So welcome back to, once again, we're in systematic theology session 61. We're continuing on the topic of redemption, God's project of choosing a people for himself, accomplishing their redemption from sin, then applying that redemption to his elect. His elect are those he chose to be in Christ before history began. And we've been using, it's kind of a tool, to go through this, what theologians call the Ordo Salutis, which is just the order of salvation to work through this subject of redemption. The Ordo Salutis shows the logical order for how God applies the benefits of redemption. I printed that again in your notes for reference. And last time we began looking at step 4a, which is progressive sanctification. And we started with the definition of progressive sanctification from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And I've included that in your notes as well, that definition. The catechism defines it this way. 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. So the previous steps in the Ordo Salutis that we've studied up until now, they were actions accomplished by God alone. And we were passive in those steps. God acted, we benefited. But with progressive sanctification, we now actively enter into God's project. We're no longer passive. But at the same time, even now, we're still God's project. Every project has a goal. and it has a process and resources needed to get to the goal. With the project of our redemption, including this step, the goal is God's goal for us. The process is directed by God. The resources are the divine power of the Holy Spirit. We enter into the work with great vigor and with zeal, but it's God who's worthy of the glory. He gets the glory at the end. We are God's handiwork. God's project. God didn't begin the project in our lives, then just sort of turn it over to us and say, okay, you finish it now according to your own agenda and your own resources. We also saw that God's goal is sanctification in the entirety of the inner man. The whole heart is involved in this process, the mind, the will, and the affections. At this point, Our sanctification is progressive. It's not all at once. At this time, we're sandwiched between two phases of sanctification. At the moment of our salvation, we receive what we called definitive sanctification. Definitive sanctification. That's where God set us aside as holy to himself. And then at the final day, at our resurrection, we will receive what we called ultimate sanctification, ultimate sanctification, when we will then be fully in the image of Christ. But right now, in progressive sanctification, we're sort of sandwiched between those two events. We're gradually growing in Christ-likeness right now. Now, in the last study, we looked at how progressive sanctification is a step in the ordo salutis, where the Holy Spirit is the source of our ability to grow in Christ-likeness, but we now enter into the work. We're no longer passive. We're called to enter into God's project for us and to do so with great vigor. And one place where we can see our working in tandem with God in progressive sanctification is at the end of the book of Hebrews. We'll be in Hebrews chapter 13. Now, Paul, who I believe is the author of Hebrews, is giving a final prayer of blessing for his readers. And I'll read from Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will. working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. A project has three parts. A project has a goal, it has a process to get to the goal, and it has resources that are needed to carry out the process and get to the goal. If you don't have a goal, then you don't have a project, you have a hobby. God's work with us is his project, it's not a hobby. God has a goal for us. The goal is Christlikeness, to be at the end in the image of Christ. And verse 21, it shows us this goal of Christlikeness. It phrases it in this way, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. This goal of Christlikeness is to be morally pleasing in God's sight. Since we've been adopted into God's family, God is invested in causing us to bear the family name in an honorable way. To bear the family name in an honorable way. That's the goal of God's project. The project also has resources to carry out this process, resources. Verse 21 tells us where the resources ultimately come from. Paul's prayer is that God will equip them with everything good that they would do God's will. It's God who puts us in the proper condition to carry out this purpose. God just doesn't leave us to equip ourselves. Instead, God equips and he empowers us But after God equips us, does he then just leave us alone to carry out the process of sanctification ourselves? No, verse 21 says that God is working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. He's working in us. God is still in charge of the project. We enter into this process with zeal and vigor, but God equips us and works in us. The divine person who is carrying out sanctification in us is the Holy Spirit. Without the agency of the Holy Spirit, unless he acts within us, we would just be left with an impossible task, the impossible task of trying to sanctify ourselves by our own power. Our growth in the grace of sanctification is divinely energized. I'll be next in Romans chapter eight, verses 13 and 14. And here, Paul is contrasting our former life, which was led by the flesh, with our new life as Christians, which is led by the Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit now dwells within us, we're no longer to live in our old way. Romans 8, beginning in verse 13. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Here in this passage, we can see a dual agency in our sanctification. Now, what do I mean by agency? What does that mean? An agent is a person who acts to produce a result. A person who acts to produce a result, that's an agent. An agent provides both power and direction to an effort to produce a result. Progressive sanctification has a dual agency. And we can see that here in this passage in Romans. In verse 13, Paul says, but if by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. By the spirit, you put to death. We are putting our former deeds of the body to death. But at the same time, this is by the spirit. The divine person of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is providing power and direction to this effort to put our former deeds to death. But we're also fully and consciously engaged in the effort. We are also agents in the effort. So since there's two agents involved in sanctification, which agent is leading the effort? It's the Holy Spirit who's leading. Verse 14 tells us, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. If the Holy Spirit were not the primary agent giving us the grace of divine power and direction, then our efforts would just be moralism, moralism. And by moralism, I mean the idea that we can please God with just our own native efforts. We pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, so to speak, just turning over a new leaf. But at the same time that God is acting in us, we are also agents. We are not passive. We enter into the work that God is doing. You know, there was a phrase popular with Christians decades ago, I still remember it, which was, it went, let go and let God. Now that's the opposite extreme to moralism. Letting go and letting God just has the taste of us just being completely passive. The fact that the Holy Spirit is the leading agent means he will not fail. God is invested in this process and he will not fail. I'll read again from Hebrews chapter 13 verses 20 and 21. That's where we were a few minutes ago. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. Verse 20 calls Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep. Our great shepherd has already shed his blood for us. Do we think that he'll only bring that process halfway? No, he is the great shepherd. Even a good human shepherd will not abandon his sheep or fail to lead them. Jesus is the great shepherd and he will not fail to lead and guide. God will continue his work, his process, his project to the end. As verse 21 says, he will work in us that which is pleasing in his sight. So we can see that God has determined the goal of the project and he provides resources Now the process of progressive sanctification itself has two workers working in tandem. God is working in us and we are working. Thomas Watson wrote this about the work of God in sanctification. And I'll quote from that great Puritan, Thomas Watson. Sanctification is a supernatural thing. It is divinely infused. We are naturally polluted. and to cleanse, God takes to be his prerogative. Weeds grow of themselves, but flowers are planted. Sanctification is a flower of the Spirit's planting. John Murray also wrote of the relationship between our work and the Holy Spirit's work. He wrote, God works in us and we also work. But the relation is that because God works, we work. All working out of salvation on our part is the effect of God's working in us. But even though progressive sanctification is a work of God, the continuation of God's project, there's still a step where we enter into the work. We enter into this work consciously and with zeal. One place where we can see this dual working, divine working and our entering into that work is in Galatians chapter five, and that's where I'll be next, Galatians chapter five. Now in this section, Paul is strenuously correcting the Galatians. They're being tempted to convert to Judaism under the influence of false teachers, the Judaizers. They were already free from legalism through Christ, But this freedom was not to be used to indulge fleshly desires. Their freedom from legalism was to be used in a life of progressive sanctification. I'll read from Galatians chapter five verses 16 and 17, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. When you look at the phrase walk by the spirit, the Greek word translated as walk is in the present imperative. meaning this is a command to walk by the Spirit as a continuous habit of life. We enter into God's work of sanctification by walking by the Spirit, meaning that our manner of life, our moral actions, are according to the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This walking by the Spirit, this living out of our lives morally according to the Holy Spirit, is our entering into God's work. Our obedience to this continuous habit of life with all zeal is what we're called to in progressive sanctification. We're called to this. What is the result? Paul says that if we enter into God's work of progressive sanctification as we're commanded, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. In the Greek, Paul is using a strong form of the words will not. He uses a double negative, which in the Greek is an emphatic negative, an emphatic negative. If we diligently walk by the spirit, we will emphatically never fall into a state of being characterized by fleshly living. Now, it doesn't mean that we're in a state of sinless perfection in this life. What it means is that when we enter into God's project in us, when we consistently walk by the Spirit, as we should, we will not be characterized by indulging fleshly desires. Then in verse 17, Paul goes on to explain this. He presents a kind of battle, if you will, between the desires of the flesh and the work of the Holy Spirit in us, a kind of battle. Fleshly desires are trying to keep us from our new desire of Christlikeness. But this battle is not between equal sides. The Holy Spirit is more powerful. And Paul encourages us emphatically that if we walk by the Spirit, the battle will be won in our favor. I like how one commentator wrote of this passage. He wrote, it is