The Doctrine of Sanctification Part 1

If you want to open up your Bibles, your pew Bibles, to 1,120, we're going to be in Romans 6, 1-14.

Do you ever wonder this question as a Christian?

Why do I still sin?

Why do Christians sin?

Why do Christians sin in refined ways and in spectacular ways?

I mean, we've declared righteous in God's sight.

We learned that last week, justification, right?

We are in right standing with God legally.

Why do we sin?

Why do we still sin?

What's up with that?

Here's the reality.

Every Christian in the room, you're going to be tempted today to sin, to do something that's grievous to God in His sight.

And some of us in the room, hey, we're growing in our sanctification.

The process of being less and less ruled by sin and more and more like Christ.

We're growing.

We've got some wins under our belt.

But there's other of us who, man, we feel like we're fighting a losing battle with sin.

That sin's got your number.

You can't beat sin, is what you think.

And so when a Christian has experienced regular defeats in terms of their fight with sin,

you know what a Christian's tempted to do?

Well, if I can't beat sin, I might as well join sin and wallow in the mire.

We as Christians experience regular defeat instead of victory.

And it can be very discouraging.

You can start asking questions whether you've actually been saved.

Or you can even start going kind of a question like this.

Is this Christianity thing true?

Why can't I stop having anxious thoughts?

Why can't I stop being more afraid of what people think about me than what God thinks about me?

Why can't I stop gossiping, spreading rumors?

Why can't I stop clicking on porn sites?

Why can't I stop blowing up in anger at the people I love?

Why can't I stop being bitter?

And it comes out in the worst ways.

Why can't I stop sinning?

How do I change?

Am I really a Christian?

Or am I fake?

How can I become less and less ruled by my sin and more and more like Jesus?

Have you been there?

Have you been there?

Are you there now?

The process of becoming less and less ruled by sin and more and more like Jesus Christ is called sanctification.

And in Romans 6, we can see it talked about in verse 4.

It doesn't use the word sanctification.

It uses a different phrase.

When we were buried therefore with him by baptism and death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,

we too might walk in newness of life.

He's talking about sanctification.

If you go down to verse 13, you read,

Do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness,

but present yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life,

and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

That putting off and putting on is sanctification.

Right?

You see the word sanctification in a sermon I'll be preaching next week in verse 19 and in verse 22.

It's the process of being less and less ruled by sin within and more and more like Jesus.

Two weeks ago I preached from Romans 1 and 2, 1 through 3,

and we saw the terrible unrighteousness problem that we were in.

Whether you are an hedonist or whether you are a moralist,

we are all under God's wrath and without excuse.

And then, in Romans 3, 21, Paul turns the corner and starts bringing the gospel to bear,

and it was beautiful news.

Run, John, run, the law demands, but gives us neither feet nor hands.

Far better news the gospel brings.

It bids us fly and gives us wings.

We learn about propitiation.

Jesus shed his blood to bear God's wrath for you and me.

We learn about redemption.

Jesus shed his blood to ransom you out of slavery to sin.

And Jesus shed his blood.

He died and was raised so that you could be justified.

That your unrighteousness could be imputed to him and his righteousness imputed to you,

and God sees you and declares you now as righteous in his sight.

Last week, I devoted the whole sermon to the doctrine of justification.

Remember, doctrine defined.

Justification is the one-time legal act by which God declares an unrighteous sinner,

righteous in his sight, based on the finished work of Christ.

And then we unpack that with doctrine supported out of Romans 4 and 5.

We did a tour de force.

Biblical precedent, the promise of Abraham.

We now have peace with God, and we are under a new proxy.

We're no longer in Adam.

We are in Jesus Christ.

And then we applied it.

Remember belaying?

Belay on.

I've been walking in the morning, and I'm like, belay on, Jesus.

And I hear God saying to me, if God is for you, Mike, who can be against you?

Belay on.

This doctrine of justification is battle, ballast for us.

It's a battle cry.

Your justification is the basis for your sanctification.

Sanctification.

And so this morning, we're going to do, again, doctrine defined.

What is sanctification?

But we're going to compare it to justification because there's a lot of confusion out here.

That's what the whiteboard's for.

And then we're going to look to Romans 6, 1 through 14 for the doctrinal support.

And I want you to see three things.

