Sanctification in the Life o..

So Romans chapter six. We had already addressed this chapter, brethren, Romans chapter six. Actually, I think we preached three sermons through Romans chapter six, but being such a long time, last time that we preached through the book of Romans, I thought that it was good for us just to have an overview of this chapter, if the Lord allows, and to speak about this topic of sanctification in the life of the Christian. So that is what we're going to be doing this afternoon from Romans chapter six. We're going to be considering the topic of biblical sanctification in the life of the Christian.

So we are going to be reading the chapter and then we're going to be briefly praying before the Lord and then we're going to be considering biblical sanctification. Let us read together. This is Romans chapter six. We're gonna be reading the whole chapter from verse 1 to verse 23. May the Lord help us as we read and as we consider the truths that are found in Romans chapter 6.

This is the word of the Lord. Romans chapter 6 verse 1, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who die to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like this. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign. in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace.

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey? either of sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to righteousness.

But thanks be to God that you, who were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations, for just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness. So now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. 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 were 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. Why? 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen, this is the reading of God's Word.

Shall we pray, brethren, as we approach this text? Father, we come before you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and I pray, O Lord, that you will grant us a time of truth, not a time of entertainment, not a time of emotions, not a time of feelings, but a time of truth, a truth that will lead our emotions. A truth that will shape our feelings. A truth that will shape our lives. We ask, O Lord, that you will grant us a moment of truth in your word.

That as we come to this text, we will see Jesus Christ, the finished and completed work of our Savior. And as we behold the finished and completed work of Jesus, that you will teach us to live our lives. We pray, oh Lord, that we will not be only hearers of these words, but by your Holy Spirit, that we will be doers of these words. When we live our day to day, and when we are to make choices and make decisions, Lord, that the principle that operates within us will be the principle of righteousness of Christ, that we will be led to choose according to your will. that when we are to face truth and lies, that we will choose the truth, not because of a legal code that forces us to do so, but because of the greatest blessing of seeing Christ in the principle of truth.

I pray, O Lord, that You will grant us by Your Word what is needed for us to live according to Your will and to glorify You in all things. Bless us, Lord, as we consider the Scriptures and as we receive the Scriptures and as we proclaim the Scriptures. I pray that You will do this in Jesus' name. Amen. Very good, brother.

As I said, today we are going to be considering this topic of this idea of sanctification. And sanctification is not one of those words that we commonly use in English. When we're speaking with people outside of the context of the church, we don't ask them if they're being sanctified or not. This is a term that is only applicable for Christians within the context of the church. Because this is a term that we don't use often in our vocabulary, we don't speak about being sanctified or sanctification.

Sometimes we take for granted that people understand what is the meaning of the word sanctification. So if we were going to give, in general terms, a definition of this word that the Apostle uses here in Romans chapter 6, sanctification, we could simply say that sanctification, in general terms, is that process in which a genuine son or daughter of God is in Becoming more like the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming more obedient, becoming more righteous, becoming more holy. That is that if a person, before they were Christians, they were enslaved to sexual immorality, Once that person has received the grace of the Lord and that person has believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by virtue of being a child of God. Now this person that was enslaved to sexual immorality is in a journey to become like Jesus Christ, who is pure and in him there was no sexual immorality or if a person before they became Christians, before they became sons or daughters of God, they were enslaved to lying and to tell things that are not truth. Now when the Spirit of God has come upon that person and that person has been changed into a child of God, now this person is in a journey of speaking the truth in love.

Now they are no longer enslaved to lies. Now they aim to speak the truth. Not that they are perfect, but they are in a journey of becoming like Jesus Christ, who is the one that speaks the truth in love. Or if that person was a slave to idolatry or any manifestation of unrighteousness before they became Christians, Once the Spirit of God comes to them, their eyes are open, they place their faith in Jesus Christ. Now this person is in a journey of becoming more like Jesus Christ, who was faithful to the Father and was not idolater, was not anything, not unrighteousness was found in the Son.

That is the process of becoming more obedient, the process of becoming more righteous, the process of becoming holier more like the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an experience of the Christian. And it's very important, my dear brother and sister and friend here within the context of my voice, that we will differentiate between this experience of the Christian, which we call sanctification, of becoming more like the Lord Jesus Christ, and the position of the Christian, which is the position of being forgiven, of being declared righteous. The first one is something that happens once for all. Once a person has had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that person has been forgiven of their sins, and that person has been declared righteous.

