Alright, good morning. Well, it's been a couple of weeks, so let's go ahead and jump back into our series through the five solas. We have kind of slowed to a snail's pace here. That's a good thing, especially with the holidays coming up, the schedule, the break that we're going to have before we begin again in January after the holidays, after the end of this semester. But essentially, we are In week seven of our series through the five solas, and this is part of course of the greater kind of emphasis, this greater section, big picture of foundations of CRBC. What is it that makes us a church? What are the core convictions that lie at the heart of our church plant here? And so we're considering how the five solas relate to the local church. We made it really quickly through the first two, Sola Scriptura and Sola Christus. But now we're on, I think this is week three or four of Grace Alone. And I've gotten lots of feedback and that's helpful and it's been helpful because it has communicated to me that I need to slow down a little bit here and we can talk about this more. And so that's why we've kind of slowed our pace. There's really no reason to move on from this too quickly because grace and what it is and what it does, how it works is Foundational. It's so important to our life and salvation that it's worthy of receiving a full treatment. So I'm not going to recap in detail because it seems like I do that every week and then we never really get around to everything. So if you want kind of where we've come from and how we've gotten here, you can go and find the audio online. But just to summarize, we looked at grace alone historically in relation to the Protestant Reformation. We looked at it doctrinally. It's defense from scripture. And where we've gotten bogged down is in the application. how it relates practically, how it matters in relation to the Christian life and the local church. And I've identified, when we move towards the practical, I identified three areas which, you know, our doctrine of grace affects things. It affects the gospel we proclaim in personal conversion. So that took a few weeks. But we never got to these last two, which were, how does grace impact or change or inform our doctrine of sanctification? And how is it related to the ongoing ministry of the local church as well? And so that's what we're going to consider today. That's where we're at. Essentially, today's question or questions are going to be what role does grace play in the ongoing Christian life? How important is a proper understanding of grace to our daily lives and growth and maturity? What are some of the dangers and pitfalls of an error here? And I didn't put this up there, but how does it relate to the local church? I guess the ministry of the local church. what we're gathered here today for. How does it inform our worship, our liturgy, our emphasis, our discipleship, our ministry? I'm gonna argue that grace plays, and proper understanding of grace, plays an important role in this, and an error here can have great effect. And it certainly informs our particular convictions here at CRBC. So that's what we're going to tackle today. I don't have a ton of material. I say it every week, right? I really don't have a ton of material today. So we're going to look at a few passages, and I'm relying more, hopefully, on some feedback and some observations that you guys can bring to this issue as well. But when we talk about grace and sanctification, which, you know, let's be honest, really deserves an 8 to 10 or 12 or 16 week series, right? Sanctification, that is a sticky issue, without a doubt. So, it's gonna be really, really brief, but grace and sanctification, we must begin by remembering how the Reformers broke with Rome, right? To Rome, grace, Ongoing grace enables one to complete their justification, their salvation. Right? We understand that. We've talked about it. They confuse justification and sanctification. They turn justification into sanctification, and sanctification into justification, rather than keeping them distinct. It is being made holy. It is being made righteous. It is working and obtaining that righteousness that leads to one being saved. But to the Reformers, grace comes before all and it finishes all. Yes, there is an aspect in which grace is ongoing in the doctrine of the Reformers, but this, of course, stems from their separation of justification and sanctification. We are justified, we are made righteous, we are complete, we are forgiven in Christ by faith, the moment of faith, the moment when faith is professed, That is when we are converted and brought into a right standing with God. And this is indistinct from those who would argue that grace or justification or the first step of it begins at baptism or something of that nature. We never see justification apart from the expression of faith. In fact, every time baptism is spoken of in the New Testament, and this is a rabbit trail, sorry, every time it's spoken of, faith is always at hand. It's always something that is wedded to faith. So