Your new position in Christ, your new power in Christ, and this new practice we've been called to in Christ.

And then we're going to apply it.

Brother, sister in Christ, did you come in here feeling stuck in your sin?

Feeling defeated?

Without hope, ready to give in?

Can't beat sin, might as well join it.

Welcome the doctrine of sanctification.

Let's look at this doctrine defined and compared.

So, doctrine.

Maybe you hear that word.

We joked about it last week.

Some people hear the word doctrine and it's instant lights out.

Doctrine should not be a word that puts you off.

Doctrine just simply means teaching.

And in Titus 1, 9, elders must be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.

And that word sound means healthy.

It's good for you.

It's good for Christians.

Biblical doctrine is health for a Christian.

And unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion and ill health when it comes to the doctrine of sanctification.

So, here's what we're going to do.

We're going to make a comparison between justification.

Some of you oldies around here, do you remember Donahue?

I just felt like Donahue walking through the audience.

Thank you, Steve.

We're going to use this.

And if you are a note taker, you're going to want to take notes on this.

Uh-oh.

Almost.

Almost.

Got it.

Thank you, Steve.

Okay.

So, here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to redefine justification and then walk through these five traits about it.

And then we're going to also define sanctification and then list out five traits about sanctification.

I want you to see them side by side because seeing them side by side will help bring clarity to your mind of what these doctrines are and how they relate to one another.

You ready?

Okay.

Justification is that doctrine we've been talking about, this teaching from our Bibles that says,

God in a one-time legal act declares an unrighteous sinner righteous in his sight based upon the finished work of Christ.

An unrighteous sinner believes in the finished work of Christ and God's response is to declare that sinner righteous in his sight.

It's a change of legal status.

And so, when we talk about justification, we're talking about an imputed righteousness.

Now, come back to the chairs.

2 Corinthians 5.21, where Les started us off.

This is the doctrine of double imputation, the great exchange.

A sinner, you, when you first believe in what Christ has done, God thinks of you, your unrighteousness, as being placed on Christ.

In all of God's wrath that you stored up for your unrighteousness, he pours out on Jesus at the cross in full so there's no more wrath.

No more of judgment.

But then, God also considers Christ's righteousness as 33 years of perfect living, and now imputed you.

He thinks of it that way.

And now you're a righteous in his sight.

So, in that one act, God gives you of all your sin and completely accepts you as his own based upon the work of Christ.

That's good news.

Do I have an amen?

Amen.

Amen.

And so, this imputed righteousness is what justification is all about.

Now, when we get to sanctification, we're no longer talking about imputed righteousness.

We're talking about experiential righteousness.

I don't think I spelled experiential right, but you get the point.

This is the righteousness we grow in day in and day out in our thinking, in our seeing, in how we conduct ourselves.

It's this is in the day in, day out of life.

Now, I was making a mistake earlier this week because I was saying, okay, there's the legal righteousness of God, and then there's the real righteousness.

Both of these are real.

This is the real righteousness of Christ imputed to you.

It's legal status.

And now, this is the real day in and day out of your changed life because of what Christ has done.

Okay, this is sanctification.

Now, we know that justification is an imputed righteousness that God declares.

For by grace, you've been saved through faith.

It's not your own doing.

It's the gift of God.

It's his work.

We don't bring our works to this.

There's nothing that we could do to make us righteous in his sight.

So, this is a work of God alone.

But when it comes to sanctification, now we've got a holy co-op.

It's God and the justified sinner, a.k.a. a saint.

And so, what this means now is that our works, which we couldn't bring into our justification,

are now essential to our sanctification.

For by grace, you've been saved through faith.

It's not your own doing.

It's the gift of God.

Not by works, so that no one could boast.

That's Ephesians 2.8.9.

2.10 says, we were created in Christ Jesus for good works.

And so, we're not saved by our good works, but we're saved for, to do good works.

And so, this is justification, imputed righteousness, God alone.

It's immediate.

Sanctification is ongoing.

It's complete justification.

Sanctification, you get all of Christ's righteousness the moment you believe.

It's all done.

But when it comes to your sanctification, your experiential righteousness, it's incomplete.

Anybody in the room expect to be perfect by the time you breathe your last?

Not experientially.

Legally, yes.

Experientially, no.

You see how this is setting your expectations?

Finally, justification is unchanging.

