Sanctification - Part 2

I don't really know where to tell you to open your Bible. There's a lot of places we're going to go to tonight.

I guess just open it up to Titus 2.

That'll be our first passage that we come to.

So last week we began discussing sanctification, which is, as Clay already said, a topic that is literally eternally vast.

There's so much in it. We're never going to cover all the things that we need to cover.

And so at the very beginning, hear me say, I encourage you to study it more than you're going to get tonight.

I'm going to try to answer some questions.

I started last week by answering the first three of the total six questions that I wanted to pose.

And those first three were, I believe, if I find in myself, or if I find that I'm sinning more than I'm,

or if I find in myself more failure than I do success, am I still being sanctified was the first question.

Secondly, what about that one setting sin in my life?

Am I still being sanctified if that thing is true with me?

And then thirdly, I think I simply just asked, how can we be sanctified?

Tonight, we're going to deal with these three.

If no matter what I do, I can't lose my salvation, then why should I care to be sanctified?

Number two, where should I start?

And number three, what should I be expecting?

And obviously, these are really general.

The first one's more specific, but the last two are really general.

And so we're just going to scan it.

I mean, we're just going to be a survey of these things.

It's not going to be an exhaustive study at all.

But before we get going, I'm just going to pray, and then we'll really dive in.

Father, we don't ask you to teach us everything there is to know about sanctification.

We just simply ask you to teach us something more than we knew when we came in.

We just want to grow through this time.

Lord, if it's just the next 45 minutes or so, just let us truly benefit, truly, truly benefit in Christ from being here.

And Lord, just give your people your word.

If what they're just saying is truly the cry of their heart, if they really are hungry and they really are thirsty and they really want to be fed,

then I pray that, God, I would be given the grace in this moment to give them true food and give them true drink, which is Christ.

I pray that they would eat of you and drink of you and be filled with you.

They would know you better, Lord, than they ever knew you before.

They would understand what sanctification is.

They would understand how it's supposed to work.

They would understand what's facing them, what's to come in their life pursuit of sanctification.

So just aid me, God.

I need your grace.

I am inadequate apart from Christ completely to do this.

And so, God, just make yourself look glorious through our study.

In Christ's name, amen.

Before we really get into the questions, I just want to talk about, or I guess briefly redefine for you what sanctification is.

That's a big word.

The root of it is sanctify.

And it really just means to be set apart, okay, to be made holy, to be consecrated unto God.

It is the process of us becoming more like Christ.

That's a daily thing.

That's a moment-by-moment thing.

There isn't different stages and levels of sanctification.

There's just this process of you daily becoming more like Jesus Christ in every single facet of your life,

in your thinking, in your doing, in your acting, in your reacting,

in the things that you focus on, in your motivations, in your ambitions, in your affections.

Everything is becoming more like Christ, more for Christ.

And that's what it means to be sanctified.

It's a work of the Holy Spirit.

We learn that in 1 Thessalonians 5.

It says, by the Spirit of peace, may He sanctify you entirely.

Okay?

So we know from the beginning of it that it's a work that God does, but it's also a work that we're called to.

It says in Hebrews 12 that we should pursue sanctification.

Okay?

So I said this last week.

This is hard to get your mind around, but sanctification, this idea of becoming more like Christ,

is something that God will do to every Christian by His grace,

but it's also something that we pursue as Christians that are striving to glorify Christ.

It's the only way that you can glorify Christ, by the way, is to become more like Him and to live in light of that.

But Christ's glory is the purpose for it, and Christ's blessings are the rewards of it.

But if you want, if you feel, maybe you're sitting here tonight and you feel like, man, you know,

I like coming to Bible studies, I like going to church on Sundays, I like, you know, the people that I'm around,

these are great people, but I don't really feel like I'm really growing any closer to Christ.

I don't really have any kind of sense of His presence in my life.

I believe it is biblical to pray for a felt Christ.

I believe God can be not only known about, but known relationally.

You know, and so, if you're wondering why that may be for you,

then I would venture to say it's probably the fact that you're not striving to be holy.