And that position of being forgiven, of being declared righteous, is something that does not depend upon the experience of the Christian, but rather it depends upon the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has conquered sin and death and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. So that person remains forgiven because Jesus Christ is the righteous and He's the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world. And that person is declared righteous and remains righteous not because of their performance and experience, but because Jesus Christ is righteous and He remains alive. Because he is alive, the position of the Christian, or this status of the Christian as forgiven and as righteous will continue and will prevail. However, the experience of the Christian, which we call sanctification, is the process in which we are battling against the sin that is still present in us.

And in this condition of being forgiven, And being declared righteous is once for all and unchanging. This experience of sanctification is going to be a process that if we step back, when we see our lives, we see something like ups and downs. Ups and downs are battle or war or struggles with sin. If we do not differentiate between the position of the Christian as forgiven and declared righteous and the experience of the Christian, we are going to end up making the mistakes that many in the Christian world make. For instance, the Catholic Church makes the idea of being justified or the condition of the Christian and the experience of the Christian.

And that's why they arrive to the conclusion that even the experience of the Christian, they commit a sin that is serious enough, then they will lose their status of forgiven or declared righteous. Why? because there is no distinction between the position of the Christian and the experience of the Christian. It is not only the mistake that the Catholic Church or the Orthodox Church will do, but also will make, but many Christians will also make that mistake of not differentiating between the status of the Christian as forgiven and declared righteous and the experience of the Christian. It is so important in the scriptures that the Apostle Paul has taken three chapters to explain the position of the Christian as justified by faith chapter four and five and now he's speaking in chapter six about the experience of the christian in other words sanctification and we find that the apostle tells us in this chapter six that because the christian has experienced union with Christ and is justified by faith, now the Christian will have a type of experience and that is becoming sanctified, becoming more obedient, becoming more righteous like the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is what I want us to explore this afternoon from Romans chapter 6. Once again, the importance of this topic is not doctrinal only, but let me submit to you that many of the trials, many of the sufferings, many of the dark moments in the life of a Christian many times happen because in their struggles of sin, in their experience of sanctification, they believe that their failures have now removed them from the position of being forgiven or being declared righteous. They feel that their condition of being forgiven or their condition of being righteous before the Lord does not depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ but depends upon their performance and their lives. While it is true that our assurance and certainty of our salvation will depend on how we live, we We ought to know that the only reason why a person is forgiven and that person is declared righteous is because of the completed and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it does not matter how many times we say it.

It does not matter how loud we say it. Our flesh is going to tempt us to see our life in light of our performance, in light of our duties or the things that we do and the things that we don't do. So I hope and I pray that the Lord will allow us to go through this chapter and then to see certain observations and characteristics of biblical sanctification. I hope that as we consider this chapter, we will understand deeper and better the experience of the Christian in sanctification. Once the person has been forgiven and declared righteous by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, now this experience of being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want us to have three or four, depending on the time, observations that I want us to make from some of the passages that we find here in Romans chapter six that will not only remind us of what we were before we stopped this series, but also will prepare us as we move into chapter seven of this letter of the Apostle Paul. So let me just give you the first observation, and the first observation is going to be in relation to the purpose of sanctification. Let me submit to you, my dear brother and sister, that the purpose of sanctification, it is to become like the Lord Jesus Christ and it's not to become a better version of yourself according to your own standard. Let me say that again and we'll see it from the text. The purpose of biblical sanctification, it is to become like the Lord Jesus Christ and not to become a better version of yourself according to your own standard.

The reason why the purpose of biblical sanctification is to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, it is because when a person has genuinely believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, this person receives the same spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. That person is dead to sin, and is resurrected to newness of life. And the principle that is operating in the Christian is the principle of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, the Spirit of Jesus Christ will lead that person not to be like someone else, any other than the person of Jesus Christ. That point is made clear in verses 1 through 2 of chapter 6, and also in chapter 8, as we're going to see it.

