Progressive Sanctification, Part 1: Living is Christ & Dying is Gain | Romans 8:12-13 | Mark Griffin

Well, I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. Our passage today will be Romans chapter eight verses twelve and thirteen. And as you're turning there, And today we're gonna be talking about sanctification, progressive sanctification. And it's not a word or a doctrine or a concept that is used often nowadays, and it's devoid And in in our preaching often is devoid of it in the church in America.

Now here in America and in the West, we like to talk about forgiveness and grace and mercy and eternal life and peace with Christ as we should because these are true, these are great, and these are glorious realities for the Christian. But the idea of progressive sanctification becoming holy, daily turning from our sin is sadly absent from our conversations, from our churches and from our pulpits. And because of this, this good and necessary and life giving doctrine is often misunderstood, misapplied or even rejected by many. And this lack of teaching and believing and living out this sanctification in the Christian life has resulted in powerlessness in our churches today. Now, one of the blessings of the church in the community is that the church will have a preservative effect on the people, in the culture, in the society around it.

The the saltiness of the church will preserve those around it. And when that doesn't happen, we have to ask ourselves, why? And today, it isn't so much the rise of evil and wickedness around us that is causing this powerlessness. It is true that we have seen an increase in that, but mainly the dilution of the gospel, the attempts to rehabilitate the offense of the cross, the desire to be seeker sensitive or to make the gospel more relevant to the twenty first century audience today has led to an inability and a refusal to call Christians to personal holiness. And I submit to you, it is not mainly attacks from the outside, but the lack of faithfulness on the inside of our churches that are causing the weak and watered down Christianity in America.

Additionally, it is causing discouraged and defeated and apathetic individual Christians trying to live out the so called American dream. And so if we do not understand what the Bible says about our sanctification, our transformation more into the image of Christ, we will never fully experience the presence of God in our lives. We will never fully experience the power of the Holy Spirit. So sanctification is vital to the Christian walk. And today, I submit to you a definition that I will be using for sanctification.

Sanctification is the progressive supernatural transformation of a believer into the image of Christ. And this is shown through good works, obedience, faithfulness, and repentance. And all of this work is accomplished through God working in us. And so my aim today is that you will love this great doctrine of sanctification. And this is not the idea of checking the box of duties or fulfilling all the requirements and rules that we see in the Bible.

That's only self righteousness and self improvement and legalism. That's not sanctification. My goal today, my prayer is that the holy spirit will awaken in each of your souls a love for becoming holy, a love for becoming more like Christ so that you can know him and delight in him and be satisfied him to greater and greater degrees. And that only comes through our progressive sanctification. So let's pray for our time now.

Father, Lord, quiet our hearts, I pray. May you soften our hearts. Till the soil of our hearts so that we might receive from you today. And Lord, I I pray that you work through these words that I preach. All of my intellect, my planning, my knowledge are as nothing compared to these great and glorious truths that we see in your word today.

And so, Lord, I pray that you take these paltry words of mine and magnify them by the power of your spirit into the hearts of everyone who hears. Lord, that you will do a transformation work in the hearts of your people today. Lord, that you will bring wayward sinners back to you. That you will bring apathetic believers. That you ignite a passion in their lives and in their hearts to know you more.

To be more like Christ. And for all of us Lord, that we will come away changed. In Jesus' name. Amen. I have divided this message to help us into two points, just two.

The nature of sanctification and the goal of sanctification. And to be completely honest, I had a couple more points. So I had to divide this message into two parts because pastor Daniel Benda said I cannot preach for two hours today. So God willing in the future, we'll be able to finish up with the fight for sanctification, but we trust that what the Lord has for us today will be sufficient for his good purposes. Amen?

Amen. Romans chapter eight verse number twelve and thirteen. So then brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. 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.

The first thing we have to see in these verses is that sanctification is a necessary part of the Christian life. In other words, the Bible does not have a category for Christians who are not being sanctified. There are only two categories in the Bible. Right? Flesh and spirit.

Either you're dead to your sins or you are alive to Christ. In other words, you're either a believer or you are an unbeliever. To help us today, I I encourage you. Hold hold your spot into Romans chapter eight and turn with me briefly to Galatians chapter five because we need to see how Paul lays this out practically. How he describes an unbeliever and a believer.

