Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program this morning. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like
to follow along in your Bibles with the message today, I'm going
to be preaching from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The title of the message
is Sanctification of the Spirit. Sanctification of the Spirit.
Now, in the last two messages I've Speaking of sanctification,
in fact, that's the title of those messages, Sanctification
I and II. And this is a continuation of
that, and I have one more after this. So it'll be four messages,
all total, on the topic of sanctification specifically. And so if you didn't
hear the last two messages, I urge you to listen to them. You can
get them off of our website, rofgrace.com, and listen to those
messages. But one of the things that I've
been really trying to stress is There's a misconception about
the doctrine of sanctification. Now this verse here speaks of
sanctification of the Spirit, or these two verses. It's 2 Thessalonians
2 and verse 13. Let me just begin by reading
these verses and then I'll go back and give you some background
and context. for this, and it says in verse 13, the Apostle
Paul writing by inspiration of the Spirit, he says, but we are
bound to give thanks all way to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. Now there's no doubt who he's
talking about here. He's talking about those who
are loved by the Lord, talking about believers here. Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And verse 14 says, whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's our text, sanctification
of the Spirit. Now, just to give you some background,
and I don't want to repeat all that I've said, and I don't mind
repeating anything, because that's what we do in gospel preaching
and preaching the scripture. Like the prophet Isaiah said,
line upon line, precept upon precept, and we need things repeated.
Paul told the Philippian believers, he said, it's not burdensome
to me to preach the same thing. And he said, it's good for you.
We need the gospel of God's grace in Christ. We need to hear about
the glorious person and the finished work of Christ. But understand
this word sanctification, both in the Old Testament, the Hebrew
word for sanctify, sanctified, and the Greek word in the New
Testament for sanctify and sanctified. are often translated by the word
holy. In fact, the next message that
I'm gonna preach on sanctification has to do with a verse that has
the word holy, but it's the same word in the Greek that is translated
sanctified, or sanctification, or some form of that word. And
most people have a wrong view of what it is to be sanctified.
Most people, when they think of the word sanctified, a sanctified
person, and especially when it comes to the word holy, a holy
person, they think of a person who is morally good in the eyes
of men and women, as people, as we naturally view those things,
somebody who is trying to be a law keeper. someone who is
generous, kind, peaceful, all of the good qualities, virtues
that we like and admire in human beings. But those things are
not the sanctification that the Bible speaks of. Now, does that
mean that sinners saved by grace, believers, Christians, should
not strive to display those qualities of character? Well, no, we should
strive. If we're saved by the grace of
God, we should strive to be the best kind of people that we can
be in every virtue, in every act of morality and kindness,
generosity. And we ought to do it just out
of gratitude to God. not trying to earn our salvation,
not trying to make ourselves right with God by our works.
Sinners are only made right with God by the work of Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel is all
about. And so most people who think of sanctified and holiness,
they go to these virtues. And the word sanctified, or sanctify,
or sanctification, simply means this, and this will help you
immensely in your understanding of the scripture if you'll think
of it this way, two words, set apart. That's what sanctified
means. That's what holy means. Set apart. The Bible says God is holy. Well,
certainly God is the embodiment of all moral virtue. But his
being set apart means this. It means there's no other God
like God. He's the only God. It's that
distinguished, distinctiveness. That's what sanctification means.
And I'm gonna deal with this next week in the message. It's
what sets Christians, true Christians, apart from the evil world. What really sets them apart?
What really distinguishes them? And sanctification is a broad
term in the scripture. Justification, for example, is
the legal aspect, realm of salvation, which speaks of the work of Christ
for his people as our surety, having our sins imputed to him. Our substitute, going to the
cross and dying in the place of his people, his sheep. Not
everyone without exception, but his sheep. His people. God's
elect. And how He redeemed us, paying
the sin debt, paying the redemption price for His people to ensure
their salvation. And having done all that, established
a perfect righteousness whereby God is just to justify His people. Christ's righteousness imputed,
which is the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel. And
that's totally a work of God for His people. Well, when it
comes to sanctification, which is a broader term, there is a
legal aspect of sanctification. We're set apart by the Father,
I dealt with this, set apart by God the Father before the
foundation of the world in eternal, electing, sovereign, electing
grace in Christ. Set apart by Christ on the cross
in His redeeming grace. He, the representative, the surety,
the substitute of His people, dying for their sins. When He
died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried.