Pay attention to the first. Four verses of chapter six. It says, what shall we say then? What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means. How can we who die to sin still live in sin? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized or united into Christ Jesus were united or baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with Jesus, with Christ, by baptism into death. In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

That is, that genuine salvation is that the person spiritually dies to the old self And then the Spirit of God that was in Jesus Christ, resurrecting Him from the dead, is the same Spirit that is now given to the Christian, for the Christian to walk in newness of life. This newness of life is not any life, but this newness of life is the life of Jesus Christ. So then the person, by virtue of having the Spirit of Jesus in them, that person has the life of Christ in them, and because it is the life of Christ in them, the goal of the process of sanctification, it is to become like the Lord Jesus Christ and not to become a better version of yourself according to your own standard. The apostle explained this more in detail in chapter eight, speaking about the spirit of Christ being in the believer. If you come to Romans chapter eight in verse nine, Romans chapter eight in verse nine, Speaking of Christians, those who are not in the flesh, but those who are in the Spirit.

He says in Romans chapter 8, verse 9, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Pay attention to what follows. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness." So that is, that if the Spirit of Jesus Christ is in a person as a believer, that person has experienced two things.

death to sin and now this person has the life of christ in them that is leading them to righteousness and this righteousness is not the keeping of the commandment this righteousness is christ jesus himself because Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God that has been revealed unto us. The letter and the Scriptures and the work of the Lord will point us to the righteousness of God that is Christ Jesus. But the goal of being biblically sanctified is the person of Jesus Christ. It is the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ. He summarizes this in the very famous verse that we find in Romans chapter 8.

there in verse 29. In verse 29, he summarizes that and he tells us and he gives us all the information there in verse 29. 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 brethren or brothers. That is that eternally the plan of God onto his people and onto his bride, is that they will be conformed. They will be made like his son, Jesus Christ, who is the firstborn to be resurrected from the dead under the statue of the new covenant.

That is that the newness of life of Christ Jesus, a victorious life over death, now is the life that is given to those who are members of this better and new covenant. And hence If someone is a genuine Christian, that person now has the Spirit of God in them that is leading them not to be a better version of yourself according to your own standard, but this Spirit is going to guide you to become more like Jesus Christ, to be holy like Jesus is holy, to speak in the way that Jesus spoke, to think in the way that Jesus thought, to decide in the way that Jesus decided. Jesus Christ is the objective of what we are trying to accomplish, not a better version of ourselves according to our own standard. And this is important because the only way that we can please the Lord is by becoming like his son. When we're trying to become a better version of ourselves, according to our own imaginations, our standards, we are actually trying to please ourselves we're trying to please our own imaginations of what we think we should be and that's why it is very important that the Christian will renew their minds by the word of the Lord and through faith to understand what What is the will of the Lord, not only in the person of Jesus Christ, but also for the Christian.

From eternity past, God has decided that the believer is going to be conformed to the image of the Savior, and that is indeed going to happen. We're not going to become a better version of humanity. We're not going to become a better version of a man, or a better version of a woman, or a better version of a family. That is not the goal, and that's not what we ought to pursue. ought to pursue the Lord Jesus Christ.

That means that the goal of the Christian, it is not in a moral transformation. The goal of the Christian is not an ethical change. The goal of the Christian is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. And the result of knowing the Lord more, the result of communion with the Lord more, is going to be a moral transformation, is going to be an ethical transformation or change. But the objective and the goal of the Christian, it is to know his or her Savior more and more through the word of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And of course, if what I've said is true, the question that follows from there is, do you desire Christ? Do you pursue Christ? Do you pursue the Lord? Or are you pursuing a better version of yourself according to your own standard of what you want to be? So that if you take those little lines that you have decided for yourself, you will be satisfied with yourself.

Do you desire this Christ of the Scriptures? And if you desire the Christ of the Scriptures, how do you know that you desire in your seeking of the Lord through the Scriptures, in your seeking of Christ Jesus through the Word of the Lord? Do you desire the Lord Jesus Christ and to be like Him? Because let me submit to you that the answer to that question divides and separates true religion from false religion. Because any pursuit of something that is not Christ Jesus by the Spirit of God and through the Scriptures is not the pure and undefiled religion that moves a person to be unspotted from the world and to care for the one that is in need, as the Lord Jesus Christ did when he came to this world.