there's a distinct justification in the Reformers, but sanctification as well, ongoing grace, plays a role in sanctification as well. And it brings about the fruit of justification. Naturally then, between Rome and the reformers, if they have a different idea of justification of how it gets started, naturally then it's going to have some drastic effects on the ongoing Christian life as well. And as we've seen before, much of evangelicalism has recycled and repackaged Rome's error regarding grace, sanctification, and its mixture of sanctification and justification. So, a couple of Scripture passages, and then we'll talk about it. The first one... Cody and Brandon, I'm going to call on you here in a second, alright? Just be ready for this. Actually, I might have given the answers... Anyway. Romans 5, 1-2. Paul says this. He just spoke about this imputation of righteousness in Romans 4. And God being the just and the justifier in Romans 3. The one whom God credits no sin. The imputation of the righteousness of Christ. And he concludes with this big therefore. Alright, now as I move towards sanctification, Romans 5, Romans 6, Romans 7. Sanctification. If we died with Christ, how are we going to live in sin? As I move towards justification, I'm going to have a therefore statement, Paul says. Since we have been justified, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." And he goes on, we rejoice even in our sufferings. Because sufferings are an indicator of our standing with God. Sufferings are actually serving the purpose of our good and sanctification in this life. Yeah, I gave the answer so I can't call upon you guys, sorry. I was going to ask you, we have been justified as in the aorist passive. What does that tell us? Okay, it's being viewed as an event that had happened in the past. It happened to us in the sense of we did not do the action, exactly. Right? We have been killed, right? We have been murdered. In that sense, or he has been murdered would be another way of putting it, right? The action from somebody on the outside. Sorry, that's the illustration, the analogy that was always given to me in Greek class, so it's just the easiest, right? To wrap our minds around. The action being done to us. Right? And the fact that murder is the analogy here is in the sense of whether we like it or not. Right? We had no choice in the matter. This has nothing to do with us. The ship has been boarded. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to stick with mine. Alright? I have been punched. Oh, there's another violent one. Sorry. We have been justified. God's doing the action, and it's viewed as a completed event. It's not something that's ongoing. It's not something that, you know, has any future contingencies. You have been killed, right? There's no, like, awaiting the completion of that. That is a statement of, it's done. It's over. You're six feet under. You're pushing up daisies, right? Groundhogs are bringing you mail. Alright. So, once justified by faith, our standing with God is by grace. That's what Paul says. We have been, thus through this faith, we have access into grace in which we stand. This is a statement that appeals to our standing before God. The context of the Christian life. The presence of God, we stand in His presence. It is a life that is colored in every respect by grace. Yes. We're going to get to that in the next verse. But this verse is looking at it in the sense of the standing with God that our justification is brought about. So, it's not looking at it as an ongoing thing in sanctification. It's looking at it as because of this event, right? Because you have been granted into a favor with the king, you stand in his courts. It's a status. It's a legal status that we have, like citizenship. Alright, so the Christian life is one of grace because of our justification. This gets at your question, Kim. Philippians 2, 12 and 13, Paul says, Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." We had some good conversations on this earlier in the year when we studied Philippians chapter 2 in our midweek Bible study. That's a plug for you all to come on Wednesday nights. It was a lot of fun. But remember our working definition of grace? that we looked at a few weeks ago, probably a month ago now. Grace is the divine operation, so this is God's operating work, by which the sinful heart and mind are regenerated in the continuing divine power operation that cleanses, strengthens, and sanctifies the regenerate. That's from Richard Mueller's Greek and Latin terms from scholastic theology. Don't we see that here? It is God who works in you. That's divine operation working in you to do His will and His good pleasure. That's grace's role in sanctification. God's divine operation working in you. But notice, we'll talk about this more in a moment, Paul says work out your own salvation. Grace in relation to sanctification does not mean that we are entirely passive. I'll get to that more in a moment. Another text, 1 Corinthians 15, 9-10. Paul says, I'm