We're turning to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 for Bible reading and we'll come into the chapter at the verse number 6. So it's Titus chapter 2 and the verse number 6. Paul is writing here to Titus. He's already spoken to the aged man and the aged woman and the young woman and now he speaks to the young man. Verse number 6. Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is off the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that it bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority that no man despise thee. Amen, and we'll end at the end of the chapter, our Bible reading. Let's seek the Lord in prayer. Our Father and our God in heaven, we gather round thy word as the family of God, and we just cry to thee that thou wilt come by thy Holy Spirit. Be our instructor, be our teacher. We recognize, O God, that a lesson taught by the Holy Spirit God is worth more than a thousand lessons taught by a mere man. Oh, may the Spirit be our teacher. Instruct us in the Word. Open our hearts. Help us to receive the engrafted Word of God with meekness. Oh God, with meekness. Help us, oh God, not to resist what God would say to us today, but help us knowing that obedience to thy Word is the is a pathway to blessing. O God, bring us to that place where we say, not my will, but thine be done. To that place, O God, where we would say, speak, for thy servant heareth. So come, Lord, clothe me with power. Lord, grant every word to come from God. And grant, O God, thy blessing to attend even now this worship service. We offer prayer in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. Too often Christians stop at the forgiveness of sins when they think about God's salvation. Such people think, and now my sins are forgiven, I'm on the road to heaven, and really that's all that is involved in salvation. But the Scriptures make it clear that what Christ has secured for us on the cross of Calvary goes much further than just the forgiveness of our sins. Christ not only died to save us from sin, Christ not only died to save us from hell, but he died to sanctify us. He died in order to make us holy. It was that truth that Paul presented to his understudy Titus here in Titus chapter 2 and the verses 13 And 14, there Paul wrote, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Paul speaks of our redemption. He speaks of our salvation from sin, our redemption from all iniquity. And then he proceeds to speak about how Christ gave himself in order that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He speaks then of our sanctification, because whenever God saves a person, he then proceeds to sanctify that person. So a lack of sanctification in one's life is an evidence that there is a lack of a genuine salvation experience. The lack of sanctification in our lives is an evidence that there is a lack of a genuine salvation experience. Those whom he justifies, he also sanctifies. And we must remember that and keep that ever at the forefront of our minds. Now, as the downgrade of the gospel of Jesus Christ continues in the evangelical church, we notice that little emphasis is given to what we are supposed to be after our conversion. There is a failure by preachers to impress upon the convert the vital importance of sanctification. As I was reading and preparing, I read this quote from one preacher. He went as far as saying, an evangelism which stops at forgiveness is not biblical evangelism. Because the heart of all preaching is that essence of sin that is separation from God. And if we preach reconciliation truly, we must be preaching also sanctification. We're going to preach concerning reconciliation, then there needs to be also a preaching about this need for sanctification. If we're going to be biblical in our understanding of salvation, then we need to understand that the work of sanctification is as vital a part of salvation as is our justification and is not a optional extra. Sanctification is not an optional extra, but it is part of God's so great salvation. Now let me remind you, or today, Can I say that we're going to look at one singular point as we think about this matter of sanctification? Because we're going to look about concerning the personalities that are involved in our sanctification. The personalities involved in our sanctification. Now let me do a little bit of a recap with respect to what sanctification truly is. Sanctification is that work within a believer's life that sets them apart from the world and on to God so that they might represent and serve him in a manner that is God-glorifying. It is that process by which God makes us holy, and there is that involved in that, our dying on to sin and our living on to righteousness. But what are the agents, what are the personalities who advance this work of sanctification in our lives? Well, as you would know from our recent studies concerning various doctrines in recent days surrounding the work of God the Holy Spirit, you'll know that there are some works and there are some acts in which God works exclusively of men. There are works that God works exclusively of men. For example, we thought about that great work of regeneration. That is a work that is done exclusively by God and apart from man. When it comes to the renewing of the will, when it comes to the implanting of new life within the soul of the sinner, man is completely passive. He plays no part whatsoever in the regenerating of the heart, inclining the heart and the will to God, putting your life within that individual. Man is completely passive when it comes to the work of