The Doctrine of Sanctification, Part 2

Well, in 2003, the United States invaded Iraq.

In Saddam Hussein, his regime, his tyranny was toppled.

He had no more authority in Iraq.

But if you're familiar with that time,

it was months before Saddam Hussein was actually captured.

So for months, he was on the run in Iraq,

exerting all sorts of mayhem in that country.

Though he was in hiding, he was exerting influence.

Despite not having any authority, he was still wreaking havoc.

It's a great picture of indwelling sin in the life of a believer.

The cross of Jesus Christ has paid the penalty of sin.

The cross of Jesus Christ has broken the power of sin.

And yet the cross of Jesus Christ has yet to eradicate sin from the life of a believer.

We are simultaneously justified in God's eyes, and yet we still sin.

And we have this little tyrant called indwelling sin wreaking havoc in our lives.

Today we're going to be looking at the second half of Romans 6.

And what you need to know going into Romans, the second half,

is that the Apostle Paul is assuming that a Christian is experiencing the influence of indwelling sin,

and that that sin exerts influence,

and it's wanting you to obey its passions, its desires, its cravings.

You know what I love about my Bible?

It's the best explanation for reality.

It explains my experience as a Christian to a T.

And so what we have here in Romans chapter 6, especially the latter half here,

Romans 6 · chapter mention

is a way in which we are to think about our relationship with sin

now that Jesus has radically changed us by His grace.

Last week I asked you, as the close of the sermon,

to be thinking about a particular sin that you,

in the vein of Romans 6, 12, and 13,

that you regularly offer the instruments of your body to.

Where are you tempted to sin?

It would be very appropriate to be asking,

okay, how am I presenting my body to sexual lust?

How am I presenting my body to covetousness,

to greed, to the fear of man,

to this anxiety that can suffocate me,

this pride that thinks I'm better than anybody else,

or I'm not as good as anyone else?

What is this thing in me that causes these outbursts of anger,

and I end up giving myself to it?

Brother, sister, God's will for you is your sanctification,

for you to become more and more like Jesus in your everyday life.

One old timer said it this way.

Be killing sin,

or sin will be killing you.

There's no such thing as indifference with regard to indwelling sin.

If you're indifferent to it,

you are already serving it.

Christians, we no longer serve sin.

We slay sin.

And sanctification is the process of being ruled less and less by indwelling sin

and becoming more and more holy like our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, God's grace isn't an excuse to sin.

God's grace compels us, trains us to be holy.

So we're going to move forward,

as we have been over the next couple of last Sundays.

We're going to look at doctrine defined.

So we're going to circle back to this thing called sanctification.

I'm going to walk you through that chart I showed you last week

just to remind those of you who are here,

and if you weren't here,

so those of you who weren't here

see a very important distinction

between the doctrine of justification and sanctification.

And then we're going to dive into Romans chapter 6, 15 through 23.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

I'm going to help you see that this doctrine of sanctification is biblical.

We just can't agree to it.

We must be engaging in it.

And then finally, I'm going to apply this doctrine in two ways.

A holy mindset, we've got to be thinking a certain way,

and a holy skill set

in which you are equipped to slay your sin

and bring to life godliness.

Hey, have you been using grace as an excuse to sin?

Let's look at this doctrine defined.

Two weeks ago,

I preached a sermon on justification,

and I think it ministered to many of you.

Oh boy.

Just, I know, I got it.

Okay, this is my sanctification.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I'm a graduate of Thompson Junior High School.

And yes,

I got a massive dry erase marker for this moment.

Okay, justification, just to remind you.

The doctrine of justification teaches this.

We see this in Romans 5, 1.

That God, in a one-time legal act,

declares an unrighteous sinner righteous in His sight,

based upon that sinner's faith

in the finished work of Christ.

And so, the moment a sinner believes in the gospel,

they are now declared righteous legally by God.

They're in right standing with Him.

They were, at one point,

they were without excuse, under God's wrath,

unrighteous in every way,

whether they were a moralist,

or they were a hedonist,

and then God changed them.

Remember this illustration?

Here is you,

with your unrighteousness.

You had a fat list of that.

And God's wrath was over you for that.

And then here's Jesus Christ

with His 33 years of perfect righteousness.

