Importance and Definition

Introduction to the Doctrine of Sanctification

0:04 The biblical doctrine of sanctification. Can you imagine how you might feel if someone planted you at the foot of Mount Everest and handed you a pick and shovel and then commissioned you in one week's time to remove that mountain to another place? That's a little bit of what one feels when trying to grapple with this great sweeping doctrine of scripture in five one-hour messages. So at best, these studies will be in some points arbitrarily selective, certain things must be excluded and of course they will of necessity be merely suggestive rather than fully exhausted.

0:47 I will be quoting from several standard and very helpful works on the subject of sanctification trusting that your appetites will be whetted, that your pocketbooks will be opened and that the bookstall will be cleared of the volumes that I mention for all of you who are... really in earnest about studying this doctrine in greater depth.

1:11 Yes

Linguistic and Methodological Preliminaries

1:18 They've got one going out there, I guess, Jim. As we come to the subject there are just several preliminary remarks I would just like to make. One is a linguistic consideration. The words in our English Bible translatedHoly, Holiness, Sanctified, Saint and Sanctification have a Common Hebrew and Greek root or Common Hebrew and Greek roots and one is warranted in using them interchangeably, though there may be a fine technical difference occasionally for all practical purposes to speak of gospel holiness and biblical sanctification is to talk of one and the same thing.

2:00 So I want that linguistic consideration to be kept before us, for I will be using the terms interchangeably, holiness, sanctification, gospel holiness, biblical sanctification. Then just a word about the method of our approach to this subject. The pattern in which the epistles come to us is the pattern in which I will attempt to handle this subject. You remember, I'm sure, that the book of Ephesians breaks down into two very marked divisions.

2:29 The first three chapters taking us into the heights of lofty biblical concepts of doctrinal truth, and then chapters four through six bringing us down to the nitty-gritty of where we live. Husbands, wives, children, servants, masters, etc. You find this same pattern in the book of Colossians, chapters one and two dealing with the doctrinal concepts, chapters three and four with the practical application and the detailed implications of that doctrine. And this is the pattern of scripture because right walking, in great measure, is based upon right understanding.

3:10 The scripture tells us that we must... We must be before we can do.

3:16 And so I want to follow that biblical pattern, and the first two studies on this doctrine will be heavy in the area of the objective and the doctrinal, and the last three will be more subjective and practical. So much then for this general introduction, this linguistic consideration, the method of our approach. Now as we come to the study to deal with it in a formal way, the first thing I want to do this morning, is to declare the importance of this biblical doctrine. Secondly, I want to define the doctrine, and thirdly, describe its relationship to the doctrine of justification.

The Importance of Sanctification: Central in God's Saving Purpose

3:57 First of all then, a declaration of the importance of the doctrine of sanctification. And there are three things under this heading that I would set before you. First of all, that sanctification is central in the saving purpose of God. The salvation of sinful men, and thereby your salvation and mine, if we are children of God, is not something that just happens.

4:23 The salvation which comes to us is no afterthought in the mind of God. Any blessing of saving mercy conferred upon sinful men in time is conferred upon them because of what God purposed for them in eternity. Now as...

4:46 As God conceived His purposes of mercy, what did that purpose embrace? Ephesians 1, verses 3 and 4 is a very clear statement in answer to that question. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, holy, and without blemish before Him. We were chosen not because God saw we would be holy,

5:28 and I'm sure this was underlined very clearly for you yesterday afternoon, but we were chosen that we might be holy and without blemish before Him. In the light of this clear statement of the Apostle, it is right to assert that this matter of our holiness and sanctification is as central to the saving purpose of God as to its end or goal, as union with Christ is to the means or manner in which the salvation comes to us. We were chosen in union with Christ. All of God's saving purposes come by means of union with Christ,

6:12 and the goal of that salvation which union with Christ produces is that... that all who partake of it should be holy and without blemish.

6:24 And so this doctrine is important because when we come to the saving purpose of God in terms of His eternal counsels, holiness and sanctification stands central. You have the same thought expressed in different terminology in Romans chapter 8, verses 28 and 29. And we know that all things work together, for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow, that is, those whom He regarded with distinguishing love and affection and purpose, for this is the meaning of the word foreknow,

7:06 He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, all upon whom He set His love in this distinguishing, purposeful manner, He did so with reference to conforming them to the very likeness of His own dear Son. So then, central to the saving purpose of God is this conformation of the believer into the likeness of Jesus Christ, which brings us directly into the compass of the doctrine of sanctification. So we are warranted in saying that nothing less than the restoration of the image of God, in sinful man,

7:50 is the goal which God had in mind when in eternity He planned and purposed the salvation of a people. Consider with me in the second place that sanctification is not only central in the saving purpose of God, but it is indispensable in the saving activity of God. The saving activity of God can be viewed, as Professor Murray so conveniently views it, in his little book, Redemption Accomplished and Redemption Applied. That is, there is the activity of God in the procurement of salvation, in the death and resurrection of His Son.

