Gradual Process

Driving home: The superstructure of sanctification cannot be erected upon any other foundation than that of justification.

Sanctification is the superstructure built upon the foundation of justification, meaning sanctification cannot exist without justification.

our being renewed after the image of God. In terms of a practical, moral, ethical renewal, we're enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. And then we closed our consideration by looking at the relationship of sanctification to justification, which basically can be described under the concept of the relationship of foundation to superstructure. And the...

1:01 - 1:30 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents biblical evidence for sanctification as a gradual process through specific words (e.g., 'being sanctified,' 'having your fruit unto holiness,' 'perfecting…

John addressing believers as 'babes, young men, old men' illustrates that spiritual growth is a gradual process, not an instantaneous state.

This is why in 1 John you find John addressing some as babes, some as young men, some as old men. And growth, if it is anything, it is process. How we wish at times we could hurry it up. Some of us wish we could arrest it when it goes in certain directions.

13:10 - 13:30 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents biblical evidence for sanctification as a gradual process through specific words (e.g., 'being sanctified,' 'having your fruit unto holiness,' 'perfecting…

The physical growth (or expansion) from too many snack shop trips and a loosening belt serves as a humorous, relatable analogy for growth being a gradual process, even if undesirable.

Not up but out. But growth is a gradual process. Too many trips up to that snack shop will be a constant reminder over the next few weeks of your sin of intemperance. And every time you see your belt one notch back from what it was when you came here, you're reminded that growth is a gradual process.

13:30 - 13:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents biblical evidence for sanctification as a gradual process through specific words (e.g., 'being sanctified,' 'having your fruit unto holiness,' 'perfecting…

Jesus' washing of Peter's feet illustrates the distinction between the one-time, definitive cleansing of regeneration (the bath) and the ongoing, daily cleansing from defilement (washing feet) in progressive sanctification.

You remember when our Lord had girded himself with a towel and he had come to wash the disciples' feet. Peter said, Lord, this will never be. You're not going to wash my feet. And our Lord says, look, if I wash you not, you have no part nor lot with me.

14:33 - 14:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Be wary of any teaching or experience that claims to go beyond the inner conflict described by Paul, David, and Peter.

This analogy distinguishes between reigning sin (enemy occupying the capital) and remaining sin (defeated host harassing garrisons), clarifying that while sin's dominion is broken, its presence remains a struggle.

And there is a world of difference between reigning sin and remaining sin, between the child of the devil complacent in his sin and the child of God in conflict with his corruptions. As one has said, it's quite one thing for the enemy to occupy the capital. It's another for his defeated host to harass the garrisons of the kingdom. Try to picture it this way.

28:29 - 29:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Be wary of any teaching or experience that claims to go beyond the inner conflict described by Paul, David, and Peter.

A detailed military analogy describes initial conquest (sanctification begun) where the enemy headquarters are captured and supply lines cut, followed by 'mopping-up operations' (progressive sanctification) to flush out remaining enemy soldiers, illustrating the ongoing struggle against remaining sin after definitive victory.

The ships offshore have been pounding the shore of an enemy territory for days. They've done the softening upward. The troops have landed. There's been intense conflict, hand-to-hand battle, routing out people from trenches and pillboxes and out of homes, until finally the headquarters of the enemy is captured.

29:00 - 29:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin clarifies that the goal is not mere external conformity or 'church circle' but nothing less than complete conformation to the image of God's dear Son, both inwardly and…

Jesus' comparison of Pharisees to whitewashed sepulchers illustrates that external, superficial holiness (church circle) is not the goal of sanctification, as it hides inner corruption.

He says you're like Baby Finkelstein's sepulcher. A whitewash and splashes it all over. As you go out for your morning constitutional, and the sun is rising and it strikes the side of that sepulcher with direct rays, it almost blinds your eyes, sun on new fall and snow on a clear day in the winter. It's whitewashed.

34:48 - 35:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin clarifies that the goal is not mere external conformity or 'church circle' but nothing less than complete conformation to the image of God's dear Son, both inwardly and…

The illustration of outwardly polished china with six-month-old dried leftovers inside further emphasizes that external appearance without internal purity is not true sanctification, but hypocrisy.

He says you're like somebody who'd invite you over to a meal and gets out the best china. And the wife is there and she takes her linen cloth and she polishes that china until as it's sitting there on the table, you come in through the front door and as you look into the dining room, you're almost blinded as the light shines off the rim of the cup and the plate and it's all beautiful. Then she says it's time to eat and you're ushered into the table and you sit down and as you bow your head to pray, you almost regurgitate because there on the inside of the cup you see the collection of the left...

35:44 - 36:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I never said this was possible. I said it's the biblical goal.

A husband's desire to love his wife perfectly, knowing he will never fully attain it, illustrates that a goal can be real and necessary even if not fully achievable in this life, applying this to the goal of Christlikeness.

I'll prove to you that it's possible. And we do it in many areas of human life all the time. Do you have a husband here this morning? Who truly and seeks biblically to love your wife?

41:56 - 42:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Indeed, the more sanctified a person is, the more conformed, the more he is to the image of the Savior, the more he must recoil against every lack of conformity to the holiness of God.

The analogy of unshaven stubble being unnoticeable from a distance but glaringly obvious under bright lights illustrates that the closer one draws to God in conscious communion, the more acutely aware they become of their remaining sin.

will blush and groan over things that at the initial stages of his Christian life he never would have even recognized as sin. Standing back out of the compass of these lights this morning, I could have come here unshaven. It wouldn't be very obvious. But if I got up as close as possible and looked full into those lights, the nubs would show.

48:03 - 48:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a deep sense of utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification, rather than relying on your own resolve.

Quoting a hymn about unexpected spiritual renewal illustrates the mysterious and sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification, often transcending the believer's conscious faith or surrender.

We will avoid the tragedy of so much deeper life teaching that the Spirit's work goes no further than our standing or our faith and surrender. If you want to see some of the terrible teaching that's abroad in our day and in the past, you get Warfield's book, Perfectionism, and it's a great book. And read the quotes from Trumbull and some of the other deeper life leaders where it's close to blasphemy, where they say in this, the whole justification is checked until the believer yeses for the next step. Oh, blessed be God, that when God took us in hand powerfully, when we were passing dead in us...

53:23 - 54:40 Read in full sermon