And what God does,

the moment a sinner believes,

is He thinks differently about this.

He considers your righteousness

as now being placed on Christ.

And He applies Christ's death from 2,000 years ago

all the wrath poured out on Christ

is now poured out on Christ

for all of your sin.

So it's completely forgiven.

That's how He thinks about you.

But that's just half that.

Because now, God also thinks of Christ's righteousness

as the fancy word is imputed to you.

It's legally true of you the moment you believe.

All of Christ's righteousness.

And so at that moment,

He sees you and thinks of you

as completely forgiven,

all of His wrath poured out on Christ

for your sake.

And now all of Christ's righteousness

imputed to you.

It's yours now.

And at that moment,

you are justified in His sight

at peace with God.

That's why that verse,

2 Corinthians 5, 21,

and He, God,

made Him, Jesus,

who knew no sin

to become sin on our behalf,

that we might become

the righteousness of God.

That's what that's talking about.

That's double imputation.

That's the internal workings of justification.

And so,

now,

a justified sinner

has an imputed righteousness

in which they stand.

This doesn't change.

It's a work of God alone.

It's immediate

at the moment you believe.

And it's not just immediate.

What was the word

I wanted there?

Immediate

and

this 51-year-old brain.

It was immediate.

And it was complete.

Because it's

the righteousness of Christ

imputed to you,

there's no more

additional righteousness

of Christ

that needs to be imputed to you.

It's all yours.

It's complete.

The moment you believed.

And therefore,

it's unchanging.

So now,

if I came to Christ

as a 19-year-old,

for the rest of my days

on this planet,

I am fully righteous

in God's sight

because of the finished work

of Christ.

Imputed to me.

Do I have an amen?

Okay.

This is justification.

This happens

the moment

of your salvation.

God alone,

we add nothing to it.

It's immediate,

complete,

unchanging.

For by grace,

you've been saved

through faith.

It's not your own owning.

It's the gift of God.

God.

Now,

when we get to

sanctification,

where justification

is that one-time

legal declaration

of God,

sanctification

is a cooperative

between God

and a justified sinner

in which

we are working together

to work out

what God

has started in us.

It's a process

of being less

and less ruled by sin

and more and more

like Christ

and His holiness.

And so this,

we can call it

practical

or experiential

righteousness.

It's right living,

showing up

day by day

in your life.

It's living for God,

obeying Him.

It's an outworking

of your right standing.

This is right

walking

day by day.

This is the basis

of it all.

You're justified

by God's grace,

period.

This is the outworking

of it.

You are now

walking by God's grace,

dot, dot, dot.

So this is

a cooperative

between God

and the justified,

oh, bad writing,

sinner,

a.k.a. a saint,

where this is immediate,

justification is immediate,

this is ongoing,

where justification

is complete,

you've been given

the full righteousness

of Christ.

This is incomplete

because

it's not until

you are in the very

presence of God,

whether you breathe

your last

or Jesus returns,

that you will now

no longer

need to put sin

to death

and bring to life

what is pleasing

to God.

So you're not

going to be

righteously perfect

this side of glory.

It's incomplete

and therefore

it's changing.

Sanctification is,

some theologians

call it progressive.

It's like the Dow Jones

Industrial Average

over decades

where you're seeing it

gradually increase,

but if you come into

like a three-month period

you see that like

really sharp dips

and rises

and stuff like that,

but the trajectory

over time

is gain.

And so

both are true

of a Christian.

a Christian

the moment they believe

is justified,

that's never going

to change,

it's God alone,

He doesn't revoke it,

and they're being

sanctified,

which is a progress,

progressive,

cooperative with God.

Last week I told you

what happens

when people confuse

these.

Do you know what happens

when someone thinks

that their justification,

your right standing

with God,

depends upon your

sanctification,

your right walking

with God,

do you know what happens?

Misery!

Because you're living

in fear.

Because you think

that your obedience

earns your right standing

with God

and that is just

not biblical.

It's a recipe

for misery.

That's what all

the other religions

in the world

propose.

Our faith,

the Christian faith,

starts with grace

that justifies.

And then it moves

to grace

that sanctifies.

So when you do

get this relationship

clear and right,

now you're positioned

to start putting

sin to death

and bringing to life

godliness,

realizing that

your salvation

doesn't depend on it.