The works of the flesh and the works of the spirit. So Galatians chapter five, familiar passage, at least the second half of this passage. But Galatians five starting at number, verse number 16. Paul says, but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. Virtually, every sin that you can imagine.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the with its passions and desires. Either you are unsaved, unredeemed, living in sin, living in the flesh or you are justified by faith alone. You believe in Jesus Christ as your lord and savior.

Paul says in Romans four, if you live according to the flesh, you will die. What does he mean by die here? Well, we know that it doesn't mean physical death because we know everybody dies. What Paul is saying here, if you live by the flesh, you will spiritually die. You will taste spiritual death, judgment, condemnation, separation from God forever.

This is not what happens to a Christian. Christians, he says, if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live spiritual life, eternal life forever with Christ. Paul is describing a growing hatred of sin in the life of a Christian. A pattern of killing sin in our lives and a habitual more and more dependence on the Holy Spirit to live a victorious life through Jesus Christ. Now, some will misinterpret this passage and you may have heard this.

They will say, look. Look at these verses. Paul is saying, you can lose your salvation. You don't have eternal security. There is no assurance for you.

Your salvation is based on your actions. See what he says here, you can go from living in the flesh where you will die to living in the spirit where you will live. So every time professing Christian, you say you're a Christian but every time you mess up, every time you fall, you better question whether God still loves you. You better question whether you still have salvation. That is not what Paul is saying here at all.

It's important when we come across passages like this that people will twist and misuse, we have to read these passages in the broader context of what Paul is saying. The broader context here is Romans chapter eight. So to help us to solidify us on solid ground, let's just go a couple verses later to see what Paul really means by verses twelve and thirteen. So let's go to verses twenty nine and thirty of Romans chapter eight. Two of the greatest verses in the entire bible, in my opinion.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That's sanctification right there. 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. Unbreakable redemptive chain. It cannot fail. Right? So look at this.

Look at this. He's saying, if you've been predestined, you've been called. Nobody is lost. Those whom he called, he also justified. Nobody is lost from that group.

Those whom he justified, he also glorified. Not a single soul is lost. Brother, sister, if you have been justified by faith alone in Christ alone, then Paul is saying here, you will be glorified. You have eternal security. You have assurance that is rooted in the cross of Jesus Christ.

So never doubt. Never doubt that. He's but Paul, we have to remember here, Paul is addressing this letter to the church in Rome. So what does he mean when he says church in Rome, if you live by the flesh, you're going to die. What he means is, and he understands, is that not everyone in the church is truly part of the church.

Not everyone who attends church is truly a Christian. If you live according to the flesh, in other words, you're not a Christian. So he's warning the church in Rome. He's warning his listeners in Rome. He's saying, look into your heart.

Do some introspection. Are you really a follower of Jesus Christ? Paul warns the churches in his letter. And I warn you today, I say Maranatha Bible Church as a whole, I warn you today. If you live according to the flesh, you will die.

So ask yourself ask yourself what are what are your affection affections truly? Honestly, honestly, look inside of your heart. What are my desires? Where's my attention? Do I really care about the things of the Lord?

Or am I or am I so consumed with loving this world, loving the things of this world and everything the world has to offer me that I couldn't care less about God. I couldn't care less about Jesus Christ. Ask yourself. Have I really given my life to God? Have I really submitted to Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior?

Paul is saying in these verses, true Christians will no longer live according to the desires of the flesh. They instead will kill those desires. In other words, sanctification is the evidence of justification. Putting to death by the spirit, the sins and the works of the flesh show that you will live forever. It confirms your new life in Christ.

And so, the more you pursue Christ, the more you go after Christ, the more your affections will change. The more, in fact, that you will be like him. Turn the page just backwards to Romans chapter six to see this. Romans six nineteen will start at the second half of the verse. Four, Paul says, just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now What do you mean now?

Now that you are a believer, now that you are a Christian, present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. In other words, he's saying, your life is now changed, believer. You are different. So act like you are different. Act according to the spirit that is now at work inside of you.