That sanctification isn't as big of a part of your life as it should be.

So, just know that, I guess, at the beginning.

It's experienced, okay, so sanctification is experienced by us primarily through faith.

Through dependent faith.

Through childlike, simple faith.

In God's Word.

As we exercise faith in God's Word, as we read it and we take it for what it says at face value,

and we believe it, and we live it,

that is how we experience God's work of sanctification.

You will find the energy for things you did not have energy for.

You will find love for people you did not love before.

That's what God will prove to you as you endeavor to be sanctified.

It's that you have these new affections and these new feelings and these new intangibles that God gives to his people

for his glory, for our blessing.

But it's also...

Well, that's pretty much what it is.

I don't want to get too complicated.

It's important to understand this.

I said this as well last week, and this is why I had you turn to Titus 2.

That's a really, really important thing to understand.

Okay?

He saved you to make you holy.

Let's look at Titus 2.14.

It says, my first word here is who.

That's Jesus.

Jesus gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed

and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Just to further corroborate that,

1 Peter 2, verse 24 says,

1 Peter 2:24

And he himself, that's Jesus again, bore our sins in his body on the cross,

that we might die to sin and live to righteousness,

for by his wounds you were healed.

Okay?

So what do we have there?

We have Jesus Christ dying on the cross,

so that you could die to your sin,

and so that you could live to righteousness.

Which is another good definition of, I think, sanctification.

It's dying to sin, it's living to righteousness.

It's casting off the old man with our old desires and our fleshly desires

and vents and inclinations,

and it's putting on the new man.

It's putting on Christ.

Romans 13, I think, says it like that.

Now,

it's almost seen as like clothing yourself in Jesus Christ.

Those are all just, I guess, metaphorical ways of seeing it.

So Christ gave up his kingdom,

Christ gave up his crown,

Christ gave up his holiness,

or not his holiness,

but his righteous cloak,

you could say,

in heaven,

to come down and to be a peasant,

to be a man,

to take on flesh,

to take on all of the experiences of the human being.

And then he died, right,

in our place,

so that we could be holy.

So it's primary.

This isn't a secondary thing.

It's not like, you know,

Christ died simply to save you,

and sanctification is, you know,

kind of the thing that he hopes for.

Okay?

Christ died to make you holy.

Whatever the cost.

Loving Christ is not a small thing.

At times, it's very difficult.

And you were saved,

okay, let me just say this again,

one more time,

then we'll get to the new stuff.

You were saved in an instant,

by pure grace,

and it costs you nothing.

But you will be sanctified,

throughout your lifetime,

and it will cost you everything.

You were saved in a moment, right?

In a simple little moment.

And it didn't cost you anything.

It cost Christ everything.

But you are sanctified,

over your entire lifetime,

and that will cost you,

your life.

Alright?

We're going to dive deeper into that.

First question.

If no matter what I do,

I can't lose my salvation,

then why should I care to be sanctified?

I hear this a lot from people.

Maybe not explicitly,

but I think implicitly.

They think it is totally cool,

if they don't strive for holiness.

They don't see the reason for it.

I mean, I've been saved,

I've said the right prayer,

I've done the right thing,

I've been confirmed in the church,

these things are true of me,

so why do I need to be holy?

You know, if I go make a confession to my priest,

or if I go do this, or go do that,

then that means I'm good to go.

I can do whatever I want during the week,

and then I can be right on Sunday,

and then God's going to accept me on the last day.

There's all these,

there's this,

this disease, I would call it,

flows throughout Christendom.

It underlines a lot of people's faith.

It exposes it, I think.

So firstly, okay,

in order to answer our question,

sanctification is the proof of your salvation.

Again, I quoted it earlier,

Hebrews 12, 14 says,

pursue sanctification without which

you will not see the Lord.

That's a pretty strong statement.

Pursue sanctification without which

you will not see the Lord.

So pursue holiness.

Become like Christ,

or else,

you will not see the Lord.

You will not be found to be in Christ

on the last day,

if this is not true of you.

So when people neglect sanctification,

it's just simply evidence

that maybe they're not saved.