the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Wait a second, Paul. Did you work harder than them or not? He says that he did. I worked harder than all these other super apostles. But really, at the end of the day, I've got to admit, it's not really me. It was the grace of God that is in me. the two different perspectives, two different camera angles, two different ways of viewing the grace of God or the sanctification of the Christian life. We work, but ultimately is God working in us? There's that divine operation again. Paul credits his conversion to ministry to grace, I am what I am by the grace of God, and he credits the hard toil in his ministry and his sanctification as it were to the grace of God in him as well. Any questions at this point? Yeah, so I argued first that it was a status. Grace is a status in justification. From the standpoint of sanctification, grace is also ongoing divine operation. Yes. Remember, Rome denies the former but affirms the latter. So they deny that grace... Well, they do have a standing of grace. You're baptized into the standing of grace. Infant baptism washes away original sin. You're in the context of grace where you can now work out your salvation. So they would have an arena of grace, a standing of grace. But it's incomplete. It denies the having been justified part of it. I think I know what you're asking. I'm not sure, but from what you said, I would probably Sometimes He gives us more and sometimes He gives us less according to His good pleasure. That's what I'm going to argue. And the sanctification of one Christian over another is ultimately because of His sovereign choice and will. That doesn't mean that we're not responsible. Just like, you know, in salvation justification, right? There's the elect and there's the reprobate. The reprobate not being given grace or salvation or being chosen does not mean that they are not responsible. They are still held accountable. Because they willfully rebelliously... I can't say that this morning. I'm tongue-tied. In rebellion, there we go. Better now than in the sermon. In rebellion, they cling to their sin and they love it. But I'm going to, another verse here is going to get to that in just a second. So, two basic errors, and Cody, try not to get excited, alright? We're not going to talk about this for like two minutes, alright? So you're going to be like, what was that? But there's two errors here. One is that God loves and accepts me based upon my behavior. If not in a salvific sense, okay, we're not Rome, right? At least in my day-to-day life. Legalism. God's favor and His pleasure in your life today and yesterday is dependent upon how well you're doing. And that is wrong. that is a great comfort to us who all stumble in many ways. Justification gives us that status that we have, standing in grace, having been justified, gives us the comfort and assurance that we are Accepted, forgiven, cleansed, beloved in Christ. Even when we sin in very grievous and horrible ways. The second error is that God loves me no matter what, so He does not care at all about what I do or don't do. Doesn't matter. Kate? I have a question that kind of addresses this tension. So a couple slides back there was a verse that said, like, work out your salvation or something like that for God's pleasure. But then there's also that tension of, like, we wouldn't have known about grace if God hadn't given us grace, but then there's that whole, like, faith without works is dead so like how do you i kind of know how to explain that how do you explain that like acting like upon like grace and faith is not the same thing as earning your salvation like how do you explain that it's so Yeah, I mean the best way I can explain it is using an analogy that I stole from John Piper. One of the very few things that I will steal from John Piper. Because I don't think he's a really healthy guide on this subject. But he does give a great analogy, illustration. He talks about being in an argument with his wife. And she has her back turned to him while she's doing the dishes. in the classic Piper since he's like I don't want her back turned to me while she's doing the dishes you know he's like this hurts like we are married and there is tension in the relationship and she's like fine whatever and she does the dishes he says there's there's there's a barrier there's a hindrance in our relationship he's like in that moment I'm not worried threatened by divorce as if the marriage itself, the union, is in danger. He knows his wife loves him. He knows the spat is a small spat. He doesn't start questioning whether she's going to walk out, but there is communion that is hindered. And I think that's probably the best way, a good analogy for us to understand the Christian life. When we sin, we bring fatherly displeasure in that sense that there is communion broken in the relationship. And that's why chastening is often important, to wake us up and to strengthen that communion once again. But when we sin, because we're clinging to Christ by faith, we have no reason at all to fear that the