When He arose again, we arose again. They are in Him. And then there's sanctification
of the Spirit, and that's what this verse is dealing with, and
that's usually the aspect of sanctification that most people
talk about, preach about, the work of the Holy Spirit within
us. And oftentimes, preachers will get it wrong. And they'll
say, now the work of justification is totally a work of God for
us, but the work of sanctification is a work of God in us with our
help. And that's not right. It is true
that the work of sanctification, if you're speaking of sanctification
of the spirit here, is a work of God within us, but not with
our help. It's totally a work of God, 100%. And what we do in sanctification
is the result, the fruit, the effect of what God totally does
for us in sanctification. And that's sanctification. Now,
that's the spiritual work of Christ by the Holy Spirit to
bring sinners to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works
and perseverance of the faith. And again, now another misconception
of that is people will relate that as some kind of progressive
work, meaning that, well, then you start getting better and
better and better and less sinful and more righteous and more holy. No, that's not what sanctification
of the Spirit is. Somebody says, well, don't we
cooperate with God? Yes, we do, but that's because
he brings us to do so. That's what the scripture teaches. He says back over in Ezekiel
36 when he was prophesying of the New Covenant times, which
was not a law imposed upon his people, but the law of God written
on their hearts by the Spirit, he said, I'll give them a new
heart. I'll give them a new spirit and I will cause them to walk
in my statutes. It's the work of God. And it's
not a progressive thing in the sense that I'm less sinful today
than I was 10 years ago. Don't get me wrong now, I hope
I'm a better person today than I was 10 years ago. But that's
not sanctification of the spirit, that's growth in grace and in
knowledge of Christ. And a big part of that growth
in grace and in knowledge of Christ is as I grow older and
get closer to the time of my death or hopefully the time that
Christ will come back, I'll be honest with you, I see myself
as more sinful today than I ever have. But what does that do for
me? Does that throw me into despair?
Does that give me pause to doubt my salvation? Does that put me
in, as old John Bunyan said in Pilgrim's Progress, the slew
of despond? And leave me there? No. You know
what it does? It drives me more and more and
more to Christ. To rest in Him. To plead His
blood for the forgiveness of all my sins. His righteousness
for my entire salvation. It causes Him to be more precious
in my sight. the more I grow in grace and
in knowledge. Now, I know what legalist and
mercenaries say about that. They say, well, that's the case
you're just using, and that is an excuse for sin. No, I'm not.
Believers are to fight sin. But their fighting sin is not
their sanctification, and I'll show you that. But let's look
at the passage here now. This is 2 Thessalonians 2. This
whole chapter, is where the Apostle Paul is reteaching things that
he had already taught to the Thessalonians concerning the
second coming of Christ. And some of them were so convinced
that Christ was coming back in their time, in their day, that
they did some things that just weren't wise and were against
the law of the Lord, the word of God. Many of them were quitting
their jobs and going off and living in the mountains or in
a cave somewhere. And that's not what the Lord
tells us to do. You know what we're to do? I
don't know when he's coming back. I know he is coming back. I know
He is returning, and He's going to bring His people to be with
Him, and He's going to destroy this world, and He's going to
judge the quick and the dead. All of that, I know all that's
true. But I don't know the day. I don't know the time. There
are preachers who think they do. There are preachers who look
around for physical signs, and there are some signs, but Here's
the thing, none of us know when he's coming back. We know that
he is. But what am I to do as a minister, as a preacher of
the gospel, until that happens? Until the time of my death or
my incapacity? Or until the time that Christ
comes back? I'll tell you exactly what I'm doing. I'm to go on
with my daily life, studying his word and preaching the gospel. And that's it. That's what we're
commanded to do. work your jobs, take care of
your families, and worship the Lord. That's what we're to do.