And that's really simple to understand,

I think.

If that's really why Christ died,

I mean,

if that's really the purpose of God

was to make you holy

in saving you,

then surely it's going to happen.

We can't thwart the will of God.

But I think it's more important

to understand why this is true.

Okay?

Why is it true

that God's people become holy?

One-to-one correlation.

Why is it true?

Why are all true believers sanctified?

Go to Romans 6.

Romans 6.

This is such an awesome passage.

Paul had just gotten finished here

in the context.

For five chapters now,

for the first few,

he really just kind of

puts an indictment on all mankind.

He says,

these things are true of you

if you're a Jew.

These things are also true of you

if you're a jinn fowl.

That means if you're not a Jew.

So these things are true of everybody.

He just kind of,

he exposes everybody

in their sin.

He doesn't leave anybody out

no matter where you are,

no matter who you are.

Everybody's a sinner.

Then he starts talking about

how salvation

is by faith alone.

Alright?

And he goes through chapter 4

and chapter 5

and he's exposing

how salvation is by grace alone,

through faith alone,

in Christ alone.

It's a gift.

He talks about Abraham

as an example,

all these different things.

And then he gets to Romans 6

and he kind of begins

to anticipate

the

rebuttal.

you could say,

of the religious leaders

that he's writing to.

He knows what they're going to ask.

He knows their questions

and so he begins

in verse 1

of chapter 6

and he says,

What should we say then?

Or in other words,

you might say this.

Are we to continue in sin

that grace might increase?

May it never be.

How shall we who died to sin

still live in it?

Are we to continue in sin

that grace might increase?

May it never be.

How shall we who died to sin

still live in it?

So he's anticipating them saying,

Paul,

if you're being serious right now,

if you're saying

that it's completely by grace

that we're saved,

then why not just keep sinning

all the more

so that God gets more glory

if that's really true.

I mean,

if it's all grace

and there's no works at all,

then

let's just keep sinning

so that grace may abound,

Paul.

And his response is,

in the strongest Greek negative

that there is,

may it never be.

Or no way.

Or

almost like a

you are out of your mind

to think that kind of thing.

How shall we who have died to sin,

he says,

still live in it?

Your old man died

when Christ died.

What is the old man?

That's your

humanness

that has fallen.

That is your

enslavement to sin.

That is your

identification, you could say,

as a child of the devil.

That is your inability

to honor God.

That is your inability

to love Christ.

All those things died

with Christ

when He died.

And when you were raised

with Christ,

when you were

made a new man,

made a new woman,

by His grace,

you were risen with freedom

from the power

and dominion of sin,

and you were then

given freedom

to the power,

the spirit,

the mind,

and the grace

of Christ

daily.

Okay, so hear that.

Those things are

literally available to you

if you were a believer.

The power

that rose Christ

or that raised Christ

from the dead

is within you.

The spirit of God

is within you.

The spirit of God,

the spirit of an omnipotent being

is within you.

The mind of Christ,

1 Corinthians 2.16,

I think,

says,

is yours.

What does that mean?

That's the ability

to comprehend

this

by faith

and actually have it

work in your life

and not be words

on a page.

And then

the grace of Christ

is available

to you daily.

which is the foundation

upon our whole

Christian life.

If I'm not,

I literally had one

of the worst weeks

ever this week.

I literally,

it was such a terrible week.

Okay, like in so many ways,

so many different ways.

And yet,

the only thing

that really kept me going

and the only thing

that didn't keep me

from just really being,

you know,

led into more sin

was the fact that

I was standing

on the grace

of God.

And then again,

I reminded myself

it's not about

what I've done,

it's not about

what I've earned,

it's not about

what I merit

from God,

I'm standing

on the grace

of Christ.

Which is that

sure,

it's that sure

foundation.

So,

all these things

are ours.

All those things

are ours.

And so,

Paul doesn't mean,

I mean,

what he's saying here

in the verse

is that holiness

isn't an option.

It's not an option

anymore.

And I'm not,

I'm not meaning that

like you better do this

kind of,

it's not an option.