It's static.

Once you are justified by the righteousness of Christ, you are fully justified.

It doesn't change.

But when it comes to sanctification, it is changing.

It's dynamic.

Can you imagine seeing the Dow Jones Industrial Average over 30 years in your mind?

And so, it starts, let's say, in year, I don't know, 1981.

And all the way through 23, is that 40 years?

40, thanks.

And what you're going to look over those 30, 40 years is this progression of the Dow Jones.

But if you look close, within a year, you're going to just see ups and downs, ups and downs, maybe a spike up and a spike down.

But it's a progression over time.

And so, what sanctification is, it's progressive.

And the difference is very important.

Your Bible is very clear in saying you are justified first by God's grace, a work of Him alone.

And out of that justification, we work out our salvation.

We work out our sanctification.

Does this make sense to everybody?

Let me ask you.

What happens when a Christian confuses the two?

They now think that their justification depends upon their sanctification.

Do you know what's going to happen?

You're going to be miserable.

Because you're going to be thinking that your right standing with God actually depends upon your obedience.

And that is not the biblical gospel.

The biblical gospel says, because of what Christ has done, His work, His obedience, you are in right standing with God, period.

And it's out of that in which we now put sin to death and bring to life the things that are pleasing to God.

Our standing with God doesn't depend on it.

We're working out our right standing with God.

Does this make sense?

When I was a young Christian, I confused these two because I was biblically ignorant and I was miserable.

And when somebody finally sat me down with the Bible and said, Mike, here's what the scriptures have to say.

I was like, no way.

Taught me two things.

God's salvation is incredible and I need to know what the Bible says.

God's salvation is incredible and I need to know what the Bible says.

And might I add, you're not walking in the truth of God's ways.

So when we talk about the doctrine of sanctification and what it is,

justification is the legal declaration of imputed righteousness to a sinner.

Sanctification is the process of becoming like Christ, experiential righteousness in your day-to-day living.

That's the difference.

Compared and contrasted.

Now let's look at this doctrine supported from Romans chapter 6, 1 through 14.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

In Romans chapter 6, verse 1, Paul starts with a question.

Romans 6:1

It's rhetorical.

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

Flip over to Romans chapter 5, verse 20 and 21.

Romans 5:20

He's talking about being in the new proxy of Jesus.

You're no longer under Adam.

You're under Christ.

You're no longer ruled by sin.

You're ruled by grace.

And he says,

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And some of the believing Jews of the Roman church congregation would have thought this.

Huh.

Well, that just sounds like a free ticket to sin.

Justified.

Where the law increased, sin increased, but grace abounded more.

Man, it'd be great to be justified.

I can go sin all that I want.

God's grace is like this blank check signed by God and saying,

Go sin however you wish.

Paul anticipates that.

And so he's asking the question,

Do we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Continue in it.

Keep intentionally sinning.

And Paul says in verse 2,

By no means, which the Mike Salvati translation would be,

Seriously?

No way.

And then he says something at the end of verse 2 that you've just got to see.

It's the thrust of his argument that he's about to make.

By no means, he says.

We're not going to continue in sin.

No way.

Then he asks another rhetorical question.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you know what he's saying?

We don't continue in sin, brothers and sisters,

Because it's not who we are anymore.

He's making an argument from your very nature now.

What God has done in you.

You're no longer dead.

You're alive to God.

So we don't continue in sin.

And then so for the remainder of, you know, verses 3 through 14,

He develops this argument.

Let's track it.

We start off by talking about our new position.

Our new position in Christ.

In verse 2, he starts talking about dying to sin.

And then verse 3, he says,

All of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.

And then in verse 4,

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death,

In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,

We too might walk in a newness of life.

And so here's what Paul is doing.

He's going to start talking about the death and life of Jesus,

And how a Christian is uniquely connected to that.

As part of his argument as to why we don't continue in sin.

And so he starts off by talking about the death of Jesus,

And he starts off talking about the resurrection of Jesus.

Do you know what that is?

That's the historic gospel.

That's the finished work of Christ.

This is God's power for salvation to all who believe.

And he's linking your sanctification to it.

And so what he's saying is this.

When you believed,

You used to be an Adam,

And now you've been brought into a new head.

Jesus Christ.

Your new proxy.

And as a result of that,

You've been united to Christ in his death and resurrection.

