20260927 Romans 5 / Sanctification Sunday Sermon Tim Dickmann

So, I thought this morning we will begin here

in chapter 5 again and review a few of the things

that we mentioned last week. And then go on to

a couple of other topics that aren't necessarily

in this section of Romans, but that are foundational

to our faith. And so I want to begin here again

with justification. So we've already heard about

justification this morning. Mike has already

shared some of what justification is. Our justification

is a foundational truth. When we go on and talk

about regeneration, another foundational truth.

Sanctification, a foundational truth. These things

impact our view of God and our view of ourselves.

Our view of salvation. How is a man saved, right?

I mean, that's the crux of the issue. That's

what humanity needs. Salvation. But if we don't

know how a man is to be saved, well, what good

are we? What good are we to the world? What good

is it to ourselves to know that there is a God

if we don't know how a man is saved? So, justification.

What does it mean? What does it mean to be justified?

Paul says, Therefore, having been justified by

faith, we have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained

our introduction by faith into this grace in

which we stand and exalt in the hope of the glory

of God. Justification. So what is it? to be declared

righteous. We've mentioned that. We already said

that. It is a legal term. It has to do with a

courtroom and a judge. God, of course, is the

judge. So in the legal courtroom of God, we are

declared righteous. That doesn't mean that intrinsically

now, or we are doing these things righteously.

It's not that our lives now are... Lives of just

righteousness. Living perfectly here on this

earth. That's not what that means. God declares

us righteous. And as Mike said, what does that

mean? We are clothed in the righteousness of

Christ. We become his righteousness. 2 Corinthians

5 .21 That we might become the righteousness

of God in him. That's what we're talking about.

So when God looks at us, he sees the righteousness

of Christ. Isaiah 61 .10 He wrapped me with a

robe of righteousness. The same idea there. We

mentioned this, I think, on a Wednesday night.

Is it Zechariah where it talks about him being...

No, it's not Zechariah. It's a high priest there

taking his filthy rags and clothed in the white

garments. Totally drawing a blank there. Either

way, that's the picture. The filthy garments

are gone and we are clothed now in this pure,

white, clean garment of Christ. That's righteousness.

If you want to think of it, I was listening to

Charles Leiber. He always says, this occurs in

heaven. Our justification is in heaven. It's

got nothing to do with here on earth, so to speak.

This occurs in heaven. When we go on to talk

about our regeneration, that occurs here on earth,

in the heart of a man. But this term, justification,

to be declared righteous, this has occurred in

heaven. So, Christ's righteousness becomes ours.

It is imputed to us, and our sin is put on Him.

The great exchange, we've probably heard it said,

how can God justify man? Right? How can God be

just if he just lets the wicked go free? He can't

be. There must be penalty. There must be satisfaction

to this law. And so what happens? Christ dies.

Christ's blood is shed. Christ satisfies the

wrath of God. Our sin upon Him. His righteousness

upon us. God is then just and the justifier.

As we looked at in Romans 3. God is just in justifying

us because Christ has taken the penalty. Christ

has paid the price. Justification. It is a one

time. A one -time act, a one -time declaration.

Again, this is important. This is vital. We don't

lose our justification. When I go out from here

and I lose my temper, am I justified still? Yes.

I've not lost my justification because I've sinned.

I'm not more justified when I go out from here

and I don't lose my temper. I don't gain in justification.

It is what it is. How can you add to the righteousness

of Christ? That's what I have. How can you take

away from that? A one -time act. It does not

increase. It does not decrease. It is not lost.