regeneration. God and God alone is the active agent when it comes to the regenerating of a sinner. But then we thought about the work of conversion. And we thought about two aspects of conversion because we thought about repentance and we thought about faith. And we understood, as we thought about that doctrine, that yes, though man is passive with respect to regeneration, when it comes to conversion and the exercising of faith and the repenting of our sin, Man no longer is passive, but rather he is an active agent. Man takes a role in the exercising of faith and in the repenting of sin. So man is no longer passive, but becomes, as I've said, an active agent. They are encouraged by God to repent and to believe the gospel. When we come to this work of sanctification, another work that is primarily attributed to the Spirit of God, we have to ask the question then, do I as a believer play any part in this work? Or is it left all to God? Is it a little bit like regeneration, that God is the one who carries this work completely through within the life? Or is it like conversion? Do I have some part to play in this work of sanctification, this progression of holiness? That's simply what sanctification is, a progression in holiness, a conformity to the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do I play any part? Now some would want God to take all the role, or for God himself, leaving it all to God with respect to sanctification. And then, as they do so, in a roundabout way, they put the blame on God for the excuse of a Christian life which is nothing more than an insult to the grace of God. They would say it's all of God, so that's just how I am. I must leave this work of sanctification entirely to him. I have no part to play. I must just throw it all to God and he'll sanctify me wholly and throughly as the word of God says. And really, really the anger issues that I have and the lusts that I have and the inordinate desires that I have and this worldliness that marks my life and my behavior Really, really, that's not my problem. It's really God's problem. And if He wants to sanctify me, if He wants to make me holy, then He'll make me holy. Some people have that attitude. But does the Bible teach that man is passive with respect to this work of sanctification? Well, let's turn to one portion of God's Word. Philippians chapter number two. Philippians chapter two, and we'll read the verses 12 and 13 of this chapter. Philippians chapter two, verse 12 and 13. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, Now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now we're thinking of salvation in this verse, the whole spectrum of salvation. We're not just thinking about being saved, being converted. We're thinking about the moment As it were from regeneration right through to the moment of our glorification. And we find here that the inspired pen man is saying work out your own salvation with fear and trembling and then notice for it is God which worketh in you both to well and to do of his good pleasure. As I said Paul speaks here. In Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13, he's speaking here about the individual, the Philippian believer, to work out their own salvation. That incorporates, as I said, their sanctification with fear and trembling. But then he quickly states that that is only possible because it is God that worketh in them, both to do and to do of his good pleasure. Here it is, here's man, he's actively involved, but he's only able to be actively involved because God is working in him. If God did not work in him, if God did not give him the desire to be holy, if God did not desire to sanctify him, then that individual would stay in the state that they are. But as God works in them, as God speaks to them, as God convicts him of their sin, that person then is enabled to die on to their sin and to live on to righteousness. There is, as it were, a harmony between God working and man working when it comes to sanctification and some preachers have found that to be so. Let me quote one of them, he said, our sanctification is a process wherein we are co-workers with God. We have the promise of God's assistance in our labor, but this divine help does not annul our responsibility to work. Another preacher said the role that we play in sanctification is both a passive one, in which we depend on God to sanctify us. In other words, we play no role in it. We depend on God, but he also said it is an active one in which we strive to obey God and take steps that will increase our sanctification. You think of those commands in scripture. You think of that great command there in 1 Peter, be ye holy. That's a command. That's what God expects of us. As I. I'm holy." And so there is a role that we are to play. However, I believe that Berkhoff, he struck the right balance because he puts God at the forefront of this work of sanctification. He said, sanctification is a work of the triune God, but is ascribed more particularly to the Holy Spirit in Scripture. Though man is privileged to cooperate with the Spirit of God, he can do this only in virtue of the strength which is spurred in parts from him from day to day. That's what I've been saying. Man can only be involved in this work of sanctification as the Spirit of God enables him. He went on to say the spiritual development of man is not a human achievement but a work of divine grace. Man deserves no credit whatsoever for that which he contributes to it instrumentally. That's all we are. We're only but instruments as God will sanctify us. And so today, as I've