Let's continue. Verse 20. 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 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. So it's important as we see verses like this, as we as we deal with concepts like this that we get the order right. Salvation is the fruit of our our sanctification is the fruit of our justification. If we get this order mixed up, it will lead to all kinds of false doctrines, deceptions, and misunderstanding. So in other words, salvation is a tree.

It's an oak. Your justification is the root of that tree. What Christ did for you is the root. It's a free gift. You don't earn it.

You can't earn it. You believe by faith and repent of your sin. That's the root of this tree. But this tree grows in sanctification. Your good works, your holiness, your obedience is the fruit of that tree.

Now, this was exactly the issue that James was addressing in his epistle. Professing Christians say, I'm a believer in Christ but they never exhibited good works. They never exhibited any outward fruit. So let's turn to James chapter two, because some people will actually use James chapter two and say, ah, ah, Protestant, evangelical, there's a contradiction in your Bible here because Paul says this, justification by faith alone. But James, he's saying no no no no.

You need to have good works in order to be justified. So either there's a contradiction in your bible can't be trusted or it's not justification by faith alone. So it's imperative that we understand this. And again, we have to look in the context of what James is saying. What problem is he addressing?

He is addressing the problem that we see today. Christians, I'm a Christian but I live like the world. I am a Christian but I have no good works. I have no faithfulness to Christ. James chapter two verse number 14.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Here's what James is saying, and here's what we need to believe and understand.

Justification is by faith alone. But true, saving faith is never alone. True, saving faith will always be accompanied by transforming fruit in the life of a believer. Good works, obedience to Christ, they don't make you a Christian but they prove that you are one. Last verse on last verse on this, Ephesians two chapter two verses eight through 10.

Now, we looked at this last week. It is a glorious passage about justification by faith alone. But there's another verse in this in this section here. Ephesians chapter two verses eight through 10. For by grace, you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. You're justified. And then we move on. For, verse 10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Good works only comes right here after the new creation in Christ Jesus, Jesus, but they are inseparable. Now, some people will fall off on the other side of the horse when we're talking about sanctification. And they will say, no, no, no. You don't actually need to be sanctified. That's that's works based salvation.

You don't earn your salvation that way. So so it's all about grace. May that not be anyone in this room today. But if it is, if it is, pay attention. Because if you believe this, you distort that great wonderful truth of the eternal security of once saved always saved.

Because these people say, I accepted Jesus. I said the sinner's prayer when I was eight years old. I went to church. I was baptized. And it's all grace, so I don't need to do anything anymore.

I don't have to obey these rules anymore. It's all grace. God's grace is infinite. Well, good. That means he can cover it covers an infinite an infinite amount of sin.

That's not what the Bible says. Dietrich Bonhoeffer describe this mentality, this ideology as cheap grace. It's forgiveness without repentance. Baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession.

Grace without discipleship. Grace without the cross. Grace indeed without Jesus Christ. And the lukewarmness in our churches today, I believe are the results of this ideology. This easy believism, if you will.

And it's not just in the church but also the lack of vibrancy and intimacy and effectiveness in our personal walk with the Lord is the result of not truly believing that we have to be sanctified. Now people are quick to cry legalism. Legalism. Every time you wanna say something about holiness or sanctification or dying to sin or putting to death the deeds of the body, they are quick to shout legalism. But oftentimes, these are the same people who are slow to prayer and slow to spiritual disciplines, even slow to love the Lord.

They say, I can keep on sinning. My desires don't need to change because I'm free. I'll tell you, you are in more bondage than you ever were. No matter what the title is, you wanna give it cheap grace, easy believeism, carnal Christianity. What you are saying is that you want Jesus as your savior but not Jesus as your Lord.

To pay attention, when we do baptisms, what are the questions that pastor Daniel asks? One of them is, do you not only believe that Jesus is your savior but also that he is your Lord? Because it is imperative. It is essential, it is a it is vital that we submit our lives to Jesus Christ as our king and our master. And I love the Bible.

In Romans chapter six, I love how the Bible anticipates all of the false doctrines that will come one day. All of the misguided attempts to justify ourselves that will come one day. Look at Romans chapter six again. This is not a new concept, but is a concept that we need to be on guard against in our lives. Romans chapter six verse one.