I'm meaning it like

it's impossible

not to be

holy.

Why?

Because you died

to your old man.

And you were risen

in Christ.

Now,

I want to exhaust that,

but I can't.

There's so much in that.

I mean,

I know you guys

are probably thinking,

what is the old man again?

Go study it.

Get commentary on it,

but just understand

that old man

is who you once were

and the new man

is who you are now

in Christ.

There's so much more

to say.

So,

then jump to 15.

Okay?

We just skipped

an entire semester

worth of information.

But,

verse 15 here,

same chapter,

says this.

He anticipates

another question

and he says,

what then?

Shall we sin

because we are not

under law

but under grace?

May it never be again,

he says.

Do you not know

that when you present

yourselves to someone

as a slave,

as slaves for obedience,

you are slaves

of the one

whom you obey?

Either of sin

resulting in death

or of obedience

resulting in righteousness.

But thanks be to God

that though you were

slaves of sin,

that's that old man,

you became obedient

from the heart

to that form of teaching

to which you were committed.

And having been freed

from sin,

you became slaves

of righteousness.

righteousness.

What's he saying?

He starts off

with the question,

shall we sin

because we are not

under law

but under grace?

Again,

he's pointing out

something that they

were believing

that was false.

if in fact

I am not held

accountable

by the law

anymore,

then

it's not a

well,

then why not sin?

It's more of a

well,

then can I sin?

You know?

I think the first question

is kind of the

well,

why not sin?

Kind of this like arrogant

you know,

like what do you mean Paul?

Like you know,

just,

but then in 15

he's kind of already

addressed that

so in 15

they say

well then

why can't you sin?

It's more of a genuine

like you know,

why not?

Shall we sin?

Shall we sin

because we're not

under law

but under grace?

And he says

may it never be.

And he goes back

to his original argument

and he says

basically

you can't serve

two masters.

Okay,

that's what 16

through 18

is basically communicating

is you can't serve

two masters.

You can't love sin

and Christ.

those things

are no longer

able to coexist

in a loving way.

You may still sin.

I'm not saying

you can't sin.

I'm just saying

you can't love sin

like you once loved it.

You won't be enslaved

to sin

like you were once

enslaved to it

because your affections

have changed.

And how do we know that?

Because it says here

you became obedient

to God's commandments

from your heart.

So part of becoming

a Christian

is

imagine your heart

as a heart of stone,

right?

A heart of stone.

It's a stony heart.

It has no sensitivity

to anything.

I can kick a stone

as hard as I want to

it's not going to feel it.

Right?

There's no sensitivity

in it.

When I become a Christian

God says He gives me

in Ezekiel 36

a heart of flesh.

It has life.

It has sensitivity

to the things of God.

And so

I became obedient

to the commandments

of God

in my heart.

I'm sensitive

to Christ, right?

I now love this person.

I love this Christ.

And so

there's certain things

that because I love Him

I don't want to do that to Him.

I care about Him.

My heart is for Him.

My affection is His.

And so I don't want to do

those things

that I once did.

So you find

when you sin

how do you feel?

It's like

I'm not again.

I just keep doing

the same thing.

And He addresses this

in Romans 7

but He's like

I do the very thing

that I hate.

Right?

I do the very thing

that I hate.

So we find that

if you are truly a believer

and you're loving Christ

from your heart

and you're obeying

God's commandments

from your heart

then you will inevitably

hate sin.

Which is why Paul

can justifiably say

so clearly

so simply

how can you sin

if you've died to it

and if you're now

living in Christ?

How can you sin

if you now hate

sinning

and love

godliness?

It's just a really

simple argument

but it's

I mean it's

you know

it's shrouded

in this complex

you know

supernatural

spiritual stuff

that we can't really

get our minds

fully around

but I'm

that's what he's

essentially saying

you can't serve

two masters

and who your master

is

listen to this guys

who your master

is

will be evident

by the fruit

of your life

right?

