SANCTIFICATION: GROWING IN GRACE

In our study of the Baptist Faith & Message, we come to sanctification. Like one facet of a diamond, this doctrine presents the day-to-day aspects of our salvation.

Think about the believer on Monday morning getting ready to go to work, or about the mom who is raising up earlier to catch a moment of silence before the children wake up. Or, think about the widow who eats her lunch with a friend as a cafe. Sanctification is vital to all of these experiences, and more.

You see, God saves us through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, in the action of justification whereby He fully acquits believers of all sins, and imputing to them the righteousness of Christ, and thereby adopts them into the family of God, all by repenting from sin and believing the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. This change, however, is evidenced in the daily life of the believer. This is called sanctification. The Baptist Faith & Message describes this doctrine thus:

Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

This helpful paragraph provides a summary of the doctrine of sanctification as presented in the sacred Word of God. This summary can be observed in Paul’s final words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:32,

Acts 20:32 ESV

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Here in this verse we note several truths:

The “build[ing] up” is the result of

God

His Word

This “build[ing] up” results in inheritance with “those who are sanctified”—points to our glorification with our brothers and sisters in Christ, alluded to in 1 John 3:2

This provides an excellent one-verse summary of what Baptists believe about the sanctification of the believer. There is, however, much more to this doctrine. And, in my estimation, one of the many reasons the Church is in the state it currently is in is due primarily to a lack of understanding and engagement in sanctification.

We will note several truths concerning sanctification in this sermon, with the hope that, at the end, we will have a practical plan in place to grow in grace. One of my goals as a pastor, given to me by God, is to see that each member of our congregation grow in spiritual knowledge and maturity, unity in the faith, and usefulness in the body of Christ for the glory of God, i.e. Christlikeness (Eph. 4:12-16). This is sanctification!

So, let us ask God (as Paul did in Acts 20) to aid us in growing more like His Son, Jesus Christ.

[Prayer]

I. SANCTIFICATION IS A GRADUAL PROCESS-Romans 7:13-20

“Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration...”

Now, it is absolutely vital that you understand that sanctification is not the process by which we are saved. We are regenerated and justified exclusively through the Triune God. It is a God’s grace whereby we are saved through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, not, as Paul discusses, as a result of our works (Eph. 2:9).

With that foundational understanding, we can then move on to learn how sanctification works, which as we mentioned, is a gradual process. This is Paul’s point in Romans 7:13-20. It is a process. There are times when the believer is not as holy as he or she would like, and this brings about a frustration. We can all, I am sure, relate to Paul. There are times when we are close to the Lord, when our spirits burn within us as we read the Scriptures and sit under the faithful teaching of God’s Word. There are also other times when we feel far away from God, our hearts cold and unloving to God, His Word, and His people.

This illustrates the gradualness of the process of sanctification. Returning to our opening passage of Scripture, we see that Paul desired to see the Ephesian believers built up, that is, sanctified.

Now, before we get practical, I want to get practical. This point is important to remember because, as experience teaches us, we are growing, in that we have not yet reached the goal of Christlikeness. There will be times in which we will not be where we want or need to be. But it is a process. Hannah and I recently taught the older two how to ride their bikes. Initially they wanted to go and ride on the street without training at all. They wanted to skip the process of learning and go straight to the goal of riding. Obviously, this is impossible. They cannot ride their bikes without training wheels because they do not know how. In a similar way, Christians, upon regeneration and justification, may become incredibly discouraged when they are around mature believers. But, like children learning to ride bikes without training wheels, growth in grace is a process, a gradual process. Sanctification is a process.

II. SANCTIFICATION IS PURPOSEFUL- Romans 6:19-23; 8:28-29

“Sanctification...by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity...”

Sanctification, this gradual process, has a purpose: to be like Jesus Christ. Though the BF&M builds upon this idea, our goal in sanctification is to be like Christ. Our sanctification, then, is purposeful.

Have any of you ever experienced one of those times as a young child when your parents told you to do something, but you never could understand why? Or, how many of us have been given a task by an employer, only to question its purpose?

However, with God, we do not have to wonder why. Even in the midst of suffering we know that God is using it to make us more like His Son (Romans 8:28-29). God is so sovereign, and so loving, that He uses absolutely everything in our lives to make us more like Jesus Christ. This process of sanctification, then, is meant to make us more like Christ (sanctify=set apart).

The BF&M, though, breaks this main thought into several factors.

A. Moral maturity—a biblical life (Eph. 4:20-32)

As we become more like Jesus Christ, our lives will be different. The Belgic Confession puts it like this,

“So then, it is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being, seeing that we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls ‘faith working through love,’ which leads a man to do of himself the works that God has commanded in his Word.”—Belgic Confession, Article 24

As we grow to be more like Jesus Christ, our lives look different than others. We say this, not in any sort of prideful or condescending way, but by the natural (spiritual) outworking of the change wrought in us by Jesus Christ. Notice this connection that Paul makes, he writes, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus...” (Eph. 4:20-21) There is a moral maturity that is our purpose, growing in our likeness of Jesus Christ daily by transformed lives.

B. Spiritual maturity—a biblical knowledge- Eph. 4:14; 2 Pet. 1:3

One of the other purposes of sanctification is to increase our biblical knowledge. Consider our two passages of Ephesians and 2 Peter. These two passages both speak of increasing our knowledge, and Peter specifies that it is the “knowledge of Him.” Part of our goal, that is, one of the purposes of sanctification is to increase our knowledge of God and His Word. Just take Psalm 119:9-16 as an example:

Through God’s Word, the psalmist maintains a pure life (9)

Through God’s Word, the psalmist strives to live a life of integrity (10)

Through God’s Word, the psalmist avoids sin against God (11)

Through God’s Word, the psalmist praises God accurately (12)

Through God’s Word, the psalmist declares God’s truth (13)

Through God’s Word, the psalmist treasures God’s truth (14)

Through God’s Word, the psalmist meditates on God and His actions (15)

Through God’s Word, the psalmist delights in God’s knowledge (16)

In just a few verses, the psalmist shows how utterly dependent upon God’s Word he is for knowledge of God. As we are sanctified, our knowledge of God through His Word increases. We learn how to live more righteously. We see how the Scriptures help us overcome temptations to sin.

Learning biblical truths is as essential for the Christian’s progression in sanctification as breathing is to live.

III. SANCTIFICATION IS SPIRIT-EMPOWERED- Galatians 5:22-23

Sanctification [is]…through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.

One thing the Scriptures make clear is that is that our salvation, including sanctification, is all God. We have already worked through the Baptist Fatih & Message’s statement on the Holy Spirit. With that foundational truth, we learn that sanctification, the process by which we are becoming more like Jesus Christ, is wrought by the Holy Spirit.

Consider our passage in Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit, the changed life, is the result of the Holy Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit, that is, from the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the means by which this fruit is produced.

Or, consider Philippians 2:13 where Paul ties in our will and actions with Himself. That is, God is the One who provides us the willingness to engage in the work of sanctification and the ability to conduct it.

This is yet another reminder, as each step of our salvation truly is, of our utter dependence upon God. Turning back to Galatians 5:22-23, we continue on to verse 25 where Paul connects our growth in sanctification to the work of the Holy Spirit.