It's not working

of what God

has begun in you.

You guys tracking

with me?

Nods?

Okay.

This,

20 years ago,

in the life

of Mike Salvati,

rescued me

from a life

of just

heartache

and misery.

I actually thought

my salvation

depended on me.

And it's just

not true.

It's not biblical.

And so when I learned

this,

it was like,

what?

This is God's grace?

It's amazing.

So as a result,

Christian,

you know what you can say?

You're as justified

as you ever will be.

You're as justified

as the Apostle Paul

because you've both

been declared righteous

with the imputed

righteousness

of Jesus Christ.

But when it comes

to our sanctification,

we're working that out.

And some of us

who've been fighting

for a while

are going to be

down the road

a little longer

than some of us

who are just

starting out.

But here's what

I want you to hear.

The grace

that justified you

is the same grace

that is sanctifying you.

The grace

that justified you,

period,

done,

is the grace

that is sanctifying you

ongoingly.

So,

sanctification

is the cooperative

process between

God and a Christian

to be ruled

less and less

by sin

and become more

and more like Christ

in holiness,

day-to-day holiness.

So,

the question now

we've got to ask,

is this biblical?

Do our Bibles

actually teach this?

And that's where

I want you

to turn in your Bibles

to Romans chapter 6

Romans 6:15–23

verses 15 through 23.

In your pew Bible,

I think it's like

around 1120.

I forgot to check.

1121.

Thank you, Petey.

I'm going to read

this for us.

Romans 6,

15 through 23,

Paul makes

a really compelling

case here

and he starts

using a language

he hasn't used yet

in the book of Romans.

Not this explicitly.

What then?

Are we to

sin?

Because we are not

under law

but under grace?

By no means.

Do you not know

that if you present

yourselves to anyone

as obedient slaves,

you are slaves

of the one whom

you obey,

either of sin

which leads to death

or of obedience

which leads to righteousness?

But thanks be to God,

this is the Apostle Paul

writing,

to a church in Rome,

Christians in Rome.

Well, thanks be to God

that you who were

once slaves of sin

have become obedient

from the heart

to the standard of teaching

to which you were committed

and having been set free

from sin

have become slaves

of righteousness.

I'm speaking in human terms

because of your

natural limitations

for just as you once

presented your members

as slaves to impurity

and to lawlessness

leading to more lawlessness,

so now present your members

as slaves to righteousness

leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin

you were free

in regard to righteousness

but what fruit

were you getting

at that time

from the things

of which you are now ashamed?

For the end of those things

is death.

But now,

now,

that you have been set

free from sin

and have become

slaves of God

the fruit you get

leads to sanctification

and its end

eternal life.

For the wages of sin

is death

but the free gift of God

is eternal life

in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

Is sanctification biblical?

Well,

the word shows up twice

in these verses.

In verse 19,

so now present your members

as slaves to righteousness

leading to sanctification

and then in verse 22,

but now

that you've been set

free from sin

and have become

slaves of God

the fruit you get

leads to

sanctification.

Being less and less

ruled by sin

and becoming more

and more

like Jesus.

In fact,

in 6.4

Paul uses

a very different phrase

to describe sanctification.

It's the last phrase,

we too might walk

in newness of life.

Walk,

live,

carry it out.

Sanctification.

So,

here's what's happening

in Romans chapter 6,

Romans 6 · chapter mention

15 through 23.

On one level,

it's a simple Q&A.

He asks a question

in verse 15

and 16 through 23

he answers that question.

Very simple.

But what is he addressing?

Paul is seeking

to correct

a possible

misunderstanding

of grace.

Look at verse 14.

For sin will have

no dominion over you

since you are not

under law

but under grace.

And the apostle Paul

knows how people

like us think

under grace.

Did God just write me

a free check to sin?

And so he says,

what then?

Are we to sin?

Go on sinning,

continue in sin

because we're not

under law

but under grace.

If grace is ruling us,

if we're under

the dominion of grace now,

can we sin all we want?

Is being under grace

licensed

to sin?

Well,

what we see here is

his argument is,

no,

grace is not

licensed to sin.

grace trains us

in holiness.