The vine doesn't

lie

an apple tree

bears apples

an orange tree

bears oranges

a sinner

bears the fruits

of sin

Galatians 5

tells you what

those are

whereas

a man being

sanctified

a godly man

bears the fruits

of that godliness

there's no hiding it

that's why Jesus

says about the

Pharisees

and the Sadducees

when he's dealing

with them himself

he just says

you'll know them

by their fruits

what they love

will be known

all your sin

will find you out

you can't hide

from God

and you can't

hide who you are

the Christian

having been

freed from sin

and enslaved

now to righteousness

as we see in our

verse

obeys God

whereas the

unrighteous man

being enslaved

to sin

is ruled by

his lusts

which reign over

him as his

master

verse John 3

turn there

this is one of

the clearest

clearest

clearest

texts

in the whole

bible

on this topic

and I think it

just speaks so

pointedly to it

1st John 3

John 3:7

verse 7

you guys there

it says this

little children

so he's speaking

to Christians

let no one

deceive you

the one who

practices

righteousness

is righteous

the one who

practices sin

is of the

devil

for the devil

has sinned

from the

beginning

now listen to

this

here we go

again with

what I said

earlier

the son of

God

appeared

for this

purpose

that he

might destroy

the works

of the

devil

so why

did Christ

appear

destroy the

works of

the devil

now I

think that

obviously

means

in a

salvation

way

he came

to

destroy

the

dominion

that

Satan

once had

over

human

beings

he came

to destroy

the threat

of death

but I

think it

means that

he also

came to

destroy

sin

within the

believer

now

he came

to make

holiness

possible

truly

possible

why does

God save

you

to make

you

holy

right

how

by destroying

the works

of the

devil

let's keep

reading

no one

who was

born of

God

practices

sin

because his

seed abides

in him

and he

cannot

sin

because he

is born

of God

okay

now

obviously

that doesn't

mean

we can't

ever sin

but that

means that

we can't

live in

it

I've

said this

illustration

a couple

of times

and I

think I

said it

a couple

of weeks

ago

but I'm

just going

to say

it again

imagine

yourself

before your

salvation

okay

before Christ

as a

fish

now as

a fish

you

swim in

the water

right

your natural

habitat

is the

water

you breathe

it in

you have

gills

for that

that's

your

ecosystem

that's

where you

live

that's

where you

breathe

whatever

okay

then you

become a

Christian

let's say

then you

become a

Christian

and God

changes you

from a

fish

to a

man

now I

don't have

gills

I have

lungs

and now I

breathe air

and now my

natural habitat

is on the

land

and I

walk around

and I

don't

have

I

don't

swim

anymore

now

as a

human

being

right

as a

human

being

as a

Christian

I

can

go back

in the

water

temporarily

I

can

swim

there

I

can

go

underwater

I

can

hold

my

breath

for a

little

while

but I

can

no

longer

live

in it

I

can't

live

in it

I

don't

have

the

lungs

for it

I

don't

have

the

gills

for it

I

should

say

okay

as a

Christian

you

can

sin

again

it's

not

saying

that

a

Christian

doesn't

sin

it's

saying

that

you

can't

!

