Salvation and Sanctification

Introduction and Scripture

In the room you have Marc with you in the morning session, and Gerry with you in the evening session. For those that are in the room (I know some will stream this), I want you to think about two things as we go....

What is new and resonates with me?

What is new and challenges me? Questions?

Let’s begin with the word: open bibles....

Philippians 2:12–13 NIV

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Pray.

Today/Tonight we are going to talk about salvation, with a focus on sanctification. A large portion of my thesis for my doctorate work is on a Wesleyan, methodist, understanding of salvation.

what does it mean to be saved?

Put your faith in Jesus, what does it mean?

What does Paul mean by Salvation and working out your own salvation....work it out?!?!

What happens then?

What does the Christian life look like and what should it feel like?

A couple of weeks ago, I shared an illustration in Core and maybe it resonates with you here.

Camp Meeting, Kentucky. Esau.

John Wesley talked about the work of God through human salvation in these terms:

prevenient grace

justifying grace

sanctifying grace

(say a brief word here)

Prevenient grace, is a wooing.....

Story about Lauren

I want to focus on justifying and sanctifying grace tonight.

Justification of Faith

This is the decision in a lot of our thoughts and experiences. Give your life to Jesus.

My son talks about Jesus living in his heart already....

At this moment that we say yes to Jesus, like a real yes, scripture tells us that we are joined with Christ in his death and in his resurrection.

Romans 10:9–10 NIV

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

What exactly does it mean to be justified/saved/redeemed?

According to Wesley, here is what it isn’t:

not simply belief in the existence of God

not simply the practice of moral virtue

not even a simple intellectual belief in scripture....it is not enough to say, yeah this book is good.

not even just the knowledge that Jesus is son of God

Finally, not even the faith of the apostles of the gospels

This sounds scandalous but then Wesley clarifies, three important aspects of faith:

Justifying Faith is:

Justifying Faith is:

1. Faith in Christ

2. More than the devil’s faith

3. trust in merit of death and resurrection

Faith in Christ (and God through Christ) as the object of faith

“is different from that of the devil in that it is not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head; but also a disposition of the heart.” .....intellect and heart

Beyond that of the apostles, in that saving faith “acknowledges the necessity and merit of his death and the power of his resurrection.”

It is more than this decision, or emotional response. I just want you to think about, for example, Peter’s sermon on Pentecost....it is the complete presentation.

Regeneration

At the same time the sinner is justified, Wesley also believed the sinner to be born again or regenerated. He makes the distinction clearly in his sermon, “The New Birth:”

“If any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity may be properly termed fundamental they are doubtless these two—the doctrine of justification, and that of the new birth: the former relating to that great work which God does for us, in forgiving our sins; the latter to the great work which God does in us, in renewing our fallen nature. In order of time neither of these is before the other. In the moment we are justified by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Jesus we are also ‘born of the Spirit’; but in order of thinking, as it is termed, justification precedes the new birth. We first conceive his wrath to be turned away, and then his Spirit to work in our hearts.” -John Wesley, The New Birth

Regeneration brings forth fruit of new life.

Wesley acknowledges three marks of new birth for the person that has been justified and brought into new life

Marks of new birth:

Marks of the new birth:

Faith

Hope

Love

Faith is the power over sin, evil, and self. This is belief that you belong to God and He is yours. Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King, and nothing can separate you from that truth

Hope: You now see the world differently. You are walking in an inheritance of the King. You acknowledge and walk in the intimacy of God’s Spirit. You have a patience that is otherworldly

Love: Love shed abroad in your heart. There is a two-way highway between you and Christ. Receiving more and more of his love for you while you expound in your love for him.

Bottom line, Wesley and Christians throughout history, believe these are the signs of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the redeemed.

Now, in justification, people are also born again at the same time. But these truths hold equal importance so Wesley makes a distinction.....

Justification: high view of the work of the cross and resurrection

New birth: a high view of the change of this work. Both of the previous person and the new person.

But these two things are also the door step to something that continues. The work of God’s grace to sanctify us.

Sanctification

This is the work of God’s grace in and through us.

