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FPC Starkville Wednesday Bible Study
Growing in the Holy Spirit: Sanctification & Faithful, Fruitful Christian Life
February 2, 2022
Martin Lifer
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 - And because of Him [God] you are in Christ Jesus,
Who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
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Sanctification/Holiness –
without which no one will see the Lord.
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Heb. 12:14
(1) “Positional Sanctification” = “Definitive Sanctification” = Consecrated Sanctification.
God sets apart Christians unto Himself, as holy in and for definitive purposes:
- God’s children
a/k/a citizens & royal priests of God’s Kingdom
a/k/a members of the Church (ecclesia/ “called out”)
a/k/a members of the Body of Christ a/k/a members of the Bride of Christ.
God’s “chosen ones” are “holy and beloved” (Col. 3:12), “beloved children” (Eph. 5:1),
crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20) and clothed in Him – that is, having “put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27),
“a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), “a Kingdom – priests to his God and Father,” (Rev. 1:6), raised up with Christ & “seated” “with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Eph. 2:6),
God’s “treasured possession” (cf. Deut. 7:6, via 1 Peter 2:9),
“fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” (Eph. 2:19),
(2) “Progressive Sanctification.” (e.g., Rom. 12:1-2 ff.,2 Cor. 3:18)
(3) “Final/Perfect Sanctification.” (e.g., 1 Jn. 3:2, 1. Cor 13:12, Jude 1:24-25, Rev. 21:2)
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God imputes to us & by His Spirit applies to us Christ’s Righteousness and the Righteousness of His (Perfect) Saving Work
He justifies us by faith in Christ
He secures our holy identity, place & roles with Him and in His House & Kingdom
He inspires us to grow, in Holiness, “Mortifying the Flesh,” Spiritually Maturing, & Bearing Fruit. This growth and its fruit (a) are essential AND (b) will be worked in us by God’s grace & Spirit through our Union with Christ.
ἁãéÜæù
Jn. 17:19 (ESV) And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
(KJV) And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
(NASB 1977) And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
(NIV) For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
êáὶ ὑðὲñ áὐôῶí ἐãὼ ἁãéÜæù ἐìáõôüí, ἵíá ὦóéí êáὶ áὐôïὶ ἡãéáóìÝíïé ἐí ἀëçèåßᾳ. ἁãéÜæù
Jn. 17:20-23 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that you have given Me, I have given to them, so that they may be one, even as We are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them, even as You loved Me.”
Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified (Perfect Tense, Indicative Mood, Middle Voice) with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Gal. 5:24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified (Aorist Tense, Indicative Mood, ACTIVE Voice) the flesh with its passions and desires.
Col. 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Rom. 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Or Is it Christ Jesus who died… for us?
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FPC Starkville Wednesday Bible Study
Martin Lifer
November 17, 2021
A Very Basic Introduction to the Gospel Truths of God’s Gracious
Justification & Sanctification of Believers in Jesus Christ & His
Righteousness, by the Work of His Spirit.
Prelude: Any focus on “our”
salvation – including justification & sanctification – should be NOT first
& last on us but on Jesus Christ our Lord (i.e. Christocentric).
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 - And because of Him you are in
Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, so that, as it
is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Salvation = Union with Christ à Salvation
Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with
Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I
now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has
come.
John 15:4 – “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you, unless you abide in Me.”
Our salvation and all its benefits come from Christ and our
Union with Him. He gives faith... He gives repentance. Salvation
springs from Christ alone. Faith
and repentance are fruits of the Spirit's regenerating work in the soul. This Biblical order – which
Reformed theology affirms – is that regeneration precedes faith (John 6:63,
65, 6:37) and ensures us that our salvation is wholly of
God and by grace alone, NOT a cooperation or joint work of man and God.
J.
I. Packer BAPTISM: THIS RITE EXHIBITS UNION WITH CHRIST
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory
of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:3-4
Christian baptism, which has the form of a ceremonial washing
(like John’s pre-Christian baptism), is a sign from God that signifies inward
cleansing and remission of sins (Acts 22:16; 1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 5:25-27),
Spirit-wrought regeneration and new life (Titus 3:5), and the abiding presence
of the Holy Spirit as God’s seal testifying and guaranteeing that one will be
kept safe in Christ forever (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:13-14). Baptism carries these
meanings because first and fundamentally it signifies union with Christ in his
death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-7; Col. 2:11-12); and this union with Christ is the source of
every element in our salvation (1 John 5:11-12). Receiving the sign in
faith assures the persons baptized that God’s gift of new life in Christ is
freely given to them. At the same time, it commits them to live henceforth in a
new way as committed disciples of Jesus. Baptism signifies a watershed point in
a human life because it signifies a new-creational engrafting into Christ’s
risen life.
Theologian Anthony Hoekema – Union with Christ begins
with God's pre-temporal decision to save his people in and through Jesus
Christ. This union, further, is based on the redemptive work for his people,
which Christ did in history. Finally, this union is actually established with
God's people after they have been born, continues throughout their lives, and
has as its goal their eternal glorification in the life to come.