said, we're looking at the personalities, the agents that are involved in our sanctification. And so with that in mind, I want us to think, first of all, of the scripture's affirmation of God's role, God's role and sanctification. God's role in sanctification. Now the scriptures are very clear. They are unambiguous concerning this. They are definite with respect to this. Sanctification is the work of the triune Godhead. Sanctification is the work of the triune Godhead. Although a work primarily attributed to the Holy Spirit, there are scriptures that do indicate that God the Father and God the Son are also agents who are involved in a believer's sanctification and their progression in holiness. I want to furnish you with a number of texts. And you can look at them, you can write them down and study them later on. And so this message is a very simple message today. I want to set again a little bit more foundation as we think about the agents, the personalities involved in our sanctification. I want you to think about God the Father's role. our sanctification 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and the verse number 23 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and the verse number 23 the very God of peace sanctify you holy and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved on to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ the very God of Peace this is a title that is given to the father and it is a given to him again in Hebrews chapter 13 so if you want to turn there you'll find the same title again the the God of peace Hebrews the chapter 13 and the verse number 20 and 21 now the God of peace Brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do as well, working in you that which is well, pleasing in the sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. the desire of God the Father, the God of peace, to make you perfect, to make you perfect. That is the end goal of sanctification, that which will be realized when we find ourselves walking on the streets of gold. We shall be fully sanctified, meet holy, holy, never to sin again, beyond the possibility of sinning. This is where God will bring us to eventually, when we are glorified. He'll bring us to a place that Adam never even reached. For there was a possibility of Adam to fall, and fell he did. But whenever Christ will sanctify us fully and wholly, we'll be brought to that position where we will sin no more. That's what the hymn writer said, be saved to sin no more. That's what's ahead of us. And so the end goal of God is to perfect us, to mature us, yes, but to bring us to that position of spiritual holiness in our lives. Turn to the penultimate book of the Bible, a little epistle of Jude, and we'll find this thought of the Father's work in sanctification again. He attributes Jude's, this work of sanctification to the Father. Notice the opening verse, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by who? By God the Father, by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Now I want you to notice there's an order in that verse, but it's not the order that we would have placed. No, this is not an order that we would have placed. It may come as a surprise to you. We would have thought that our calling would be first, that effectual call that brings us on to Christ, and then we're preserved in Jesus Christ, we're kept by God, we're kept by the Son throughout our journey in life, and then, as we go through life, then we are being sanctified. But Jude, he reverses the order, and he places our sanctification, he predates it, He predates it with respect to our regeneration and our effectual calling out of darkness and into light. And therefore he takes us into the councils of eternity. A.W. Pink, he explained it in this way, our sanctification by the Father was his eternal election of us. He said election was far more than a bare choice of persons. It included our being predestinated onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. It included us being made vessels onto honor, being aforeprepared to glory. It included being appointed to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. It included our being separated for God's pleasure, God's use, that we should be unto the praise of his glory. It included our being made holy and without blame before him in love. It involved all of these things. the working of God, the counsel of God, and in the counsel of God, our sanctification was part and parcel of our salvation. And we find that God the Father has attributed this work. When God elected us, he chose us, yes, to be saved, but he also chose us to be holy, and to be sanctified, and to be separated unto God as all involved in election, God electing us and bringing us out of the world and onto himself. The Father's involved in our sanctification. Think about the role that the Son has in the work of our sanctification. Let me read a number of verses for you. You can turn there if you so desire. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2, we read the words, unto the church of God, which is according to them that are sanctified in Jesus Christ, called to be saints. With all that in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25 and 26. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Hebrews 10 verse 10, by the which we are sanctified, how? Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. I tell you, the blood of Jesus Christ not only delivers us from hell, but the blood of Jesus Christ sanctifies us, makes us holy, sets us apart. Think about the children of Israel. They're in Egypt. What set them apart from the Egyptians? The blood mark. The blood mark upon the doorpost and upon the lintel that separated them from the angel or from the Lord who would go down into that particular nation. Despite the firstborn, it was the blood mark that separated them. And every child of God is blood marked. The blood of Christ sanctifies us, separates us, sets us apart from this world. Hebrews 13 verse 12, therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gates. You know, while it is true that we look to God for our justification, and especially to God the Son and his work for us in the cross, we look to him for our sanctification. You see, we separate the cross work of Jesus Christ into this compartment. Yes, what he did for us in the cross is sufficient to justify us from our sin. And that's simply all that he did for us in the cross. But folks, he did much more than that. He did much more for that on the cross. He died for our sins. He died as us. And we'll be thinking about this next week because our union with Jesus Christ is very important in this matter. Because as Christ died for sin, I died in Him. And therefore I have died to sin. and the victory that He secured by His death on Calvary's cross. And what He did for me there on the tree, and as He died for sin, thank God sin shall not have dominion over me, because I can now step in, I can now join in to the victory that Christ has secured for me. How do I live a holy life? By the cross. By the cross. by understanding that you have died in Christ. Therefore, you have died to that sin, whatever that sin would be. It's been kneeled to the cross. Christ has gained the victory over that sin, and it is for you to appropriate. It is for you to take by faith that victory and live in the light of the victory of the cross. The cross is more than simply just justification. Christ died and suffered and bled, not only to save us, but also to sanctify us. There's victory through the cross, victory through the blood. What did Paul say? I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I now live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He understood the cross in its entirety. And maybe you're here today and there is some besetting sin, something that you struggle with. Take it to the cross. Take it to the blood. Christ died to sanctify you. He shed his blood to sanctify you, to make you holy and to make me holy. And so we find here that Christ Christ is involved, the Son of God is involved. You think of those great words that Paul wrote there in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. What has he made unto us? He's made, speaking of Christ, he's made unto us wisdom. He's made unto us righteousness. He's made unto us sanctification and redemption. This is what Christ has made. The Lord Jesus Christ is made unto us sanctification. The Apostle Paul affirms that by Jesus Christ we're sanctified, we're made holy. Having had our sins put away by His sacrifice, His righteousness given unto us, we are enabled because of His work for us to live a life that is holy and God-honoring through Christ. But then we think of the role of the Holy Spirit in the work of sanctification. His role is confirmed in, again, a number of passages. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 11, and such were some of you. But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified. But ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. This is how we are sanctified, by the Spirit of our God. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, and unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now we read in the book of Titus, if you want to turn back there, Titus now is the chapter number three, because I believe the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is spoken of in another way here in Titus chapter three, verse number five. The Apostle writes, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy has saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Renewing of the Holy Ghost. The word means a complete change for the better, a renovation, the renewing of the Holy Ghost. It's another way I believe that the Holy Spirit speaks off this sanctifying work because all that is involved in this renewing, that we cannot tell, that we cannot but catalogue today, but let me say that it involves the casting out of all idols from our hearts to such an extent that God is now unable to occupy the throne. This is what's involved in this renewing. The putting out of all idols, God is able to occupy the throne. And notice that this is an ongoing process. It is not that we were renewed by the Holy Ghost, but that we're being renewed. There is a renewing. It's in the present tense. This is a continual process taking place in the life of the child of God, a process that will continue until the believer's promotion to glory. This idea of dying on to sin, living on to righteousness, it is a gradual, progressive, ongoing, perpetual work that God is doing in my life and in your life if you're a child of God. And so it's very clear. that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in this work of sanctification. All involved. Child of God, is that not a marvel to think that God, that all persons within the triune Godhead are involved in your sanctification? It's not an outstanding thing to think that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit take a personal interest in my progression in holiness and in my conformity to Jesus Christ. As one preacher, as he contemplated such a glorious truth, he said this, I know of nothing so