live

in

it

you

can't

practice

it

there's

a

huge

difference

now

I

know

that

there's

other

questions

coming

up

I

think

I

dealt

with

some

of

those

questions

last

week

with

regards

to

what

about

that

one

of

the

setting

sin

in

my

life

if

you

guys

want

to

know

the

answer

to

that

I

don't

know

I

guess

listen

to

the

podcast

or

just

ask

me

and

I'll

send

you

the

notes

or

something

but

that's

what that

verse

is

saying

let's

keep

reading

one more

verse

he says

this

by this

the children

of God

and the

children

of the

devil

are

obvious

anyone

who does

not

practice

righteousness

is not

of God

nor the

one who

does

not

love

his

brother

so

John

is just

black

and white

he's

like

he's

like

if it

doesn't

look like

a

Christian

and

talk

like

a

Christian

and

out

like

a

Christian

and

think

like

a

Christian

it's

not

a

Christian

it's

not

you know

I mean

there's

this

one

guy

that said

he

described

this

verse

like

this

he's

like

I

live

in

Chicago

and

I

live

in

Illinois

whatever

like

I

have

this

farm

and

you know

during

the

certain

seasons

these

hunters

will

come

onto

my

land

and

they'll

go

deer

hunting

but

unfortunately

every

single

time

that

this

happens

every

single

season

that

and

I

just

want

to

be

there

and

go

to

them

and

be

like

it's

not

a

deer

it

moves

it's

black

and

white

you know

I

don't

know

what

they

were

seeing

it

doesn't

look

it

doesn't

have

the

characteristics

of a

deer

right

it's

a

cow

and

he

says

the

same

thing

why

do

we

super

spiritualize

everything

when it

comes

to

being

a

Christian

not

being

a

Christian

if

it

doesn't

look

like

a

Christian

act

like

a

Christian

talk

like

a

Christian

love

God

like

a

Christian

love

God's

people

like

a

Christian

it's

not

a

Christian

that's

what

he's

saying

Donald

Barnhouse

once

said

this

he said

holiness

starts

where

justification

finishes

and

if

holiness

does

not

start

we

have

the

right

to

suspect

the

justification

never

started

second

question

where

should

I

begin

where

should

I

begin

a

lot

of

you

probably

wondering

this

I

still

kind

of

wondering

this

where

should

I

begin

sinification

seems

lofty

to me

it

seems

overwhelming

in a

lot

of

ways

where

should

I

go

how

should

I

start

well

this

is

encouraging

Go to

Colossians

2

really

simple

answer

Colossians

Colossians 2:6

2

verse

6

he

says

as

you

therefore

have

received

Christ

Jesus

the

Lord

so

walk

in

in

the

very

same

way

that

you

received

Christ

that's

how you

continue

it's a

really simple

answer

so then the

question becomes

what

how did I

receive

Christ

what was

true of

me

what things

characterize

!

me

you

received

Christ

firstly

by grace

alone

go to

Ephesians

2

8

Bible

drill

Ephesians

2

8

you guys

probably know

this one by

heart

for

by grace

you have

been

saved

through

faith

and that

not of

yourselves

it is

the gift

of God

by grace

you have

been

saved

it says

grace

the

definition

of it

is the

merciful

kindness

by which

God

exerting

his holy

influence

upon souls

turns

them to

Christ

keeps

strengthens

increases

them

in

Christian

faith

knowledge

affection

and

kindles

them

to

exercise

to

the

exercise

of

their

Christian

virtues

it's

really

wordy

what he's

basically

saying

is

this

God

saved

you

by

no

merit

of your

own

that's

what that

means

he

did

this

work

he

saved

you

by

grace

turned

you

to

Christ

and

then

he

keeps

you

he

strengthens

you

for

his

glory

you

were

depending

fully

on

God's

grace

for

salvation

when

you

began

he

would

like

for

us

to

fully

depend

on

him

for

sanctification

too

so

I

hope

you

understand

that

literally

so

much

of

sanctification

comes

down

to

just

understanding

that

it's

all

by

grace

in

the

moment

you

begin

to put

your

trust

and your

confidence

in

yourself

and what

you

can

do

and how

much

you

can

resist

how much

temptation

you have

the ability

to conquer

yourself

you're going to find yourself

falling into it more and more

I kind of like this illustration

!

One writer said

as a bird depends on its wings to fly

so we must depend on God to be holy

Secondly

You received Christ

you were saved

through faith alone!

Ephesians 2

8

again

For by grace

you have been saved

through faith

A couple of weeks ago

we talked about faith

True faith

True

genuine

God-honoring faith

gives things

substance

and gives things

feet

we said

It gives things

a certain tangibility

a certain

believability

that it didn't have

before

It gives

in a sense

I think I pictured

I painted it like this

It's like, I can hope in something, like an ice cream cone, waiting on the sidewalk.

You know, but it's not really mine until I taste it.

A lot of people have this general hope in God, but when you really have God, it's like a taste.

It gives things substance. It gives things depth.

There is such a thing as a felt Christ.

There is such a thing as that.

It isn't merely an agreement to some doctrine.