The Holy Spirit,

The moment you believe,

Unites you to Christ,

Specifically,

Christ's death and resurrection.

That's your new position,

Being in Christ.

You've been powerfully linked to Christ in his death and his resurrection.

Now,

Did you notice all the baptism language?

Last Sunday,

We baptized,

Zeke,

It was a joy.

And when I would put them down in the water,

They would hear me say,

Maybe you did too.

United with Christ in his death.

And as I brought them out by the water,

Raised with Christ to newness of life.

Baptism is a symbol.

It's a claim.

It's an announcement that this human being,

Who used to be an Adam,

Is now in Christ,

And united to Christ in his death and resurrection.

Here's the deal.

This is our new identity,

Brothers and sisters.

It's who you are.

Every Christian in this room,

Has been by God's grace,

United to Christ's death and resurrection.

The question is,

Is it true?

And you may be saying,

Well,

I don't feel united,

To Christ's death and resurrection.

It's not about how you feel.

It's whether it's true.

Have you been bound,

By the living God,

To the resurrection and death of Jesus?

Your new position in Christ,

Radically changes your relationship to sin.

And now we get to ask the question,

Well,

How does that work?

And that's verses 6 through 11,

Our new power.

It's actually a power mindset.

In verses 6 and 11,

Let me read it.

We know that our old self was crucified with him,

In order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,

So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now,

If we have died with Christ,

We believe that we will also live with him.

We know that Christ,

Being raised from the dead,

Will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death he died,

He died to sin once for all,

But the life he lives,

He lives to God.

Verse 11,

So you,

Christian,

You also must consider yourselves

Dead to sin and alive to God

In Christ Jesus.

Here's Paul's argument.

You've been united with Christ,

In his death and resurrection.

And in verses 6 and 11,

He's going to say,

And that operationalizes,

That makes functional Christ's power on the cross,

In his resurrection,

Available to you.

The power of Christ's death to defeat sin

Is now operational for you.

The power of Christ's resurrection

To now live for God

And walk in newness of life,

Is now fully available to you,

Christian.

The gospel power to die to sin

And to live to God,

We've now been connected to

By being united to Christ.

In verses 6 and 7,

The apostle Paul focuses on

The death of Christ

And what it's accomplished.

When you read verse 6,

We know that our old self

Was crucified with him.

Do you know what he's talking about?

He's talking about

Who you were

Before you were converted.

Before you were brought under Christ.

Before you were brought into,

You were outside of Christ,

In Adam,

Ruled by your sin,

Condemned,

Facing judgment,

Under God's wrath.

That's your old self.

And what Jesus,

Or what Paul is saying here,

Is that,

That old self,

Was crucified with Christ.

It's dead now.

There's no power,

Authority in your life.

And what that means is,

It's,

We don't continue living for sin.

We've been crucified.

That old man crucified.

And the purpose is,

To bring the body of sin,

Brought to nothing.

What that means is this.

Sin no longer rules over you.

Grace does.

And so your body,

All of who you are physically,

Now,

You no longer offer your body to sin.

You offer your body to God.

Sin no longer has the power

To call the shots in your life.

That's what we're getting at.

And what we read,

So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Maybe you came in here feeling like,

Man,

I just can't shake sin.

Like,

It just dictates my life.

If you're a follower of Jesus,

Hey,

It doesn't have to be that way.

Because according to this,

You're no longer enslaved to sin.

And when you're no longer enslaved to sin,

You're no longer under sin's tyranny.

Verse 7,

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Verses 6 and 7 is talking about

How we've been united

To Christ's sin-defeating death.

And then,

Verse 8 and 9

Focus on the resurrection of Jesus.

And our ability now

To no longer be under the dominion of death,

But to live for God.

Now,

If we have died with Christ,

We believe that we will also live with Him.

And that's verse 4 kind of living.

Walking in newness of life.

We know that Christ,

Being raised from the dead,

Will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over Him.

So,

Christ's death and resurrection

Has freed us from the dominion of sin and death.

You've got to believe this,

Brothers and sisters.

It's either true or it's not.

You're either going to live in the reality of this

Or you're going to ignore it.

And you're going to ignore it

To great difficulty.

When we get to verse 10,

Paul starts summarizing things.

He says,

For the death He died,

He died to sin once for all.