Any pursuit emotionally and from the heart that is not Jesus Christ separates false religion from true religion. That is that the objective of biblical sanctification is not a better version of yourself, but is the person of Jesus Christ. Second, and very important, the power for you to be sanctified does not come from your own works or deeds, but the power for you to be sanctified comes from the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us return once again to our text. The power or the source of what happens in sanctification does not come from the person, but the power for us to be sanctified or to walk in newness of life comes from the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Once again, verses one through four, it says, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who die to sin still live in sin? Do you not know, pay attention to this, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we, too, might walk in newness of life. that just as Christ died and was resurrected by the glory of the Father, we too may walk in a newness of life. That is that my walking in a newness of life, it is a reflection, it's source, it's in power, not in my walking, but it's source and it's in power in what happened upon the cross. The person who has received the grace of God in the Holy Spirit, and has died to the old self, and has been resurrected in newness of life, finds the power that is needed to continue to advance in sanctification, holiness, righteousness, and obedience, not in your own performance, but in the completed and in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews gives us a powerful verse in Hebrews chapter 9, I think it is, if you come with me, in which he is going to connect clearly this idea of the offering of Jesus Christ with the fact that we are sanctified in Christ Jesus in Hebrews chapter 10.

If you take your scriptures there and you come to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 14, Hebrews chapter 10 verse, let us read from verse 11, Hebrews 10, 11. Hebrews 10, 11, it says, And every priest, as you know, the author of Hebrews, is comparing the Old Testament priesthood with the true priesthood of Christ Jesus. It says in verse 11, And every priest extends daily at the service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Speaking of the Old Testament, the priests of the Old Testament offer many sacrifices. Those sacrifices could never take away sins.

Why? Because they were animal sacrifices, and they could not purify the conscience of the worshipper. Hebrews 9 verse 12. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Pay attention that there's no mention of your performance, of your works, or your deeds, but only one's performance, and that is Christ.

Verse 12. But when Christ had offered for all time a a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. Four, pay attention. By a single offering, he, that is Christ, has perfected for all time those who are sanctified, or in the ESV, are being sanctified. Pay attention once again.

For by a single offering, Jesus has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, or those who are sanctified. That is, that the sanctification of those who are genuinely in Christ Jesus does not depend on the works and deeds, ultimately, of the person, but is rooted in the finished and in the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The power for me to walk in my newness of life is not found in my desire to do certain things, but is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Of course, it is going to be manifested in a change of will in which I want to work out my own salvation. fear and trembling because he's got the one who wills in me the things that I desire and the things that I do he's the one that operates with his sovereign hand and his decree how am I going to become like the Lord Jesus Christ but brother and sister The power to be sanctified is not found in checking my performance and seeing how much I have fallen short of what I wanted to be.

But being sanctified and the power of it, it is found in looking by faith to the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ, what He has done upon the cross, and knowing by faith that He has given me of the Spirit that is now making me like the Lord Jesus Christ. So then that means that when a person falls into sin, even though it is good for the person to look inside and to assess the things that we haven't done, or the things that we should have done that we did not do, or the things that we said that we shouldn't have said, while it is good for us to look inside and to examine that according to the scriptures, that will not be sufficient if we are not looking to the completed and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. Because it is in the gospel of God that we find the power that is needed for us to speak the truth in love, for us to live our lives in righteousness, for us to follow the commandments of the Savior, for us to get the strength that we need to love one another, for us to get the strength that we need to forbear with one another. It is only found in the person of Jesus Christ. If we look to ourselves so much, then there's no difference between a psychological program of the world that tells the person that in them they will find the strength and the changes that are needed for them to have a better life.

Christians do not operate with men at the center. We Christians operate with Jesus Christ at the center of our lives. And that is why when we think about our justification and forgiveness of our sins, that is Jesus Christ alone. And when we think about being holier and more righteous and more obedience, that should also be the completed finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not think, my dear brother and sister, that the gospel, it is a simple message that you study it once and then that you know everything about it and that does not have the power to transform you.

The power of God is found in the gospel continues to be there and the more that we meditate through the scriptures and the Spirit in what Christ has done for us, the more strength and and wisdom that we find to live our lives according to the scriptures. But what does Christ do in our lives if he is the center, if he is the center and the empowerment of my sanctification, if he is the center and the and the source of what is needed for me to walk in holiness and righteousness. What does Christ do for me from a practical way? The Scripture tells us two beautiful things that Christ do for us, for our sanctification. The first one of those is actually found also there in the book of Hebrews.

If you come to the book of Hebrews in chapter 2, the Scripture is going to tell us that Jesus Christ empowers the Christian to be holier by helping them in times of need. Pay attention to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 in verse 14. Christ Jesus strengthened us and guide us in our sanctification by being our helper. He is our helper.