It's a calm confidence in Christ that alone, okay, that alone can enable a man to resolve to follow Him.

It is the most natural thing for the believer, and it is the most unnatural thing to the non-Christian, to live by faith.

You began by simple faith in Christ as the only way to be saved, and so you must continue by simple faith in Christ as the only way to be sanctified.

Just trust in the Lord.

Thirdly, you were saved in Christ alone.

In Christ alone.

Ephesians 2.8, again.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself.

It is the gift of God, or Christ.

It is the gift of God.

Your faith was a gift from Christ.

He gave Himself up for you on the cross, and then to you in salvation.

He gave Himself to you in salvation.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live.

It is Christ who lives in me.

In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, gave Himself up for me.

Christ is in you, He says.

He is like oxygen, in a sense, you could say, that we breathe as we run this race of sanctification.

He is like the oxygen.

It is a necessary thing.

Try to run without oxygen.

It is not going to work very well.

You need it.

You have to be breathing it.

You are not going to be able to run without Christ.

You are not going to be able to be sanctified without Christ.

If you begin to run without Him, you will find yourself exhausted, and tired, and weak, and unable.

He is like oxygen.

If you find yourself fatigued, then take a break, right?

And dive into the Word of God.

And dive into prayer.

And get Christ.

Take a breath of Christ.

Let it renew you and refresh you.

It says this.

Fix your eye on Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of your faith.

That's in Hebrews 12.

Fix your eye on Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of your faith.

I love that, because what does it say?

What does it allude to?

Author, right?

He wrote it.

He began it.

He initiated it.

He created it.

But He is also the finisher of your faith.

From beginning to end.

He is the alpha and the omega of your faith.

And lastly, by Scripture alone.

You were saved by Scripture alone.

If Christ is the oxygen that Christians breathe in, then I would say that Scripture is like the food that they eat.

Deuteronomy 8.3 says this.

Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

As your physical body needs nourishment, so your spiritual body needs the nourishment of 1 John and Ecclesiastes.

Right?

Revelation.

And the book of John and Daniel.

You need that nourishment.

There's a lot of different vitamins that go into your diet.

Well, you need vitamin Ecclesiastes.

God used the truth of the gospel to save you, and He will use it to sanctify you.

Joshua 1.8 says,

Don't let the book of the law depart from your mouth or your mind or your heart.

David Brainerd said this.

He was a missionary.

When I return home and I give myself to meditation and prayer and fasting, my soul longs for mortification, self-denial, humility, and divorcement from all things of the world.

I have nothing to do with earth, but only labor in it honestly for God.

I do not desire to live one minute for anything which earth can afford.

That's the result of being immersed in the Word of God and finding in it more satisfying things than what the world has to offer.

Third question.

What should I be expecting?

What should I be expecting?

This is important to understand.

First and foremost, you should be expecting satanic opposition.

Satanic opposition.

Go to Ephesians.

You already are in Ephesians.

Turn a page over.

Chapter 6, verse 10.

10-13.

Here we go.

Ephesians 6, 10-13.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Listen to this.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood or humanity.

But our struggle is against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,

against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm.

Satan is a very formidable opponent to all of us.

He is so much bigger than you think that he is.

And I'm going to give you a little taste of that right now.

Have you heard people ask this question?

If God created everything in the universe, if He created the entire universe in all of its billions of galaxies,

why did He only choose to populate one little dot called Earth?

The actual answer is He didn't.

He just populated Earth.

He populated the entire expanse of the heavens with angels and demons.

They're invisible.

You don't see them.

But they are waging war right now in ways that would make World War II look like child's play.

It is unbelievable what we can't see.

It is unbelievable.

You say, where are you getting this job?

It's in our verse number one.

In the heavenly places, He says, these wicked forces dwell.

It's also in Daniel chapter 10, verse 13.

Daniel 10:13

Daniel prays.

Daniel prays for God to answer the certain request.

God does answer the request.

God sends an angel from heaven as a messenger to Daniel to give him assurance that this thing has been answered.

For 21 days, this verse says, the angel was prevented by a demon, by a spirit from Persia, it says.

