Let's turn now to the Word of God together. I invite you to take your copy of God's Word and turn to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14. 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning in verse 13. Hear now the Word of God. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our Gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Now, O Lord, we pray your blessing upon the preaching of the Word. We pray that by the Spirit, the preaching of the Word of Christ would be the Word of Christ to the covenant people of Christ. Give us aid, we ask, in both the preaching and in the hearing of your infallible, perfect Word. In Jesus' name, amen. Sanctification is our topic for this evening because we are journeying through the doctrines of our faith and we've gotten to question number 38 in the Baptist Catechism of 1693. Let's define sanctification and then look to the Word of God as we reflect upon it. Question 38 asks us, what is sanctification? The Word is in our text, but what's a definition of sanctification? The answer is as follows. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. It's sanctification that is actually a running theme through 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. We find ourselves in 2nd Thessalonians tonight, but you need to know these two letters written by Paul to the church at Thessalonica, among other things, deal with the theme of sanctification. We've defined it, but let's look at 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. Flip over just a few pages to your left to 1st Thessalonians chapter 3. 1 Thessalonians 3, we get Paul's prayer for the church. Listen to what he says there. Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness. so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." Establishing the hearts of believers as blameless in holiness. But a chapter later, look what he says in 1 Thessalonians 4. It's a bold statement. Paul says, for this is the will of God. We've said this before. If the Word of God literally says, boldly, this is God's will, take heed. What is God's will? Look there. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God." And he continues, God's will for the believer is the believer's sanctification. He says in verse 7 of 1 Thessalonians 4, For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God. Did you catch that? He who rejects life in holiness does not reject man, but rejects God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. But then flip over another page to 1 Thessalonians 5. Here you see Paul's benediction. His blessing upon the saints there in Thessalonica. Listen to what he says. 1 Thessalonians 5. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you. Completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." So by his second letter to the church at Thessalonica, it shouldn't surprise us that this theme of sanctification comes up. In fact, it could be argued that the two main themes of the letters of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are the coming of Christ and sanctification. The coming of Christ and sanctification. And Paul, as we've seen, often merges them. You are being sanctified. God is going to do it, believer, until you see the face of your Savior at His coming. It's a theme that runs through these letters. So when we get to our text for this evening, 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14, it really shouldn't surprise us. that Paul has spent a great deal of time dealing with the believers' growth in holiness, their renewal, and being conformed to the image of the Son of God. So I want us to observe four things this evening regarding sanctification from our text. Four simple things. It's clearly a theme. But let's observe it. The first is this. Election results in sanctification. Election results in sanctification. Look what Paul says in our text. 2 Thessalonians 2. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit. That phrase there, God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification, helps us to see that election results in sanctification. Now notice this phrase. It's very interesting what Paul says, that God chose the believer, most literally the Thessalonian Christians, but all believers looking to Christ down through the ages. God chose the believer for salvation through two things. Sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So salvation means our gospel belief and sanctification. Now, we have to make sure that we don't confuse justification and sanctification. This is a tragic error in the Christian life. And there are many who make this error. And it doesn't mean that they're not true believers, but the confusion of these two categories, these two realities, causes a whole lot of angst and fear and doubt and worry. Just to review, boys and girls, justification is when God says that we are righteous, but He says so because He's looking at Jesus' righteous life. He says, I'm going to declare this man righteous, but not because of what they've done, but because of Jesus. That's a one-time declaration. It's a courtroom declaration. The judge of all the earth says, you're innocent. Because you have a record of righteousness. And you don't have a record of sin. And the reason is because Jesus died for you. And He lived the law for you. And He is your righteousness. That's justification. But sanctification, as we saw earlier, is what happens to the justified person. Over the life of the Christian, they grow more and more into the image of Christ. They look more and more like Jesus. But here's the thing, boys and girls. We never want to look at our lives and say there's sin there that I'm frustrated with. That sin hasn't fully gone away in my life. So that must mean I'm not justified. We don't want to confuse justification and sanctification. But, Paul is clear. Election results in sanctification. Let's look at a few other texts. We saw 1 Thessalonians 4.3. It's God's will. 1 Thessalonians 4.3 says, it's God's will that you and I are sanctified. But turn over to Romans chapter 8. There Paul mixes election and sanctification. Romans chapter 8. Romans 8, we'll pick up in verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. If you are in Christ, it means from all eternity God has chosen you. He has predestined you and that predestination results in you looking like Jesus. You growing in holiness. Our election results in sanctification. Said another way, there is no elect person who is not sanctified. There is no elect person who is not sanctified. But a second truth that we see in our text is this, sanctification puts us at odds with the world. Sanctification puts us at odds with the world. Look at where our text falls in this letter in 2 Thessalonians. Paul says in chapter two, verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation. He begins with a contrast, doesn't he? But for you, we're bound to give thanks. What comes before it? Let's look at what comes right before our text. Chapter 2, verse 1. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come, unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth." It's a side note. I wish we had time to have a sermon right there. The Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they may believe the lie, that they may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Period. New sentence. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you. There's a different group being referenced here. This text lines up with our text from this morning. And I didn't plan it that way. Right? That there is a great deception coming and already abounding in our world. There are those who reject truth and live according to Antichrist. But Paul thanks God for a particular group. Those that are distinguished. by believing the truth and by sanctification. You see, sanctification puts us at odds with the world. One of the startling messages of our time is absolutely illogical, and yet it's being received by the millions all across this world. It goes like this. Jesus is Savior. Trust Him and He will make your life easy. He will make you rich. He will make you happy. Come to Christ and have your best life now. The only problem with that is it's not biblical. In fact, if you read the pages of the New Testament, coming to Christ is glorious, but it is a life of war. God, working by His grace within you, a war with remaining sin in your life. Paul thanks God for those that God loves because they look different than the world. They're at odds with the world. They haven't given in to the lie. They've been changed by sanctification by the Spirit. So if you're wondering sometimes why you seem to be the weird one as a believer, why life is challenging, why sin abounds, You should remember it's God's very grace to you that you are even aware of your sinfulness and that God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. But there's a third lesson in our text. True gospel belief is always accompanied by sanctification. Election results in it. Sanctification puts us at odds with the world, but true gospel belief is always accompanied. It's followed by sanctification. Notice the pairing here in v. 13. Paul says, I thank God for you. God loves you. I thank Him for you because He's chosen you for salvation through sanctification and belief. Through sanctification and belief. Paul pairs belief in the gospel and sanctification. And then look what he says in the next verse, verse 14. Did you know that when you were called by the gospel of Jesus Christ, you were called to belief? But ultimately, you were called to a life of sanctification. It's God's work in you, but you were called to it by the Gospel. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 7 and 8, Paul speaks to this. Flip there again with me. 1 Thessalonians 4, 7 and 8. He says this, For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. Part of the gift of the Holy Spirit is our growth in holiness. It's our growth in holiness. You see, true gospel belief is always accompanied by growth and holiness, by being conformed to the image of the Son of God. It's marked by the grace of God in the life of the believer. Now notice, this is not to say that every believer will be where they want to be in sanctification. It is also not to say that every believer will be fully sanctified. But it is to say, gospel belief is always accompanied by the process of sanctification. Well, I think Paul gives us at least one other element in our text, and that is this. Sanctification prepares us for Christ's return. We often think about the Lord coming. Many times when bad things happen, we say, come Lord Jesus. That's a biblical thing to do. But in the New Testament, the writers often pair the coming of Christ with being ready for the coming of Christ. And often in the context of sanctification. That we are purified as we look to the pure one who is to come. Paul says in our text in verse 14, The following thing, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those that are called are justified and those that are justified are indeed sanctified and those that are sanctified will be glorified. Notice what Paul says one chapter earlier about the second coming of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 10. Speaking of judgment and then of His saints, he says this, These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. When He comes in that day. So this is Jesus. The day of His coming. Notice what he says next. to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed." Notice the connection of gospel belief in verse 10 of chapter 1, and in verses 13 and 14 in chapter 2. The coming of Jesus Christ Glorying in Jesus Christ, awaiting the coming day when He comes is paired with growth in sanctification. Sanctification, brothers and sisters, prepares us for Christ's return. Now, most of us could hear these four points. We could look at this text. We could say, sure, there's a theme of sanctification running throughout the pages of Scripture. And I'm assuming most of us, if not all of us, believe, yes, every believer will be growing in holiness. But we live in a day where even in churches that proclaim gospel truth, the expectation of sanctification is not really focused on. Christ has justified me. That is all. And I would argue with that individual lovingly and gently, and I would say gospel belief is always accompanied by sanctification. What is it? It's the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. It's Paul's theme in these letters, among other themes. One resource that I would highly recommend to you as we go through the confession, or at the catechism this year, is Benjamin Betham's A Scriptural Exposition for the Baptist Catechism. Let me just read a few paragraphs, and you will see just the richness of the text. Listen to what he writes. It's a series of questions and answers. Is sanctification more than an external reformation? Yes. You make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within are full of extortion and excess." Matthew 23, 25. Is it more than civility and good nature? Yes. Mark 10, 21. For he who had this yet lacked one thing. Is it more than conviction? Yes. For Ahab humbled himself. 1 Kings 21, 29. Is it more than an outward profession? Yes. 2 Timothy 3, 5. For some have the form of godliness who deny the power. Does sanctification imply a universal change? Yes. 2 Corinthians 5.17 Old things are passed away, and all things are become new. Does it extend to the inward man? Yes. Ephesians 4.23 We are renewed in the spirit of our mind. Is the understanding enlightened? Yes. Ephesians 5.8 Ye were darkness, but now you are light. Is the saint renewed after the image of God? Yes. Colossians 3.10, put on the new man which is renewed after the image of Him that has created him. Is it after the pattern of Christ? Yes. Galatians 4.9, my little children of whom I travail in birth till Christ be formed in you. Does he live in the exercise of every grace? Yes, Galatians 2.20. The life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. And would he be found in the practice of every duty? Yes, Romans 12.11. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Is sin mortified in those that are sanctified? Yes. Galatians 5.24 They are that our Christ's have crucified the flesh. Is this a difficult work? Yes. Hebrews 12.4 We read of resisting unto blood, striving against sin. But is it a needful work? Yes. Matthew 18.8 If thy hand or thy foot offends you, cut it off. For it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than to be cast into eternal fire. Do those that are dead unto sin live unto righteousness? Yes. 1 Peter 2.24 Being dead to sin, we live to righteousness. Is the work of sanctification imperfect in this present life? Yes. Philippians 3.12 Not as though I had already attained. Is it progressive? Yes. Proverbs 4.18 The path of the just is like a shining light, shining more and more. And will it be complete above? Yes. 1 Corinthians 13, 10. When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. Brothers and sisters, Christ has shed His blood for your sins. The Father is looking at the Son and declaring every believer righteous. And by belief in Christ, we enter into both justification and into a life of God changing us in sanctification. Let's pray. Almighty God, we pray that you would cause our hearts and minds to think on these truths. to see that in preparation for the coming of Christ, you are in the midst of doing a great and mighty work within us, taking men and women, boys and girls by your grace, by your spirit and doing the work of sanctifying them, making them look more and more like the Son of God, not leaving them in the mess in which they've been found. We pray that we might grow and desire to grow. and sanctification, knowing that you who began a good work in us, you are faithful to complete it unto the day of redemption. In Jesus' name, Amen.