Paul addresses this head on. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. Or as some translated some translations put it, God forbid.

How can we who died to sin still live in it? Scroll down to verse 15. He says it again. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?

By no means. So that brings up the question then, what is the goal of our sanctification? What is the purpose? What is the reason for this? And as we grow in sanctification, our desire is that we become more like Christ.

Christ likeness is our goal. Our desires. We want our desires to be like his. We want our our affections to be like his. We wanna love the things that he loves and hate the things that he hates.

And as we grow in more Christ likeness, we will experience deeper and richer communion with God. We will know more and to greater degrees his comfort, his peace and his joy as we reject the world and embrace Christ. And folks, this is not about self improvement. The Bible is not a self help book. It's not about your own self righteousness in gaining approval before God and before man.

That is the path of legalism. That is the path of moralism and it will kill you. Sanctification, your sanctification is about your transformation. Turn with me to second Corinthians chapter three verse number 18. Second Corinthians three verse number 18.

Paul says, and we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. Transformation. Yes. Our our outward actions are being changed and transformed.

But this is not mainly about behavior modification because our inner thoughts, our feelings, our delights are what are truly being transformed and they will express. Their overflow into our outward actions. And look what the apostle says here. You are being transformed. So this is important to remember.

It is a progression. It doesn't happen right away. It is a life long journey. Step by step we take day by day of faithfulness to the Lord. And yes, of course, we will make mistakes.

You will stumble. You will fall. You will sin because sin is ever present while we are in this mortal body. We are no longer enslaved to sin but sin still is a presence in our body that we have to kill every single day. Look at this again in Romans chapter 12.

Romans chapter 12 verses one and two. We heard this on Friday from our brother Christian and it dovetails nicely into what we say today. Marks of a true Christian, I think many bibles have in there. Now obviously, that title is not inspired but it does help us understand what is being said here. I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Here's the problem with cheap grace. Here's the problem with saying you don't have to be sanctified. God did not save you so that you could spend the rest of your life pursuing the same things as unbelievers. Jesus Christ did not take the penalty for your sin on that cross so that you could forfeit months and years and even decades playing video games.

Or the best part that all of your time and energy hoarding more and more money, Seeking after success or fame or popularity. That's not why Christ died for you. You have been saved brother. You have been saved sister. So you don't have to spend your life sitting in your car watching porn.

Or so that you don't have to obsess over the world's definition of beauty and body image, and things that make you look good or feel good. The Holy Spirit. Listen to me. The Holy Spirit resides in you so that you don't waste your life following these things. Now to sum it up, what is the goal of our sanctification?

And to do that, I'd like to look at two examples, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament to really put it in different terms to help us understand this. Psalm sixteen eleven, if you'll turn there with me. This is David singing to the Lord. The goal of our sanctification, that's what we're looking at here. The goal of our sanctification.

Psalm sixteen eleven. David says, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence, there is fullness of joy And at your right hand, there are pleasures forever more. To be sanctified as a Christian means that your definition of pleasure changes. Your definition of joy changes.

You can say that, look, all the pleasures of this world, I don't I don't care about them because I wanna be in the presence of God because that's where true pleasure is forever. You can say, look at these trivialities in the world. That's not happiness. That's not joy. Where is joy found?

The fullness of joy is with God. To put it another way, c s Lewis once compared it to many people would rather be sitting in a back alley filled with mud and muck and filth, playing with mud pies in the alley rather than going and enjoying a vacation at the beach. May this not be anyone in this room. And let's look at our second definition or a second example in the new testament. Paul, Philippians one twenty one.

What's the goal of our sanctification? Yes. We have definitions of new pleasures. We have definitions new definitions of joy. And Paul, Philippians one twenty one.

For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's the goal of sanctification. That's the goal of us as Christians, our entire life with Christ that we can look at everything. We can look at the good things of this world, our family, our friends, the beauty in creation. We can look at this all and said, yes.

Good. I wanna die so I can be with Christ. If I die, I know that is so much better for me. How can Paul say that? How can he say that?