You know,

a lot of evangelicals

think about grace

in terms of

fire extinguisher

from the wrath of God.

True.

They think about grace

as God's safety net.

He'll never let you go.

True.

As God's

kind of

healing balm

on our wounds.

That's true.

But grace is more

than that.

grace is like

the best coach

you will ever have

in your life

who will say,

okay, Mike,

I want you to push

the envelope

of holiness.

You go now, boy!

Grace is muscular.

Grace is gritty.

Grace rescues

and it compels.

And we're going to see

that now played out

with very interesting language.

In 15 through 23,

Paul makes clear

that Christians

are not to use grace

as a license to sin.

Rather,

God's grace

is an empowerment

to obedience.

The grace

that justified you,

Christian,

is the same grace

that is sanctifying you.

So in verse 15,

he starts by saying,

okay,

if we're under grace now,

are we free to sin?

And he says,

by no means.

Salvati translation

is what are you

are you kidding me?

This grace

that you've been

brought under,

you're going to use

that as an excuse

to sin?

Behind this,

Paul knows

that if you think

that about grace,

you've misunderstood grace.

So now he's going

to make a case.

Verse 16,

starting,

verse 16,

he shifts gear.

He's like,

okay,

okay,

I'm guessing

you have a hard time

understanding

what I'm talking about,

being under grace now,

so I'm going to come

at this from a different angle

using kind of language

you're going to understand,

verse 19.

Let's talk slavery.

And Paul's point

in verse 16

is that

you become a slave

to the one

you obey.

If you're presenting

yourself to sin,

you're doing something

that's no longer

true of who you are.

He's now going

to make a case

that grace

has made us

slaves

to righteousness,

to God.

So stop presenting

your members

to slaves

to sin.

That's the argument.

It's like,

do you not know?

Do you not know

that who you present

yourself to

as slaves

you obey?

So in verses 17

through 22,

Paul sets out

to remind

the Christians

in Rome

and the Christians

in Kenosha

of three things.

Who we are now,

what we're to be doing now,

and what is our trajectory

now.

So let me just

draw these out

to you.

There's a device

that he uses

that will help us.

Throughout this passage,

not only is he talking

in slavery,

but he's using

a kind of

a literary device

that is a before

and after technique,

a then and now

technique.

So let me show you.

In verses 17

and 18,

he says,

but thanks be to God

that you

who were once

slaves of sin

before,

have become

now

obedient from the heart

to the standard

of teaching

to which you were

committed.

He's talking about

the apostolic gospel.

Christ,

Jesus,

died and raised

God's kingdom.

And he says,

and having been

set free from sin,

you were a slave

once,

have now become

slaves

of righteousness.

So he's using

this device

of before

and after,

then and now

to help us

understand who we are

in our relationship

to sin.

And did you notice

that little phrase

in verse 17,

have become

obedient from the heart?

Do you know

what that's getting at?

Your conversion.

The moment you got

flipped by God's grace.

The moment you went

from darkness

into light.

The moment you went

from following

the prince of the power

of the air

to now living

for Jesus

because you're

in him now.

You went from

the proxy of Adam

to the proxy

of Christ.

The point he's making

is you were

once slaves

to sin,

but you're slaves

to sin no longer.

You are now

slaves

of righteousness.

Oh, I hope

you are a little

uncomfortable

right now.

Slavery is not

the easiest thing

to talk about,

right?

But here's what

he's getting at.

For many of us

Christians,

we think when we've

been set free,

we've been freed men,

freed women.

Now we can do

whatever we want.

That's not what

he's saying.

What he's saying

is God's grace

transfers you

from one kind

of slavery

to another

kind of slavery.

You used to be

a slave to sin.

Now you're a slave

of righteousness

to God.

God's grace

freed you

from slavery

to sin

so that you can

start obeying God.

God's grace

is not

this is slave

talk.

It's redemption

talk.

It's slave

market talk.

This is talking

about this

process back

in the first

century of

when slaves

would be sold

to slave

masters and

they would go

from being

property of one

to property

of other

to serve.

God's grace

flipped you

brother and

sister.

you used to

be a slave

to sin

and now

you're a slave

of righteousness.

In 1 Corinthians 6

the apostle Paul

is writing this

church in Corinth

and they

were just

messed up.