It is not gained in that sense. We also said,

if you remember, as righteous as Christ. It's

an amazing thought to think of that, right? That

Christ is no more righteous than we are. How

can that be? How can that be a glorious thought

to think in those terms? I'm as righteous as

Christ is. Now, if you've not thought about that,

think of that. That's an amazing thought. It

seems blasphemous. It really does. If you think

about that, it's like, how can that be? I know

who I am. I know what I'm like. And yet I'm as

righteous as Christ is. Yet that's what the Bible

says. Okay? That's what we have to get. That's

what we have to grasp. It doesn't matter what

I think. It doesn't matter how I feel. This is

truth. This is fact. And this is foundational

to the Christian life. Alright. So then how are

we justified? Right? We said, Paul says right

here, having been justified by faith. So we talked

a little bit about faith. We talked about, I

think it's later on there in verse 10. Or is

it nine? Nine is justified by his blood. We looked

at Titus, I think, says justified by grace. And

so these three terms are used regarding our justification.

How are we justified by faith? What does that

mean? Well, we said faith is what? It's not faith

in ourselves. It's not faith in something we've

done or something we can do. Faith is placed.

Upon some object. Or some thing. And that thing

is Jesus Christ. His work. That's it. There's

three elements. I was reading some stuff this

week. That I thought was really helpful. Really

encouraging to think about. Three elements to

faith. Knowledge. Ascent. And trust. So if you

think of those three things. What is your faith

in? Well, you've got to know something, right?

If you're going to put your faith in something,

you've got to know something about that thing.

You've got to know what that is. You've got to

know who Jesus Christ is. You've got to know

what He has done. You've got to know these things.

The life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus

Christ. You've got to know. But is it enough

to know? Is that faith? Just to know that Jesus

Christ was a man, lived, died, and rose again.

That's not enough, right? So faith involves knowledge,

but it also involves an assent or an acceptance

of these things that they are true. Alright,

so acknowledging this is true. Yes, I believe

that these are the facts. I believe that this

is true. And I am what? Trusting in those things.

Trusting in these set of... that Jesus Christ

is who He said He is. Again, we talk about hanging

your hammock upon Christ. Trusting in Him. Relying

upon Him. Believing. The Bible talks often about

believing. That's true belief. Knowing. Affirming.

Resting in that. Trusting in those things. Faith.

Not faith. Faith anywhere else is not saving

faith. Only in Christ. So, essential. It's essential.

You go to other places, you listen to other people

and they'll talk about their faith, right? Well,

I have faith. I'm a Christian. And you pry a

little bit. Tell me about this faith. Well, I

decided for Christ. I believe. What do you believe?

That you decided for Christ? Well that's great.

But what does that mean? That's not saving faith.

You don't decide for Jesus. Find that in the

scripture for me. I decided for Jesus one day.

And so now I'm a Christian. No. You won't find

it. So faith. Faith in Christ. Resting in Christ.

Falling. Into the arms of Christ. Letting go

of everything else. Letting go of all these other

things that you're relying upon. Falling into

the arms of Christ. So by grace. Okay, we talked

about this also. For by grace you have been saved

through faith and that not of yourselves. It

is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man

should boast. Ephesians 2. What is faith? It's

a gift. It's not something I've worked up or

I've earned or I've accomplished on my own. I've

gotten enough knowledge and now I can have faith.

No. You can be the most intelligent man in the

world and understand these truths of Scripture

better than me and not have faith. Unless God

gives it to you. So by grace, it is a gift of

God. We have been saved by grace. Not by anything

we have done. So faith is that gift. Again, grace.

We don't earn. We don't work our way into this

state of justification. We don't follow a set

of rules. We don't check things off our box and

say, alright, now I'm justified. No, what is

it? That's works. Those are men's works. If it's

works, what does Paul say? If you've worked for

this, then it's not a gift, it's not grace, it's

earned. And he says, how can that be? You can't

earn your salvation. He also says, in Romans

4 .16, he talks about, there is no guarantee

if we've earned this. Because if it's all of

our work, what's the guarantee that the work

is going to be finished? What's the guarantee

that I'm going to get the glory if I'm the one

who earned my salvation? how am I going to guarantee

myself to get the glory? There is no guarantee.