The Importance of Sanctification: Indispensable in God's Saving Activity

8:33 And then there is the activity of God in the powerful application of that salvation by the effectual call that He gives and through the Holy Spirit. Now, in both areas, whether we think of the saving activity, the activity of God in redemption accomplished in the death of Christ, or the saving activity of God in redemption applied by the effectual call of the Father, sanctification stands as an indispensable element of this saving activity of our God. Redemption accomplished. What place does sanctification of the people of God hold in the death of Christ?

9:16 Well, texts like Titus 2.14, state that this was the very end which the Savior had in mind when He died to purchase the people. I read now from Titus 2 and verse 14, who gave Himself for us,

9:35 here's a word of purpose, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works. He gave Himself for us to purify us. And so I say sanctification is indispensable in the saving activity of God when we think of redemption accomplished. You have the same thought set out in Ephesians 5, beginning with verse 25, where the Apostle says, Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it.

10:12 Why? That He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present the church to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that we should be holy and without blemish. And you have the same thought again expressed in different words in 1 Peter 2, and in verse 24, where the Apostle says, He gave Himself for us, I'm sorry, who His own self bare our sins in His body upon the tree, that we having died unto sin, might live unto righteousness.

10:55 Now there are other texts which clearly state that one of the goals of redemption accomplished was the satisfaction of divine justice, that there might be a legal basis upon which God could deal with us in mercy and in favor. But these texts bring in another whole aspect, that the goal of Christ's death was nothing less than the sanctifying of all in whose hearts and minds, that death takes effect and is applied by the Spirit. Well, this is also true in redemption applied. And we see this in the passage like 1 Peter 1, 2, where we read,

11:38 We are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in or unto sanctification of the Spirit and obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. When the purpose of election, and divine foreknowledge come to bear upon any given sinner, they do so in the context of the sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit. He left, according to the foreknowledge of God, unto or in sanctification of the Spirit and unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. So there is no application of what Christ did upon the cross to any sinner,

12:23 but in a context, that brings him into the sanctifying realm of the work of the Spirit of God. You find this in 2 Thessalonians 2, 13. The Apostle says in this text that is often used as a clear proof text of the doctrine of election, We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation. And then he tells us two things about that salvation.

12:54 In sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whenever that salvation touches a life, it is in terms of a reception of the truth, which is always joined to the sanctifying operation of the Holy Spirit. So if there is no powerful sanctifying influence of the Spirit, there has been no true belief of the truth, there is no ground for a person to claim he is elect.

13:25 2 Timothy 1, 9, The Apostle says, Who hath saved us and called us with the very effectual call of God, by which he lays hold of sinners and translates them out of the kingdom of darkness and puts them in the kingdom of his dear Son, has this matter of holiness and sanctification so central and pivotal that he calls that calling not a powerful calling, but a holy calling. He hath saved us with a holy calling. I submit that this is an important doctrine,

The Importance of Sanctification: Essential to the People of God

14:07 not only because sanctification is central in the saving purpose of God, but because sanctification is indispensable in the saving activity of God. And then thirdly, sanctification is essential to the people of God. First of all, for their safety. Secondly, for their comfort.

14:31 And thirdly, for their usefulness. Now anything that is essential to a man's spiritual safety, his spiritual comfort, and his spiritual usefulness is a matter that should engage his most careful attention in the study of Scripture. And so I submit that sanctification is essential to the people of God, first of all, for their safety. Hebrews 12 and verse 14, Follow after peace with all men, and the holiness, or the sanctification, without which no man shall see the Lord.

15:10 Without which no man shall see the Lord. In other words, without the sanctifying work of the Spirit, no one will ever enjoy what the old writers called the beatific vision. They shall not look upon him with delight as the culmination of all the redemptive work of God, in that we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. There shall only be the sight of him in peril and in dread, trying for the rocks and the hills to fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

15:49 A healthy body isn't necessary to get to heaven. A settled eschatology is not necessary to get us to heaven. And even a clearly defined theology is not necessary to get us to heaven. And so I submit that sanctification is essential to the people of God, and the holiness, or the sanctification, and I hope all of us have healthy bodies and are trying to get settled in our eschatology and are certainly seeking to be defined in our theology.

