Sanctification - Part 1

So, I've been looking forward to tonight for a long time.

We've been doing the gospel this entire semester,

and we've been focusing on all these different aspects of salvation,

! from justification to adoption to ransom to all these different things.

And tonight, we've come to the culmination of salvation,

and that being the topic of sanctification.

It is a vast topic that we will never exhaust,

even if we did two semesters of just sanctification.

So, tonight's probably going to be just,

it's more of like a survey than it is like an exposition.

It's going to be just kind of a survey of things,

a survey of questions that I hope will result in you guys taking this stuff home,

taking verses home, taking things you hear home,

and studying them for yourself.

Okay?

So, hopefully that's what happens,

is you guys leave feeling more inquisitive than when you came,

and leave feeling like you want to dive into this topic more and more.

It is the joy of my life to seek the Lord for sanctification,

to seek the Lord for His glory, for my joy,

and that is the whole essence of what this topic is about.

So, let me tell you guys where we're going to go in the next two weeks.

Because I'm going to do this for two weeks now.

I'm just going to pose six questions total that I think are really relevant,

hot topic questions that everybody probably here in some degree wants to know about.

These are questions that I think are really just kind of pertinent to all of us.

Things that I've heard asked and things that I myself have asked as I've studied this.

I'm just going to read them to you so we can just, again, have an idea of where we're tracking.

The first question is going to be this.

I see more failure in my life than victory.

Am I still being sanctified?

Number two is what about that one besetting sin in my life that I just can't seem to shake?

Number three, I know God desires for me to be sanctified,

but I honestly don't know how to be.

So, we're going to talk about how.

And then next week we're going to do these three.

If no matter what I do, I can't lose my salvation,

then why should I even care to be sanctified?

Number five, where should I start?

And number six, what should I be expecting?

Okay, so we're just going to, it's a really broad,

those are really broad questions that are not going to,

we're not going to cover everything in detail,

but we're just going to try to touch on some of the main elements, I think,

that are very, very important.

I'm just going to begin with a definition,

a simple definition of what it means to be sanctified.

It's a big word that describes something that's very, very essential for you to understand.

The first definition is this,

to be sanctified is to grow in one's genuine imitation of Christ.

To be sanctified is to grow in one's genuine imitation of Christ.

One old pastor said it like this,

because we are justified,

which means to be declared righteous in the sight of God, right?

We've talked about that.

To be declared righteous, to be declared innocent,

to be declared unguilty in the sight of God.

So, because we are justified, we are to be holy.

Separated from sin.

Separated to God.

Not as a mere indication that our faith is real,

and that therefore we are legally safe,

but because we were justified for this very purpose,

that we might be holy.

Now, what is he saying?

He is saying that the only reason,

the main reason why you were saved,

was to be made holy.

To be made holy.

To be purified.

To be set apart for God.

That is huge.

I'll show you in Scripture.

In 1 Peter 2,

1 Peter 2:24

verse 24,

he says this,

and he himself,

we're speaking to Jesus here,

and he himself

bore our sins in his body on the cross.

Why?

That we might die to sin

and live to righteousness,

for by his wounds you were healed.

So Jesus died

to make you holy.

That you might

release and relinquish

sin in your life,

and that you might

cling on to God in holiness.

Titus 2,

another corroborating verse,

verse 14,

Titus 2, 14,

says,

speaking of Jesus again,

who 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.

So Jesus Christ gave himself up,

he died on the cross,

he spread his arms,

he was crucified,

that he might redeem for himself

a people

that were zealous for good deeds,

that were holy.

That is why you were saved.

That is why it is so ridiculous

and insane

for you to think

that a Christian

can be saved

and yet have no degree

of sanctification happening

in their life.

There is no such thing

as a

habitually sinful,

carnal Christian

that has no affection

for Christ

and does not walk

in the commandments

of the Lord Jesus

in some degree.

Because that is the only reason

why God saved you

was to make you holy,

to save you for himself.

And I have proven that

from scripture,

you can't deny that.

So really,

the entire Christian life

is summed up

in that one word,

sanctification.

That is what it is all about.

A buddy of mine said,

we are saved

in an instant,

but we are sanctified

over a lifetime.

Justification happens

in a moment

and costs you

nothing.

Sanctification

happens

over your whole life

and it costs you

everything.