We go on, then, to see union with Christ as
having its roots in divine election, its basis in the redemptive work of
Christ, and its actual establishment with God's people in time. Union between Christ and his people was
planned already in eternity, in the sovereign pre-temporal decision whereby God
the Father selected us as his own. Christ
Himself was chosen to be our Savior before the creation of the world (1 Pet.
1:20); Ephesians 1:4 teaches us that when the Father chose Christ, He also
chose us....
We are initially united with Christ in
regeneration.
[next] "We appropriate and continue to
live out of this union through faith.
Third, "We are justified in union with
Christ."
Fourth, "We are sanctified through union
with Christ.
"Fifth, "We persevere in the life of
faith in union with Christ.
"Finally, "We shall be eternally
glorified with Christ."
The Ordo Salutis
The Reformed affirmation of the Biblical “Ordo
Salutis.” “Ordo Salutis (Latin: “order
of salvation”) is a Biblical way of understanding
God’s soteriological causal (not chronological) ordering all the grace-events
of redemption in Christians’ lives in their Union with Christ by the Holy
Spirit.
The Reformed Ordo Salutis,
revealed clearly in
Scripture, including in Romans 8:29-30:
1) election/predestination (in Christ);
2) Atonement;
3) gospel
call;
4) inward
call;
5) regeneration;
6) conversion (faith & repentance);
7) justification;
8) sanctification; and
9) glorification.
Romans 8:28-30 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for
good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom He foreknew
He also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son,
in order that He might be the firstborn among
many brothers.
And those
whom He predestined
He also
called, and those whom he called
He also
justified, and those whom He justified
He also
glorified.
But Note!!!:
In Reformed theology, the Ordo Salutis is NOT linear but a
UNITED Work of God. So God’s grace & redemptive benefits such as
regeneration, faith, repentance, justification and sanctification occur concurrently
and NOT contingently OR chronological
per se.
Theologian Herman Bavinck – “Regeneration, faith, conversion,
renewal, and the like, often [in the Bible] do not point to successive steps in
the way of salvation but rather summarize in a single word the entire change
which takes place in a man."
Note in
contrast the Arminian ordo salutis:
1) outward call;
2) faith/election;
3) repentance;
4) regeneration;
5) justification;
6) perseverance; and
7) glorification.
Justification & Sanctification
The Westminster Larger Catechism
Q. 77. What is the difference between justification and
sanctification?
A. Although sanctification is inseparably joined to
justification,1 the two are distinctly different. In
justification God imputes the righteousness of Christ to
believers;2 in sanctification his Spirit
infuses believers with grace and enables them to use it.3
In the former, sin is pardoned;4 in the
latter, it is subdued.5 The one exempts all believers
equally and completely from the avenging
anger and condemnation of God in this life;6 the other
does not work equally in all believers,7 nor
is it completed in any believer in this life,8 but only
grows toward perfection.9
1. 1 Cor 6.11, 1.30,
Rom 8.30.
2. Rom 4.6,8, Phil
3.8-9, 2 Cor 5.21.
3. Ez 36.27.
4. Rom 3.24-25.
5. Rom 6.6,14.
6. Rom 8.1,33-34.
7. 1 Jn 2.12-14, Heb
5.12-14, 1 Cor 3.1-2, Mk 4.8,28.
8. 1 Jn 1.8,10.
9. 2 Cor 7.1, Phil
3.12-14, Eph 4.11-15.
New City Catechism Justification means our declared righteousness before God,
made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Sanctification means
our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in
us.
Commentary by
Abraham Booth - Though justification and
sanctification are both blessings of grace, and though
they are inseparable, yet they are distinct acts of God, and there is, in
various respects, a wide difference
between them. The distinction may be thus expressed:
Justification (1) respects the person in a legal
sense, (2) is a single act of grace,
and (3) terminates in a relative
change – that is, (a) a freedom from punishment and (b) a
right to life.
Sanctification (1) regards him in a
physical sense, (2) is a continual work of grace, and (3) terminates in a real change – as to the quality both of habits and actions.
The former is by a righteousness
without us; the latter is by holiness
wrought in us. That precedes as
a cause; this follows as an effect.
Justification is by Christ as a priest, and has regard to the guilt of sin. Sanctification
is by him as a king, and refers to its dominion. Justification deprives sin of its damning power.
Sanctification deprives sin of its reigning power. Justification is instantaneous
and complete in all its subjects; sanctification is progressive
and perfecting by degrees.
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So Justification refers to God’s
declaration & determination that someone is righteous in his sight –
through a righteousness from God Himself, given to us by faith in & by the
Person & Work of Christ!. This justification is a one-time & everlasting act of grace whereby God declares a
sinner to be not simply pardoned but also perfectly righteous before Him.