union itself is damaged or threatened to be undone. Does that make sense? So two errors here. Everything depends upon how I live. Nothing depends upon how I live. Jenner? So are you saying that God loves everybody or that he doesn't love some people? I'm talking only about believers here, or at least those who profess faith in Christ. Yeah, I'm not talking specifically, at least in this context, about God's love for His elect or His non-elect. I would say in general that God does have a general benevolence and love towards all men, all people, but that He loves especially His elect. Kind of like, you know, I have a general love for many different women in my life, like my mom, my aunts, you know, my friends, my sisters in Christ, but I have a special love for Courtney that transcends Love for any other woman is the same way with God and His love for His people is at a whole other level than His love, His general benevolence towards mankind. But in this sense, I'm looking specifically at sanctification among professing Christians. So this is, God loves me so it doesn't matter what I do, I'm completely passive in my sanctification. God, zap me and then maybe I'll overcome this sin. And this is extremely, extremely common. Particularly among those who struggle with entrapping sin. Sexual sin that is impossible to get out of. Drug and drink addiction which is impossible to get out of. So often they can throw up their hands and say, you know what, I can't do it. I've tried too many times. God is just going to have to fix me. And so I'm gonna continue enjoying this sin, blaming God for something that I myself am willfully doing. So these are the two general errors here, and like I said, a full treatment of this is well beyond the scope of this study, but this is some just general background to give us some context in trying to determine grace's role in sanctification. So let me ask you, in light of this, let's consider the first one. Where have you seen legalism, and how does an understanding of grace avoid it? And I'm talking about in the local church. You tell me, Caleb? I see people who think people talk about legalism when they're talking about, you know, you may not do this, you do that, and I assume that's always, oh, you're seeing legalistic, so therefore, Yeah, that hits at how legalism and antinomianism are really just mirror images of the same thing. You're right. Calling God's people to obey God's word and to obey it to a T, faithfully, is not legalism per se. It's a good point. Yeah, so you're talking about misinterpreted among other people or even in your own life? Both? Yeah, I will guarantee you like Caleb said there's a lot of people who look at what we do in this church as legalistic. the fact that we have what we call the regular principle of worship that kind of guides and instructs how we, our liturgy, like we don't just come together and do whatever up here on stage on Sundays, but we believe that we are guided by the Word of God and bound by the Word of God to to pray and to sing and to preach and to have the Lord's Supper because that's the elements of worship that we see in the New Testament. A lot of people would look at that and say, that's legalistic. Or what? Oh yeah, well that too. What are you trying to say, Kate? Kim? Yeah, I've seen legalism in my own life and not realized it until an admission of sin. Because it's so focused on self, when you think you're doing well and obeying. And then when you sin, oh God, I am so unworthy. I can't believe that I did that. understanding of grace that I'm not worthy even when I am obeying. I'm not worthy when I sin. It's not me, it's Christ. And so the focus with grace and understanding it is to, I want to obey because of his grace, because I've been justified, because I've been saved. But it's interesting to see Absolutely, and that gets at what I'm about to say. Cody? church, legalism and, I mean, antinomianism, but we'll turn to legalism, it's usually comes through like a focus that implies the error. You know, James Wise said, most heresies come through what's not said rather than what is. So if you can focus too much on obedience and following the law of God and good things, without grounding that in the objective word of promise of the gospel, will lead to a lack of the gospel, or a forfeiting of that promise. And the same thing with anti-non-believerism. If all you ever talk about is the gospel and the grace of God, but you never say that this leads to obedience, you never tell people that this transforms, that the gospel doesn't just justify, but sanctifies us, you imply that it doesn't. So it usually comes to focus. Yeah, that's an excellent observation. It is often an emphasis, focus, and things that are left unsaid. It's a man-centered focus, both ways, and just two different perspectives on it. Life is all about obeying the rules, or life is all about not obeying the rules and being okay with that. Yeah, I'm going to get to that in just a second. So, here, echoing what was just said, legalism may be a Christian life that is entirely