Okay?

The Greek word

is

hagiadzo

and it implies

being set apart

to God

in holiness

and purity.

So when you see

that word in the Bible,

when you see

sanctify,

it's hagiadzo.

Probably a terrible

rendering of that,

but nobody here

knows Greek,

so you don't know anyway.

Sanctification,

according to the

Westminster Shorter

Catechism,

which is a

reliable source,

you could say,

is

the work

of God's,

so sanctification

is the work

of God's

free grace.

So it's the work

of God,

whereby we are

renewed in the

whole man

after the image

of God

and are enabled

more and more

to die unto sin

and to live

unto righteousness.

J.I. Packer

said this,

regeneration,

we've talked about

that too,

regeneration,

right?

Being born again

in Christ.

regeneration

is birth.

Sanctification

is growth.

In regeneration,

so when you

are born again,

God implants

desires that

were not there

before.

Desire for God,

for holiness,

and for the

hallowing and the

glorifying of

God's name in

this world.

Desire to pray,

desire to worship,

love, serve,

honor, and please

God.

Desire to show

love and bring

benefit to others.

In sanctification,

however,

the Holy Spirit

works in you

and acts in you

according to the

purpose of God.

What He does

is prompt you

to work out

your salvation

or to express

your salvation

in action

by fulfilling

those new desires.

Do you get that?

Okay, so you're saved.

God redeems you.

God regenerates your heart

and gives you new

desires, new affections,

new loves,

new passions for Him,

for His glory.

Then the Holy Spirit

is given to you

who then empowers you

to actually act that out.

It's the energy

that enables you

to do that work.

Christians become

increasingly Christ-like

as the moral profile

of Jesus

or the fruit of the Spirit,

those qualities of the Spirit,

is progressively formed

in them.

Let me read Philippians 2

real quick to you.

Turn there if you want.

Philippians 2.

Because I want you to see

this dichotomous relationship.

It's both.

It's

sanctification.

Hear me say this

from the beginning.

Sanctification

is

100%

your effort.

and

it is

100%

God's effort.

There is no

let go and let God

mentality in sanctification.

There is no

I've got to do everything

in sanctification.

It is God

working through you.

It is God

working in you.

It is God's Spirit

energizing your soul

and enabling you

to love God

and to obey God

and to serve God.

But it's also

you striving.

It's also

you resisting.

It's also

you enduring.

It's also

you

blessing

when you're

cursed against.

It's also

you

loving

when you're

hated.

It's

all those things.

It's the commandments

of God

but it's the commandments

of God

obeyed by you

in the Spirit

of God.

You can't get your

mind around that.

That's the reality

of it though.

I'm going to prove

this right here

in a couple of verses.

So Philippians 2

Philippians 2:12

verse 12 and 13

look at the very end

of verse 12.

It says

work out your salvation

with fear and trembling.

Okay, that's my part, right?

It says that

work out your salvation

with fear and trembling.

That's a command.

Then it says in 13

for it is God

who is at work in you

both to will

and to work

for His good pleasure.

So right there

in that verse

you see

that

what the Spirit

has given to me

for is to

act out

these new desires.

To act out

this new love

that God's given to me.

Okay, so look

that's kind of

the definition.

That's what

sanctification is.

It's holiness.

It's growing in grace.

It's learning

how to love

and obey Christ.

So our first question.

This may be many of you.

I see more failure

in my life

than victory.

Am I still being

sanctified?

There are three different

types of people

that ask this question.

The first type

is a new believer.

And I would say

this is probably

the most common

type of person

that asks this question.

a new believer

who's struggling

with sins

that were common

to him

or common

to her

before Christ.

Oftentimes

you're going to hear

them ask this question.

And in their case,

okay,

in this new believer's case

who's struggling

with a lot of sins

from their past,

the answer

to our question

is yes,

you are still

being sanctified.

Yes, you are.

as Christ

opens the eyes

of a sinner

to see their sin

for what it is,

they see it as evil,

they see it as offensive,

they see it as deliberately

malicious

against God,

they see it as rebellion,

they feel overwhelmed

with that guilt,

right?

That shame

just comes down

upon them,

it weighs down

upon them heavily,

and this terror

that they feel

soon leads them

to the cross

of Christ

where they lose

that burden,

they look at Jesus

in faith

and they see Him

and He's glorious

to them

and He's wonderful

to them.