uplifting as the realization of that great truth that the three blessed persons in the Trinity have cooperated in order that a worm such as I might be rescued and redeemed and made perfect to stand in the presence of God in the judgment. What a marvel to think that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have cooperated to work upon this life of mine. And let me ask you then, since the moment of your salvation, have you known anything? The sanctifying work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in your life? Because the Bible's clear, whom he justifies, then he sanctifies. Those whom he has washed He is sanctified, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified. There's no, as it were, getting out of this. There's no, as it were, excusing that we are not progressing in holiness. It is to be expected of every child of God that there is a forwarding all. There's a going forward with respect to living a holy, a God-glorifying life. It's part and parcel of God's salvation. When God saves you, He also comes to sanctify you. So has the general trend been in your life towards holiness? Or has it been that over recent days there has been an increasing worldliness appearing in your life? The places where you're going, the things that you're doing, that which you're watching, where is the general trend? We need to ask ourselves, has there been a cooling off in the things of God? Has there been a cooling off with respect to living the Christian life, or is the fire burning as it always has been? Is it burning as bright as it ever was within that soul of yours as you strive after holiness and Christlikeness? Only you can answer that question. May God sanctify us wholly. We've thought about the work of God. Let's quickly look at our role in sanctification. And that brings us to ask the questions very quickly, are we to be passive bystanders? When it comes to this progression in holiness, do we just sit back and expect God to sanctify us with no cooperation on our part? Well, our text in Philippians reminds us that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Now we understand that we can only do that because God worketh in us, but as God works in us, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We're not just to sit back and do nothing. And so there is an active role that we are to play. Let me give you a number of portions of God's Word. We find that simply presented to us, the role that we play in our sanctification over there in Romans chapter 6. In Romans chapter 6. We find that the believer is exhorted to play a role, an active role, in the restraining of sin within their life. Romans chapter 6, let's read from the verse 11, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments righteousness on to God. Now did you notice that there's a part that we're to play notice that we are to reckon ourselves to be dead on this and that's the part that we're to play. We're not to let sin verse 13 or verse 12 to reign in our bodies. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies. Verse 13, we're not to yield our members on to unrighteousness, but instead we are to yield our members on to righteousness. And the language that the Apostle Paul is using here indicates that we are to be proactive. We're to be proactive when sin tries to encroach into our lives, and when it does appear within our lives, we're to reject the natural propensity that is within our hearts to run after sin, but instead we are to choose the high road of holiness. That's the part that we're to play. That's the part that we're to play. Romans chapter 8 is another great chapter. about God's Word that speaks of our proactive participation in the work of sanctification. Notice Romans 8 verse 13. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Now notice the verse brings together God and man's work. in this matter of mortifying the deeds of the body. While it is very evident that man can only do this by the help of the Spirit, man is still to play the active role. He is to take the leading role in this. By the help of the Spirit, we are to mortify, we are to put to death. We'll think about this, God willing, next week. We're to put to death our sins, the old man, the old nature. Galatians 5 verse 24, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh. with the affections and lust, they have done it. They have, by faith, they have crucified the flesh. Ephesians 4 verse 24, that ye put off concerning the old former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lust. God's not going to do this. He'll help us, he'll equip us, he'll give us his grace, he'll give us the strength, yes, to do so, but we are to be involved. It's a little bit like Lazarus there at the grave. Christ raises him from the grave, he comes forth. He's still robed in those particular grave clothes. And Christ says to those individuals, listen, listen. I have done my part. I have raised him from the dead, but you must listen. I'm not going to do something that you can do for yourself. And it's a little bit like that. There is a need for us to put off Can't you say, well, I have a bitter spirit, or I have an angry spirit, or I struggle with this particular loss. And then you go and put that particular thing that would stimulate that loss before your eyes. It doesn't make any sense. You're just flea fornication. You're to flee the youthful lusts. They're going to meet you down the street. They're going to meet you with respect to television or internet or magazines or whatever. You're going to meet it. And you can't just say, well, it's just