Because his affections have been changed. His desires have been changed. He is a new creation. And one of the things here that I noticed as I was preparing, Paul isn't afraid to die. He's not afraid to die.

And that's one of the joys of our sanctification in church. Nobody here I don't want you to be afraid of dying when you're on your sick bed, when you're struggling to breathe your last breath. I don't want any of you to wonder or to doubt or to be afraid of dying. And this doesn't come from this hopeless fatalism that all people are gonna die. There's nothing I can do about it anyway.

I'm not afraid. It just happens. No. That's not what I'm talking about. And it's also I'm not talking about false assurance either.

I'm not afraid to die because I know I'm going to heaven because I was baptized as a baby. Or I know I'm going to heaven to be with Christ because my good works outweigh my bad works. Or or my parents were Christians. That is not the kind of fearlessness that Paul is describing here. I don't want you to be afraid of dying because you are so in love with Jesus Christ.

You are so enraptured with the glory of God that you long to see him face to face. You long to be with him. You long to put away this world where sin is constantly trying to drag you back into the dirt, trying constantly to kill your desires and your joy in him. You can say, as you grow in your sanctification more and more, you can say for to me to live is Christ. But to die, that's even better.

This only comes this kind of desire in your heart, this kind of, yearning to be with Christ will only come through the lifelong transformation as the result of your sanctification. Now make no mistake. Paul says, this sanctification, it's a battle. It is a fight, and it is a fight that you will have to wage every single day of your life. If by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

And, yes, we are to mortify the flesh. We are to kill the flesh. But in our daily struggles for sanctification, in our daily fight for sanctification, I don't want you to focus so much on the indwelling sin in your life. And I want you to focus so much on how you can mortify the flesh. No.

What I want you to do is focus on how you can enliven the spirit inside of you because it is the spirit of Christ inside of you that enables you to win this fight. A little bit each time, but it's the Holy Spirit that empowers you to live a sanctified life. We do not do this alone. We do not fight alone. Indeed, we cannot.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit, yes, of course. We can try and we will meet with temporary success, following some rules, not doing this, not doing that. Yeah. We can do that out of our own power and our own strength, But where does that leave us? Leaves us with self righteousness.

I did this. What's wrong with you? It leads us to defeat when we fail. I failed again. I messed up again.

There is no hope for me. Discouragement, frustration again and again and again. That is the only thing that will happen when you try to live a sanctified life according to your own strength and your own power. No. That's not what Paul is saying here.

If by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body. It's only through the Holy Spirit that your focus will be changed. One Puritan writer called it the explosive power of a new affection. Right? The Holy Spirit brings in us new affections, new delight that pushes out, that expels our old dead, diseased desires.

And the new affections that we are talking about here, the new satisfactions, the new pleasures and joy that we are talking about here starts the cross. So remember the cross as you are fighting for your sanctification. Meditate on the cross. Cling to Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on that cross for you. Because when you look at the cross, looking at this cross will kill your pride because you understand it's not about me.

It's about Christ. I cannot do this. Christ did this. When you look at the cross, it will kill the desires of your flesh. Christ died for me.

He died because I indulged in those desires. He took the penalty because I love those desires. So how can I keep on living in them when Christ died for me because of them? And looking at the cross will awaken greater and deeper and authentic affections and love for Jesus Christ. You, brother, sister, you, Christian, you have been given a new nature.

Your old nature is nailed to the cross. So as we come to communion today, we have to think about this. We have to think about Christ's sufficient work on the cross for you and for me. And during this time of communion, it's a time of reflection. It is a time of confession in examining your heart.

Examine your heart today. Where are you on this road to sanctification? Do you Are you trying to do it out of your own strength? Are you not even trying at all? Or are you depending on the Lord to strengthen you?

And as you look inside of your heart, you have to ask yourself, Christian, do you need to put to death something in your heart today? Do you need to put to death legalism or your own morality or your own self righteousness, your own self reliance in your heart today? Do you need to put to death the liberty in which you sin? The carnality in which you indulge the worldly desires that still are front and center in your mind, in your heart? Do you need to put those to death?

