2 Peter 1. Again, as we are really in the beginning of our series on biblical counseling and discipleship, which are just synonymous terms really, we're trying to lay some foundational understanding, some foundational building blocks in our minds as to how we understand how all this stuff works biblically. We prayed through this morning some of the goals that we have. And one of the goals that's just in general, and it's obvious, that any Christian ought to have in their life is to grow. I mean, the goal of growth is really just a basic fundamental goal that any Christian ought to have. What we want to look at this morning is we want to look at what does the Bible have to say about that theologically. We're going to look practically as to how we grow and change in a different message. But we want to think about sanctification this morning. Particularly, we want to think about progressive sanctification this morning. And so I want us to start out in 2 Peter 1, and then we'll get some introductory comments and then we'll begin to define some terms. So 2 Peter 1. When again, just to clarify what we're talking about, we're talking about sanctification. It's a, this is not the definition, but this is what we're referring to. We're referring to spiritual growth. That's what we'll be talking about and how the Bible lays out how that works. 2 Peter 1. We're going to read verses 1-11. Just make some introductory comments here. So 2 Peter 1, verse 1, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. may grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, and besides this, giving all diligence. Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. for so an entrant shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." So as we think about this passage, I just want to think about really five realities. Number one is we're thinking about spiritual growth. Just based on this passage, there are others we'll look at this morning. But just based on this passage, it is pretty clear. The Bible views spiritual growth as a normal and expected part of the Christian life. The Bible views spiritual growth as a normal and expected part of the Christian life. Why would I even say that? Well, there are different mindsets today on this whole matter of sanctification, growth, and so forth and so on. And one mindset is that you have these different categories of Christians. And those that actually make progress in their walk with the Lord are in some sort of an elite category. And that's just not found in Scripture. If you've been indwelt by the Spirit of God, then you've been given, and we're going to talk, you know, I'll point this out again, but you've been given all that you need. As a matter of fact, you've been indwelt by a person who will for the rest of your life be working in you to do both the will, I'm sorry, to produce both the will and ability to do God's good pleasure. So anyway, the Bible views spiritual growth not as some abnormal thing, not as reserved for some spiritually elite people within the Christian wall, but it's just normal. Second observation from the text. Out of verse One, Peter is writing to those who he describes as having obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The obtaining of faith and grace are prerequisites to growth or sanctification. You cannot grow without faith. You cannot grow without grace. And when I say the obtaining of it, the word here, obtaining, the word picture is it's as if something drops into your lap. Right? It has to be given. It's given to you by God. It's received by you from God. And the point here is where there is no faith that's given by grace, There is no ability for spiritual growth. You have to be, another way of saying this, Jesus uses the illustration or the metaphor maybe in John chapter 15, that he's the vine and you're the branch, and unless you're actually connected to that vine through faith, or by faith through grace, you are not gonna grow. So, there's no spiritual growth outside of that. Next, and this is an aspect of this passage that gets overlooked so often. God has given you all that you need for spiritual growth. You're not in need of a second blessing. You're not in need of more faith. You're not in need of something that you haven't already been given. when you were indwelt by the Spirit of God, the moment of regeneration." Now, listen to what the text has to say. According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world." Just shorthand, Peter tells us two things. Number one, you've been given divine power. You've been given what you need by God through the knowledge of Him. who has called you. Secondly, you've been given divine promises. And again, the implication here, you've been given sufficient resources for spiritual growth. You have all that you need. Number three, maybe this is number four, sorry. God has given you clear instructions on how you ought to grow. God has given you clear instructions on how you ought to grow. Notice verse 5. Besides this, that is besides these great and precious promises, besides this obtaining of faith by grace, besides this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and so forth and so on, A couple of things. God tells you how you ought to approach growth. And how is that? Well, number one, by making every effort. Growth takes effort. And one of the more destructive ideas in the world of Christianity about how growth