not at justification today, but sanctification. That once a person has been declared through the power of the regenerating work of the Spirit, having been given faith, looks to God for justification, then proceeds, not chronologically, Logically, one before the other, yet it is all simultaneous, as the Confession says. We proceed from justification, for you must have justification before you can have sanctification. Thus, we proceed toward the goal of sanctification of life. In the negative, the mortification of sin, and the positive, putting on Christ Jesus our Lord. Well, let me give you five areas I want you to consider. First, defining sanctification. Secondly, the concern of sanctification. Third, the agent of sanctification. Fourth, the means of sanctification. And fifth, nine directives to mortify sin in the life of a believer. I had a three-hour sermon. I've got to cut it down now to about 40 minutes, so let's move very quickly. If you will, defining sanctification, the larger catechism of the Westminster Confession poses this question, what does it mean to sanctify? It answers, sanctification is a work of God's grace, whereby they whom God hath before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy are in time through the powerful operation of His Spirit, applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God, having the seeds of repentance into life, and all other saving graces put into their hearts. I said, this work of God's grace in saving us is an instantaneous act in regeneration, wherein all the graces that are essential, not only in justifying, but in converting and in the renewing and sanctification and glorification, are also given at the same time. Justification logically precedes sanctification, not chronological. If you do it chronologically, the problem is you end up with some weird doctrine, like the fundamentalists who say you can have Christ for salvation today, and then later at some point in time of your life, you may accept Him as Lord over your life and the way that you live. In other words, as we used to call it, you get fire insurance without the necessity of having an obligation to live as a righteous individual before God. That is not what the divines speak of when they're talking about the redemption that we have received in Christ. By the way, very important. This wasn't a part of the sermon. I'm not going to charge you a dime for it. You were not saved by election. Now, I'm sure your pastors taught you this, Just in case you didn't mention, and I want to just bring this out, it's just a little problem that I have in some Reformed circles where people think that if I am elect, I must be saved. No, you are elect unto Christ who is your salvation. Very, very important. Everything we have and receive and the promises of the covenant of God's grace are given to Christ And in Him we receive those promises of the covenant. Anyway, they go on to say, they put these saving graces into our hearts and strengthened, and that they are more and more. We die unto sin and rise unto newness of life. Here you have this aspect of the negative and positive. We die unto sin, we rise unto the newness of life. Now, this sanctifying work is the purpose of God unfolded in our redemption. God intended for us to be sanctified people. The purpose of our salvation was not to keep us out of hell. That's the side benefit. If any of you were raised in a fundamentalist Baptist church, if there's one thing you were taught in evangelizing people, the first question you ask is to a non-believer, do you want to go to hell? While per adventure they would even entertain the idea that there's such a thing as hell, who would want to go to hell? That's why the fire insurance program works so good. I can get fire insurance, I don't have to live like you, but I still don't get to go to hell. That's a deal! But you see, that was never the purpose of God in saving you. It's the side benefit. You have eternal redemption in Christ. But what God's purpose in saving you was to make you a sanctified individual. Ephesians 1, verse 4, Paul writing says, just as He chose us in Christ, here again, notice the emphasis, chosen in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. The purpose of being elect in Christ is that when we become believers through the regenerating work of the Spirit, we would be a holy person without blame before God. We are to be imitators of Christ. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 1-5, Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us, how you ought to walk and to please God. For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God." Listen to this. For this is the will of God. Your sanctification. Now, a lot of people will say, what is the will of God for my life? Well, there's a lot of ways of asking that question naturally. It would be so nice if God would just send little emails to us, wouldn't it? This is the will of God for your life. He doesn't do it that way. He wants us to go to the Scripture. He wants us to search out what is it that God desires for you in your life, whatever culture you may live in, at whatever time period you may exist. Well, the one general principle behind all of that question is found right here. What God wants for you is your sanctification. He wants you to be a sanctified saint. Now, let me give you just a little general rule here to live by. This is very simple. If you want to do something and you're saying, I wonder whether or not God would be pleased with me doing this, ask this question. Will it add to my sanctification? I had an