He died to your sin.

And the life He lives,

He lives to God.

So that we too could live lives to God.

And then verse 11 is the crux.

It brings it all together.

He says,

So,

You also must consider.

You must think yourselves.

Because it's true.

Dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

And that little phrase,

In Christ Jesus,

It carries the freight of what He's talking about.

Because you've been united to Christ

In His death and resurrection.

You've got to believe this.

Because this is how God sees you.

He united you to Christ

In His death and resurrection.

He set you free.

The principle here is this.

Who you are

Determines how you live.

That's the principle.

And if you are now in Christ,

You live differently.

We don't continue in sin

Because it's not who we are.

The question is,

Is this true?

Have you been united to Christ

In His death and resurrection?

God says,

If you put your faith in Christ,

Yes.

Are you believing that?

What will it take

To start believing this more?

Not just agreeing with it in theory,

But seeing yourself

As one who's been

United to Christ

In His death and resurrection.

Now, you may be asking,

Well, what does this have to do with sanctification?

It's got everything to do with sanctification.

Because the case Paul is making

Is that when you're tempted to sin,

Our response is this.

That's not who I am anymore.

Because I've been united to Christ

In His death and resurrection.

What we tend to do is think,

Okay, tempted to sin,

What do I have to do right now?

Do I have got the stuff in me to say no?

Where we should be saying,

No, you've got no mastery over me

Because Jesus kicked you in the can.

This is our new power source.

There's one other piece of this.

In Romans 8,

It's the Holy Spirit

Who is actively in our lives

Bringing this power to bear

Day in and day out.

I'll come back to that in a sec.

Our new practice.

This is in verses 12 through 14.

For the sake of time,

I'm just going to set this up

Because I'm going to come back to this next week

When we're looking at the second half

Of Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

In verses 1 through 5,

Our new position.

In verses 6 through 11,

Our new power,

A mindset.

We must think a new way about ourselves.

Because it's true now.

And in verses 12 through 14,

Specifically in verse 13,

We have a new practice.

Look at verse 13.

Do not present your members to sin

As instruments for righteousness.

The members he's talking about

Is the members of your body.

Your hands, your body,

Your eyes, your ears,

Your sexual organs,

Your mind,

All of who you are.

He's saying,

Don't present them

To sin

As instruments of unrighteousness.

Because when you present them to sin,

When you offer them up to sin,

Your body becomes tools.

A tool for unrighteousness.

It's not who you are.

That's the first dimension

To sanctification.

Is the stop sinning.

Because it's not who you are anymore.

And the second aspect

Of sanctification

Is to start godliness.

And we see that

In the second half of verse 13.

But present yourselves to God

As those who've been brought

From death to life.

As those who've been made new.

As those who've been united to Christ

In his death and resurrection.

And your members to God

As instruments for righteousness.

So what Paul is saying is this.

Hey,

In order for you to stop

Living for sin,

You need to stop

Offering your body

To sin.

And you need to start

Offering all of who you are

To God.

Because you've been united to Christ

In his death and his resurrection.

This do not present

And this do present

Is shot through your Bible.

If you're familiar with

Ephesians chapter 4

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Or Colossians chapter 3

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Paul uses language like this.

Put off, put on.

You get into the gospels

It's language like this.

Turn from, repent, believe.

Later in the book of Romans

It's do not be conformed

To this world

But be transformed

By the renewing of your minds.

Present your bodies

As living sacrifice to God.

That's all the way

Through our Bibles.

This is the new practice

That we undertake

As those been justified

By the grace of God.

So what you need to know

Is that biblical sanctification

This walking in newness of life

It involves two things.

Until we see Jesus

It's going to require

Putting sin to death

Which the old timers

Called mortification

And

Bringing godliness to life

Which the old timers

Called vivification

We're to mortify our sin

And we're to bring to life

That which pleases to God.

That's sanctification.

Becoming less and less

Ruled by sin

And more and more

Like Christ.

Now here's

This connection

I want to continue

Making for you.

When Paul writes

About being led

By the spirit

In Galatians chapter 5

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

And Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Do you know what context

He's talking about?

Sanctification.

In other places

Of our New Testament

The Holy Spirit leads

Jesus into the wilderness.

He leads the apostles

To different places

To preach the gospel.