The JUST & HOLY basis for
God’s divine declaration & determination is Person & Work of Christ, including, centrally, his atoning
& redemptive death. God credits (“imputes”) us with Jesus’ righteousness (the
perfect merit). We are justified by grace – a gift freely received – through
faith: by trusting in Jesus Christ alone.
Sanctification, like justification, is God’s
work of grace in us through faith and is given & possible because of the
finished work of Christ on our behalf. However,
sanctification is a continual
process in which by God’s grace, Spirit & Word we grow in holiness – being made more holy, more
& more into the Image of Christ. So sanctification is an ongoing
spiritual process of grace in believers & in their lives. God inspires the progressive transformation
of everyone who has been justified into the image of Jesus our Savior through
the work of the Holy Spirit.
“Positional”
Righteousness v. “Appropriated/Practical” Righteousness…
v. “Perfect”
Righteousness.
Justification happens outside of us: God declares us righteous.
Sanctification happens inside of us: God makes us grow in
righteousness.
Justification is a
one-time event, and sanctification is a continual process.
Hebrews
10:14, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Titus 3:5-7
Romans
3:24, 4:1-5, 5:1
Romans 8,
Hebrews 12:14, Jude 1:20-21, 2 Peter 3;18
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FPC
Starkville, Martin Lifer – Wednesday Night Bible Study
October 13, 2021 - Bible Study Martin
Lifer, FPC Starkville
Antichrist, Jezebel,
Elijah and You.
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In ancient societies, definitely in Israel,
the king set the moral
compass for the nation & her people.
The
nation’s fate & the peoples’ future were subject in large part to their
king’s faithfulness or wickedness, wisdom
or folly.
N. Kingdom, Ten Tribes/ “Israel”/ “Samaria”/ “Ephraim:”
ALL the kings of the N. Kingdom, Israel, were unfaithful and
practiced idolatry & the worst served Baal.
King Ahab “did
more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.” … [1 Kings 16:30]
And it came about – as though it had been
a trivial [too light a] thing for him to walk in the sins of
Jeroboam, the son of Nebat (!!) – that he married Jezebel the
daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped
him. [1 Kings 16:31]
Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do
evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him. He
also acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the
Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel. [1 Kings 21:25-26]
So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried
the king in Samaria. And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and
the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves there,
according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken.
Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that
he did, and the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are
they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? So Ahab
slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. …
Ahaziah the son of
Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of
Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. He did what was evil in the sight of
the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and
in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. So he served
Baal and worshiped him and provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger, according
to all that his father had done. [1 Kings 22:37-40, 51-53]
Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his
upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I
shall recover from this sickness.”
But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the
Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the
king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel
that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now, therefore,
thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not come down
from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went. [2 Kings 1:2-4]
Jezebel Thrown Down to Death (per order of Jehu) & devoured by the Jezreel dogs
(per the LORD’s Word via Elijah).
[2 Kings 9:30-37]
Ahab’s Seventy Sons Killed, Ahaziah’s Forty-two Brothers
Killed, the Rest of Ahab’s Family Killed, & Worshipers of Baal Killed,… followed by Jehu’s faults & Death. [2
Kings 10]
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Omri’s
son, Ahab reigns in Israel,… and Hiel of Bethel rebuilds Jericho [bringing
upon himself the curse of Joshua 6:26] giving a son for the foundations and
a son for the gates. 1 Kings 16:29-34
Elijah
proclaims Drought; Widow of Zarephath & Raising Widow’s Dead Son. 1 Kings
17
Elijah’s
Message for Ahab; the Great Confrontation, Witness, Victory & Judgment at
Mt. Carmel; God Sends Rain & Drought Ends. 1 Kings 18
Elijah
Flees Jezebel, Sustained by Angel, and Hides at Horeb, the Mountain of God; the
LORD’s Revelation to Elijah, Answers to Elijah’s Complaints, and Further
Commissioning; Elijah Calls Elisha. 1 Kings 19
The
LORD delivers the Syrians into Ahab’s hand, including by provision of direct
prophetic Word; Ahab disobeys the LORD’s Word – making treaty with Ben-Hadad
and releasing him; God send prophetic Word to Ahab that he – Ahab – has brought
judgment on himself. 1 Kings 20
Ahab
Covets Naboth the Jezreelite’s Vineyard; Jezebel has Naboth killed, and Ahab
takes the Vineyard; the LORD sends Elijah to bring Word of Judgment v. Ahab: “And you shall speak to him, saying,
‘Thus says the LORD, “Have you murdered, and also taken possession?”’ And you
shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “In the place where the dogs
licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs shall lick up your blood, even yours.”’”
1 Kings 21
Ahab’s
false prophets & plans to take Ramoth Gilead; Micaiah’s Warnings and then
Further Prophecies v. Ahab, Including Judgment unto Death; Ahab’s Death in
Battle; Jehoshaphat’s Reign (in Judah) and Ahaziah’s Brief Reign Under God’s
Judgment (in Israel). 1 Kings 22