16:11 But I submit none of these things is necessary to get to heaven. There'll be people getting to heaven whose eschatology they'll find out was all mixed up, and I'll probably be one of them. And there'll be others who go with broken, wracked bodies.

16:28 There are others who will go with all kinds of warped ideas about fine theological points, but there's no one who'll make it without holiness. Follow after holiness without which the Lord. Now one of the great works on this doctrine of sanctification from which I'll be quoting quite profusely and which are stacked up halfway to the ceiling on the back table is Volume 3 of John Owen on the work of the Holy Spirit. And don't let people scare you into saying, well, Owen's so ponderous and difficult nobody can read him.

17:02 Well, that's true in some places, but in this book all you need is a heart hungering after holiness and an appreciation for truth. And about a seventh grade education, and you'll do fine wading through Volume 3. Listen to what Owen says on this very subject of sanctification being necessary for the safety of the people of God.

17:26 It is evident how vain and fond the thing it is for any persons continuing in an unholy condition to imagine that they have any interest in Christ or that they shall have any benefit by him. This is the great deceit whereby Satan, the enemy of the common salvation, hath ruined the generality of mankind who profess the Christian religion. Now remember, this is not some young upstart who's just an angry young man who's got his pen in his hand and dashing off words like a machine gun spits out bullets. This is probably the greatest theologian of the Puritan era, a man who had studiously studied the hearts of men and the lives of men.

18:08 He wasn't an ivory tower star. Like most of the great Puritans and the Reformers, he was primarily a preacher. And what he wrote was the outgrowth of his dealings with men on a pastoral level. And as a man who lived in a so-called Christian nation, Owen says the greatest deceit wherewith the devil has deceived the souls of men who are under the canopy of Christian truth and the Christian church is that it's possible to have benefits from Christ without a holy life.

18:42 That's what he said. The gospel openly declares a way of life and salvation by Jesus Christ. This is admitted by all who are called Christians that they will allow of no other way for the same end unto completion with it. For I speak not of them who living in open sins make no profession of salvation, but he goes on to say I speak of those who profess to be saved by the one Savior and by the work of his...

19:12 but who are strangers to God. He goes on to say the one principle end of what Jesus does in all of his offices as a prophet, priest, and king is to make us holy. And if these things are not worked enough, we can have no eternal benefit by anything that Christ has done or continues to do as the mediator of the church.

19:41 I submit to you, dear friends, as we consider this doctrine, we're dealing with that which is to say that we are not absolutely essential to your own personal safety. As Gurnall says, quoted in that great book of Bishop Ryle's holiness, say not that thou art born of God and hast royal blood in thy vein unless thou can show thy pedigree by daring to be holy. And I know I'm speaking to teenagers this morning. You can be tempted to just turn all this off as all that just preaches gibberish.

20:17 Listen to me. You fellows and girls, if you're strangers to holiness this morning, the wrath of God hangs over your head as surely as this roof can be over you. I speak to every man, every woman in this building this morning. Sanctification is essential for your safety, but not only for your safety, for your comfort.

20:38 It's one thing to be in a state of grace. It's quite another thing to have a sure and infallible assurance that I am in a state of grace. It's quite another thing to have a sure and infallible assurance that I am in a state of grace. Whereas one will make me safe, the other will make me blessed in my state of safety.

20:55 And as the old confession so clearly states, one of the means by which this deep and infallible assurance is given to the people of God is the evidence of those graces in them which always attend the application of the gospel with power. So John says in 1 John 2, 3, and 4, Hereby do we know that we know him. If we keep his word, his commandments, and one of those central commandments is be ye holy for I, the Lord your God. And so it's necessary then for our comfort.

21:30 And unless we are diligently pursuing a course of sanctification, we are not pursuing that course which will give us a most comfortable journey on our way to the celestial city. And then thirdly, sanctification is essential to the people of God, their safety, their comfort, and then their usefulness. The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 2, 14 and 15, Do all things without murmurings and disputing. Let the sanctifying process reach into those areas where naturally you would chafe and you would show your discontent by grumbling and murmuring.

22:10 What's the end in view? That ye may be blameless and harmless to God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom ye are not. Ye shine as lights in the world. The Apostle says, Oh, let the sanctifying process go down into those deep areas where you do your murmuring and complaining because this is essential to your usefulness.