It says in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things Through death, He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that He helps. That's Christ. For surely it is not angels that He helps.

that he helps the offspring of Abraham. And brethren, the offspring of Abraham is not in a physical land. The offspring of Abraham are those who have faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

" Christ Jesus is able to help those who are tempted. And those who are tempted are the sons of the offspring of Abraham. And who or what is the offspring of Abraham? Christ Jesus is the offspring of Abraham. Galatians chapter 3.

And those who by grace through faith are in Christ Jesus become the offspring of Abraham. And He is the helper of those who are the offspring of Abraham. But think about it. That when we are in trials, That when temptation seems to be so strong, when darkness seems to be so difficult to discern, when our trials and our problems seem to be so complex to solve, when our heart seems to despair and our faith seems to tremble and to break, that when we are surrounded by obscurity and by anxiety and all of these things, that Jesus Christ is our helper. That He is not only the person who died upon the cross for our sins, but now, presently, He's at the right hand of the Father, and He is our Helper.

When no one may want to give us their hand and help us, when no one may want to come and rescue us, when no one may want to come and give us a word of encouragement, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the Helper of the sons and the daughters of Abraham. Our sanctification, brethren, our holiness, our righteousness does not depend upon us. Our holiness, our righteousness depends upon the finished and completed work of Jesus Christ, the work that He did upon the cross, and the work that He continues to perform, even as He's seated at the right hand of the Father, as He intercedes for His people, and as He helps His people. But when a person He is tempted. But when a person is going through trials and tribulations, my dear brother and sister, our flesh is always tempted to try to fix our problems in our own ways, in our own wisdom, and in our own experience.

And we are very slow, many times, to come at the feet of the Savior to say, I give up. I cannot. I cannot continue with this. I come to you, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that He's our helper, but He's also our Savior.

If you come to Hebrews chapter 9, In verse 28, there's a beautiful verse in Hebrews chapter 9, actually Hebrews 7. Hebrews chapter 7, in verse 23, the Apostle is also going to tell us about the work of Christ in our lives. It says in verse 23, The former priest, once again comparing the old priesthood with Jesus Christ, who is our priest, The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. The priests in the Old Testament, many of them, they died, had to replace them. Verse 24, but he holds his priesthood, that is Christ, permanently because he continues forever.

And because of that, verse 25, consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always leaves to make intercession for them. Pay attention to verse 25. He is able to the uttermost, and I don't know what other synonyms you may have in English, but to me that word, it is very powerful. To the uttermost, to the ultimate extent, perhaps. Those who draw near to God through Him, since He always, leaves to make intercession for them."

The reason why we can have certainty and assurance that our salvation is in the hands of the Lord, it is not because of our performance, or our works, or our deeds, but because there's one High Priest whose name is Christ Jesus. He did not only die, but He's resurrected. He's seated at the right hand of the Father, and in His office of the High Priest, He's continuing to intervene for His people, interceding for His people, and we're told that He does that not sometimes, not only when we ask, not only when we're good Christians, not only when we come to church, not only when we pray, not only when we read the Scriptures, but this Savior He's always interceding for His people and He's always willing to rescue them and to help them and to intercede for them. The reason why our sanctification and the reason why our righteousness, holiness and obedience is secured, it is because He does not depend upon us. He depends upon the completed and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only what He did upon the cross, but what He continues to do now as He's seated at the right hand of the Father. So my dear brother, my dear sister, even though there's going to be many times in which guilt will come to our minds and to our hearts, even though there's going to be many times in which the times of despair and doubts and anxiety will come to our minds and to our hearts, we're never to look ultimately to how we feel and how we understand and interpret the circumstances, but we are to be rooted in Him alone. And there is a good thing for the soul when we take our eyes from the circumstances in ourselves and we place them in the completed and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because whether there is rain, or whether there is sunshine, or whether there is a storm, the work of Jesus Christ continues to be the same. And the victory of Christ remains the same.

And the promises of Christ remain the same. Whether we feel it or not, or whether we are going through trials or not, the finished and completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ remains the same. So we have, my dear brother and sister, that the purpose of biblical sanctification is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and not to a better version of myself. And second, and very importantly, that the power that is needed for me to be sanctified is not derived from my wisdom, is not derived from my 15 years of walking with the Lord, is not derived from my ministry, or is not derived from the times that we read the Scripture so that we understand the Scriptures is derived from heaven in the person of Jesus Christ. He's the one that has given us the Spirit to walk, and He's the one that is our helper, and He's the one that will bring the salvation that He has given us until the end.