focused on outward obedience. Right? It's focused on outward obedience, or it's focused on rules that are not clearly, objectively grounded in God's Word, and they serve as a de facto standard of faithfulness. Right? So, anyone who doesn't wear a suit and tie to church, to give a fundamentalist example, is seen as, in some respect, less spiritual? An outsider? Worldly? Again, this is an extreme example, but it's a rule that's not grounded in God's Word, or an over-focus on externals. drinking, smoking, dancing, worldliness, things of that nature. Or it can manifest itself in religious pride and self-righteousness towards those who don't agree with you or live like you do. It doesn't mean not having convictions. Let's not equate our culture's understanding of pride, which anyone who claims to know objective truth is seen as prideful and arrogant. No, we do hold objective truth, but being prideful and self-righteous towards others who don't is a manifestation of legalism. It's all about me. It's all about who I am as an obedient one and one who has the right doctrine, and these other people are lesser. Reminded here of 1 Corinthians 4, 7, where Paul asked him, what do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Why do you boast as if you are the one Who earned your salvation? Why are you boasting as if you're the one who's built yourself up into this outwardly obedient, strict, disciplined Christian? What about grace in our struggle with sin? Think of this again in the context of how errors can creep in. How easy is it, how common is it for us to look down on those who struggle with a particular sin, especially sins that we don't struggle with, and respond with something like, boy, they really just need to get their act together. So-and-so really needs to just discipline themselves and stop doing what they are doing. How often do we distance ourselves from those who fall into repeated habits of sin? You know, you get close to someone and then you start to see a little bit of who they are. It makes you uncomfortable. And you're like, wow, I kind of need to get away from them. We all do it. We all have done it. Boy, they are messed up. I really need to stay away. This is a failure to understand grace and how it operates in sanctification. This is an undue focus on the will of individuals, just like we talked about. Arminianism, right? An undue focus on man being able to decide for his salvation. This is an undue focus on man being able to cleanse himself from sin and sanctify himself. Yes. I wouldn't say I disagree with that, but I would also say legalism also leaves a lot of room for trapping sin. Because when you're trying to gain favor with God, you're trying to gain favor with people, and you've got to maintain a level of status. If you break that, you're losing ground. I mean, I know a lot of people who have come out, and they are homosexual, or have been involved in abortions, or whatever, and it's because of legalism. Yeah, absolutely. Inwardly, they are full of dead man's bones. Often, legalism is a cover for private secret sins that don't come out until later, or are suppressed and suppressed because the issue's never dealt with, and finally they explode. I'm a living proof of that in my own upbringing. So it's more deadly. Absolutely. You can slowly turn a church into a country club. It's all about appearances. Yeah, absolutely. It can. In fact, that's the cry of antinomians, actually. Legalism is the worst danger and error that a church could ever fall into because of the effects of it. And they have a good argument there. They're like, antinomianism is not near as dangerous as legalism, and they're probably right. That doesn't mean that antinomianism is okay, but it does speak to the level of destruction that legalism brings. Jesus reserved his harshest and most damning curses for people who are outwardly religious, but inwardly were full of dead man's bones. Alright, so, a right understanding of sin and grace teaches us that sanctification isn't just a matter of the do's and don'ts. Right behavior isn't just a matter of obeying the law, as if we can all, in our own power, just willfully decide to do that at the drop of a hat. We have been given the Spirit. We are no longer, I would say, totally depraved. We have the ability to do good. But it's dangerous to look at sanctification as simply just a matter of the will. That's what I'm arguing here. Whether in conversion or in sanctification, we must always confess, but for the grace of God, there go I. I am no different than so-and-so, except by the grace of God. And in this, a proper understanding of grace is that great antidote to pride and self-righteousness. Realizing that even our status right now, our sanctification right now, is a matter of grace. It's not because we are more serious, in part at least, more serious or more dedicated or more holy than other people. Here it's important to remember the Catechism which reflects the Westminster Baptist Catechism number 38. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace. See that? It's not your work. It's the work of God's free grace. And it's His free grace that renews the whole man after the image of God and enables us more and more to die into sin and to live into righteousness. This is incredibly freeing. We are who we are by the grace of God. Others are who they are by God's grace as well. And it's only from this perspective will we rightly understand sanctification and our call to love our neighbor. I'm going to take five minutes and blow through the rest of my material so we don't extend this another week. I'll try to leave time for questions at the end. So, finally, I guess in this sense, grace and antinomianism, I would just draw your attention to Titus 2, 11 through 14. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Grace brings salvation, he says. Grace is active. It trains us. That's against the antinomianism here. It trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live godly. Grace applied to our hearts works to purify us from all lawlessness, that's day-to-day disobedience, and to make us zealous for good works. Any understanding of grace that doesn't have this aim, this goal, this purpose, is an inadequate understanding of grace. So in this sense, a proper understanding of grace does not mean that we are entirely passive in our sanctification. I would not say that sanctification is synergistic, that's a discussion for another day. It's not us and God cooperating together, it's sanctification. But we are passive in the new birth, regeneration. We are passive in our justification as well, remember? You have been killed, you have been justified. But we are active in our conversion, when we're actually converted, faith and repentance. And as Luther said, in the same way, faith is a busy thing. It's always active in looking for things to do in love of God and neighbor. In this sense, God is the one who does the work of sanctification, but it's a work that we are active in. The context in which He does this is our submitting ourselves to Him as living sacrifices, which is our spiritual worship, our grateful obedience. I'm going to have to skip ahead and just conclude here. I was going to talk a little bit about wall light. So much in our day, you know, everything's about loving God and neighbor, everything is about avoiding the obvious sins, and then, you know, the big four when I was growing up in Southern Baptist circles, always have your quiet time, always tithe, always witness, and avoid, like, the bad things of, like, premarital sex and alcohol and things of that nature. The Christian life, really, that's the message I heard over and over and over and over and over again. It's like nothing else was ever talked about. This is a way, a subtle way, in which the law becomes the focus of the Christian life. This is a subtle form of legalism that keeps our behavior as the focal point of the Christian life. We've already talked about that, I guess, in part. But legalism doesn't always look like, oh, wear a suit and, you know, trim your sideburns. Otherwise, you know, it doesn't always look like that. It takes many different forms. But to conclude, whoops. Yes, I can conclude here. We're going to finish. I've got one minute. What does it have to do with the local church? Grace informs our purpose, our worship, our ministry. The focal point of the Christian life is about God blessing us, working in us, not simply our doing something for God. By understanding that the conversion of unbelievers and the sanctification, preservation of his people is accomplished by grace, we can focus on the means, the ways in which he has promised to pour out such grace. This is the ordinary means of grace that are the focal point of our worship and ministry. Mark Devers said here, to preserve functional centrality of the gospel or the functional centrality of grace in the local church, human method has to remain plain or else it will naturally supplant the gospel's rightful role. Applying this to the church in the sense that God is the main actor, God is our central focus, Grace and grace alone changes everything. And when we see that, we can truly see amazing grace. Because we understand that It is when we look into the face of Jesus Christ that we are transformed from one image to another. It's not looking into the face of the law. It's looking into Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That reality, ultimately, when that becomes a central focus of our life, everything changes. And we will obey the law. David Brannard said that I found among the, he was a minister, a missionary to the Native American pagans in the early years of this country, Jonathan Edwards' time. David Brannard said, I found that when I teach these natives about Christ and Him crucified, I rarely even have to instruct them on morals. It doesn't mean that we don't instruct on morals. He means simply that this is the paramount, the central focus. And from that, when people truly grasp that, obedience flows rightly. Let me close this in prayer. If you have questions, we can talk afterward.