significant that Paul does not present this struggle as the believer's battle, but rather as the Spirit's war against the impulsive desire of the flesh. The Spirit is not a resource that can help us in our battle. Rather, we've been drafted to fight in the Spirit's battle, to fall in line with the Spirit as with a commander. It is a battle that, as Paul has already assured believers, the Spirit cannot lose if they do thus fall in line. So the work of progressive sanctification within us God's project, but we're not passive in that work. We're called to enter into this work with zeal. God is equipping us and working in us and we are to use these divine resources to walk by the Spirit. We have the promise that if we are diligent in walking in the Spirit, the project will not fail. The next aspect of progressive sanctification is that the works that result From sanctification, they don't earn salvation. They don't earn salvation. Instead, these works are fruit and evidence of what we already are in Christ. Fruit and evidence. Now the Westminster Confession of Faith uses three words that I want to point out about our sanctification. In the Westminster Confession of Faith, in the section on good works, it says this. These good works done in obedience to God's commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. And by them, believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end eternal life." There's three words in what I just read in the confession that I want to focus on. Fruit, evidences, and thankfulness. And I'm gonna change the word slightly to fruit, evidence, and gratitude. Fruit, evidence, and gratitude. First, the good works that are done in the process of sanctification are fruit of what we already are in Christ. You know, when I see a display of oranges in the supermarket, I assume that there was an orange tree somewhere that bears fruit. presence of fruit presupposes a good and healthy tree to produce the fruit. When we were regenerated or born again, we were changed from a bad tree that produces nothing good to a good tree. The fact that as Christians we are now being sanctified presupposes that we've already been fundamentally changed. I'm gonna go next to the gospel of John, the gospel of John chapter 15, with the words of Jesus to the disciples. Jesus is teaching them here the importance of being united with him, to abide in him. And from that abiding in him, they will inevitably bear fruit or the good works that result from our union with Christ. I'll be in John chapter 15, I'll read verses one to eight. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you. unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." Jesus' teaching tells us where the fruit of progressive sanctification comes from. A branch of a vine can't produce grapes on its own. The branch receives life from the vine. If we see a branch of a vine that's bearing grapes, we can know that the branch is already part of the vine. It's not disconnected. The fruit of the progressive growth of moral virtue comes from our union with Christ. Jesus tells the disciples in verse three that they're already clean because of the words that Jesus already spoke to them. Now they are to bear much fruit, which is a work of both the vine and the branch. but they are to remember that it's the vine that provides the ability to bear the fruit. Verse eight tells us that when we bear much fruit, the Father is glorified. The Father is glorified when we bear much fruit. We can relate to this by looking at wine that comes from famous vineyards, where the vineyard has a famous person's name attached. Did you know that there's restaurants in the Disneyland Resort where you can order a glass of wine? And one of the varieties of wine you can get is from the Fess Parker Vineyard. The Fess Parker Vineyard. Yes, that Fess Parker who played Daniel Boone on TV way back when. And you know what? After he retired from acting, he owned the Fess Parker Family Winery and Vineyards. And the wines that come from that vineyard, they've won awards. Now Fess Parker, he's gone now, but his name still gets glory today from the fruit of his vineyard. And I thought of that as being a picture of how Jesus said in verse one that the father is the vine dresser. And in verse eight, he says that when we bear much fruit, the father is glorified. Pruning and maintaining the vine and its branches shows the skill of the vine dresser. When the fruit is plentiful and good, the vine dresser gets the glory. The works that we do in our sanctification are the fruit of what God has done. These works, they don't earn salvation. We're already justified when progressive sanctification begins. Progressive sanctification presupposes we're already justified. Since our works as Christians are not perfect, they couldn't earn salvation anyway. Instead, our works in sanctification are the necessary fruit of what God has done in the previous steps of the ordo salutis. They're the fruit of it. We looked at the word fruit. Now let's look at the word evidence, evidence. Our works in progressive sanctification are also evidence of what God has done in us. The Westminster Confession that we read a few minutes ago says, these good works done in obedience to God's commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. fruits and evidences. This is a very important point that false religions get wrong. Our good works are not us just under our own power trying to build a ladder to heaven by our own efforts. We don't earn salvation by works. Instead, our good works in progressive sanctification are fruit and evidence of the saving faith, the living faith that God already gave us. I'm gonna read next from the book of James chapter two, James chapter two. The letter of James shows that our good works done in progressive sanctification are evidence of a living, saving faith. I'll read from James chapter two, verses 14 to 18. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead, but someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works. I will show you my faith by my works. Now James here is looking at true faith versus a claim to faith. Verse 14 says, if someone says he has faith, you know, as they say, talk is cheap. This is a person who's boasting of his faith, but has a pretend faith. It's a lot of hot air. And verse 16 gives an example of speech without substance. The word picture of verse 16 is it's a scenario where someone's in need and a person claims to help by simply saying, go in peace, be warmed and filled. How much help was given? No actual help, but the words sounded good. The point of the word picture is that true faith is followed by tangible evidence. Verse 18 sums up what James is saying to us. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. The faith that's apart from works is what verse 17 says. It's a dead faith. It's not a real faith at all. It's vain boasting. It's presumptuous. It is pretend faith. James is making the point that with true faith, evidence follows that it's true faith. The 17th century Puritan Thomas Manton wrote this about this passage in James and I'll quote from his work. False faith is a dead faith. It cannot act any more than a dead body can stand up and walk. It is dead because it is not united to Christ. True faith plants us in Christ and so we receive virtue and life from him. Faith is the life that animates the whole body of obedience. So here is a test for your faith. Does it receive life from Christ? Does it act? If Christ is in you, he wants to live in you. Never think of living with Christ unless you live in Christ. And no one lives in Christ unless he bears much fruit. We're looking at three words that describe good works done in our progressive sanctification. Three words. The words are fruit, evidence, and gratitude. We've looked at fruit and evidence, and now we come to gratitude. And I'll go next to Romans chapter 12, and read verses one and two. Romans 12, verses one and two. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Now the book of Romans, it's composed in three major sections, which can be summed up as guilt, grace, and gratitude. Guilt, grace, and gratitude. The first section of Romans through part of chapter three describes our condition of guilt prior to salvation. The next section from the last part of chapter three to the end of chapter 11 describes our way of deliverance in Christ. Then beginning here at chapter 12 is how we respond in gratitude to how God in his grace saved us. Verse one of chapter 12 has an important word we shouldn't overlook, and that word is therefore. That word, therefore, is pointing back to what the letter has said in all the previous chapters. Because God has saved us from our hopeless state of guilt, therefore, we should live in gratitude. These two verses of chapter 12 of Romans begin a section of the letter that shows how we are called to live in light of the theology of what Paul wrote before. The word, therefore, in verse one is important. All of the glorious realities that Paul has written about in those previous chapters lead to this word, therefore. in light of what Christ has done for us. We, therefore, are to live in an appropriate way. Paul is organizing his letter to the Romans in his usual way. That usual way is indicative first, then imperative. Indicative, then imperative. We've looked before at what indicative and imperative mean. Indicative is language that indicates what is true about us as Christians. Indicative indicates what's already true about us as Christians. Imperatives are how we are being directed to live as a result of what is true about us. We don't live a certain way in order to earn salvation. God justifies us by his own work first. Then we are directed to live and grow toward Christ-likeness as a result of what we are now. The indicative comes first, then the imperative. And that's why in Romans chapter 12 in verse one, we find this word, therefore. In light of the indicative, all that Paul says about us in the previous chapters, we therefore have the imperatives he's about to give. The imperatives, how we're directed to live, are the fruit and evidence of what God has done in justification and the thanksgiving we render to God who has saved us. In light of all the theology of the previous chapters, Paul is giving us a strong apostolic urging to live in accordance with God's mercies. And it's not optional. The only reasonable response to God's mercy is to take progressive sanctification seriously. How serious is our participation in progressive sanctification? Paul describes it as presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. That's serious. Paul is bringing the former Old Testament animal sacrifices in as a word picture to show what he's urging us toward. We are being urged to total dedication, not in animal sacrifices, which they've been done away with, but our behavior is to be the result of us presenting ourselves as living sacrifices. The theologian Turretin phrased this dedication like this. Now, this consecration ought to be such. that we should dedicate ourselves both in body and soul to God as temples and spiritual sacrifices so that our minds should be God's to know him, our wills to worship him, our affections to love him, our eyes to contemplate his wonders, our ears to hear his voice, our mouths to celebrate his glory, our hands to do his work, and all our members to be instruments of righteousness unto God for his glory." Now we come to the words in Romans 12.1 that focus further on our response of gratitude. Those words are, which is your spiritual worship? Your spiritual worship. In light of the mercies of God, our response is one of gratitude resulting in worship. Now the word we see translated