I'm just hoping I'm good enough and I work hard

enough to get there. That's not salvation. That's

not the gloriousness of the Gospel. The Gospel

says Christ has accomplished everything and will

continue and get me there despite who I am. Despite

how much I fall, it is a guarantee that I will

get to glory because of what Christ has done,

not me. So by grace through faith, the blood

of Christ being the grounds of our justification

we mentioned. So justification, it is central.

It is essential. Know it. Understand it. Study

it. Memorize them. All of these passages that

we've talked about. Know them. Cling to them.

So then I mentioned regeneration. So I just wanted

to, again, Paul is going to deal with this as

we move on here. As we get into chapter 6 and

he talks about some of these very same things

we're going to talk about here. But what is it

to be, what is regeneration? We said justification

occurs in heaven. Regeneration. occurs here on

earth in the heart of a man. What is regeneration?

What does it mean? Okay, so that's the first

question. What does this word regeneration mean?

What are we talking about? Paul uses it in Titus

3, 3 -7. It has to do with new birth, renewal,

and recreation. So if you look it up in your...

What is it? Thesaurus? Is that right? Or your

dictionary, your Greek dictionary and all those

things. That's what you come up with. Alright?

How is it used in the New Testament? What does

that mean for us? Well, here is what I have written

down. Regeneration is the new birth of a new

man who is a new creation with a new heart and

a new nature. That's regeneration. That's not

my definition. That's not something I came up

with. New, you hear the new there. It's something

new. Here's the problem that we have as mankind.

We are defiled, right? What does our justification

deal with? What's the opposite of justification?

Condemnation, right? So justification deals with

the condemnation that rests upon us. Regeneration,

we are defiled. We're wicked and sinful. We've

got a dirty heart, a dirty mind, all these things,

right? Regeneration deals with that. What does

it say? What does the Bible say? 2 Corinthians

5 .17 Paul says, Old things have passed away,

new things have come. If we return there and

read, it talks about a new creation. Something

new has occurred here in a believer. They've

been created anew. The new birth. Remember, what

does Jesus say? You must be born again. Born

from above. Something new has to happen. This

old self has to go. This new has to be brought

in. The newness of the new covenant, right? What

are we? Jeremiah and Ezekiel, a new heart I will

give them. A new mind I will put in them. That's

regeneration. A new heart, a new mind, a new

creation. God is creating us anew as believers.

That old man is gone. Galatians. I think it's

Galatians 6 .15. Maybe that's Colossians. Galatians

6 .15 talks about a new creation. If you want

to write that one down. Colossians is... Let

me read this. Colossians 3. Therefore consider

the members of your... earthly body as dead to

immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and

greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because

of these things that the wrath of God will come

upon the sons of disobedience. And in them you

also once walked when you were living in them.

But now you also put them all aside. Anger, malice,

wrath, slander, and abusive speech from your

mouth do not lie to one another since you laid

aside the old self. With its evil practices.

And have put on the new self. Who is being renewed

in a true knowledge. According to the image of

the one. Who created him. See the old and the

new. The creation. Created anew. In Christ. That's

regeneration. That occurs in us. We are given

this. So what has God done now? He has dealt

with the condemnation that rests upon us in our

justification, and he has changed out this defiled

man with a new man. Made us anew, created us

anew. Another way to think of it, spiritually

dead, spiritually alive. That's what happens

at regeneration. Ephesians talks about being

dead in trespasses and sins. That's how we were.

But God who is rich in his mercy and grace has

made us alive. Right? That's what we're talking

about here. We're made new. We're now alive spiritually.

We were dead. How can a dead man do anything?

He can't. He can't save himself. It's the most

silly, foolish argument in the world to think

that a man who's dead, the Bible describes as

dead, defiled, wicked, sinful, can all of a sudden

decide, now I'm going to be a good guy. How does

that happen? It defies all logic, reason, and

all Scripture. And yet that's what is so often

taught out there. This is a work of God. God

must do it to bring us to life. We were dead

and now we're alive. So spiritual life. Now,

both of these things, they don't, we're not all

of a sudden, Walking around perfect. As far as

practically speaking, right? We still sin. We

still are at war with sin. We still struggle.