They had a real

sexual immorality

problem.

And so Paul

writes to them

and he says

to them

you are not

your own.

You were

bought

with a price.

So glorify God

with your body.

It's redemption

language.

It's slave

language.

You're not

your own

anymore.

You never

were.

But you've

been bought

by the blood

of Jesus

and now

you belong

to him.

And now

you use your

body for him

for his fame

for his glory.

And so what

Paul is getting

at here with

all this slave

talk this

before and

after you

were this

now you're

this.

Brother

sister

do you know

why you don't

present your

body to sin

anymore?

You're not

owned by sin

anymore.

You're owned

by Jesus

now.

Property

of

Jesus.

You belong

to him.

He didn't

save you

so that you

can do

anything you

wanted.

He saved

you so that

you could

now live

a life

for him.

So this

passage starts

out with

who you

are now

as a

slave of

righteousness.

You were

a slave

of sin

now you're

a slave

of righteousness.

And now

we go to

what are we

to be doing

now?

Verse 19.

Verse 19

after he talks

about speaking

in human terms

because of

their natural

limitations

he says

for just as

you once

presented

your members

as slaves

to impurity

and to

lawlessness

leading more

lawlessness

so now

present your

members as

slaves to

righteousness.

So there's

the before

and after.

Before

this is what

Paul's saying

hey Romans

you know

before you

became Christians

you were

just excellent

slaves to sin.

You excelled

at your slavery

to sin.

You just

presented

yourself to

sin and

impurity

with just

exceptional

force

and

consistency.

and

then

he says

in fact

you did

it so

well

you went

from one

kind of

lawlessness

to another

kind of

lawlessness.

You pushed

the envelope

of lawlessness.

You were

so good

at sinning

that you

blew through

any kind

of restriction

that was

put on you

and you

graduated

from one

degree of

lawlessness

to the

next.

You were

really good.

And he

uses that

as an

argument.

Just as

you excelled

at presenting

yourself as

slaves to

sin,

so now

present

yourself

all in

as a

slave

of

righteousness.

All of

who you

are

for all

of who

Christ is

all of

the time.

And so

what are we

to be doing

now?

So now

present your

members as

slaves to

righteousness

leading to

sanctification.

Because you're

now, by

God's grace,

a slave to

God and

righteousness,

now what you

do is present

your members

to him,

leading to

sanctification.

Less and

less ruled by

sin, more

and more

like Christ.

And so now,

do you know

what envelope

we push,

Christian?

we push

the envelope

of holiness.

We press

into becoming

more like

Christ in

what we

crave, in

our character,

in our

conduct.

We seek

to, by

God's grace,

push into

greater degrees

of holiness,

to excel

at that,

to prioritize

that.

That's what we

do now.

Grace is

not an

excuse to

sin.

Grace

compels us

to holiness

because you

now are a

slave of

God.

The last

piece, he's

told us who

we are now

and what we're

to be doing

now,

sanctification,

presenting our

bodies to

God, to

righteousness.

And finally,

in verses 20

and 22,

he reminds

us of our

trajectory now.

And again,

there's the

before and

after.

Look at

verse 20.

Before, when

you were

slaves of

God, you

were free

in regard

to righteousness.

In other

words, you

were not a

slave of

righteousness,

you were

not a

slave of

God, you

were dead

to God

and alive

to sin

outside of

Christ Jesus.

But now,

that has

changed.

Look at

verse 21.

He uses

the word

fruit.

When you

were a

slave to

sin,

what fruit

were you

getting at

that time

from the

things of

which you

are now

ashamed?

Fruit is

talking about

the produce

of your

sinning.

When you

were sowing

to sin,

you were

reaping things

that you're

now ashamed

of.

He's like

saying, hey,

do you remember

back in the

day, in the

years, the

slave to sin

years?

Do you

remember what

you were

doing?

And you

remember how

ashamed of

that you're

now?

It's not

like back

in the

slave to

sin years,

you were

now eager

to tell

your kids

about that

time, eager

to post on

Facebook for

everybody to

see.

It's kind

of like that

phrase you

hear about

Las Vegas,

what happens

in Las Vegas

stays in

Las Vegas.