as spiritual here in the ESV, it's kind of a difficult Greek word to translate. The word is logikos and that might remind you of the word logic. The Greek word usually means thoughtful or carefully thought through. It can also mean spiritual and different translations handle this word differently. Modern translations go with spiritual worship like what we see here in the ESV. If you're using the ESV, you might see a footnote saying it can also be translated rational service. In fact, the King James translates it reasonable service. So on how this should be translated, I'm going to give my personal opinion on the best option. I think the best option is something like rational service or reasonable service. In other words, given our previous sinfulness and the great mercies of God that saved us, it is only rational and reasonable that we respond by presenting our bodies, our whole selves, as a living sacrifice. It is only rational that our thanksgiving to God be wholehearted dedication of our whole selves as our act of worship. I'm gonna go next to the book of Psalms, to Psalm 116. Now this Psalm also brings out how we are to look back on how God has saved us in our reasonable response of gratitude. And that reasonable response of gratitude takes the form of giving ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord. And I'm gonna start in Psalm 116, verse three. The stairs of death encompassed me. The pangs of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish." The psalmist is looking back on a situation where he was in great danger, in distress and anguish. He had no other place to go other than to cry out to the Lord. Only the Lord could provide a way of escape. In verse four, he recognizes he has no resources of his own. And he prays to the Lord for deliverance. In verse four it says, then I called on the name of the Lord. Oh Lord, I pray deliver my soul. What was the outcome for the psalmist? The Lord was merciful and saved him. Verse six tells us there was no other path out of the distress other than the Lord's merciful deliverance. It says, the Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, he saved me. This should remind us of our own situation, of sin and death before we were saved. We were brought low by our sin. The snares of death had encompassed us. We were in distress that we couldn't escape by our own resources. Our only means of escape was for the Lord's deliverance, the deliverance that came by Christ's finished work and the message of the gospel. The psalmist presents two extremes in verse six. He was brought low, but now the Lord has saved him. The Lord in his mercy reversed his situation from the worst extreme to the best. Now we go on to verse 12. The psalmist here logically reflects on how he must respond to the Lord's mercy. It says, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? What shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits to me? The psalmist comes to the correct conclusion that he owes a debt of gratitude to God for his mercies. Then in verses 16 to 19, the writer proclaims this reasonable response of gratitude. It says, oh Lord, I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maid servant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. In the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem, praise the Lord." The writer has concluded that it's reasonable that he offers all that he has in gratitude. He gives the praise of his lips, saying that he will call on the name of the Lord. He bows in service to the Lord when he says, oh Lord, I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. And also, here's what we can focus on as a link to what we read a few minutes ago in Romans chapter 12. The psalmist writes, I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving. The sacrifice of thanksgiving. I'll read again from Romans chapter 12, verse one. I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Our response to the mercies of the Lord should be the same as the psalmist. Presenting ourselves fully as a living sacrifice, a sacrifice of thanksgiving is our reasonable act of worship. When we enter into the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification, we show our gratitude to God. We've looked at three words from the Westminster Confession of Faith on good works done in our sanctification. The three words are fruit, evidence, gratitude. These three words should tell us that sanctification is inseparable from the other steps of the ordo salutis, inseparable. If we have been justified, then we are currently being progressively sanctified. The theologian Turretin phrased this connection between regeneration and sanctification like this. The actual laying aside of vices and the correction of life and morals follow regeneration as its proper effects. In other words, there's a cause and effect relationship here, a cause and effect relationship. When we were born again or regenerated, and when we were justified, this has an effect which will follow. Progressive sanctification will follow. God always finishes his projects. God will not apply redemption partway, then hit the brakes. Sanctification is fruit of saving faith and justification and evidence that our faith is genuine and not just lip service. Also, when we come alongside of God in the work of sanctification, we acknowledge it's the proper response of gratitude to God. For those who are truly justified, sanctification is inevitable. Justification and sanctification go hand in hand as a double blessing, a double blessing. John Calvin called this hand in hand relationship between justification and sanctification, the duplex gratia or the double grace, the double grace. Here's what Calvin wrote about the double grace. Christ was given to us by God's generosity to be grasped and possessed by us in faith by partaking of him we principally receive