You're not told to quit your jobs and sit around and wait
for it. And what happened? These Thessalonians
who quit their livelihoods and went on, what happened? You know
what happened? They got hungry. They did, they got hungry. And
what did they do? They came back to the other members
of the church at Thessalonica, who were still working, and they
wanted them to give them food. And they call it Christian charity.
But it wasn't Christian charity. And that's why Paul in 1 Thessalonians,
he made this statement. He said, if you don't work, you
don't eat. Now that's the bottom line. That's
what the Bible says. You who are out there, who are
capable of working for your living, but who do not work for your
living and expect other people to support you, that kind of
welfare state, that is not biblical. That is not Christian charity.
The Bible says, if you don't work, you don't eat. And that's
true. Now, if you're incapable of working
through some physical or mental defect or whatever, that's another
story. The Bible speaks of widows and
orphans who were left destitute and the church was to take care
of them. So understand that. So a lot of these Thessalonians
were doing that. And Paul says, now look, let me tell you what
I've told you before. He says, before Christ comes
again, there will be a great falling away from the gospel. And that'll be an apostasy. And
what he's talking about now, and it's a little difficult to
grasp in our minds, what is generally known as the quote Christian
unquote church, will eventually be Christian in name only, but
they have fallen away from the truth as it is revealed in the
word of God. And my friend, somebody says,
well, we're living in the last days. Well, that's true. We've
been living in the last days since the ascension of Christ
into glory. What you need to do, especially
in these last days, somebody said, well, this is the last
of the last days. Well, okay, I can go along with
that. What you need to do is make certain
that you're in a church where God's word is preached. Not the
opinions of men, not the ideas of men, not false doctrine. You
need to be where God's word is preached from this Bible, the
word of God. And that's what you need to do.
And most churches today, and I know this, you know, all my
life I've searched around, I grew up in a false Christian church.
Most churches today are Christian in name only. The gospel, the
true gospel is hard to find. And so understand that. And that's
why the Bible says, what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13, five,
examine yourselves whether you be in the faith, the faith of
the gospel, the faith of God's elect. Examine yourself and examine
yourself by the word of God. That's what he's saying. Well,
he says during this time where there's a great falling away,
there's going to be a lot of deception. There's going to be
a lot of unbelief that comes into the name of the gospel and
the name of Christ. He speaks of the man of sin who
will deceive many. And I believe he's talking about
a spirit there, the spirit of antichrist. John said it was
in his day. He talks about the mystery of
iniquity. Now that's an iniquity that if
you know it and understand it, God must reveal it to you. This
is not an iniquity. You know, the word iniquity means
it's not equal. It's out of balance. And what
does it not equal? It does not equal to the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. Preachers
are gonna preach salvation conditioned on sinners. You must do your
part. But now if your part, if you expect to be saved by doing
your part, then your part must equal the perfection of righteousness
that can only be found in Christ, else it's iniquity. It doesn't
measure up. That's what the Bible says. He's
going to judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
and that he hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath
raised him from the dead. That's Christ. So this mystery
of iniquity, it's gonna be working. People are gonna be thinking
that they can get to God and be right with God by their choices,
their decisions, their works. That's false doctrine. And then
he mentions Satan, verse nine, he mentions the man of sin. He
says, look at 2 Thessalonians 2, nine. Even him who's coming
is after the working of Satan with all powers and signs and
lying wonders. They're going to do things that
will amaze people. Signs, wonders, but it will be
a lie. And he says in verse 10, and
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, this is an unrighteousness that
is deceptive. It comes under the guise of salvation
by works. If you're seeking salvation by
establishing your own righteousness before God by your works, That's
unrighteousness. Because the only righteousness
which makes a sinner right with God is the imputed righteousness
of Christ. And so if you're trying to be
saved by your works, you're deceived by the deceivableness of unrighteousness. And it says, in them that perish,
people will perish. Those are dead works. And look
at verse 10. It says, because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. They didn't
receive the love of the truth. Now, we know the Bible teaches
us that by nature, no one on their own, no sinner, including
me, no sinner will receive the truth. That's right. That's why Christ said you must
be born again or you will not receive the truth. And those
who are born again will receive the truth. And it says in verse
11, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie. This is God's judgment against
those who receive not the love of the truth. Verse 12, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness. Pleasure in false religion. That's
what he's talking about. Oh, I know there's pleasure in
immorality for a season. But here's the sanctification
of the Spirit. Here's how the Holy Spirit sets
God's people apart. Verse 13, but we are bound to
give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren beloved of
the Lord. And he begins with election.