It's kind

of like, hey,

what happened

back in the

slave to sin

years, it's

going to, I

don't want to

talk about

those years

because I'm

ashamed of

those now.

And that

fruit that

you were

bearing, you

were sowing to

sin and you

were reaping

things that

look at the

end of verse

21.

For the

end, the

telos of

those things

is death,

spiritual death,

without excuse,

under God's

wrath, judgment,

condemnation.

That's what that

was waiting.

that's who

you were

doing those

kinds of

things.

You're not

proud of

those now.

You know, if

you open up

your Bible, I'll

just read this

to you.

Back in the

slave to sin

years, you

were just

reaping all

sorts of

works of the

flesh.

Now, the

works of the

flesh, Galatians

5, 19,

are evident.

Sexual

immorality,

that was

me.

Impurity,

sensuality,

idolatry,

check,

sorcery,

enmity,

strife,

definitely,

jealousy, for

sure, fits of

anger, a lot,

rivalries, yes,

dissensions,

divisions,

envy, uh-huh,

drunkenness, not

so much,

orgies, and

things like

these.

you want to

go post those

on Facebook?

You're ashamed

of those things

now.

Why would you

ever go back

to giving

yourself to

those things?

That's who you

were.

Look at verse

22.

but now

that you've

been set free

from sin and

have become

slaves of God.

There's this

great redemptive

work of grace

in which he

flipped you.

fruit.

And he says,

the fruit you

get, same

word, fruit,

that you get

now, it's

not the stay

in Vegas

stuff.

It's the stuff

that you don't

need to be ashamed

of.

It's the stuff

that pleases

God.

For the fruit of

the Spirit is

love, joy,

peace,

patience,

kindness,

goodness,

gentleness,

faithfulness,

self-control.

Against such

things there is

no law.

God delights

in these things.

You don't have

to be ashamed

of these things

now.

This is the

fruit of

sanctification.

You're being

less and less

ruled by sin

and becoming

more and more

like Christ

because that

fruit of the

Spirit forms

a profile of

Jesus.

You want to

be like him.

And the end

of that,

the telos of

that is

eternal life.

That's the

trajectory we're

on,

brothers and

sisters.

We're on the

grace trajectory

of becoming

more and more

holy which

results in

eternal life

because we've

been justified

by his grace.

We've been

united with

Christ in his

death and

resurrection.

We've been

redeemed.

So we don't

go back to

that stuff.

life.

You're no

longer a

slave to

sin but a

slave to

God on a

grace trajectory.

The fruit is

sanctification and

the end is

eternal life.

That's who you

are now.

Period.

So Paul's

making this

argument in

Romans 6,

15 through

23.

It's like,

hey, you

know what?

We're not,

we don't come

under grace so

that we can

keep sinning.

No, it's not

who we are

anymore.

We're slaves of

God, slaves of

righteousness.

What we do now

is offer our

bodies to him

unto sanctification,

holiness, and

we are on a

whole new

trajectory.

We're going to

glory.

And so we live

like that now.

The point is,

is that we don't

offer ourselves

to sin anymore

because we're now

slaves of God.

It's all by his

grace.

And at the

heart of this,

what flipped

the script

is the

redemptive work

of God

in Christ Jesus

for you.

He bought you

with his blood.

You are not

your own.

You've been

purchased by the

blood of Christ.

So present

yourself

to God

as slaves

of righteousness.

Anybody

asking,

how do I do

that?

What does that

look like?

How can I

present myself

to God

day in,

day out

as a slave

of righteousness?

Well,

let me tell you.

Doctrine

applied.

Would you

quickly look

at Titus

Titus 2:11–14

chapter 2

verses 11

through 14?

Listen to

this.

As my friend

says,

peep this.

Look at that.

for the grace

of God

has appeared,

bringing salvation

for all people,

training us.

The grace

of God

is training

us

to renounce

ungodliness

and worldly

passions

and to live

self-controlled,

upright,

and godly lives

in the present

age now,

waiting for our

blessed hope,

the appearing of

the glory of

our great God

and Savior,

Jesus Christ,

who gave

himself for us

to redeem us

from all

lawlessness

and to purify

for himself

a people

for his own

possessions

who are zealous

for good works.

You're in

grace training,

brother and

sister in Christ.