individual come to me and he said, Pastor, I got a chance to take a job. And I don't know where it was at. I just know it was in the middle of nowhere. And they're going to double my salary. You think it's the will of God for me to go? And my first question was, is there a reformed church there? He said, well, I went out and looked at the job and I looked in the area, but I couldn't find anything. The best thing I found was, and he mentioned some church. And I said, brother, how could you think that this would be the will of God when you can't even find a church to worship in? Where you and your family can grow in the knowledge of truth, which is fundamental for us to grow in sanctification. You can't even worship God according to the regular principle of worship. How do you believe that this could be God's will for you? Well, he wasn't really happy with the answer. That's not what he wanted. He wanted a pat on the back and say, well, you pray about it. Some kind of a magical thing like throw out the fleece and we'll just see what happens. And you know, maybe if they want you to have the job, well, sometimes you fall into those snares where they actually offer you the job. You go and it becomes disastrous. And then you learn an important lesson that God was trying to teach you. Not every door that seems to be open is necessarily from God to be pleasing to you. This is the will of God, your sanctification. Sanctification is the whole process of mortifying sin, cleansing, or seeking to kill it, or if you will, put it to death. which is called the putting off of the old man. This is that negative side of sanctification, whereas the putting on of the new man is the positive side of sanctification. The individual who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, having been justified, will of necessity seek to become sanctified. Which is why Bishop Riles said, if we are not sanctified, we will not be saved. That's what Paul said. Pursue peace with all men and holiness. Equal emphasis here. For without such you will not. Will not see the Kingdom of God. You cannot have one without the other. It is impossible. In all the controversy that is going on dealing with the doctrine of justification, The number one complaint is this. Well, the Reformed Church has seemed to have forgotten the doctrine of sanctification, and as a result of that, we need to create a new paradigm because the old one doesn't fit, doesn't work. My answer is, it's not the paradigm that's wrong, it's the inconsistency of the church in applying the paradigm upon which we were founded. The churches today have forsaken the way of the Reformed teaching and practice. They've replaced it with things that tend to please people. You're not going to have a church, not in this generation, at least not right now. Now, please know, one day, I give you a great hope, when persecution comes, and I think we're going to go through it in the next 15-20 years, If not, God would almost have to apologize to some people for the way they have gone through persecution. And we who have sinned so greatly, with so much knowledge, we'd get by without having to go to persecution. So I think persecution's coming. The good news is, is the churches will empty. Well, that's not good, is it? It's sad. But there is good news. And you've got to say, well, how could there be good news? The good news is you're going to get to buy a church real cheap. So just hang on while you're here. You cannot have one without the other. We have churches that are loaded with people who make a profession of faith, but do not know what it means to be a sanctified saint before God. Now, the Westminster divines, as I said, anticipated the possibility of confusion concerning the relationship between justification and sanctification. In the larger catechism, question number 177, they write, wherein do justification and sanctification differ? The divines answered, although sanctification being separately joined with justification. Note first, yet they differ in that God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ. Secondly, in sanctification of His Spirit, He infuses grace and enableth to the exercise thereof. Third note, it says, in the former, that is in justification, sin is pardoned. that it says, and in the other, that is in sanctification, it is subdued. The one, they say, doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life that they never fall into condemnation. The other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection. There is a difference, but they cannot be separate. One is a legal declaration, the other is a continual working of God's Spirit in you to conform you to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. And this, my friends, is the will of God for all believers, that we are to be as justified individuals, sanctified individuals before God. Now secondly, let's look at the concern of sanctification. While regeneration frees man from the power of sin and death, this does not eliminate all sin from the heart and the life of the believer. John Murray, a late professor of theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, wrote, and I quote, The believer is not yet so confined to the image of Christ that he is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners. Well, you don't have to be a member of a church long to figure that out. Sanctification is concerned precisely with this fact. And it has, as it's claimed, the elimination of all sins and complete confirmation to the image of God's own Son to be holy as the Lord is holy. Unquote. We are not so cleansed