He sees the glory

of Christ

and the sacrifice

of the cross,

he claims

that grace

as their own

and he praises Christ

for purchasing

their salvation

with His blood.

The thought

at that point

in time

of ever trading

that love

that you see

for the world's

counterfeits

is ridiculous,

right?

We've all experienced

this in some way

if you're a Christian.

That newness

of your salvation

that is just so sweet

to your taste

and God is so rich

and so palpable

you can just feel Him.

And the thought

of trading that

is just grotesque

and it's unimaginable.

And then it happens,

right?

You sin.

You fall into sin

again and again

and again

and again

and again

and you just feel

discouraged

and beaten up

and downtrodden

and you wonder

how can I be a Christian?

if I so often fail

in loving Christ well.

The beginning stages

of sanctification,

okay,

listen to this.

This is a really,

really good illustration

I learned from Matt Chandler.

Forte's of the New Year's conference.

Do you guys want to go?

The beginning stages

of sanctification

are kind of like

a baby

learning to walk.

Okay?

Now what happens

initially with the baby

learning to walk?

They're not good at it.

I mean,

they start wobbly,

they start,

you know,

trying to prop themselves up

then they kind of

move along really slowly.

They're looking up

for approval

then they move along

really slowly

and sure enough

if they take their hands off

they just,

their head is normally

so big at that point in time

they just kind of

topple over and fall,

right?

And they just,

you know,

lose balance

and they take one step

and they slip

on their butt,

on their belly,

whatever,

just back and forth.

They're constantly falling.

Okay?

And now for you to think

that God

is like a father

who says,

what the heck

are you doing?

Get up.

Walk like a man.

Get up.

You know,

and yells at his kid

and makes fun of his kid

and sits back

with his wife

and says,

look at this idiot

right here.

To think that God

is like that

is ridiculous.

Right?

I mean,

he's taking a step.

You know,

you're excited.

What do you do?

I mean,

you call your wife

in there.

You're trying to find

the video camera.

You're trying to tweet

your friends.

You're trying to put it

on Facebook.

You're YouTubing it.

You know,

you're super excited.

I mean,

I've seen an iPhone

commercial where they

actually have that

as like the promo.

You know,

I mean,

like capturing this

special moment.

Right?

They're not thinking

about the fact

that he can't walk

at all.

I mean,

he's,

you know,

relatively speaking,

he's doing wonderful.

And they're rejoicing

in you.

Right?

So God is

the same way.

In the beginning

of your sanctification

when you're a new believer,

he's not furious

with you

because you're not

walking perfectly.

He's not enraged

at your inability

to do things

the right way

the first time.

He's patient with you.

Right?

He's loving.

He's kind.

He's rejoicing.

He's nudging the Holy Spirit

and Jesus at the same time

and saying,

look at this,

you know,

he's taking his first steps.

He's beginning to believe.

He's beginning to trust

in my promises.

He's not afraid anymore

like he once was.

He's battling,

you know?

That's just how

you need to think of God.

So if you're sitting here

and you're a relatively

new believer

and this is you,

you struggle with sins

and you're frustrated

because you know

that you suck a lot

and the more

that you're growing

in this,

you know,

your knowledge

of the Word of God,

you're seeing more

and more and more

of the sin.

God is wanting

to say to you tonight

through this text

and through that illustration,

I love you.

and I'm still happy

with you.

So be encouraged.

1 Thessalonians 5 says,

encourage the faint-hearted.

So if that's you,

be encouraged.

the truth is,

you are having victories.

You are being sanctified.

You are beginning to walk

in a manner that is

pleasing to God.

You're beginning to.

But Satan would have you

believe that your failure

proves your faithlessness

and it proves

your hopelessness.

And he accuses you,

doesn't he?

You will never do it right.

You will never get it.

You will never learn

the Bible like you need to.

You will never evangelize

the right way.

You will never know enough.

You will never be enough.

You will never do

the right thing

at the right time.

And he accuses you

and he lies to you

and he slanders you.

That's what the devil does.

If you see more failure

in your life than victory,

then you may be a baby,

but you're not a corpse.

You may not be walking well,

but it's merely

a matter of time.