Here are two examples from “On Working Out Our Own Salvation” and “The New Birth,” respectively, to provide a brief overview:

By justification we are saved from the guilt of sin, and restored to the favor of God; by sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin, and restored to the image of God. All experience, as well as Scripture, show this salvation to be both instantaneous and gradual. It begins the moment we are justified, in the holy, humble, gentle, patient love of God and man. It gradually increases from that moment, as a grain of mustard-seed, which, at first, is the least of all seed, but afterwards puts forth large branches, and becomes a great tree; till, in another instant, the heart is cleansed from all sin, and filled with pure love to God and man. But even that love increases more and more, till we “grow up in all things into Him that is our Head;” till we attain “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” -On Working Out Our Own Salvation

When we are born again, then our sanctification, our inward and outward holiness, begins; and thenceforward we are gradually to “grow up in Him who is our Head.” This expression of the Apostle admirably illustrates … the analogy between natural and spiritual things. A child is born of a woman in a moment, or at least in a very short time: Afterward he gradually and slowly grows, till he attains to the stature of a man. In like manner, a child is born of God in a short time, if not in a moment. But it is by slow degrees that he afterwards grows up to the measure of the full stature of Christ. The same relation, therefore, which there is between our natural birth and our growth, there is also between our new birth and our sanctification. -The New Birth

[1] Wesley, Sermon 85, “On Working Out Our Own Salvation,” ¶ 2, Works, Bicentennial, 3: 205.

[2] Wesley, “The New Birth,” ¶ 4, Works, Bicentennial, 2:199.

I know Wesley for many is like reading shakespeare or listening to a film that is in english but you still do not know really what is going on. Wesley here draws from scripture:

The new birth is from Jesus and Nicodemus conversation in John 3.

On working out our own salvation is form the text we began the lesson, Philippians 2.

These sermons imply that sanctification is an imparting of grace that is mostly dependent on God.

First, it is about a natural working of God’s love in you

Think about it… a child and a seed grow, not by unilateral choice, but as a result of a natural process:

the child, because they are alive, they grow. It is not a conscience choice each morning around the breakfast table

the seed is the same way

In the same way the sanctification journey for those in Christ is a natural experience of God’s grace for those born again.

.....because you are born again, you grow. period.

Second, sanctification is about “…attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4). Sanctification is about growing in maturity and holiness, or becoming Christ like.

So, by now we have established that sanctification demands that salvation is an ongoing experience....

I like to talk about sanctification as the application of the love of Jesus into your life. It is done in a real life gift but we have to apply it.

I grew up close to some friends. adopted some kids. Loved them more than anything in the whole world. but they never applied it.

How do we apply it?

Characteristics in the life of the believer:

1. repentance

This about yielding more and more of yourself each day. Repentance is the primary joining and yielding to this gift of sanctifying grace. It is a stance of humility and self-awareness that paves the ways for the person to embrace the gradual work of love born into the believer. Finally, repentance is about the removal of the obstacles of grace.

2. faith

If repentance is a movement from obstacles of grace, faith is a movement deeper into God. These two aspects of the Christian experience are foundational for the life in Christ and are “…essential to moral integrity always, everywhere in time and possibly in eternity.”[1] Faith is a direction of love for God and for others that is continual and dynamic.

[1] Wynkoop, A Theology of Love, Loc 5933.

3. responsibility

Finally, responsibility becomes the factor that holds everything together in the experience of sanctification. Wynkoop explains, “Justification involves the individual in responsibility” and “faith is not quite faith until it is also obedience.”[1] [1] Wynkoop, A Theology of Love, Loc 5933.

Sanctification is a dynamic gift of God’s grace that continues the work begun in justification. The person saved in Christ is continually saved gradually through the work of the spirit. This grace also enables the activity of the believer to “work out” their own salvation as they focus on Christ and follow him obediently. This free gift, perhaps. has the most access to a person when they live a life of repentance, pursuing faith, and choosing obedience.

Conclusion

See attached ABC Illustration

Close with illustration about ABC?

A= Justification

B=Sanctification

C= Eternal life

If “A” then “B” then “C”

We have some that If A, then C (assuming B)

It is never A+B=C

James is saying that if B does not exist, then does A really exist???

Loving my spouse.

Why is this important?

Biblical and full presentation of salvation

Barna Research, 89% of Christians do not live an experience of sanctification

Wesleyan contribution to the conversation

Sin is not a requirement in the Christian life

Application of grace to your life.