But when Paul uses it

He's talking about

Being led by the spirit

By way of

Putting sin to death

And bringing to life

The things of godliness.

And so what that means

For us is this

There is a ministry

Of the Holy Spirit

When it comes to

Our sanctification

That is absolutely

Essential

The spirit is the one

Who bounds you

To the death

And resurrection

Of Jesus

And the spirit is the one

Who's going to help you

Put sin to death

And bring to life

The fruit of the spirit.

This is

What God

The spirit

Is seeking to do

In each of us.

Okay let's apply

This doctrine.

First is this

Do you understand

The difference

Between justification

And sanctification?

Not if you do.

If you don't

Let's talk.

Find me after the service.

I want to help you

Understand this

Because it is

Really important

To get these doctrines

Clear and straight

And how they relate

With one another.

Second

Did you come in here

This morning

Actually believing

That you

Are

United to Christ

In his death

And resurrection.

Is that

Operational

In your mind?

Are you

Actively

Believing that?

Now you may say

I don't feel

United to Christ.

I feel beat up

By sin.

When I was

Younger

I was on staff

With an organization

Called Crew

Campus Crusade for Christ

And we would share

The gospel with

Basically any

College student

That walked.

And one of the things

Is you get through

The gospel

And then you help

Them to understand

They're like

Well I don't feel

Like a Christian now

And what you do

Is you help them

With an illustration.

Imagine

A three car train

The locomotive

Fact

The coal car

Faith

The caboose

Feeling

Fact

And trusting

In the fact

And your feelings

Will follow

But if you

Are trying

To pull

The train

With your caboose

You're putting

Your faith

In your feelings

You're going to be

Very frustrated

Frustrated

What drives

The train

Of sanctification

Is your union

With Christ

That you have

Been

Crucified with Christ

And raised with Christ

To newness of life

So let me give you

A prescription

If you're struggling

With this area

If you don't think

Of yourself that way

Would you start

Committing to your mind

Romans 6

10 and 11

Start memorizing it

Start meditating

Start thinking about it

You start thinking

About for Christ

The death he died

He died to sin

Once for all

In the life he lives

He lives to God

So now also

Consider yourself

Dead to sin

Alive to God

In Christ Jesus

Could you imagine

What's going to happen

If you walk around

Like that

Thinking that all day

Good things

Good things

Are going to happen

God pleasing things

Here's what's amazing

To me

What Christ did

2,000 years ago

Through God's grace

Of uniting you

To what he did

2,000 years ago

Is still effectual

It's still powerful

It's still changing things

Sanctification

Sanctification

This is the third point

It requires two aspects

Putting sin off

Putting on godliness

So here's what I'd like you to do

As we head towards

Next Sunday

Use this week

It's a homework assignment

What is one area

That you are presently

Offering

The members of your body

To sin

Think about it

Focus in

Go to the Lord

God how am I presenting

The members of my body

To sin and not to you

Would you show me

I want you to do that

Because when we get

Next week

It's going to be very helpful

To have something

Very specific and concrete

To work with

We're going to say

What must you stop

By faith

And what must you start

By faith

Sanctification is the process

Of becoming less and less

Ruled by sin

And more and more

Like Christ

Why do Christians sin?

Why do you sin?

See with the whiteboard?

You're both of those

Simultaneously justified

And sinful

That's why we still sin

The penalty of sin

Has been paid

The power of sin

Has been broken

But the presence

Of sin remains

So we need to be

Actively

Putting our sin to death

And bringing to life

The things that please God

Another way to think

About it is this

Before you start

Climbing the wall

Of sanctification

You got to ask

Belay on

And you're going to hear

Belay on

Not only has God

Justified you

You've been united

With Christ

In his death

And resurrection

And that gives you

Great confidence

It's high ground

In terms of now

Putting sin to death

And bringing life

To the spirit

The fruit of the spirit

Let's pray

God in heaven

Would you help us

Grow in godliness

Would you help us

Grow in Christ likeness

Would you help us

To do this work

Of putting off sin

And putting on

That which pleases you

God would you

Would you help us

To do this well

To think your thoughts

About us now

And God would you

Rescue any of the

Brothers and sisters

In this room

Who are presently

Not believing

All that is true

Of them

For what you've done

For them in Christ

God would you

Make us holy

Pleasing to you

In our experience

In Jesus name

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen