Take your bottles this morning and turn with me to the book of Romans. We'll be in chapter 12 this morning. And I was looking for a good place to leave off, and the best place to leave off would have been last week. So I'm going to preach that sermon again. Not really. But we are going to do something differently. I'm going to take verses 1 and 2 of chapter 12. Last week, we looked at chapter 12, verse 2, after having dealt with verse 1 before. Today, I want to look at verses 1 and 2 together under the title of godly sanctification. So if you'll turn there, we'll begin reading at verse 1, and read through verse 2. Hear the Word of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice Holy, acceptable unto God, which is Your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word we pray You would guide us through it, that Christ would be exalted and we might be encouraged to follow Him. In His name we pray, Amen. Now, these two verses introduce the last five chapters of Romans. which deal with the doctrine of sanctification or the practical application of the gospel that has been preached thus far. We have seen how the gospel comes to men who are totally depraved, under bondage to sin and Satan and self, and in need of a Savior not only to die for them, but to come and change their hearts so that they would come to Christ for that salvation. But, in the Gospel, that's the kind of Savior we have. He saves sinners from their sin. He sends His Holy Spirit to transform us, to give us new hearts and lives that follow the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the gospel is that though we were dead and without help, without hope, God saves sinners. And in doing so, He turns us a certain direction. So that He puts us on the right road and says, here is the way, walk in it. So the rest of the chapters of this book are dealing with how do you walk in this new knowledge and seek to be pleasing to the Lord. Now we know we cannot be pleasing in and of ourselves. Even though we've been saved, if God were to just save us and say, alright, now there you go, go serve the Lord, do the best you can with that, we would immediately fall on our face. We would not be able to do anything apart from the grace of God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So these two verses therefore are an introduction to the whole doctrine of sanctification. These two verses give a foundation for all of the things that we're going to find are our responsibilities in walking with the Lord. They include Our body and our soul. Our sacrifice of our body and the renewing of our mind. Now on the one hand, if all we did was take verse 1 and neglected verse 2, We would turn into legalists who were trying to give their bodies and do everything that they were supposed to do with their hands and their feet and their tongue and their eyes and their ears and trying to do everything but not renew their mind. So that would turn us into legalists. You know, you do these things. And that's basically what the Armenian does. is He says, let's make sure we keep the first thing as the first thing. The most important thing is the most important thing. And to them, that is evangelism. But the first thing is to glorify God with our bodies and with our souls. And so, we're looking at Yes, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, but also presenting our minds to be renewed so that they would be directing our bodies in the ways of the Lord. But on the other hand, those who only take verse 2 and neglect verse 1, They would say that they don't need to worry about their bodies, it's their mind that's important. As long as you're saved in your heart and your mind, that's all that counts. Nothing else matters. That is an antinomian. We need to present our minds and our bodies to God. Sacrifices to ourselves, of ourselves, to our God, So that we would no longer hold control over our own selves, but we would submit to the Lordship and control of the Lord Himself. So are we submitting our minds to the mind of God? So that then we could submit our bodies as sacrifices that are well-pleasing to God. I want us to look, if you would, at your copy of the confession in chapter 13 on the doctrine of sanctification. And if you don't have your confession handy, it's at the back of the hymnal after the songs. And I do not know what page to have you turn to, but the Doctrine of Sanctification, chapter 13, and you can read along. There are three paragraphs here. I want to read this and then fairly quickly work through what these paragraphs are teaching And then come back to an explanation of the text. Sanctification. They who are united to Christ, effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified, really and personally, through the same virtue by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them. The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts of it are more and more weakened and mortified. And they, more and more quickened and strengthened, in all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." This sanctification is throughout the whole man, yet it is imperfect in this life. There abide still some remnants of corruption in every part, wherefrom arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh and the spirit against the flesh. 3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ the regenerate part does overcome. And so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after a heavenly life and evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King in His Word has prescribed to them." Now, I want to go back and look at each of these paragraphs somewhat in detail. I want to give us nine principles that we can gain from this doctrine of sanctification. And back into paragraph 1, the first principle is that sanctification is a work of divine grace begun in regeneration. Sanctification is not something that God gives us as a duty to do for which He will return salvation to us. No! Salvation is a gift of God. And sanctification is a work of Christ that begins at regeneration, at justification, and continues throughout life. It is a work of God, not a work of men. There are times when we think of The doctrine of salvation, and we look at the doctrine of sanctification, we try to think of this idea that God is working in us, but yet it is we who are needing to work out our own salvation. But if we don't look at these things correctly, we'll end up with just a mutual work of God and man. God does His part, I'll do my part. And that's not the right way to look at it. Rather, God works in changing our hearts, and then He works through us, bringing us to subsidiarily, don't make me spell that, work for Him. So our work is always something He is doing in us and through us, but yet it is our work also. But we want to be careful not to say, alright, God is doing His side, I'm doing my side, and there we got going. No. Sanctification is a work of God. Number two, sanctification is a work that is in virtue of the person and work of Christ, culminating in Christ's death, resurrection, and exaltation. Thus, sanctification is an objective work, ab extra, or outside of us, by God himself. So the doctrine of sanctification is built on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself sanctified himself to be made like men, to be made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law. So the sanctification is objective. It is something that Christ has done in our place for us, and yet applies to our lives. Therefore, that is objective sanctification. It begins in regeneration, continues, but it's a work that is built on what Christ has done. Then a little farther down in that first paragraph, we get to this principle. Justification then is a work of God's grace whereby His Spirit actually changes our being, body and soul. And the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed. Remember, we're not talking about justification. Justification changes our standing with God. Justification is not something that changes anything in us. It changes God's relation to us and our relation to God. Justification is God calling us righteous for Christ's sake. And so sanctification, which begins at justification and goes forward, is a work that is done in us. But make sure we understand it's not a work we do per se, it's a work of God in us that does change us. Whereas justification changes that standing with God, sanctification begun in regeneration changes our being on our inside. And then principle number four, whereas justification is a one-time event in our lives forever, sanctification is a principle and a process of our lusts being more and more mortified, and we are being more and more quickened in all the saving graces. Justification once forever. I have been justified, therefore I am one who is justified. But I do not say I have been sanctified. I am being sanctified. Sanctification starts at justification and begins this process that will never stop until glorification. So sin and lust in us are being more and more mortified, and we ourselves are being more and more made alive. Now that will take ups and downs. There will be high points and then there will be low points. But the grace of God that begins a good work in us will be performed by God till the day of Jesus Christ. So sanctification brings all believers to the practice of all true holiness without the following of this holiness, no man shall ever see the Lord. So it brings us to the practice of holiness. So it begins this process of working in us that causes us to be working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. So, it's the work of God in us that brings us through sanctification. But this work of God in us brings us to work. To do good works. It is because of the fact of abiding sin that we need an ongoing sanctification. To deny an ongoing sanctification and to arrive at a place where we could say, I have been sanctified and am there, would be to deny indwelling sin. And it would be to deny Romans 7, the scripture. OK, so that's paragraph 1. Paragraph 2 has, I think, two principles. Yes. Number one, sanctification is throughout the whole man. Not just part of you is sanctified, being sanctified, but the whole man is being sanctified. Yet, it's imperfect in this life. It's not complete. That's the whole idea behind God's not through with me yet. We will only be perfected in glory. The second principle in paragraph 2 is... I'm sorry. That second principle is, this creates a continual war in our being. Flesh against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. But I want to caution you. This does not make the fact that there would be two men inside you. The old man and the new man. The old man has died. The new man is reigning. So I'm one man, not two. And that one new man in this life still has sin abiding. But God is reigning. Okay, so we do have sin reigning, No, not sin reigning, God reigning and sin abiding. But there is not a fight going on as to whether or not God will reign. God is reigning. The question is, are we working at that sanctification? The flesh is dominated by the Spirit, yet still sin is present in the Christian's life. In this war now, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctified Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part, not may, it does overcome. So principle is, the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Yet this completed perfection will not take place in this life. We grow in grace. We are perfecting holiness. We have not perfected holiness. But we're working towards that end. And then the last principle is, the saints do press after a heavenly life in evangelical obedience to all the commands of Christ. This is against antinomianism that says we don't worry about anything. This is against the Sinianism or the completed sanctification that says, I have arrived there. I don't have to strive. I don't strive with sin. If you strive with sin, you need to get better. I'm there. I don't ever strive with sin. Folks, if you meet someone who is not striving with sin, either they're not saved at all, or they're just ignorant of what the Word teaches. We strive daily with sin. Even when in God's grace we are seeking to do the right thing by the right way for the right end. Guess what? Sin fights against that. And when I would do good, sin is present with me. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So now we've gotten to our text. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, etc. Sanctification therefore is the work of God who works instrumentally using our wills and desires to effect these changes and to cause us to do according to His good pleasure. So it's a work of God, and we work willingly together with Him, but it's not that mutual work of God and man. We are not told to transform ourselves, but to be transformed. And that is, not of ourselves, but by renewing our minds from God so that they are thinking the thoughts of Christ after Him. And because of the centrality of the mind in all that we do in our person, we need to be renewing our mind by return to God's Word. Our responsibility is to submit to God's transforming work in us by applying ourselves to the means of grace God has given us. So we think of sanctification in three different terms. Definitive sanctification or the once for all setting apart of believers in Christ in regeneration. That is sanctification begun. That is the biggest change that will ever take place in a person's life. is a change from darkness to light. And that will be introducing changes as we go along. But the biggest change is that first one. Secondly, we have a progressive sanctification, which is that process we've talked about. And thirdly, the end of sanctification is glorification. And we long for that. progressive sanctification, what does the Father use to sanctify us? Well, the answer might be whatsoever He pleases. But there are some things we want to identify. First of all, coming from Errol Hulse's book on holiness, he uses our personal relationship with the Trinity. To the Father, we have been adopted by the Father. We're to live for Him, examining our lives by the Scriptures so that we are ready for the time when God will judge us through His Son by His Spirit. Look for the purity of God and how this perfectly expresses the Father's actual essence. And He, this perfectly pure God, will be the standard of judgment on the last day. But in Christ, we have a representative that is as holy as the Father is holy. We need that. Secondly, we have a relationship with the Son. We are united with the Son in a mystical union of center with Savior. In Him we have a perfect atonement as well as a perfect pattern to follow. Christ was a perfect example not only in the positive characteristics like love, joy, peace, long-suffering, etc. but He's also a perfect example in the negative graces like hating sin, rebuking hypocrites and Pharisees for their false and wrong method of worship. And thirdly, we have a relationship to the Holy Spirit who brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He, the Spirit, is full of the power that brought us to life. And He continues to empower us to do His will. He is our comfort and our consolation in all our affliction and distress. He also is our advocate who is called alongside us to represent us and encourage us and to pray for us. He leads us in the paths of righteousness and empowers us to walk in it. Another thing that God uses in order to sanctify us that we need to understand today is church membership. This is a quote from Ian Murray. We are taught together through the preaching of the Gospel. We benefit together in the church from the ordinances observed. We learn from one another in fellowship. We serve together. We run the race together. We gain inspiration from leaders and outstanding members, not only in real life, but through literature. We are warned and corrected by cases of discipline. Folks, there's no way we could benefit from these and more except by means of the local church. We really do need each other as a body needs all its parts. And that's exactly what he's going to get into there in Romans chapter 12 next. In our culture, we're almost presupposing we can do everything better by ourselves. But God has saved us as a part of the one people of God to be a vital part of a whole, needing others as they also need us to complete our sanctification together. There is also the mortification of sin that God uses to sanctify us. And then, the becoming like Christ. But this morning I want to focus a little bit on our relationships that God uses to bring us along in sanctification. And in these relationships, we need to be renewing our mind as to how to do this. The answer is, go to the Word of God for how to relate to whomever. Number one, husband and wives. Where do we go when we need help with this? The Word of God. We need to renew our mind. Amen? Come on, husbands. Wives? Amen. Children and parents. Where do we go when we don't know how to deal with our children? Where do children go when they don't know how to relate to their parents? Children who know the Lord need to go not to their friends, not to their boss, but to the Word of God. Renew our minds that we would be thinking God's words. Workers and bosses, how do I relate to this boss when he tells me, I've got to ABC? Go to the Word. Church members to elders. How should we relate to them? Do whatever they say. No, no, no, not really. We are to submit to their rule, pray for them, and visit with them whenever there is a question. Elders to members. Whenever there is a question as to right doctrine or practice, we're to go in love. That's why one of the qualifications for elder is not a striker, not someone that's ready to fight. You know, there may be some things that come up in the life of a church that somebody just needs to be hit. No, they don't. They don't. We need to go to the Word of God. Sometimes we might need to defend ourselves, that's for sure. But I'm talking about when we go to somebody else. Okay, so don't say I didn't believe in self-defense. I do. What about boys relating to girls? And girls relating to boys? According to Scripture, you should treat them as your sisters in honor. You should treat them as your brothers in honor. And outside of that, you need to go back to the Word of God and find out what He says concerning that relationship. Unwed men to unwed women. I'm going to just forget the sentence I wrote there. No, actually, I didn't write anything, so I won't make it up. But y'all need to go to the Word of God on how to relate. Amen? Teachers to students. And here's a good one. Christians to the Trinity. We talked about it a while ago. How do we relate to the Word of God? To God Himself? To the Holy Spirit? We go to the Word and find out what He says. How do Christians relate to ourselves? How does Cliff relate to Cliff? Well, don't think too highly of self, but think more highly of your brother or sister. How about the priorities of life? They come from the Word of God. How about a Christian to his property? Or to material goods? We'd better go to the Word of God and find out how to relate to those. Christians to our language. I think I've just quit preaching and started meddling. Christians to government. Christians to being honest to our Word. Christians to our own Christian growth. Whether it's in the church and worship, home Bible study, prayer, how do I deal with my neighbors, How do adult children relate to their parents? How do parents relate to their adult children? Well, there comes a time when the board, the rod, doesn't work anymore. Sometimes I wonder if it ever did. But it did. If you start early enough. So holiness and sanctification is really talking about godliness. And offering ourselves to God, we need to renew our minds as to exactly what does that mean. Ian Murray says, no one is born holy. That stopped after Christ. It does come after a commitment to the Bible as the holy Word of God. Holiness, once we accept and submit to God's holy Word, that begins to transform us. But we need to keep on being transformed. Now, I've gotten some things out of order, so be patient. In this text, the body is to be the sacrifice. And we know the body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. But the Lord does not exist for the body. In sacrifices, two things are implied. We no longer have the use of ourselves for ourselves. And number two, Our sacrifice is then for the service and glory of God. I want to share something with you I noticed this week that I had not noticed before. In the Old Testament, we take living animals, or they took living animals, and presented them to the priest who then slaughtered them and offered them on the fire. In the New Testament, in the New Covenant, after the sacrifice of Christ, God takes dead men and makes them alive. And calls for them to be sacrifices that are living sacrifices. So it's just the opposite. He takes dead and makes them live. where in the Old Testament they took the living sacrifices and slaughtered them. In that way we can recognize that God is very gracious to us. And we don't want to be crying about, oh, I don't get to do this and I don't get to do that. You get to be a part of the salvation that God grants to wicked sinners. Renewing our mind, we want to ask each of us to envision the places in which we need the most efforts in renewing our mind and seek to focus on the most important areas. Something I neglected to mention a while ago And it's sometimes hard for me knowing that I preach the gospel and I preach to you as a congregation. But I'm a part of you. And I'm preaching to me, so I want you to understand this is for us. So I want you to think about what part of my mind needs to be renewed. And you might say the right front lobe. Or all of it. But I'm talking about in these different areas that I've mentioned, what area might be the place where you're lacking in renewing your mind and you're not thinking God's thoughts in this area. So our errors usually come in that we're focusing usually on our own peculiar strong points and leaving our weak areas neglected. Let's turn that around and be a people that are truly seeking to make strides in living transformed lives by renewing our minds in the most needed areas. And that brings us to this. If you're having trouble finding out what part of your life that is, just ask me. No. But I do mean this to be serious. If we are having an issue with finding that weak point in our sanctification, let's try this suggestion. Ask the church member you're closest to. Can you help me identify weak areas in my armor on which I might need to focus? And when, if you do make a suggestion to your fellow church member, are you going to be open to suggestions yourself? I realize again, I just quit preaching and started meddling. But let's step up, put our big boy and big girl pants on, and seek to truly be renewing our minds with the Word of God. May God bless you in this message. Let's pray.