works is that it's just that you as an individual, you're just passive. Your place in growth is to just give it over to God, let go and let God, let Jesus take the wheel, whatever else you want to say. It's that's that's an unbiblical concept when it relates to spiritual growth. And we're going to look at the cooperative effort later. in the message. Peter says, besides this, giving all diligence. Now that little phrase, all diligence could be translated, make every effort, strive to the point of exhaustion. So growing is hard work. It's it's not passive. Second, when we think about instructions on how to grow, it's not just our approach that is with effort, but then the question has to be, what exactly are we putting effort into? What would it mean to grow? What do we prioritize? Well, God tells us what spiritual growth looks like. As Peter goes on in this passage, 5b through verse 7, it is the cultivating and growing of godly virtues. In other words, God wants to grow your character. And as your character grows, then your choices and your outer man decisions, things like that, are going to be transformed as well. But God is growing you from the inside out. And you'll notice in this passage here, 2 Peter 1, he's talking about godly virtues, character qualities. It's very similar to what Paul writes in Galatians 5, 22 and 23, as far as the fruit of the spirit that we recently looked at. God's given you clear instructions on how you ought to approach it and what it would look like. And then last, as far as our introductory comments go, God has also laid out for us the benefits of spiritual growth. That's verses 8 through 11, the benefits for spiritual growth. Number one out of verse 8, he says that if these things be in you, that is these godly virtues, these character qualities, if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Make you that you won't be barren or unfruitful in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, growth will bless you to have a fruitful life. This is also very informative as far as what, you know, again, what it might look like. Some people take the approach that growth is just an accumulation of knowledge and that's it. You know, there's a category, I mean, Peter gives it to us here. There's a category of accumulating knowledge and continuing to remain barren and unfruitful. God wants what you know to transform who you are, which in turn will transform how you live your life. So it'll be blessed to live a fruitful life. And then verses 9 through 11, and we'll look at these a little closer, maybe this afternoon. The other benefit here is the assurance of your salvation. the assurance of your salvation. He that lacks these things is blind. He cannot see afar off. He's forgotten that he was purged from his old sins and making your calling election sure and so forth and so on. These are the benefits of spiritual growth. Now, let's think for a minute about defining what we mean when we say progressive sanctification. What do we mean? The first thing I want to do is for us to make a distinction between justification and sanctification. Justification and sanctification. And I think as far as clarity goes, I think J. Adams does a great job in this paragraph, so I'll read it. He says, through one representative act of rebellion, Adam plunged the entire human race into sin. by eating the forbidden fruit. He caused two things to happen. From birth, all men except Jesus became guilty and all men became corrupt. God deals with guilt by the act of justifying those who believe the gospel and who are cleansed by the blood of Christ, obviously. And He deals with corruption by the process of sanctifying them. Sanctification is needed, therefore, because of man's corruption. I think this is very helpful to think about the two categories of guilt and corruption. So when we think about justification, that is a man or a woman who is justified before God, this refers to our legal standing before God. We are justified before God in a moment. This is not a process. There's there's no such thing as progressive justification. It is a once for all declaration. You're either made right with God or maybe I should say it this way. You're either in a right standing with God or you're in a wrong standing with God. It's one of the two. There's no gray area in between. Really, it means because of the substitutionary atonement of Christ that He's made on our behalf, we are declared 100% righteous by God. And so again, I think it's important for us to understand you're either one or the other. The reason I put 100% righteous, as it relates to God's economy, You're either viewed as 100% righteous or 0% righteous. There's no individual that God looks at and says, well, he's hit about 45%. It's either all or nothing. You're either justified or you're condemned. One of the two. Now, sanctification. We're thinking about sanctification. We just think about the definition of the word. Sanctification means to be separate, means to be set apart or to be holy. When we think about being set apart, this is really the most common way this is used. It's two different aspects. We are set apart from the world. But we are also set apart for God. So we kind of think about this in the same way we think about repentance and faith. In repentance, you turn from sin. In faith, you turn to God. When we're thinking about this setting apart, it means, number one, that we're moving further and further away from being conformed to the world. And it means we're becoming more and more transformed through the renewing of our minds. So less like the world, more like Christ. Sanctification has really a twofold setting apart. 