When you

were flipped

by God's grace,

you went into

grace training.

The grace

that justified

you, period,

is the same grace

that is making

you holy,

dot, dot, dot.

It's training

you.

It's going to

train you in

two ways,

a holy mindset

and a holy

skill set.

Here's the

holy mindset.

The holy

mindset is a

way of

thinking about

yourself through

the lens of

the Bible.

This morning's

passage calls

you Christian

to believe

something about

yourself.

It calls you

to trust in

God's word,

what God's word

is saying about

you more

than how you

feel about

yourself.

You are a

slave of God

now, a slave

to righteousness.

That's what

God's word

says.

He bought

me, he

bought you

with his

blood.

It's done.

I'm his.

You're his.

And so now

call to mind

the sin that

you're tempted

to present

yourself to.

What did I

just get hooked

on?

Call to

mind that

sin that you

regularly offer

your body to,

your mind to,

and bring it

against that

mindset.

So when you're

tempted to

obey the

passions of

lust and greed

and pride and

anger and

anxiety and

fear, you say

to yourself,

but that's not

who I am.

These things do

not rule me

based upon the

authority of

God's word.

this is not

me anymore.

This is that

tyrant kind

of making

things messy

in me.

And so now

Titus 2.11,

I renounce

these things.

I say no to

these things.

I say to my

sin, you don't

own me anymore.

Jesus does.

You know how

to do that?

You get your

nose in your

Bible every

day.

So if you

think, you

know what, I

should be

reading my

Bible because

other Christians

read their

Bible, that's

going to last

like two days.

When you start

seeing it this

way, I've got

to read my

Bible, otherwise

I am going to

drift back into

some kind of

slavery to sin.

Do you know

why I read my

Bible?

I miss two

days and all of

a sudden I'm

walking by sight,

not by faith.

I forget who

I am.

I forget who

so I read a

passage like

Romans 6 and

I say, yes, this

is God's grace.

This is who I

am now.

So brother and

sister, one of

the things that

you can do to

develop this

mindset is to

renew your mind

on truth of who

God says you are

by His grace.

You stand on it.

That will help

you fight.

God.

That's grace

training.

Training your

mind to

believe what

is true of

you.

The second

type of

training is a

grace, a

holy skill set.

I alluded to

this last week.

It is the two

aspects of

sanctification.

It's putting

sin to death

and bringing to

life godliness.

Godliness.

The old

timers would

call it the

mortification of

sin, mortify,

mortician, death,

and bringing to

life, vivifying

godliness.

So let me help

you take a step

in each of

mortifying your

sin because you're

a slave of

righteousness now.

It doesn't

rule.

You've got to

slay that tyrant

wreaking havoc in

your life.

The old

timers, here's

where to start.

How to mortify

your sin.

This is where it

begins.

Pick that thing

that you're

tempted to give

yourself to and

start here.

The old timers

called it loading

your sin.

You're loading

your sin with

the way that God

sees your sin and

feels about your

sin.

I am going to

seed my lust the

way that God

through his word

tells me he sees

my lust and how

he feels about my

lust.

I'm going to

load my sin

that way.

I'm going to

talk about lust in

terms of Matthew

5, 28.

I'm going to talk

about greed in

terms of Colossians

3, 5.

I'm going to talk

about anxiety in

terms of Philippians

4, 6.

I'm going to talk

about fear of man

in terms of

Proverbs 29, 25.

The anger of man

in terms of James

1, 19 through 20.

I'm going to talk

about the sins of

my mouth in terms

of James 3, 1

through 12.

I am going to see

these things the

way that God sees

them.

That's loading your

sin.

And you know what

happens?

You start to hate

it.

You're like,

this does not

belong here.

This is grievous

to my God.

What fruit will this

produce?

What end does this

result in?

Would Jesus do this?

How does this

affect others?

Does this advance

the gospel?

Will I be ashamed

of this?

These are the things

that we ask to

load our sin.

And we're praying

all along,

oh God,

would you help me

to see this thing

in me the way

that you do?

And would you make

me feel about this

thing the way

that you do?

You're going to

have some compelling

reasons at that

point to renounce

it.

To say no.

If there was a

mic in my car

while I'm driving,

you'd hear me say

no a lot.

No, I'm not

going to think