Because God hath from the beginning chosen you, elected you, set
you apart to salvation. And this is known. Now this through
here, a lot of people say it means by means of. But what he's
talking about is your election. You're having been set apart
before the foundation of the world in election can only be
known by what follows here. Sanctification of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit sent into the world by the Father and the Son
to seek out God's people and set them apart, all right? Sanctification of the Spirit.
And this is known by belief of the truth. And what truth is
he talking about? Verse 14, whereunto He called
you. There's the invincible calling
of the Spirit, wherein He gives life to dead sinners in the new
birth. He gives us ears to hear and
eyes to see, a new heart, a new mind, a new life. and the gift
of faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. And he says, whereunto
he called you by our gospel, the good news. Romans 1, 16 and
17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, that believing
is the gift of God. It didn't come to us naturally.
It's not the product of our own free will decision. No, if left
to our own free will, we'll deny it and leave it and even hate
it. But he says to everyone that
believe it, to the Jew first and the Greek also, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the justified shall live by faith. So where into
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is being set apart,
being sanctified by the Spirit. The Lord spoke of it in his high
priestly prayer in John 17, when he said sanctify his people. He prayed to the Father, sanctify
them by thy truth. They are set apart by the Holy
Spirit by being brought to believe the truth. Over in John chapter
one, remember what I told you that nobody by nature is gonna
believe this truth. It speaks of Christ coming in
as the light of the world. And it says in John 1 11, he
came into his own and his own received him not. Now that's
the man by nature. We won't receive him. Verse 12,
but as many as received him. In other words, they were sanctified
by the Spirit through belief of the truth, called by the gospel.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God. Now that word
power there is not ability, that word power is the right, the
privilege. He gave to them the privilege
to be sons of God, to be called the sons of God. even to them
that believe on his name, verse 12. Now look at verse 13, which
were born. Now they were born and he's not,
all right, not of blood. He's not talking about a physical
birth here. Talking about a spiritual birth. It's not a blood, it's
not a bloodline, not pedigree, nor of the will of the flesh,
which means the works of the flesh. In other words, the new
birth. didn't come about by their natural
birth, and it didn't come about by their works, and then it says
they were born nor of the will of man, not by their decision,
not by their willing to do this. Because you see, it's God who
makes us willing in the day of his power. Other than that, we're
not willing. And he says, which were born
but of God. Now that's sanctification of
the spirit. Whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? Being set apart. And that's what sanctification
is now. Keep those two words in your
mind when you hear about holy. The Bible talks about believers
being holy brethren. Well, does that mean that they're
all morally pure and perfect? Well, it's not, no. If that's
true, then there are no believers. In fact, the Bible records some
of the most awful sins of the greatest of God's saints, sanctified
ones. What is a saint? One who is sanctified
by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. a believer, a sinner
saved by grace. So when they're called holy brethren,
it doesn't mean they're all perfect in themselves. It means that
they're set apart, sanctified by the Father, the Son, sanctified
by the Spirit, and called by the gospel, set apart in believing
the truth. This is the issue of sanctification. Understand it, being set apart,
being distinct, distinguished, what makes a child of God, a
sinner saved by grace, a true believer, what makes them different
in these areas. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.