2 Corinthians 3 is helpful as we think through why do we say progressive sanctification? Why do we say progressive sanctification? Sometimes this term progressive has been criticized. Sometimes it's been misunderstood, misapplied. 2 Corinthians 3, In verse 18, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, Paul makes this statement, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. Now you've been here, you've heard me talk about this passage before. Paul talks about the fact that in beholding the glory of the Lord, we are changed into that same image from glory to glory. That could be translated from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. Okay, so it's incremental change. And when we say progressive sanctification, that's because we mean you don't go from, let's just use me for an example, I don't go from unregenerate Lewis to glorified Lewis in a moment. It's through a series of progressive changes that take place over the entirety of my life. So I won't be glorified until either I die or Christ returns. So from the time that the Spirit made me alive to God until the time that glorification happens, I am progressively being changed. Little by little by little. God uses all kinds of things for that. And we'll get into that. Some in this message, some in others. Also in Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three. In Colossians 3.9, Paul says, "'Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.'" Now, really what I want to point out here, really what I want to focus on is this little phrase, the new man that is renewed in knowledge. The word there, renewed, is a present tense verb, which just means this is an ongoing process. So it should really say it this way, having put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Now, the reality that's being pointed out there is that this renewal process is ongoing. Now, part of what that means is this, and so many Christians can get discouraged over what they perceive, and maybe it's an accurate perception, what they perceive as being just a lack of growth or a lack of maturity or a lack of success in this area. But here is the truth about me and you. There is gonna be a need for renewing in our lives. In other words, there's gonna be a need for growth and sanctification in our lives. until glorification happens, that is, either when Christ comes back or you and I die. Sometimes we can get issues, problems in our mind that really are on the front burner. Maybe they should be, I don't know, but sometimes we do need to prioritize areas. And we just think, if I could just have success in this one area, everything would be good. If I could just achieve this level of growth, if I could just achieve success over this one sin, or if I could just achieve peace in this one area, then everything would be good. That's just not true. I hate to break it to you, but there are a bazillion areas in need of growth in your life. And God's working on all bazillion of them. And you can only see about five of them right now. So this is going to be a progressive, ongoing thing categorically and across the whole scope of your life. Now, the New Testament speaks of sanctification in really in two different ways, two different ways. Theologians have broken this up into two categories. The first one is positional sanctification. Positional sanctification. This is not really what we're talking about today, but it is worth clarifying. Positional sanctification refers to our position in Christ and the fact that in Him that is clothed in His righteousness or standing before God is spotless. So as God views you, Really, just another way, I think, to talk about the effects of justification. But as God views you in Christ, you are spotless. It is important to make this distinction. A couple of passages, maybe, that would point this out. 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, Paul says, But of him that is of God are ye in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. God has made him unto us our sanctification. Again, we're thinking positionally. Christ is our sanctification. Now it's through the power of Christ that this is practically lived out, but when God views you in Christ, you are set apart. You are holy. Why is it important to point that out? Well, this is where folks have gone wrong. At least some theologians have gone wrong in the past, and that is with this idea that Whatever level of spiritual growth you are in, so let's just say you're in a place where you're making lots of progress spiritually, that somehow that increases God's favor toward you. Or let's just say that you're in a season of life where you don't perceive the kind of growth that you wish you could perceive in your life. Well, that doesn't decrease God's favor toward you. Your growth is all of Christ. And all the favor that you ever have received and ever will receive from God was secured for you when Christ died for you on the cross. You were washed in His blood. Positionally, you were declared righteous. your sanctification is secured in Him. Really, again, what it means for you to be sanctified is for you to just