coming down the road and I just have to accept it. No, there is a responsibility on your part and on my part to flee such things. God expects it. God expects it. Galatians 3 again, mortify your members which are upon the earth. Hebrews 12 verse 1, 1 Peter 2 verse 1 speaks about the Christian laying aside sin and malice. Paul encourages Timothy, I've said this, flee youthful lusts, but follow. It's all well and good, brethren and sisters, to flee certain things, but if there's a vacuum there, A little bit like the parable that Christ told about the wicked spirits and the man. The wicked spirits were pushed out. They brushed out the house and what happened, but seven more wicked spirits because that vacuum was not filled with something that was good and right. More wicked spirits came in, took the vacuum as it were, took the space that had been provided by that which is pushed out. And brothers and sisters, yes, we flee these things, but we need to put something in its place. We are to follow righteousness and faith and charity and peace. Yes, we forsake going to certain places, but let's place in its place, let's come to the house of God, let's find ourselves in the place of prayer. The clearest text is found in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Let me read it. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves. from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Let us do this. Paul says, let us cleanse ourselves. Let's play our part, he said. Let's cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, yes, of the spirit and flesh, but also let us perfect holiness. We have got a part to play, a part, a role to play. So let me ask you, as I close, When sin tempted you this week, did you yield to its appeals? Or like Old Testament Joseph, did you take to your heels and flee its presence? Let me ask you, did you put off any sins this week? Has there been any mortification of the flesh over the last seven days? Have you laid aside your besetting sins? Have you taken them to the cross? Have they been crucified? Have they been kneeled to the tree? And have you stood into the victory that Christ secured for you for that particular sin when he suffered and bled and died? Herman Bavnick, I believe, gave a biblical and balanced view. And with this, I do close. With respect to the work of God and man and sanctification, he said, granted, in the first place, sanctification is a work and gift of God, a process in which humans are passive, play no part, just as they are in regeneration, of which it is a continuation. Sanctification is a continuation of regeneration. But based on this work of God and humans, it acquires, in the second place, an active meaning And people themselves are called and equipped to sanctify themselves and devote their whole life to God. God will equip us to live holy lives, but folks, you'll not live a holy life if you're struggling with some particular sin and you feed that sin, and you bring yourself to that sin. and you allow your eyes to be fixed on that sin, you're never gonna get the victory over that sin. Through that, but come to the cross, take that sin to the tree, have it crucified, and then pray to God that he would give you all grace to triumph over that sin, because folks, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Sin shall not have dominion over us. we can know the victory of the cross. We can know victory over our sin, God's people. Let us then look to God for his help. Let us play our part in it. As God convicts us, obey him. There's the blessing. The blessings at the end of a road of a life of obedience. and let us follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. May God help us to be biblical in our approach to this great work of sanctification. Let's bow our heads in prayer, let's pray. Our loving Father, our gracious God, We cry to thee that we might appreciate what Christ has done for us on the cross. We think of what J.C. Riles said. He said that our sanctification is as important as our justification. Lord we come dear God and we confess that there are many believers and they come to a point in their life and they profess faith in Jesus Christ and really from that moment until the moment of their death there is no conformity to Christ, there is no likeness to Jesus Christ, there is no progression in holiness. And we need to ask the question, is that person really a partaker of the divine nature, because truly if they were, there would be progression. And Lord, we're not just speaking about an outward conformity. They're at the prayer meeting, they're at the gospel service, they say their prayers, they read their Bibles. Lord, that's all well and good, but Lord, we think of the inner adornment, the inner man. that growth of grace, those fruits that we were speaking about in the prayer meeting, love and joy and peace and long-suffering and gentleness and goodness and meekness, and Lord, all of the Christian graces. Oh God, are these being worked out in our lives? Oh, how far short we fall. Have mercy upon us. Lord, sanctify us. May the triune God sanctify this life wholly. Grant, dear God, thy blessing upon this company of believers that we might be marked out in this community as the holy people, the holy people walking the pathway of holiness. Help us to see the full vista of what Christ did for us at the cross. And help us, O God, to be those people, those peculiar people, redeemed and zealous of good works. And your prayer meet with us around the table. We offer prayer in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Let's turn to 657.