And because those two things are true, we come to our text, and I finish with this. Because those things are true, and that is that Biblical sanctification is rooted primarily in the person of Jesus Christ. Then we also come to verse 5 through 11, and we make the assertion that biblical sanctification is an evidence of those who are genuine Christians. Because Biblical sanctification has the purpose of Christ and the Spirit of Christ in them. Because biblical sanctification is rooted not in the person, but in the completed and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we conclude, and the Apostle will do here, that those who are biblically sanctified, or those who have died to sin, or those who are set free from sin, are those who are genuinely united to Jesus Christ.

Pay attention to verse 5 through 11. He says, Romans chapter 6 verse 5, for if we have been united with Him, attention to the conditional, for if we have been united with Him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like this. No, likely, no, perhaps, no, most Christians or not a few Christians. But he says, for if we have been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like this. That is that if the Christian has been spiritually united in death by faith to Jesus Christ, then certainly just as Christ died.

Also, this Christian is resurrected into a newness of life. He's dying in Christ by faith. has taken place, the newness of life will happen. We cannot have a person that says with the mouth that they have been united with Christ Jesus and not been partakers of the newness of life that Christ Jesus gives through His Spirit. Why?

Because the work of sanctification is not the work of the moralistic person. The work of sanctification is the work of God through His Spirit. in the person of Jesus Christ. So if a person says that they have been united in a death like that with Jesus Christ, they have been inserted to him, then that person has also been resurrected into newness of life. So the apostle continues in verse six, We know, not it is likely, not perhaps, but we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been justified or set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. Pay attention to that, verse 8. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all. But the life He lives, He lives to God. The conclusion of this is, "...so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin, therefore, rain in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. Because, or for, sin will have no dominion over you, since you're not under the law, under law, but under grace. Since, because Jesus Christ died and was resurrected, if you say that you are partaker of the experience of Christ and his death, then it's also necessary that those who have participated in the death of Jesus also partake in the new life of Jesus. And just as sin, no longer or death has no longer power over Jesus Christ.

Sin will have non-dominating power over the person who has been genuinely saved. This does mean that a person will be perfect in their walk with the Lord and then they never will commit a sin and they will live a perfect life of righteousness. Of course not. The presence of sin continues to be in the Christian. But what this means is that the Christian now is living a life, a journey, a process towards becoming like Jesus Christ.

And when you step back from the life of that person, then you can see a pattern in which the walk or the hand of the Lord has been working in the life of that person, conforming and making that person more like the Lord Jesus Christ. How can a person say that they are in Christ, that they have partaken of the Spirit of Christ while they continue to be enslaved to the practice of sin? The Apostle says in 1 John chapter 3, verse 7 through 10, that there's only two types of people in this world. Ones are the sons and daughters of God and the others are the sons and daughters of Satan. And the difference between those two, beyond many difference that the Scriptures explain, is that the sons and daughters of God will not be given to a practice of habitual sin, but rather that they will be righteous as the one who begotten them is righteous.

That they will be like the Lord Jesus Christ, while the sons and daughters of the evil one, They're the ones that are enslaved to sin, and they continue to walk in the practice of sin because they are under the dominion of sin. Once again, the reality of biblical sanctification is a sign, is an evidence that the Spirit of God has come and has visited a person with genuine salvation. And this person now has changed, spiritually speaking, and now they're in a journey of becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we see, and when we test, and when we discern a person that says with their mouth that they are in the light, but they're habitually walking in darkness, then it is our duty to join our discernment to the discernment of the Apostle John in 1 John that says that if someone says that they are in the light while they walk in darkness, they are liars and they do not practice the truth and if someone says that they have no sin in them the apostle the apostle john says that they deceive themselves and the truth is not in us and that if a person says i have no sin then that person makes god a liar and the word or the truth is not in them that is the discerning power not a moralistic view of Christianity, but that is the discerning power of the biblical gospel and the scriptures as we have them before us. That is that if a person is one that is walking with Jesus, it is a person that will bear the fruit of righteousness.