become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. The only way that you can do that is through the power of the Spirit of Christ that's working in you. And so it's important to understand positionally in Christ God views us as being sanctified from the standpoint that His favor cannot be increased, it cannot be diminished based on your performance. Secondly, and this is really what we're after, is progressive. So not positional sanctification, progressive sanctification. This is the lifelong work of the Holy Spirit. in the hearts and lives of believers, by which they are made holy, delivered from the filthiness and power of sin, and in which they begin to live in obedience to God and to His Word." So this is where we take, or I say we, this is where the Spirit takes what you are positionally and begins to transform you practically into who you are in Christ. So you become more and more separated from the world. You become more holy in reality. And you become more and more obedient to the Lord. Second reality about progressive sanctification. Second point, maybe. Sanctification as the Bible describes it, is without dispute, the will of God for every single believer. Okay. Sanctification is the will of God for you. Now, why is that important? Well, it's important for a lot of different reasons, but you know, one of the things that many times people are plagued with is trying to solve what seems to be a riddle in their minds and discerning, what is the will of God for my life? What is the will of God for my life? Well, God doesn't always answer that in the specifics, but He does give us principles to be able to discern that in the specifics of our lives. So, for example, someone might be trying to wrestle through a job change, and they just think, what is the will of God for my life in this job change? Well, categorically, I already know this. God's will for my life is sanctification. And sanctification, as we grow to understand how growth and change takes place in God's economy, sanctification takes place in the context, or at least this is one of the provisions that God has given us, of a local church. And so if I'm thinking about taking a job in an area where there is not a good, solid, Bible-believing local church to be a part of, and yet, you know, there are so many other benefits, The job pays more than what I'm currently making. Maybe the job is even more suited to what I think I've been gifted in. If I'm trying to discern God's will and I recognize God's will for me is that I would be sanctified, then that automatically gives me some things that I can be checking off. I'm not going to. choose what would be more pleasant to the flesh, what would be more perceivingly beneficial materially for me, if it's going to compromise my growth, if it's going to compromise what I know is God's will for me. That's just one example that I just pulled out. We could do a bunch of those. God's will for me is that I would be sanctified. Now, let's look at that as far as Scripture is concerned. Look in 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 13. Peter says, Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance, but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." That is, in all manner of life or living. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. So Peter's instructions here, his exhortation, really, to people who are in suffering of all things. They're undergoing persecution. And his instruction to them is that they would, as obedient children, fashion themselves according, or not fashion themselves according to the former desires and ignorance, but that they would be holy, even as God is holy. Now, Peter is quoting several passages from Leviticus. Leviticus 11.44, Leviticus 19.2, Leviticus 27, where God calls His people to be separate, to come out from among the world. This is God's will. Since He is holy, He calls you and I to be holy. Well, that's a nice general call, but what does that apply to? What do we actually do with that? Well, this answers a whole lot of questions for us. Does God care about how you think? Well, He wants you to be holy, so yes. Does God care about what you consume? That is, the kind of entertainment you consume. Well, God wants you to be holy, so yes. Does God care about who you choose as companions? Well, yeah, because He wants you to be holy. Does God care about what your priorities in life are? Well, sure, because He wants you to be holy. Does God care about how you speak? Well, sure He does. He wants you to be holy. Does God care about, and you can fill in the blank. I mean, we could spend the entire sermon going through that. This is a comprehensive command. Be holy. In what area of life? Every area of life. In what aspect of my being? In every aspect of your being. And someone says, okay, okay, I'm going to be holy. So this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to look and see what the world is like, and I'm going to do my best to be the polar opposite of that. That's not called holy. You may have set yourself apart from the world, but you've got to also set yourself apart for God. So what I mean by that is, as you're turning away from something, you need to know what you turn to. There's a lot of people who think they're holy and they're not. They're just legalistic. And legalism is just fueled by pride and self-preference. Holiness is not doing your best not to look like the world. Holiness is doing