22:36 That ye may be blameless and harmless in the context of a crooked and perverse generation. The intensity of our light as believers is the degree of our sanctification. The intensity of our light as believers

22:55 is the degree who can measure the powerful influence of one consistent light increasing and growing in practical godliness and sanctification.

23:12 In summary, as I come to a conclusion of this first point on the importance of the biblical doctrine of sanctification, perhaps the best thing I can do is to quote from Bishop Ryle the first page of his essay on sanctification where he says this is a subject of the utmost importance to our souls. If the Bible be true, it is certain that unless we be sanctified, we shall not be saved. There are three things, according to the Bible, each absolutely necessary to the salvation of every man and woman in Christendom. These three are justification, regeneration, and sanctification.

23:53 All three meet in every child of God. He is both born again, justified, and sanctified. He that lacks any one of these things is not a true Christian in the sight of God, and dying in that condition will not be found in heaven and glorified at the last day. So much then for the importance of the biblical doctrine of sanctification.

Defining Sanctification: Using the Westminster Standards

24:21 Central in the saving purpose of God, absolutely indispensable in the saving activity of God, absolutely essential to the people of God, safety, comfort, and usefulness. Now, the second thing I want to attempt to do this morning is to define the biblical doctrine of sanctification. Since this is such an important thing, then we must have some understanding of what it is that the Bible means when it says, follow after that holiness without which no man will see the Lord. And if our definition goes beyond what the Bible means, it will only lead to bondage.

25:00 If we stop, short of what the Bible means, it can only lead to deception. Now, I don't think there's anyone here who values his soul that wants either the curse of bondage or the curse of deception. And so definition is essential if we would steer clear of this pit on the one hand and these craggy rocks on the other. Now, it's at this point, as with so many others, that the old Westminster standards can be of great help to us.

25:30 Whenever you want to study a given biblical doctrine, let me suggest, start with the shorter catechism. Then move to the larger catechism and then to the confession. And I'll tell you why. The shorter catechism is like looking at a given object with a five-power telescope.

25:47 You see the general outlines and some of the details. Then you pick up a 15-power telescope, that's the larger catechism, and you see more details and more of the implications. And then when you move to the confession, that's like looking at it with a 25-power telescope. That's the larger catechism.

26:03 Now, generally speaking, it's easier if you start with the five-power. Then go to the 15 and the 25, you won't get lost in the details. If you start with the 25, you can just see so much that you say, I just can't weed all that out. Now, I want to show you how this works with the doctrine of sanctification.

26:19 I have two reasons. Not only to help you get a definition of sanctification, but to help you to know how to use the Westminster standards for your own edification. All right then, the question in the shorter catechism dealing with sanctification. The question is, what is sanctification?

26:37 And the answer given, sanctification is a work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. Now, can you catch the main threads of thought? Whatever sanctification is, it comes into the compass and the realm of the operations of grace. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace.

27:12 And we must keep that before us. If we think of justification as part of God's gracious design to provide a basis of accepting sinners as righteous in His sight through the merits of Christ, and then view sanctification as something that has exclusively to do with our effort and our striving, we've missed the teaching of Scripture. Whatever sanctification is, it operates within the realm of free grace. And when the old writers use free grace, they don't mean without money, they mean without restriction.

27:48 He displays His grace in terms of the disposition of His own sovereign and holy will. That's the first thought. It's a work of God in the realm of grace. Second thought, it involves the personal renewal of the individual, whereby we are renewed it has to do with something God is doing in me.

28:07 Third thought, is that this is a pervasive renewal. We are renewed in the whole man after the image of God. It's a renewal that has as its goal nothing short of complete conformity of the whole man to the image of God. So this immediately takes us out of Phariseeism, which only is concerned with externals, and mere legalism, which is concerned merely with activities, being in the right place, at the right time, saying the right words.

28:38 No, no. It's renewal in the whole man. The fourth concept is that it's an ethical and practical renewal. We are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness.

28:53 What then is sanctification? Whatever it is, it operates in the realm of grace. It has to do with the personal renewal of the individual in the whole man and in a very practical way. Now we move on to the larger catechism and we find the same question.

29:12 What is sanctification? But now we're looking at it not with the five-power telescope, but the fifteen-power telescope. More definition, more description, more detail. Sanctification is a work of God's grace whereby they whom God hath before the foundation of the world chosen to be holy are in time through the power of the Holy Spirit and the powerful operations of His Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them renewed in their whole man after the image of God.