But I'm saying all of these in light of the first two things that I said in the beginning, and that is that the only way that we can be more obedient, The only way that we can be more righteous, the only way that we can walk according to the will of the Lord is with our eyes placed in the finished and completed work of Jesus Christ. There is no one in this room, There is no one on this planet that in and of themselves have the power and the strength that is required for us to please the Lord. The only way that we can please God, it is by faith, Hebrews 11, verse 6. And it's by having the Spirit of Christ in us as we bear the fruit of Christ Jesus. That means, my dear brother and sister, and when they say finish, that it is our urgent need for the Christian.

brothers and sisters, that we grow in understanding of who Jesus is, what he did, what he continues to do, and what he will do. Because let me submit to you that in greater and greater understanding of Jesus, there's not only greater and greater manifestations of maturity, but there's greater and greater manifestations of spiritual power in us. Not only to give glory to God through our lives, but also to minister to one another and to edify the church of the Savior. Everything is about Jesus. Everything is about Christ.

And everything is about everything that he has completed and finished. So it is important that even if we analyze or discern our daily experience, our struggles, our difficulties, and perhaps our successes and our blessings, that we will always see it in perspective. of who Christ Jesus is and what He's done upon the cross. Because that is the safest place, not only for our minds, but also the safest place for our spirits. That we will know that apart from the Savior, we can do absolutely nothing.

And if we genuinely know that apart from Him, we can do nothing, this is going to be seen in your communion with Jesus Christ, because your real and true assessment of your spiritual strength is not seen in the external things that we do, but your spiritual strength or your assessment of your spiritual strength is seen in how much you spend at the feet of Jesus, or how much you want to know of Jesus, how much you want to commune through the Word of God with the Lord. your spiritual assessment or your assessment of your spiritual strength is not seen in the things that you say, but it's seen in the things that you do in the secret place. Because when a person has come to the understanding and the realization that they are weak, that they're from the saints, that he or she is the weakest, that he or she can be so easily tempted, that he or she can so easily just deviated from the path of righteousness, when the person arrives to that conclusion, then the Spirit of God will say, You depend upon Christ. And because you depend upon Christ, then you depend upon His words, you depend upon His wisdom, and you depend upon His direction, not yours. And that is going to be seen in the private place as we depend more and more of the Savior.

work of the Savior. Amen? Amen. Let us pray. Father, Lord, we give you thanks for your Word, and we give you thanks, Lord, for the truths that are found in the Scriptures, Lord.

I pray that your Holy Spirit will be upon your people, each one of my brothers and sisters. And even though, Lord, we have said these things so many times, and even though we have conceded, Lord, the truths of Romans many times, I pray, O Lord, that each one of them will be strengthening their faith to look to Christ in the finished and completed work of our Savior. That when we are tempted to make our performance, our works and deeds, the source of our strength, the source of our satisfaction, Lord, that we will look to Christ, that we will not be tempted, Lord, just to live our lives by what we see in ourselves, but ultimately that we will do it by what Christ has done and continues to do. I pray, O Lord, that by your Holy Spirit you will grant to Cornish son and to my dear brothers and sisters a renewed strength in the power of your Holy Spirit to seek you and to pursue you in the secret place. I pray, O Lord, that you will purify our minds, our eyes from things that we've thought and seen that are unrighteous and obscure.

And contrary to your will, I pray, O Lord, that you will purify us in our hearts, Lord, and that you will bring us closer to Christ in faith and in rest and in assurance. But help us, Lord, to know how much we depend upon Jesus. That we might not think that we can just simply solve issues and fix ourselves in the power of our wisdom or our strength. But rather, Lord, that we will depend entirely upon Jesus Christ through the Word and through the Scriptures. That we will not only be people who proclaim these things and say things with our mouths, but that we will be seen in the secret place of our thoughts, in the secret place of our hearts.

That in that secret place, O Lord, that we will be always surrendered to You and that we will depend upon You, Lord. Help us, Lord, with the decisions that we make in our lives, that we will make them with the purpose of glorifying You. Help us, Lord, that the paths and the journeys and the things that we start in our lives, Lord, they will be done in light of who You are and what You have done for us and the promises that You have given us. Protect us from ourselves of just simply thinking, Lord, that our relationship to You is just to do a couple of things per week in a religious way and then just simply departing to live our lives in our own ways and being the king and ruler of our own lives. I pray, Lord, that Jesus Christ and His work and His gospel will permeate every aspect of our minds and of our hearts, and that we will do it for You because You have loved us and gave Yourself for us upon the cross.

Now, as we come to this table, Lord, we have done this so many times. I pray, Lord, that as we take the elements in our hands, that we will be strengthened in our faith, that we will know that we are one with You, never to be separated, and that there is nothing in this world that can separate us from the love of God. Bless us, Lord, I pray, in Jesus' name, Amen.