that we are without sin. And by the way, that's why we are not being made just unto God progressively. We're simply sinners saved by God's grace through Jesus Christ. And the remnant of sin will always be there until we receive the full adoption that is promised at the day of resurrection. when we will be transformed in His image, and then we will no longer have to contend with sin in our life. It should never surprise us that those who call themselves saints sin. David was a man after God's own heart, and yet he sinned. And no one else in the Scripture was called a man after God's own heart. And if David, a man of God's own heart, can fall into sin, woe be unto you and I. that we too are susceptible to the same problem. What really surprises me is those who profess to be Christians don't seek forgiveness of their sins. That's where the rub comes with me. It is a major problem. There are three considerations I want you to look at. I want to especially labor here at this point. First, it is this. Keep this in mind. All sin. Now, we've just said there's a remnant of sin you're going to deal with all your life. It doesn't surprise me when you sin. But I don't want you to say, oh, there's a good excuse for the reason why I sin. I can't help it. Let me tell you something. Understand this. All sin is a contradiction to God's holiness. There is no justification you can bring for explaining why you have fallen into a sin. None whatsoever. 1 John 3, 1-4 says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us. because it did not know Him. Boy, don't our churches spend a lot of time trying to get the world to know us and love us and accept us when Jesus told us they would hate us because of Him. I heard a pastor one time say, and sometimes I think it's true, if people aren't outside of our church door protesting our worship, are we being very effectual? How can the world just ignore us? Well, the reason why the church has been able to be so effective in not affecting the world is they have withdrawn from the world into the four doors of the church, and our worship and our faith and our practice does not affect the rest of the world, and therefore, they can ignore us and go on. John says, Beloved, now we are the children of God. I love that statement. It's not that we might become, if we just persevere, and in the end, as Rome would teach, we would progress to a state in which God, at the point of the resurrection, would then let us know that we are justified. No, no, no. We are the children of God. And He says, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies." That is, He sanctifies Himself just as He is pure. But whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. All sin is a contradiction to the holiness of God. And as a sanctified saint, the one thing we should desire more than anything else is to not sin against our God. Secondly, the presence of sin causes a conflict in the heart and the life of the believer. We are being called to go to war with sin in our life. You show me someone who has no problem abiding with sin in their life, and I'll show you a person who has deceived himself if he calls himself a Christian. Paul said in Romans 7, 24-25, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. The conflict is there, Paul says, the things I want to do I do not, and the things that I don't want to do I find myself doing. What a war that I have waging within me! Do you desire to war with sin in your life? Do you see sin as an enemy and not a friend? Sin will cause a conflict, and when that conflict is there and you're dealing with sin, you cannot be at peace with God. It's impossible. Until you have sought forgiveness and repentance and restitution and restoration with God and with your brethren. Third sin is not to have mastery over us. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 6, verses 5-14. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." He means you've been freed from the curse of sin. You've been freed from its bondage. You are now in Christ, free to serve Him and are commanded to serve Him. And I guarantee you, God has supplied in the regenerating work of His Spirit, not only that which justifies, but also maintains our status in Christ. That we will see to the end. We will, as the Reformers say, persevere to the end. We are to be pursuing a freedom from sin in our lives. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. He died to sin once and for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God and Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. that you should obey its laws. And do not present yourselves as members, as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. And you're members as instruments of righteousness to God, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." You're not under the curse and condemnation of the bondage of sin any longer. You've been freed in Christ. Therefore, now present yourselves as members of Christ, being instruments for God to be righteous and a holy people before Him." Well, that's the concern of sanctification. Let's look third at the agent of sanctification who is essential in our becoming sanctified saints. Believers are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit. It is not something we can do. Now, we believe in biblical law. We believe that having been saved, we have a responsibility to keep God's law. But people, the law does not make you sanctified. It is God's standard for your sanctification. It is the object to which we seek to conform as the image of Christ unto what God has commanded of us. But it is not the law that will sanctify you, it is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies through that work of Christ on the cross being applied to you. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. The Spirit helps to mortify sin in the life of the believer by causing our hearts to abound in the grace and the fruits that are contrary to the flesh. That which we were once members and instruments, yielding ourselves unto sin, is no longer just the opposite. Listen to how Paul phrases in Galatians 5, 19-25, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery." You know, up to that point, most people can go, eh, it's not so bad. I'm not really such a bad person. Then he really gets down to the ones that just cut to the heart. Hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelries, and the like of which, listen to what he says again, of the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past, that those who practice such things, those who are content to live that lifestyle, will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit, He says, look, just the opposite. joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. But he who manifests these fruits of the Spirit, he is abiding in Christ, and abiding in Christ he is seeking as a Christian to keep the law of God, to honor God, not to violate God's law, nor to encroach upon His holiness. Against such there is no law, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also therefore walk in the Spirit. Woe to us who would be assured that our war with sin is through the power of God's Spirit, and that not of ourselves. That is the great problem that we must always ensure. We are warring the power of God's Spirit with sin. Now, to know to do that, you must know the Scripture. Folks, whatever, if you get anything out of this, one thing you must get, to know how to be a sanctified saint requires you to know the Scripture. The Scripture is the sure foundation of Christianity. From out of the Scripture, everything that is essential, both implicitly and explicitly, the divine said, has been written for your edification that you can know what the will of God is and how to perform God's will in your life and please Him. Be sure that when you're at war with sin, you are warring through the power of the Holy Spirit according to what God has commanded in His Word. John Owen, that great Puritan theologian of the English Reformation, some who even consider him to be probably the greatest, and I do believe that's probably true, in British history, wrote this. Listen carefully. And indeed, I might here bewail the endless foolish labor of poor souls who, being convicted of sin, and not able to stand against the power of their conviction, do set themselves by innumerable perplexing ways and duties to keep down sin, but being stronger to the Spirit of God all in vain. They combat without victory, they have war without peace, and are in slavery all their days. They spend their strength for that which is not bread, and their labor for that which profiteth not. This is the saddest warfare that any poor creature can be engaged in. This is the saddest warfare that any poor creature can be engaged in. A soul under the power of conviction from the law is pressed to fight against sin, but hath no strength for the combat. They cannot but fight, and they can never conquer. They are like men thrust on the swords of their enemies on purpose to be slain. The law drives them on. Sin beats them back. Sometimes they think indeed that they have foiled sin. when they have only raised a dust and they see it not. That is, they distemper their natural affections of fear, sorrow and anguish, which makes them believe that sin is conquered when it is not touched. By the time they are cold, they must battle again. and the lust which they thought to be slain appears to have no wound." We cannot allow ourselves to speak peace to sin, or if nothing else, people who distemper themselves to a way in which they have shut off their natural affections, and thus think somehow they have conquered sin, when in reality that is not the way God has told us to do war with sin in our life. They are battling in their own strength. They cannot win. They will not have victory. They cannot know the peace of God in their heart. The agent. is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, fourth, the means of sanctification. I must move on quickly. While we are dependent upon the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, we must also take into account that sanctification is a process that draws within its scope the conscious life of the believer. Philippians 2, Paul says in verse 12 and 13, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." God is working in you, but you cannot set by passively Put your feet up and say, OK, God, make me a sanctified saint. You are required through the power of the Spirit to also be engaged consciously, examining your life daily before God. Am I living a sanctified life that is pleasing and honoring before God? John Murray writes again, and I state, God works in us and we also work. All working out of salvation on our part is the effort of God's working in us. Not the willing to the exclusion of the doing, and not the doing to the exclusion of the willing, but both the willing and the doing. And this working of God is directed to the end of making us to will and to do that which is well-pleasing to Him. God is working in us, but not to exclude us. And we are to be working, but not to the exclusion of the work of God in us. Salvation is not a