But these are truths that the Bible says about

us. We are new creatures, creations. A new nature

is within us. We are justified. We are righteous.

These are facts. The Bible doesn't ask us if

these things are true of us. If we feel like

this. Is this your experience? No. Paul just

says this is the reality of your situation when

you become a Christian. This is who you are.

Paul will deal with this later on. That doesn't,

you know, I said that doesn't mean we're walking

around in perfection. But what has changed? Our

hearts, our desires, right? And again, we're

not perfect. And so the Lord is going to have

to deal with us and we're going to have to grow

and we're going to have to mature in all of these

things. I was listening to Charles again. He

gave the analogy here of. of a factory, a poison

factory. And it has new ownership. One day you

walk up and you see a new sign. It says Oxygen

Factory. And you go in there and you don't have

this, you know, you don't have the old owners

and the old bosses. Tell the new owners and new

bosses what to do. They're all gone. So that

has to do with that whole idea of within us we

have these two natures fighting and warring.

That's false. We don't. We don't have these two

dogs inside fighting. We don't have the good

angel and the bad angel trying to tell us what

to do. They're gone. You see, there's no new

ownership here. The old owners have nothing to

do with the factory any longer. They're not telling

everybody, hey, this is how we want to run. This

is how we used to run it. They're gone. Okay?

But then what? Does that mean all of a sudden

you've got this great, wonderful output of oxygen?

No. What has to happen? I mean, they're going

to have to change some things. They're going

to change out some parts. They're going to have

to rework everything. Clean it out. And then,

really then for a while, they're not producing

a whole lot of oxygen. But they're working towards

it. That's us. We've been changed. We're striving

after these other things now. This old man is

gone. He's dead. We are under new ownership.

We have the Spirit of God within us. And so that

is who we are in Christ. That is what has occurred

in our regeneration here on earth. That is who

we are. Lay hold of those truths. Justification.

Regeneration. They should impact your life. Lastly

here, I wanted to deal with sanctification. Now,

what do we think of when we think of sanctification?

Let's ask ourselves that. Normally we think of

maybe progressive holiness. So, in my life I

am becoming more like Christ. Often that's how

we use this term sanctification. And the Bible

uses it like that occasionally. But that's not

the bulk of how sanctification is used. And so

we need to understand what we mean by sanctification

and what the Scripture means by sanctification.

Now you men, you got a head start on this last

night. So hopefully this will just solidify it

in your minds, help you with it. What is our

sanctification? Well, what does it mean? It means,

if you look it up, to render or declare sacred

or holy, to render inviolable, dedicated to God.

Okay, so that word inviolable. Sacred, holy,

completely secure from being broken, profaned,

or violated. So think of that. So if we have

been sanctified, if we have, Sacred, holy, completely

secure from being broken, profaned, or violated.

That's a pretty good thing. But have we been

sanctified? There's the question, right? Scripture

says that we have. So this is who we are now.

So let's look at a couple of verses here. Let's

look at Acts. Acts chapter 20. Chapter 20, verse

Acts 20 · chapter mention

32. And now I commend you to God and to the word

of his grace, which is able to build you up and

to give you the inheritance among all those who

are sanctified. Okay? So again, the idea there

is not of a process. Paul is saying there, you

already have been. That you've been sanctified,

who are sanctified. And then if we turn over

to chapter 26, in verse 18, To open their eyes

so that they may turn from darkness to light

and from the dominion of Satan to God. That they

may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance

among those who have been sanctified by faith

in me. Again, sanctify. Already. And then one

more here in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2. He says

1 Corinthians 1:2

to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to

those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus,

saints by calling with all who in every place

call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their

Lord and ours. Now, those three references are

in the perfect tense. OK, and so for those of

you who don't know what that means, that means

this is an action that was completed in the past.

and its results continue on. So this is a completed

act. This is something that has already been

done. How do we define it? Declared, rendered

holy, dedicated to God. You just want the simple

definition there. That has already taken place.