a double grace, namely that being reconciled to God through Christ's blamelessness, we may have in heaven, instead of a judge, a gracious father. And secondly, that sanctified by Christ's spirit, we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life. Calvin was saying that in Christ we have a duplex gratia, or a double grace. We have forgiveness of sins and we grow in purity of life in progressive sanctification. As we come alongside God's work of sanctification, as we enter into that work, we can become discouraged because this pruning process is slow. Progressive sanctification doesn't happen overnight. Before, I described where we are now as the sandwich stage. In this life, we're sandwiched between two events. The first event was definitive sanctification. At the moment of our salvation, God set us aside as holy to himself. We were repurposed to worship him and serve him. At that time, we were legally set apart for God. The other side of the sandwich is ultimate sanctification, because at the final day, when we're resurrected to eternal life, we will be perfected and made morally Christ-like in every regard. But now we're sandwiched between those two events. And our progress now, it's uneven and it's slow, but there is progress. You know, if sin was still on the throne of our hearts, we wouldn't be concerned with progress in holiness. The fact that we desire progress in holiness and that we can actually be impatient with ourselves is evidence that sin is no longer on the throne of our hearts. When we studied the step in the Ordo Salutis called definitive sanctification, we saw that in that step, God changed who our master is. Sin and the devil are no longer on the throne of our hearts. I'm gonna be in the book of 1 Peter next, 1 Peter in chapter two. In this letter, Peter is reminding his readers of the facts of the gospel and what must follow faith in the gospel. What must follow is steadfastness under persecution and remaining steadfast against the temptations of the flesh. God has changed everything for them. They were previously not a people, but now they are God's people. And now we'll be in first Peter chapter two, verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. This one verse opens our eyes to several things that should encourage us and motivate us in our progressive sanctification. First, Peter addresses his Christian readers, his beloved, ones who he loves and values as sojourners and exiles, sojourners and exiles. Remember when we studied definitive sanctification, we learned that we've changed citizenship. Our spiritual citizenship is now in the heavenly city. In the meantime, though, we're still living in this world of sin. Because our citizenship is in heaven, we're now strangers and aliens in this world. We are resident foreigners, temporary residents. When we were definitively sanctified, our citizenship changed, and therefore our culture changed. We temporarily live in this world, but we are alien to its culture. Peter tells us that because we are now alien to this world's culture, he's strongly exhorting us to not be marked by the behavior of the city of man, where we're temporary residents. We are to abstain from the sins of this culture. We are to put distance between our behavior and the behavior of the culture surrounding us. The passage tells us that there's still passions of the flesh that we have to battle. In this sandwich stage that we're in, we should press the battle with all urgency, but we should not be discouraged at what may sometimes seem like slow progress. The passions of the flesh are still present, and we're still at war. Our growth in progressive sanctification is described as war. Peter tells us that the passions of the flesh that still remain and tempt us, they wage war against our souls. In our previous life, before our definitive sanctification, we lived willingly under the power of fleshly passions. But now, since God has set us aside from the world to himself to serve him and worship him, whatever fleshly passions that still remain are now our enemies. We used to be at peace with fleshly passions, but now we wage war on them and our fleshly passions are still waging war on us. The fact that there is a war should actually be encouraging since this tells us that our souls now belong to God. Sin is no longer on the throne of our hearts. John Murray phrased it like this, there must be a constant and increasing appreciation that though sin still remains, it does not have the mastery. There's a total difference between surviving sin and reigning sin, the regenerate in conflict with sin and the unregenerate complacent to sin. In other words, there is a remnant of sin that remains, but sin is no longer on the throne of our hearts. When we were saved, we changed who our master is. Now that sin is no longer on the throne of our hearts, the task at hand is to press the battle against remaining sin. So to wrap up for tonight, we continued with the topic of progressive sanctification, and we saw that it's both a divine and a human work. It's part of God's project. We enter into that work. We're not passive in this step of the ordo salutis. Also, we need to remember that we don't earn salvation by our part in progressive sanctification. We don't earn salvation that way. We're already justified. We're already accepted by God, and we'll never be more legally justified than we were at the moment of our salvation. Instead, our progressive sanctification is the necessary fruit and evidence of what God has done. It's also motivated by gratitude to God for what he has done. In progressive sanctification, sin is no longer on the throne of our hearts, but we're still at war against remaining fleshly passions. There's still more to say about progressive sanctification, and next time we will continue on this step of God's project. Thanks for coming tonight.