your best to look like God. And those two things are not the same. We need to know what we're running from, and we also need to know what we're running toward as it relates to holiness. Jesus says that the truth will set you free, okay? And so as we're thinking about what freedom looks like, it's easy to run from bondage to bondage. But we're seeking to run from the filth and the bondage of sin and walk in the freedom that has been secured for us in Christ. And that freedom is realized and that freedom really is attained as we're conformed more and more to His image." So, holiness doesn't look like being snarky. Holiness doesn't look like being rude. It doesn't look like being harsh. It doesn't look like you deciding what preference you like more than anything else and thinking that that elevates you above folks. Holiness looks like being transformed through the renewing of your mind through the Word of God. So if we are going to grow in holiness and we're trying to apply a passage like this, brothers and sisters, we don't get to choose the standard. God has already chosen the standard. And it's our job to adopt it. So in this kind of thing, there's all kinds of preferences. There's all kinds of things that you like and that you wish and that you prefer. And God says, that amounts to nothing as it relates to your sanctification. Your job is to bow the knee as Christ did and to have the heart posture of, Lord, your will be done. Whether I'm comfortable with it or not, your word is what I'm going to place myself under. So God calls us to holiness or sanctification. In John 17, 17, John 17, 17. Not only does God call us to holiness or to sanctification, Jesus has prayed for your sanctification. John 17, 17, in the high priestly prayer, Jesus prays, "'Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word.'" And He goes on with the prayer, But Christ has specifically prayed for your sanctification. And again, not only has He prayed for your sanctification, but He's also laid out for us the means of that sanctification. That is, how it is that God would set you apart. How it is that God would make you more and more holy, and that is through the truth. The transforming power of the Holy Spirit applying the truth of God's Word to your life Christ has prayed for your sanctification. Next we have, and this will be the last one, we could come and we could go through a lot of these, but just one more just explicit passage that leaves no doubt as to what we're saying. First Thessalonians chapter four. 1 Thessalonians 4. Starting in verse 1, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication." Now, I just want to stop here. Obviously, there's a clear reference to what we've been talking about in verse 3, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. You'll notice if you've got a KJV Bible, the even is in italics. So this is the will of God, your sanctification. This is God's will for you. Now then, I want you to see how he applies this. That you should abstain from fornication, sexual immorality. Now, I want you to think about why it's important. I want to hopefully illustrate why it's important that we think about life from a God-oriented worldview. Paul here is getting ready to address sexual immorality. Now, in the world that we live in, he might have said something like sexual addiction. What's the solution to that? Well, it really kind of depends on who you're asking. I mean, there's all kinds of different tactics that people would take to try to help someone in this area. Some would say, well, this is more of a disease than anything else. It's a disease that this individual has gotten like any other addiction. Again, this is a worldly concept, like any other addiction. And so really what they need is healing and they need patience and they need acceptance and so forth and so on. Maybe there's some medication that they could take that would help with this. There are plenty of things that we could dig in from their past and maybe drum up some things from their unconsciousness and so forth and so on. Paul says, you want to know what the solution is to this problem? Sanctification. That's the solution. That's not simplistic. There's a lot of details that go into that. There may be some past things that need to be worked through, but this isn't something that someone has caught. This isn't a disease. This isn't a thing where an individual is passive in this. What is the means by which any Christian overcomes Something like this. You could throw any addiction in here. Sanctification. Sanctification. practically seeking to apply the Word of God to your specific circumstances, and then walking in that through the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's exactly what Paul does, if you continue to read 1 Thessalonians 4, as he encourages how they ought to be thinking about this issue, how they ought to be behaving in relation to this issue, and how they can be overcoming this issue. So, sanctification is the will of God for your life. Third, this is our last point for this morning. As you think about growth and change as it relates to sanctification, sanctification is transformation. It's not recovery. It's not giving you a little boost. It's not you being the best version of you. It's transformation, meaning you are becoming less like you because you're being transformed into the image of Christ. So we see that kind of language in Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. where Paul says, "'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, but you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." So in Romans 12, Paul is referring to an inner renewing of the mind that transforms an individual in their actions, behaviors, and really in their thoughts as well. The Greek word that's translated transformed is where we get our English word metamorphosis. So you think about the way that a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly or a tadpole is transformed into a frog. There's this new quality. There's this newness about those animals, bug, whatever these things are. The same Greek word is used in the New Testament and a couple of other places. In Mark 9, verse 2, Mark uses this same word when he talks about Jesus being transfigured. He goes up into the mountain and He was transfigured and His glory was bright. The same word that's used in Romans 12, you be transformed. That word is also used in 2 Corinthians 3, 18, where we were just reading where Paul says we are transformed. I'm sorry. We are changed from one degree of glory to another. The are changed. We are changed. It's the same word as transform. So you are transformed from one degree of glory to another. It's not, again, that you're becoming a better version of you. It's that you're becoming a lesser version of you and a greater version of Christ so that you are denying yourself, you are yielding yourself to God and you are growing in your character to reflect the very character of Jesus Christ. Look in Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. This is a good description, at least categorically, a good description of what we're talking about when we're talking about sanctification. Isaiah 55, 7 and 8. He says, "'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Of course, we were just here on Wednesday, but two categories in verse 7 that God says that the wicked need to forsake. This needs to be changed. This needs to be really transformed. He says, let the wicked forsake his way. That's just talking about actions, his lifestyle, how it is that he's living. He needs to forsake his way. And then he says in a synonymous way, really in a parallel, he says, and let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. So why do we say this? Well, because change, superficial change, is that which happens typically just on the outside. This is really the kind of change that the world offers, and it's just a rearranging of the flesh. Let me rearrange a few outer things. Let's just focus on outward behaviors. But God says, that's not the kind of change that I'm after. I'm after the kind of change that addresses not just what you do, but I'm after the kind of change that addresses how you think, what you're motivated by. I'm after the kind of change that produces this Proverbs 23 diligence of guarding your heart because you realize that from it flows the issues of life. Transformation is what takes place when you are changed both on the outside and on the inside. So if we were, again, to go back and take what Paul is doing in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul doesn't just say this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. Now quit committing fornication and then move on to the next topic. No, Paul talks about how we ought to be thinking about fornication. how we ought to be thinking about what God thinks about fornication. how we ought to be thinking about strategic ways to avoid fornication. How we ought to be thinking about, from God's perspective, what is actually occurring between me and another individual when fornication takes place. You see, a whole lot of what Paul is focusing on in a passage like that, or you could go to Ephesians 4 and look at the put-offs and the put-ons and the renewing of our mind. So much of that is dealing with the way we're thinking about it categorically. We could illustrate this in all kinds of ways. How do you know if somebody loves you? It's kind of a common occurrence that a husband and a wife get married and things are great, typically the way, this is stereotypically how this happens. And then time goes on, and the husband is the husband, and the wife is the wife, and eventually the wife comes to the place to where she wonders, does this man even love me? Does he even love me? I mean, he doesn't act like he used to act. I'm not getting the kind of attention I used to get. Do you even love me anymore? Now, y'all probably never thought that, but I've heard of folks who have. How do you know if somebody loves you? Well, it depends on your definition of love, doesn't it? Okay, because eventually what happens is, after the crisis of does this person love me or not love me, eventually as you grow and you mature and you begin to understand things and you recognize, yeah, of course they do. Of course they do. Now, they may not, you know, scratch my every itch as far as meet my every preference, but of course they love me. The tenor of their life does. How we think about things really does matter. We could use that same example, and the world is really using this as it relates to sin issues. And they say, well, you just ought to love everybody. You just ought to love everybody. And what they really mean is you ought to accept everybody without any question. You ought to affirm everybody without any question. Well, what's