29:45 Now you see, the second phrase of the shorter catechism comes about halfway in the paragraph. They've just expanded, enlarging more. Having the seeds of repentance unto life and all other saving graces put into their hearts and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened that they more and more die unto them die unto sin and rise into newness of life. Now what thoughts are added here?

30:13 Well, the first thought added is that sanctification comes only to the elect of God. Here they are showing that it not only operates in the realm of grace in a general sense, but as all the blessings of grace, they flow out of the fountainhead of God's election. He hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in Him and the fountainhead of all those blessings is He chose us in Him. That's the thought added here.

30:39 Then the second thought added is that this renewal is in a peculiar sense the work of the Holy Spirit through the powerful operation of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is preeminent in the work of sanctification. The third thought that is added here is that the sanctifying process is rooted in the virtue of death and resurrection. Notice, through the power and the powerful operation of His Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ so that in the whole sanctification process everything has its roots in the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection.

31:23 It's not as though we find acceptance with God in justification on the basis of the death of Christ. No, no. Every spiritual blessing, whether objected in justification or subjected in sanctification, is rooted in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not as though it is rooted in the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection.

31:41 We'll have more of that, God willing, in the unfolding of the doctrine. And then the fourth thought that's added here is that this process of sanctification begins with the crisis of repentance and faith. Having the seeds of repentance unto life and all other saving graces put into their hearts, that's regeneration, then these graces are stirred up, increased, and strengthened. So you have more detail added.

32:08 Then when you come to chapter 13 of the Confession, and in the interest of time I won't read it, you have more thoughts added. Let me just give them to you. That the Word and the Spirit are the agents in sanctification. That the lusts of the sinner are more and more weakened and mortified.

32:25 That the positive graces are more and more developed. That the result in holiness is indispensable. That sanctification is imperfect in this life, and because it's imperfect, there'll be constant, and though we may have defeats,

32:41 and then those thoughts are added. And it's a thrilling thing. As you just ponder these definitions, first of all, 5 power, 15 power, 25 power, and your mind begins to think scripturally concerning a definition of sanctification. So in summary, in terms of definition, it's obvious as we grapple with this doctrine of sanctification, we're grappling with that which has its roots in eternal purpose, which has to do with the work of God's grace within us, and it has peculiar reference to the dominion and defilement of sin and how God deals with it in the heart of one of his children.

Sanctification's Relationship to Justification

33:23 So much then for the importance of the doctrine. I've tried to give you briefly a definition of the doctrine. Now, in the third place, consider with me as I attempt to describe the relationship of this doctrine to justification. Now, it's absolutely essential that any series on the doctrine of sanctification get its perspective from its relationship to justification.

33:53 Sanctification has to do with the application of redemption to the sinner. And in this application, there is order. And in this order, justification precedes sanctification, and it's essential to grasp something of this relationship. Now, as we attempt to do so, think with me, first of all, of what is the essence of man's problem in a state of sin.

34:19 And I believe it's accurate to summarize it by saying because of the fall, man has incurred a problem which brings two things into focus. One, he is guilty and stands condemned. He is defiled and is in a condition of depravity. So man's two great problems as a result of the fall are guilt and depravity.

34:47 What I have called a bad record and a bad heart. He's broken the law of God and is guilty. Romans 3.19 That all the world may become guilty before God.

35:00 He's liable to punishment. But then the scripture says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. He is defiled and he is cursed. Looted.

35:11 It's like a drunken man who wraps his car around a tree. He is both guilty and rendered helpless by his crime. He has been guilty because he's driven under the influence of alcohol. He's destroyed personal or government property and he lies there in a pool of his own blood helpless to do anything for himself.

35:34 So man is guilty. Man is depraved. Therefore, if the problem of sin is going to be remedied and if God chooses to remedy it, it must be in a way which deals with those two problems. Which deals with the problem of guilt and which deals with the problem of depravity or pollution.

35:58 There must be objective provision and there must be subjective provision. Now, what then is the answer of God's grace to this? God in his infinite wisdom and by supernatural power has undertaken to meet all of these needs arising from our sinfulness. For our guilt there is the provision of justification.

36:25 A declarative act by which on the basis of the life and death of Jesus Christ declares us to our account the infinite merit served up in his own beloved Son. Then for our pollution and our defilement there is his work of sanctification whereby we are made increasingly fit for his presence and his fellowship. God in justification gives us a title to everlasting justification makes us for everlasting

37:09 and no man ever went to heaven fitness for heaven and the one who