What are Sanctification and Perserverance

Ordo solutis - Order of salvation

Election

Gospel Call

Regeneration

Conversion

Justification

Adoption

Sanctification

Perseverance

Death

Glorification

Colossians 2:6–7 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

How did you receive Christ Jesus?

Repentance & Faith

Romans 8:28–30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

We have talked about:

Election/Predestination

God chose you before the foundations of the world

Effectual Calling/Regeneration

Opened your eyes, softened your hear, you were turned from spiritual death to spiritual life

Justification/Adoption

You were declared legally righteous by faith alone & adopted into Gods family as a son or daughter

All of those happen at the beginning of our christian life. Sanctification happens after

Sanctification

Sanctification is a progressive work of both God and man that makes Christians more and more free from sin and more and more like Christ in their actual lives.

Grudem, Wayne . Christian Beliefs, Revised Edition: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know (p. 108). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Justification vs Sanctification

Legal Standing - Internal condition

Once for all time - Continuous throughout life

Entirely God’s work - We cooperate

Perfect in this life - Not perfect in this life

The same in all Christians - Greater in some than others

Sanctification is an ongoing process of us becoming more Christlike

Three Stages

Definite beginning at regeneration

Titus 3:5 “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”

Initial moral change

Often extreme right away

Hate the sin you once loved and love the God you once hated

Romans 6:1–14 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he liveshe lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:18 “and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

We are no longer ruled by and slaves to sin

You are free not to sin in christ

2. Sanctification Increases throughout life

2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Colossians 3:10 “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Hebrews 12:14 “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Much of NT is how believers are to act

3. Sanctification is completed at death

We will never be completely free from sin this side of death

1 John 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Which means our sanctification will not be complete until we die

When we die our sanctification process is complete and we will be fully and finally free from sin

We are free from the power & penalty of sin but not the presence of it

Roles in sanctification

Who walks out your Christian life?

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Both God & Us

Gods role

God has a role

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Hebrews 13:20–21 “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.”

1 Peter 1:2 “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Galatians 5:16–18 “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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

We have a role

Passive & Active

Passive

Romans 6:13 “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

Romans 12:1 “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.”

Romans 8:13 “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.”

Active

Romans 8:13 “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.”

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Sanctification affects the whole person

Intellect

Emotions

Spirit

Physical Bodies

Sanctification is for your greatest joy

“Better than hell”

What if our sanctification process ends?

Perseverance of the saints

Definition:

"The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again." (Systematic Theology, p. 788)

Those are are truly saved and born again will make it to the end.

Biblical Defense

Romans chain

Romans 8:28–30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Refutation: Roger Olson (Arminian Theologian) says “The passage does not teach inevitable perseverance, but the intended goal of believers — glorification.”

Romans 8:38–39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Refutation: “Paul does not say that God will keep man from separating himself. He merely affirms that no outside power can do so.”

What Jesus says

John 6:38–40 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””

Refutation: Clark Pinnock “The text does not say that all who come will necessarily continue; it says that Jesus will not cast them out — not that they cannot leave.”

John 10:27–29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

Refutation: External forces take them, not their own desire to leave

Seal of spirit

Ephesians 1:13–14 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Refutation: Leighton Flowers

“This is not a doctrinal treatise on eternal security. It is a pastoral encouragement in a letter to a faithful church."

“"The 'He who began a good work' is a statement about God's faithfulness to finish what He starts, but it assumes that the people will continue to cooperate with Him."

How do we know if faith is genuine?

Hebrews 3:14 “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

Sanctification is a lifelong process that ebbs and flows but our righteousness is not based off of it but off of Christ’s righteousness, which is why when we are doing bad, we know that God is not displeased with us due to our performance, and when we are doing good, he is not more pleased with us, but his pleasure is rooted and grounded in Christ’s righteousness