the problem there? It's how you're thinking about the word love. So your thoughts are always going to transform and dictate your actions. Now, again, why do we take the time to make this distinction, especially in a message about growth and change? Because it's vital that you're able to discern between the jargon that the world throws out and the truth that Scripture lays out as it relates to this issue. Let me give you one example, and we could come up with a bunch. Let me give this quote first. Sanctification, and this does give an example. Sanctification is a lifelong process of repentance, not recovery, and obedience, not inner healing. that results in holiness, not wholeness, for the glory of God, not personal fulfillment. Now, I know I'm just reading that. It'd probably be easier if you were looking at it, but are you catching the nuances? Let me give a real example here as we think about how we think about these things categorically. Think about this example or this secular theory that it's been around for a long time and it's still being propagated, that in order for an individual to grow and to make progress, what they really need is to work to heal their inner child. That's been around for a long time. Matter of fact, some people in here have probably believed that at some point. Some of you may have believed it this morning and you're thinking, I'll never admit that now, This has been a popular thing. In order for you to grow and change, what you really need to do And what has to happen is you must heal your inner child. There's these theories that there are times when these traumatic events can happen and you just kind of get stuck emotionally or mentally because of a traumatic event at a particular age, and you're never able to progress unless you go back, even if it's 30, 40 years later, and heal that inner child that still exists. Let me give you a quote a psychologist who explains this. The healing of your inner child is about learning how to move forward, rediscovering what you need, recapturing what you've lost, and reparenting your younger self so you can heal from past experiences. There are millions of Christians who sit in the pew Sunday after Sunday who have problems and have areas where they need to grow and change, and they drink this stuff up like water. It must be my inner child. It must be. that I need to reparent myself, so forth and so on. Now, in doing all this, I'm certainly not criticizing anyone who's experienced a traumatic event. I think there are ways that we address the suffering and there's ways that we point people to the healing that God gives, but it's certainly not this. This is completely unbiblical in its understanding of the person And remember Wednesday we talked about biblical anthropology, that is just understanding what does God, what does the Bible say about humanity? Do we have categories for 60-year-olds going back and healing their inner 10-year-old in Scripture? The answer is no. Now, do we have categories of renewing our minds so that we're no longer thinking about things that happened to us when we were 10 the same way that we were then? The answer is yes. Okay, so completely unbiblical in how we understand anthropology. It's also unbiblical in how we understand the root of human problems. It's unbiblical as we think about the means of growth and change. And the end goal to this sort of thing is completely unbiblical when we think about the means of growth and change. Now, sometimes people hear this and they think, Lewis, you just are not compassionate at all. You need to be more sympathetic. You just don't know enough about the suffering that is out there in the world. And I would dare say outside of maybe one or two of you, I know way more about that stuff than you do because I sit with people who have experienced it and work with them on a regular basis. And the reason they've made their way to me most of the time is because they went to wells that didn't hold water and they trusted in promises that would not and did not proved to be true, and they were ready to look to see what God actually had to say about growth and change, even in some very traumatic circumstances. And in a nutshell, this is nothing for you to delve into specifics with, but in a nutshell, God's answer for growth and change as it relates to sinners and sufferers is the lifelong process of sanctification. that we would grow, that we would grow in how we're thinking, that we would grow in how we're responding, that we would grow in how we're living. We'll come back this afternoon and look at a couple of more specific areas there. Let's pray. Father, I do thank You for Your Word. Lord, I thank You for speaking to us, giving us a clear word about how we ought to think in this area. And so I pray that as individuals we would commit ourselves to the growth process of sanctification. That we would embrace this reality that it is just normal in Scripture for Christians to be growing. We've been given what we need. That we would seek to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. And that we would embrace that this is your will for our lives. And so that we would not minimize or not make it a priority. Lord, I pray that you would also bless us in our understanding of sanctification, that it would help as we practically think about what it means to change and to grow. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.