That has been accomplished in the past. So sanctification

is a completed work. Something that has already

taken place. In other words, we are holy now

at our conversion. Just as we are declared righteous,

we are declared holy. We are seen as holy. A

couple more verses. 1 Corinthians 6 .11 Such

were some of you, but you were washed, but you

were sanctified, but you were justified in the

name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit

of our God. Now this is in the Aorist tense,

which is again a completed event, something that

has already happened. And then in Ephesians 5,

the same word is used here. I'm sure this is

familiar to us here. In Ephesians 5, 26, Paul

says, speaking of Christ here, Christ and the

church, husbands, love your wives, and so on.

He says, so that he might sanctify her, having

cleansed her by the washing of water with the

word. Sanctify. The same word there. Speaking

of Christ and the church. So this idea of sanctification,

the theologians, some will say it is definitive

sanctification. And they'll make a distinction

here. This is something that has already happened.

And then our progressive sanctification is something

future, becoming more Christ -like. But sanctification

is something that has already occurred, that

has already been declared. We are holy. So we've

been justified, we've been sanctified, we've

been regenerated. These are all things that have

occurred in our lives as Christians, or have

made us Christians, really. So when we speak

of our salvation, this is what we're talking

about. This is what has occurred. Salvation is

a very broad term. This is specific. We've been

justified, we've been sanctified, we've been

regenerated. We've been these things. These are

realities in our lives now. We're not waiting

for them to occur in the future. Let me read

this for you. Some of you may find this helpful,

some may not. I'll try to explain it in my own

words here, but this is from Robert Raymond.

He says, Not only is a Christian accounted by

God as righteous in relation to the law, he is

also constituted holy by God in relation to the

power and mastery of sin. It is not simply positional

holiness. It is a real breach or break with the

reign and measure and mastery of sin. What he's

saying there is these other things are positional.

Right? We are positionally righteous. We are

positionally holy. He says that. It's just not

only that. Positionally, in other words, declared

these things. But our sanctification is more

than that. It's not only that we are holy, but

that God has done something here to release us

to break the power of sin in our lives. So that

no longer will sin reign over us. What has he

done? We're in a new realm. We're in a new sphere.

We're in grace. We'll talk about that, but Paul

mentions that here in this first couple of verses

of Romans as one of our blessings or results

of justification. He says here that having been

justified by faith, we have peace with God through

our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom also we have

obtained our introduction by faith into this

grace in which we stand. That's, I think, what

he's talking about here. That's what Robert Raymond

is speaking of, I think. And that's what Paul

is saying here. We've been introduced into this

new realm of grace. If you have the King James,

it may say access. And so the idea here is kind

of both. You can think of it in both. We've been

introduced into this new realm. But we have full

access. Ongoing, continual. And so sin cannot

reign over us because we're no longer in the

realm of sin. Where sin rules us, dominates us,

overpowers us, commands us. We're gone from that.

We've been moved into this new realm of grace

where grace now reigns, empowering us, enabling

us to walk according to Christ's law, to walk

according to those things that are pleasing to

God. That is what it means that we are sanctified.

We've been changed here. We've been declared

holy, but there's also this change in these realms

that we are in. So, these truths are glorious

to think of them. It is amazing to think of who

we are in Christ. It is amazing to think of,

as we move on through here, What all has been

accomplished in our salvation? Paul, he talks

about sin, sin ruling and reigning and how it

won't anymore. Those things are amazing to think

about. To think about the power of grace in our

lives is a glorious thing. To really lay hold

of it. Now, how do all these things happen? What

is the cause? What enables him? It's all through

Christ. It is all because of him. What is Paul

saying in the first couple of verses here? He

says, having been justified, we have peace with

God. How? Because I'm so good, right? That's

what he says. No, he says through Jesus Christ.