Rejoice in the fact

that your father

is pleased with the progress

and not with the perfection.

He's pleased with progress.

He's not pleased

with perfection.

Nobody's perfect.

Paul wasn't perfect.

You won't be.

Secondly,

the second person

that might ask this question,

I'm going to read it again

because I've forgotten it myself.

I see more failure

in my life than victory.

Am I still being sanctified?

The second person

that might ask this

is a mature believer.

Okay?

Or a maturing believer

whom God is revealing

more sin to.

And the answer to them

is also yes.

You are still being sanctified.

Throughout the Christian life,

God reveals more

and more and more

of your sin.

Okay?

Oftentimes,

you might hear

a mature believer praying,

Lord, reveal to me

more of my sin.

Because they hate it

and they want to get rid of it

at any cost possible.

But with that realization,

oftentimes comes

this kind of question.

It comes sometimes

if you don't have

the right perspective,

doubt and confusion

and fear.

this anxiety

that just wells up

within you

because you feel like,

man,

I'm failing a lot more

than I'm doing good things.

You know?

I've heard J-Mac say one time

that the holier you become,

the worse you feel.

Because the more sin you feel,

the more sin you see,

the more hopelessness you see

in yourself

and this idea of self-reliance

becomes ridiculous.

Right?

But that's when Christ

gets better as well.

Turn to Psalm 38.

I want to show you

a wonderful,

wonderful illustration of this.

David,

who is an obviously

mature believer,

he's writing this.

Psalm 38 is a prayer

of a suffering penitent,

as my Bible calls it.

He's remorseful

over some sin

that he had committed.

Psalm 38,

Psalms 38:2–4

verses 2-4.

He's crying out to God.

He says,

For your arrows

have sunk deep into me,

and your hand

is pressed down upon me.

There is no soundness

in my flesh

because of your indignation.

There is no health

in my bones

because of my sin.

For my iniquities

are gone over my head

as a heavy burden

they weigh too much for me.

Okay?

So David is in this psalm

really aware of his sin.

And it's weighing down

upon him deeply.

He calls it like an arrow.

It's sunk deep into me.

It's like a weight

that's too much for me to carry.

It's like I'm getting crushed.

I can't hardly take the pressure

of what I'm feeling.

It's just this,

he's crying out to God.

It's very serious for him.

But then,

look at Psalm 40.

Psalm 40.

Verses 1-3.

Same guy.

Two psalms later.

I waited patiently for the Lord

and He inclined to me

and He heard my cry.

He brought me up

out of the pit of destruction,

out of the miry clay,

and He set my feet upon a rock,

making my footsteps firm.

And He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear

and will trust in the Lord.

He went from despair,

two psalms earlier,

to this bold confidence.

Many will see me in fear,

He says,

and will trust in the Lord

as a result of my witness.

I waited patiently

and God heard my cry.

Okay?

This is the prayers

of a mature believer.

It looks like that.

It's common for God

to expose you

and then to humble you

and then to strengthen you

and then to overcome that sin

or, excuse me,

to strengthen you

to overcome that sin

and then expose you again

in some new way.

That's kind of what

the Christian life is about.

It's like these ebbs and flows.

It's like, you know,

He teaches you one thing

and you gain a little bit of victory

and then He shows you something new

and He's like,

you're continually gaining ground,

you're going up,

but it's like this, you know?

It's not like, you know,

Superman just flying over the...

That was dumb.

I'm not going to...

That's stupid.

That's not in my notes.

That was just dumb.

But you get the idea.

And there's never an end

to this process.

Okay, Paul, again,

I quote him from Philippians 3, 12.

He says,

Not that I've already obtained it

or have already become perfect.

This is the same guy that says,

I'm not really conscious

of anything against myself.

You know,

I don't know of any sin

that I'm not confessing.

He says that elsewhere in Scripture,

but he's admitting here,

like, I haven't already obtained it.

I'm not perfect.

You know,

so nobody is ever going to be that.

Thirdly,

wait, never mind.

No sin is tolerable to God, okay?

Even thought sins,

excuse me,

even thought sins

that never result in action

must be purged out of us.

And so this process

of continually being shown

our weakness

and inability

can be despairing.

And if your perspective

is lost in the middle of it,

it can lead to doubt.

And it can lead to

our question.

Okay?

But when the believer's conscience

is most agitated

and when Satan's accusations

are most forceful

against you,

it's then

that the gospel of Christ

will be most satisfying

to you.

And the Father

intends it to be that way.

To prove to you again,

and to prove to you again,

and again,

and again,

the inexhaustibleness

of his love.

Okay?

So,

a side of one's sin,

a vivid side of one's sin,

which is disgusting,

which is,

you know,

repulsive,

you don't want anything

to do with it,

it seems to have

a way of deepening

your understanding

of God's mercy

and of God's grace.

And it seems to

educate you

so you can appreciate

the gospel more.

Charles Spurgeon said this,

I am the subject

of depressions of spirit

so fearful

that I hope

none of you ever gets

to such extremes

of wretchedness

as I go.

So Spurgeon,

who was this amazing,

amazing,

amazing,

amazing

biblical scholar,

pastor,

whatever,

back in the 1800s,

was a man of depression.

Okay?

He struggled

really,

really badly

with depression.

It almost,

he was bedridden

sometimes as a result

of how deep

his depressions were.

So he says

that I am the subject

of these depressions

of spirit

so fearful

that I hope

none of you

ever gets

in such extremes

as I undergo.

But I always

get back again

by this.

I know I trust Christ.

I have no reliance

but in Him.

If He falls,

I shall fall.

But if He does not fall,

I shall not.

Because He lives,

I shall live also

and I spring

to my legs again

and I fight

with my depressions

of spirit

and my downcast soul

and I get the victory

through it.

So may you do

and so you must

for there is no other

way of escaping

from it.

In your most

depressed seasons,

you are to get joy

and peace

in believing.

Hell

and my sins

obstruct my path

but hell

and sins

are conquered foes.

My Jesus

nailed them

to His cross

and sang the triumph

as He rose.

Okay?

It's an encouraging word.

There's a third

kind of person

that would

ask this question.

And that is the man

who was for a little while

called himself a Christian.

And yet he finds himself

in a

keyword

willing state

of continual failure

to various sins.

This is a person

who calls himself

a Christian,

a professor of Christ

who yet finds himself

in a

willing state

of continual sin.

in unrepentant state.

This man does not

hate his sin

nor love Christ.

He has sufficient

knowledge

to disguise himself

but sin

is still

in a lot of ways

and in almost

every way

is master.

Okay?

If you,

if that is you

tonight

and if you know

that to be true

of you tonight,

if you don't feel

any of this love

for Christ

do you have

no regenerated heart

that has any new

desires for him

and you've just been

kind of hiding

behind this facade

of intellect

or knowledge

about God

or the Bible

or whatever else,

you've been taught

some things

to kind of get by.

Maybe you're

seeking God

for all the wrong reasons.

I'm not even going

to go into all that.

Then I want to

warn you

that God

does not dwell

in you

and that you have

thusly no means

of being sanctified

and your sin

will,

as Numbers 32 says,

find you out.

All your sin

will find you out.

That guy

from Penn State,

you probably heard of him.

He tried to hide

for 30 years

and he was

eventually found out.

All your sin

will find you out.

You are a child

of the devil

if that is you.

And you do the deeds

of your father.

You lie.

You cheat.

You steal.

You do not love others.

You have no endurance

in faith.

You have no defense

against sin.

Your religion

is but a form.

It has no substance

to it.

You do not love God.

You do not fear God.

You do not serve Him.

And the only reason

why you would serve Him

is predicated upon

the fact that you might

get something from Him.

You may fear

the idea of hell

but you despise

the idea

of eternally

worshiping Jesus

in heaven.

He is not precious

to you.

You do not pray

to Him.

You do not treasure

His commandments.

You have never

entrusted your life

to Him.

If offered a choice,

you would prefer

the world's pleasures

of fame and sex

and wealth

over the life

of joyful obedience

to Christ.

You do what is

only necessary

to hide yourself

from being found out.

But if Christ

was not cool,

then you would not care.

And the description

could continue.

Your sins may have changed

but you serve

your flesh still.

Allow me the privilege

of introducing you tonight

to a man named

John Owen.

He is a scholar

of scholars

and he is awesome.

He says this,

Every lust,

every lust

that you feel

is a depraved

habit

or disposition.