There are things happening that you don't even have a clue about.

There are demons working in ways that you have no clue about.

And for us to think, and it's important for us to grasp these kind of things,

because when you think that you have the ability to just resist a devil or a demon,

like you have the ability to resist your sister when she wants to slap you,

or like a friend that's trying to fight you,

you are grossly underestimating Satan.

We need to give him a little bit of respect.

He is very good at what he does.

So you might ask me, how does Satan work?

Satan works primarily through the world system.

Okay?

Through the world system.

He works through things like media.

He works through things like religion.

He works through things like music.

He works through things like television.

He works through things that aren't necessarily this conspicuous and overt and obvious demonic force.

He works through things that are subtle.

He doesn't want you thinking about him.

He wants you thinking about, I don't know, food, sex, drink.

He wants you thinking about something else.

But all those things and all those people that advocate those things are of him.

And they're being manipulated by him to destroy us.

So first and foremost, remember, we can't put our trust in ourselves.

Satan is the ruler of the cosmos.

Okay?

That's the opposite of chaos in the Greek.

Or maybe it's in Latin.

Okay?

He is the ruler, it says, of the cosmos.

It means order.

He's not all over the place.

He's calculated and he's smart.

And he's been at this for 6,000 to 10,000 years.

And he knows what the heck he's doing.

And he's supernatural.

He's brilliant beyond our comprehension.

And he works through all these deceptions and lies and deceits and distractions.

And he will do everything that he can within his power to kill you.

Satan hates Christ.

Okay?

He doesn't really care about you.

He hates Christ.

So as a Christian, you are a child of God, right?

You have Christ, as we just said earlier, in you.

And so Paul says it like this in Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

He says,

He says,

And I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.

And in my flesh, I do my share on behalf of his body.

That's Christ's body.

That's the church.

I do my share on behalf of the church, which is the church.

In filling up what is lacking, it says, in Christ's afflictions.

When we're afflicted, when we're tormented, when we're aggressively sought after for our destruction by Satan,

it is not really about you as much as it is about Christ.

He's trying to hurt Christ.

He's trying to stop Christ.

He's trying to kill Christ.

He's trying to dishonor and bring reproach to the name of Christ.

And so we suffer.

And that's why you suffer.

He's focused on this.

And how can God be most dishonored?

If you were a father,

if you were a father and you had a child,

would it bring more dishonor to you?

Would it enrage you more?

Would it frustrate you more?

Would you see it as a stronger hate crime against you

if someone were to harm you or your son?

Your son, right?

Your child.

I would much rather you hurt me than my child.

So Satan sees it as opportunistic to hurt God's people,

to hurt Christ's people,

to hurt his children.

And so he does whatever he can to stop you,

to distract you,

to kill you.

There's three ways,

I think,

three ways that he primarily does this.

And I,

this is not,

believe me,

we could do,

again,

an entire series in a semester,

maybe even a year,

on Satanology

and on spiritual warfare.

There are so many things to say here.

There's so much material on this topic.

There's so many different things

that really need to be grasped by us all

to understand how the enemy is working.

But let me just give you three things,

three D words

that help us understand how Satan's working.

First is,

first is he distracts.

He distracts.

Your mind,

your thoughts,

dictate your actions.

So he distracts you.

The majority of Satan's focus

is to keep your focus off Christ.

I remember C.S. Lewis once said this in his book,

Screwtape Letters,

which is a great book to read

if you're interested in this kind of thing.

He says,

it's funny how mortals think

that our best work is done

in putting things in their minds

when really our best work is done

in keeping things out.

And the premise of Screwtape Letters

is one higher ranking demon

riding to a lower ranking demon.

So that's from a demon's perspective.

It's funny how mortals think

that our best work is done

in putting things in their minds

when really it's done

in keeping things out.

Satan works through distractions.

So what do you find yourself

being distracted by?

What do you find yourself

thinking about

more than the Lord?

What do you find yourself

waking up in the morning

and contemplating

or going to bed at night

and sleeping on?

That I can tell you

if it's not Christ

or if it's not something