Or do you need to put to death your apathy and your drifting and you're neglecting this great salvation? Do you need to put those things to death? If you do, then kill them by the spirit, by the power of the cross. Kill them today. And as we prepare for communion, I do wanna remind you that this is for the believer.

The Lord's table is for only those who trust in the Lord as their savior and their Lord Who believe who have been justified by faith alone through Christ alone. So if you are not a believer here today, we respectfully ask you to abstain. Just just to sit tight and just watch the people of God come forward and partake in this ordinance. And we tell you this not because we wanna be to be harsh with you. But if you do not know the Lord, if you cannot say in your heart that I believe in Jesus Christ, if you cannot say that, don't partake in this communion because we are looking out for you.

Because if you take this unworthily, you are taking judgment upon yourself. So don't do that. But at the same time, as as as the singers come and sing, as we meditate upon this cross, If you are an unbeliever today, I I I tell you the gospel and invite you to respond to the gospel today. Everything we've been talking about today is yours through Jesus Christ. You are a sinner.

You love the world. You hate God. Yes. Yes. You hate God.

And the wages of your sin and your rebellion is death. That's what you deserve. But Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the son of God, the word made flesh came, lived a perfect sinless life. He died on the cross in your place and he rose again on the third day so that you do not have to taste death at all. And what do you have to do?

What do you have to do to get that? Have faith. Have faith alone. Repent of your sins. Turn from your sins today and believe on Jesus Christ as your lord and savior.

And then, yes. Do that. Do that. You don't you don't need to say a special prayer about that. You don't need me to do that.

It doesn't come through me. Do that as we are singing. Do that in your heart and then come join us at the table. So the singers will come up and I encourage all of us to spend this time reflecting, confessing and thanking the Lord Jesus. We remember and proclaim his death until he comes.

And then pastor Daniel Benno will come and exhort us specifically on what this table means for the Christian. And then we will partake together. Father, we thank you. Lord, we are not worthy by ourselves to be called children of God. But it is only through the work and the person of Jesus Christ can we approach you with confidence, with boldness, with joy and call you our father.

And Lord, we delight in the fact, we rejoice in the fact that you don't just put up with us. You don't tolerate us when we fail, when we stumble. No. You love us. You love us, Lord, and we cling to that today.

May that be the fuel of our sanctification. May that be the fuel that burns as we seek to be more like Christ, as we trade in our old desires for new glorious eternal ones. Help us lord in that. Lord, help us as we think about the communion. As we think about the cross, bring to the forefront of our hearts the sins that we've been holding on to.

Lord, bring to the forefront of our hearts anything that is distracting us or separating us from deep abiding communion with you. And Lord, by your spirit, may we put those things to death. We thank you Lord. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.

Church as the praise team comes, I invite you to stand or to sit as you are able or comfortable as you need to and worship the Lord. You know, I was thinking with a sermon like this, I am sure that there are people hearing this sermon. Says you don't know. Man, you don't know how many times I've tried and I failed this sin. This besetting sin just won't go away.

I keep on going back to it. I keep on falling over and over again. And Satan will tell us all you're never going to do it. You're never gonna be sanctified. You will never know victory in Christ so just give up.

I wanna end this on an encouraging note. A word of encouragement for you all. Sanctification is not only the fruit of our salvation, it is a command from the Lord. Be holy for I am holy. Strive for holiness without which you will not see the Lord.

But the encouragement is everything the Lord commands, he empowers believers to do. Ezekiel two. Let me just leave you with this. Ezekiel two verse one. And he said to me, Ezekiel, son of man, stand on your feet.

That's the command. Stand on your feet and I will speak with you. And as he spoke to me, look at this, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet. May that be your encouragement. May that be your strength as you go forth from this place.

Everything the Lord commands, he will by his mercy, by his grace empower you to do. Father, we thank you. Lord, you are good and you do good. We love you. Lord, we love you.

Thank you for the cross. Thank you for this great salvation that you've given to us freely. May we not neglect it, but may we work it out with fear and trembling knowing that it is you who works and wills within us to do your good pleasure. And we thank you for that, Lord. Strengthen us in the Lord throughout our week till we see each other again.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Now unto him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you what? To present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy be all glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time now and forever. In Jesus name, amen.

Have a great Sunday, church.