Every lust

continually

inclining

the heart

to evil.

then,

or this then

is that description

of Him

who has no lust

mortified.

Mortified is a fancy

word of saying killed.

This then

is a description

of Him

who has no lust

killed.

And if you are not

being sanctified,

you are not of God.

Okay,

just keep that in your mind.

So if you have

no lust killed,

you are not of God.

This is a description

of Him

from the Scriptures,

Genesis 6-5.

Every imagination

of the thoughts

of His heart

is only evil

continually.

He is always

under the power

of a strong bent

and inclination

to sin.

And the reason

why a natural,

this is awesome,

and the reason

why a natural man

is not always

perpetually

in the pursuit

of some one lust

night and day

is because

He has many

to serve.

Everyone crying

to be satisfied

therefore He

has carried on

with great variety

but still in general

He lies toward

the satisfaction

of self.

So what is He

saying there?

He's saying,

A,

if you have no lust

mortified,

then you're like

the person

described in Genesis 6.

Your heart is only

inclined to evil

always.

Secondly,

the reason why

you don't always

do the same thing,

you're not always

sitting in the

very same way,

maybe you have

seasons of victory

if you want to

call it that

for you.

You know,

maybe you

really get down

in the dumps

and you're drinking

all the time

and you're getting

wasted all the time

and so you're like,

man,

I just need to

stop that,

like that is not

good for me,

that's not good

for what I need,

you know,

it's always me

centered when you

try to respond

morally as an

ungenerate man.

So you have this

season of sobriety,

right?

But that doesn't

mean you're not

sinning during the

time,

it just means you're

not serving that

one master.

You have many

masters,

you have many

different varieties

of ways and

avenues of sin.

I'll read it

again.

The reason why

a natural man is

not always perpetually

in the pursuit of

someone lust night

and day is because

he has many to

serve,

every one of them

crying to be

satisfied,

therefore he is

carried on with

great variety,

but still in general

he lies for the

satisfaction of

self.

That characterizes

a lot of people

you know,

that think they're

Christians and

yet all they do

is serve

themselves.

If you're

unrepentant,

if you're

unbroken,

if you're

unnerved by

your sin,

if your conscience

is rarely agitated,

if you think

little of Christ

and you think

much of yourself,

then you are

not a Christian.

You are not

a Christian.

You need to

repent of your

sin.

And I hope God

saves you through

this indictment

against you.

That's what

Paul did.

He preached

the same

gospel.

He preached

this damnation

of sinners

and need

for Savior.

But again,

going back to

what we just

said earlier,

the more you

see your sin,

the more glorious

that Savior

becomes.

So it's not

necessarily a bad

thing.

It's a good

thing.

It's a necessary

thing.

Okay,

second question.

That was the

longest one.

What about

that one

besetting sin

in my life

that I just

can't seem

to shake?

How many

of you

are like

this?

You have

that one

thing,

right?

There's that

one thing

that just

continually

trips you

up.

You always

succumb to

it.

It's like

you can't

get rid

of it.

It's like

I know

I've been

set free

in Christ

but this

thing is

still

shackled

to me.

We all

feel this

way in

some way.

What

category

of sin

is it

for you?

Lust,

pride,

vanity,

approval,

laziness,

apathy,

fear,

doubt,

anxiety,

gluttony?

What about

vices?

What about

guilty pleasures?

What about

bad habits?

And

specific sins?

What about

those two?

Pornography,

arrogance,

idolatry of

your own

image,

creature

worship,

needing to

feel needed,

an overabundance

of television

or video

games or

HGTV,

questioning

God's

goodness,

afraid of

rejection,

a lack of

self-control

with food,

sleep,

schoolwork,

immoral

amusements,

angry thoughts.

Those are

specific things

that I'm sure

all of us

can.

I swear to

that a lot.

I need a lot

of grace in

that area

of my life.

The question

here is,

is it possible

for a

Christian to

struggle their

whole life

with a certain

sin and

still be

saved?

Is it

possible?

contrary to

what I think I

initially feel

as an answer

to that

question,

the biblical

answer is

yes.

To some

degree,

it is a

possibility.

It is not

likely,

but it is a

possibility that a

person can

struggle with

some sin,

some category

of sin

their whole

life,

and yet

still be a

believer,

still be

saved when

they die.