result of us working to receive, but as a result of having been given that unmerited favor of God in Christ. It causes us to seek to be sanctified saints. who work through the agent and are consciously, daily examining our own activities as to whether or not we conform to the image of God. This is our sanctification. The putting off of the old man and the continual putting on of the new man after Christ. Paul says in Ephesians 4.24, that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Colossians 3 10 and haven't put on the new man who was renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him again He says in first Thessalonians 5 23 now may the God of peace himself Sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ We must be actively pursuing consciously daily to mortify sin and to put on Christ. We must not become friends with our sin. And that's what too often happens. Kind of like the magician, you know, how he pulls a rabbit out of the hat and everybody always wonders, where did he get the rabbit from? I wonder where he gets the rabbit from. I can't figure it out. And he never gets it back in the hat. It's always just kind of stuck halfway in and still trying to get out. Sometimes we do that with sin. We just have sin and we go to war, we think, with it. And what we actually end up doing is we dig a hole and we put it in there, but we don't kill it. We're just kind of hiding it. And then when the time of temptation comes, we pull it out like it's a little rabbit. And we play with it. We find ourself engrossed back into its practices. Then we find our conscience saying to us, you ought not be involved in this. And then, do we kill it? No. We want to stick it back in again and hide it for another season. Well, you see, that's not mortifying sin. All you're doing is putting it off for a season. To mortify sin, you must kill it. Put it to death. It must stop. being practiced in your life. That's the goal. Kill sin and put on the righteousness of Christ. Do what God has commanded of you because you were ordained in redemption to walk in good works. Therefore, go on the positive side and put on the good works that Scripture prescribes for you. Well, if you will, let me give you nine directives to mortify sin in the life that you live as a believer. First, we must consider the sin which is most perplexing to us. We call them besetting sins. Then seek to find how deeply rooted it is and what dangerous symptoms accompany it, so we know when it comes. When sin, in particular the besetting sin of our life, when it has laid long in the heart, Corrupting, festering, cankering, it brings a soul to a woeful condition. King David said, my words stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. We must not let sin fester and corrupt within us. Do not let sin reign over you. Do not allow it to reign in your mortal body. So consider those sins that are... And you know, sin is an interesting thing. You know, Scripture says it's pleasurable for a season, or you wouldn't do it. I mean, if it hurt, how many of you do things that hurt yourself? You don't. You want to do things that make yourself feel comfortable. Sin is pleasurable for a season. You just don't get the immediate effects of the problems it's going to bring into your life, necessarily. Sometimes you do. And then you wish, wow, I hadn't done that real quickly. But sometimes you don't, and as a result, because you don't get punished, you know, you become like the nation of Israel. They thought because God didn't immediately punish them, because they still did all the forms of religion, and God hadn't brought them to destruction, that God must have been satisfied with what they were doing. Do not do that. Certain sins, according to your natural state, know how to affect you. You know those sins that affect you day in and day out. Find those sins which are most perplexing and seek to root, seek to kill them and put them to death in your life. Secondly, we need to get a clear and abiding sense upon our mind of the guilt, the danger and the evil of all sin. Paul says in Romans or in Hebrews, excuse me, chapter three, verses 13-15, but exhort one another daily while it is cold today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin will harden you to righteousness. There are people, you will meet them in your Christian walk. They have the same perplexing sin constantly. Oh, they go for a season or two without it, and then it's back again. And then they're repentant of it, and then it's back again. And pretty soon, you know the routine. Every time they sin, they're bound to come around and say, boy, I'm really sorry that this happened. I sought forgiveness from God, and now I'm restored. And boy, let's just do something from the Lord. As if nothing has affected them. It was just a bump in the road. They don't see sin for what it is. That sin may be the telling story of their life. They profess one thing, but they're constantly living to that sin over and over again. We must get a sense that sin is not here to just trip us up in the bump of life. Sin's goal is to kill you. And sin may kill you more than you realize. Thinking yourself to be a believer, it may be the real testimony of who you were at heart. Do not let us become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Could not national Israel? And did they not constantly say, we are the people of God? But they were deceived by their sin. For we have become, he says, partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Beware that our conscience has not been so seared with the hot iron of sin that