The peace that we're going to talk about next

week, it only comes through Jesus Christ. What

else does he say here? Through whom we have obtained.

Through whom? Christ, right? Referring back there

to Christ. Through Christ, we have obtained our

introduction or our access into this grace. You

read through Romans. You read through Ephesians.

What is the constant theme that you see? You

just kind of... we just kind of pass over it

so often because it's everywhere. In Christ.

Through Christ. Through His blood. Through His

sacrifice. In His life. All of these things.

In, by, through, because of Christ. Everything

that is ours is because of Christ. Everything

that we have is because of our union with Christ.

If you don't know what that means, our union

with Christ, we'll talk about it. But that again

is a glorious thing. To think of our union with

Christ and all that that means. Everything occurs

because of Christ. Every blessing that we have.

Every promise. Every hope. It's all because of

Christ. All of our salvation is because of Christ.

Not because of something we have done. Not because

of some decision that we have made. Or how good

we are. Or I've done enough good deeds to outweigh

my bad deeds. And so now I've earned. You've

earned hell. That's all you've earned. If that's

what you're looking for. Christ, it's all because

of Christ. It all comes back to Him. He is the

source of all of it. Now, well, we'll stop there.

Oh, right, I wanted to say this. So, I said our

definitive sanctification, right? I kind of defined

what we talked about there. This past one -time

act of sanctification there. Our definitive sanctification.

And then we could talk about our progressive

sanctification. And what do we mean by that?

What we mean by that is being conformed to the

image of Christ. Okay? So being conformed to

His image, renewing our minds, being Christ -like.

That's what we're talking about so many times

when people mention sanctification. That's what

they mean. So understand the difference. Yes,

that is true that we are becoming more like Christ.

We are becoming, practically speaking, more holy

in our lives. We're dealing with sin. We're putting

it aside. We're changing. Our thinking is changing.

That is all good and right and true. But understand,

so often in Scripture, the word sanctification,

when it talks about that we have been sanctified,

it is speaking of this past act of being sanctified.

Again, not something we have done. but something

that Christ has accomplished for us in our salvation

through His death and resurrection. So, press

on in holiness. Press on in Christlikeness. Be

conformed to His image. Renew your mind. Okay?

Do those things. That's God's desire for us,

is to be more like Christ. Change out the parts

in the factory. Produce. Produce what? Good works.

Right? That's what we've been saved for. A people

zealous for good works. Serving the Lord. Not

earning our salvation. Serving the Lord. Press

on in that way. I will just say this then also.

It is important. Why is it important to think

this way? It's important to keep these things

in mind because what is the... Well, this is

my tendency. Maybe it's not yours, and praise

the Lord if it's not. My tendency is to say,

I am a dirty, rotten scoundrel. Wicked. And that's

how I think of myself. I don't deserve this.

How can this be? An attitude of defeatism is

what that is. That's not who we are. That's not

what we've been called to. We've been called

to joyful rejoicing in Jesus Christ. Yes, I sorrow

over my sin, but I know what? As Mike has told

us, God does not view me like that. He doesn't

view me as a dirty, rotten scoundrel. How does

he view me? As his son. As his child. It's an

amazing thing to think about how God sees us.

He sees us in all of these ways. But so much

more that we don't even, I don't think we think

about these things. I know I don't think about

them enough. I remember when this came home to

me. If I can find it. I think I wrote it down

somewhere. But here in John 17, Jesus here is

praying and he speaks of the love that the Father

has for him, for Jesus. And he says that the

Father loves us just the same. How can that be?

How can that be? Have you thought of it? The

love that he has for his son, his only begotten

son, he has for those that he has made his children.

That is the same. View yourself rightly. See

yourself through God's eyes. And rejoice. And

serve him. Gladness.