Now,

I'm saying

that carefully

because I

know that

within you

it's like,

1 John,

that would

contradict you.

well,

just hear me

out.

I kind of

believe in

somebody

persisting in

a certain

sin their

whole life

in varying

degrees,

and then

being saved

when they

die.

I kind

of liken

that in a

sense,

or believe

that to be

like a

deathbed

conversion,

you know,

like the

thief on

the cross,

like that

happened one

time in

scripture,

okay?

And I

think the

proportion is

right.

I don't

think that

happens often.

I don't

think people

on their

deathbed

come to

know Christ

often.

I think

there's a

lot of

empty

professions

made on

their

deathbeds

because

they're

afraid of

hell,

they're

afraid of

whatever.

I don't

think there's

a lot of

genuine

conversions

happening

during that

time.

I think

they can

happen.

We see

that in

the

thief on

the

cross.

They

can

happen,

but it's

not

often.

This is

kind of

the same

thing.

I think

there are

people that

are genuinely

in love

with Christ

that struggle

in their

life,

their whole

life,

with something,

some kind

of sin,

and yet

are still

saved when

they die.

And the

big question

kind of

behind the

question is

this.

Is it

that this

person has

no faith?

Has no

faith?

And what

you are

seeing,

the sin

that you are

seeing,

is a

manifestation

of that.

They have

no faith.

They're not

saved.

They don't

believe.

And so

they're

sinning

by

unbelief,

which is

the

unpardonable

sin,

if you

don't

know.

If you

wonder

about

that,

what's

that

unpardonable

sin?

It's

unbelief.

Okay?

Or is

it that

what you're

seeing is

a

manifestation

of a

small and

a weak

and a

little

faith?

Okay?

That's

the question.

Is it

just a

little

bit of,

they're

not

exercising

much

faith.

They

don't

really

trust the

Lord

very much.

They

trust the

Lord to a

degree,

but it's

not a

lot.

Okay?

That's

really the

crux of

the matter,

I think.

Let me

prove this

to you

biblically.

Nobody in

here in

their right

mind would

say Solomon

was

unregenerate.

Okay?

He wrote

three books

in the Old

Testament.

God

answered his

prayers

specifically

and audibly.

Okay?

So I

don't

think

Solomon

would

be

classified

as

an

unbeliever

by anybody

in here

rationally.

However,

1 Kings

1 Kings 11:1–4

chapter 11

verse 1

through 4

says this,

Now King

Solomon

loved many

foreign women

along with

the daughter

of Pharaoh,

Moabite,

Ammonite,

Edomite,

Sidonianite,

and Hittite

women from

the nations

concerning which

the Lord

had said to

the sons

of Israel,

you shall

not associate

with them,

neither shall

they associate

with you,

for they will

surely turn

your heart

away after

other gods.

Solomon held

fast to

these in

love,

and he

had 700

wives,

princesses,

and 300

concubines.

And his

wives turned

his heart

away.

For it

came about

when Solomon

was old

that his

wives turned

his heart

away after

other gods,

and his

heart was

not wholly

devoted to

the Lord

his God,

as the

heart of

David his

father had

been.

He

wrote three

books in

the Old

Testament,

and that's

something written

of his

life.

What was

the result

of this

disobedience

and this

lack of

faith in

the commandments

of God

and the

mandates of

God?

Verse 11,

later on in

that same

chapter of

11,

says this,

so the

Lord said

to Solomon,

because you

have done

this,

and you

have not

kept my

commandments

and my

statutes,

which I

have

commanded

you,

I will

surely tear

the kingdom

from you

and will

give it to

your servant.

And then the

Lord raised

up an

adversary to

Solomon.

Okay?

It may be the

same with us.

If you don't

exercise by the

power of the

Holy Spirit

inside of you,

faith in

Christ.

Christ,

although every

true believer

has been

freed from

the power

and the

dominion of

sin,

some of

you,

I am

sad to

say,

still seem,

and I

myself in

ways,

still seem

to voluntarily

chain myself

up again

to old

sins.

Now,

envision that,

okay?

This is a

great illustration

I learned a

couple of

years ago

in the

Beach Project.

If you're

in a black

cell,

a prison

cell,

and you're

chained up

within that

prison cell,

you're a

prisoner of

that cell,

right?