we experience little guilt from it. And that's what happens with these people. Forgiveness and everything else is just a matter of lip service. They're not guilty. They do not see themselves as sinning against a holy God. There is no repentance whatsoever that seeks to stay before God. I have offended you, O my God. How, as Joseph said, how can I sin against my God? Most people are just wearied over the fact that others might know they have sinned. But we need a conscience that says, I have sinned against the holy, righteous God. Third, quickly, we need to load our conscience with the guilt of our besetting sin. We can only do this by bringing the Word of God into view of our conscience. This light of the Word exposes our sins most assuredly. Paul says in Romans 7, 11-12, For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore, the law is holy and the commandment is holy, just and good. Sin is seeking to kill. Bring the light of God's Word and you will expose that sin in your life. Fourth, we need to get a constant longing and breathing after deliverance from the power of sin. We must not allow our hearts ever to be content with the present state of sin in our lives. Never, ever be content in your Christian life. Always seek, although I'm preaching through Christian Contentment, a series at our church, the one thing you can never be content with is the progression of your sanctification. We must pursue the high calling of holiness, purity of life before God. Fifth, we need to consider that some sins are more prone to our natural character. That is, a particular sin might come much more naturally. Thus, it will use even greater deceitful tactics. We must keep our hearts, our minds under subjection. 1 Corinthians 9, 27 Paul says, but I have disciplined my body and I bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Sixth, we need to be conscious of what brings forth our sins. We must not give occasion to the flesh If you know something is a temptation, you must flee from it and not find yourself around or where it is being practiced. Romans 13, 13-14 says, let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. We need to strike out at the first act of sin or temptation. The Scripture states, I will hide thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee. So what do you need to do? You need to memorize Scripture, especially in relationship to your besetting sins. You need to bring that Scripture to mind when you are being tempted. Rebuke that sin and temptation to stay from you. Seek immediately to go to God in prayer to remove that temptation and to, by the power of His Spirit, strengthen you to walk as He has commanded you to walk. Eighth, we need to consider the majesty of God. Because God is holy and He desires of us to be holy, we need to honor Him who has redeemed us, who gave His Son to die in our place, that we would be like His Son to do His will. Ninth, when the heart is at war with sin, speak no peace to it until God speaks it. but put on the whole armor of God that in the day of evil you might stand." Let me ask you, are you at war with sin in your life? This is the question. I did not ask you if you were a perfect Christian. I ask, are you seeking to mortify sin in your life? Are you consciously, daily trying to conform to the image of Christ? to be victorious in the walk that you walk before God, because you know that in what you're doing and what you're thinking, you are honoring Christ. Are you seeking to kill sin before sin kills you? Are you seeking to put on Christ? Are you seeking to conform to His image? Let me close with the hymnist who wrote, and I quote, more like the Master I would ever be, more of His meekness, more humility, more zeal to labor, more courage to be true, more consecration for work He bids me do, more like the Master is my daily prayer, more strength to carry crosses I must bear, more earnest effort to bring His kingdom in, more of His Spirit the wanderer to win, more like the Master I would live and grow, more of His love to others I would show, more self-denial like His in Galilee, more like the Master I long to ever be. Take Thou my heart, I would be Thine alone. Take Thou my heart and make it all Thine own. Purge me from sin, O Lord, I now implore. Wash me and keep me Thine forevermore." We need. to be sanctified saints. Fear God, my brethren, and do what is right. Pursue peace and sanctification if you desire to be with the Lord. For those who will not pursue peace and those who will not pursue holiness, I assure you that God's Word is true. You will not, without peace and holiness of life, ever see the Lord. Father, we thank You for the privilege we've had to come to look at Your Word, the teaching of the doctrine of sanctification, both of mortifying sin and of the putting on of righteousness in Christ. And while we've only had time to survey the topic itself, we ask, O God, that we would be smitten with a great guilt that we have not daily come to put sin to death in our life. We have not gotten a consciousness of Your holiness. We do not see our sins as encroaching upon Your righteousness. We ask, O God, that we would learn to love You, to do and abide in Your will as Christ has taught us through His Word. That we would be conformed to His image. that we would think like Christ, that we would pursue righteousness of life and holiness in all that we seek to do. Purify, we ask, O God. Purify us by the power of Thy Spirit to the end that we seek to honor You in righteousness and holiness all the days of our life. For we ask it in Christ's most precious name, Amen.