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From Justification to Sanctification: Your Path to Spiritual Growth
This podcast episode from the Middletown Baptist Church features Pastor Josh Massaro discussing the interrelated concepts of justification, propitiation, and sanctification, all essential elements of salvation. Pastor Josh emphasizes that justification, which means being declared righteous by God through faith in Jesus Christ, is foundational to our relationship with God. He explains the significance of propitiation, highlighting that Jesus Christ's sacrifice satisfied God's wrath towards sin, allowing believers to be justified. The episode also delves into the process of sanctification, underscoring the importance of growing in faith and living a life that reflects Christ's character. As Pastor Josh prepares the congregation for the upcoming Christmas season, he encourages listeners to deepen their understanding of these theological terms and their implications for daily Christian living.
Pastor Josh Massaro leads a profound exploration of essential theological concepts in the latest podcast episode from Middletown Baptist Church, focusing on the relationship between justification, propitiation, and sanctification. As the holiday season approaches, the pastor reflects on the importance of grounding ourselves in the Christian faith, particularly through understanding these key terms that are foundational to the believer's experience. The discussion begins with justification, emphasizing that it is not about our works but rather faith in Jesus Christ that declares us righteous before God. Pastor Josh emphasizes that this declaration is pivotal for all Christians, underscoring that our standing before God is not based on our merit but solely on the grace extended to us through Christ's sacrifice.
The episode transitions to the concept of propitiation, explaining how Jesus satisfies God's wrath against sin. This theological term may seem daunting, yet it is crucial for understanding why we can be justified at all. The pastor eloquently illustrates how Christ's atoning sacrifice fulfills the requirements of a righteous God, allowing us to stand uncondemned. He supports this explanation with scriptural references, particularly from Romans and 1 John, making the message accessible and relatable. The pastor encourages listeners to grasp not only the mechanics of salvation but also the emotional and spiritual implications of being reconciled with God.
Finally, the discussion culminates in the topic of sanctification, painting a picture of the believer's ongoing transformation post-justification. Pastor Josh articulates that salvation is just the beginning of a lifelong journey of growth in grace, where believers are called to live out their faith through good works, which are evidence of their new life in Christ. He stresses the importance of actively pursuing spiritual maturity through prayer, Bible study, and community engagement, as these practices deepen one's relationship with God and enhance one's understanding of His word. This episode serves as an enriching reminder of the transformative power of Christ and the continual process of becoming more like Him throughout our Christian walk.
Takeaways:
- The podcast emphasizes the significance of understanding justification, propitiation, and sanctification in our Christian faith.
- Pastor Josh highlights that justification is solely through faith in Jesus, not by our works.
- Sanctification is a lifelong process where believers grow in grace and knowledge of God.
- The importance of being aware of our salvation and living a purposeful Christian life is stressed.
- The episode encourages believers to add virtues to their faith for spiritual growth.
- Pastor Josh reminds us that glorification is the ultimate goal for Christians after life on earth.
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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Pastor Josh:My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Pastor Josh:Now, come along.
Pastor Josh:Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Speaker B:All right, well, we're going to go ahead and start our Bible study here this evening.
Speaker B:Now, if you have been following along with us for the last, I don't know how long it's been, we've been going through Zephaniah, we went through a long study in the book of Genesis, and then we went through a short study in the book of Zephaniah.
Speaker B:And as a pastor, I was racking my brain, do I want to start a book right before the Christmas season?
Speaker B:And I said, no, I don't want to do that.
Speaker B:I don't want to get everyone lost on the shuffle of the Christmas season.
Speaker B:And so what we're going to do, at least until the end of this year and into the new year is we're going to be, and I mentioned this last week, we're going to be taking some words and doing some word studies.
Speaker B:And we've been doing this on our podcast.
Speaker B:If you, if you have a podcast outlet that you listen to, we do a podcast here from our church.
Speaker B:We've got 23 word of the Week episodes.
Speaker B:And so if you haven't ever listened to the Word of the Week episode, you've got about a half a year you could go back and listen to all in one sitting.
Speaker B:Probably wouldn't do that, but there are little snippets.
Speaker B:And so I was sitting down and said, okay, what word do I want to study here this week?
Speaker B:And I actually picked out three words.
Speaker B:And so I'm going to try to jam in three words here this evening.
Speaker B:And I hope that isn't too much.
Speaker B:We'll kind of gauge it in that sense.
Speaker B:But for the next few weeks, we're going to be talking about some words.
Speaker B:Next week, we're going to be specifically discussing the word Messiah.
Speaker B:And what does that mean?
Speaker B:We hear that word a lot, Messiah.
Speaker B:But this week we're going to talk about three words.
Speaker B:And all these three words are interrelated to our salvation.
Speaker B:And certainly we know that our salvation is the most important thing that we have in Christ.
Speaker B:No doubt there are other elements of our Christian life that are exciting, right?
Speaker B:There's the blessings of growth.
Speaker B:There's the blessings of service.
Speaker B:There's the blessings of all these different types of things, but the number one blessing is our salvation.
Speaker B:And so I want to think about three different terms here this evening.
Speaker B:And I'm sure that you are familiar with at least some of these words or you're familiar with a form of these words.
Speaker B:But I want you to think about this first word.
Speaker B:This first word is justification.
Speaker B:Now most of you would say, well, I probably heard that word before.
Speaker B:I always ask someone, do you know it enough to explain it to a 5 year old?
Speaker B:Because I have found in my life that the more that I know something, the more I know about something, the easier I can make it to someone when I'm explaining it to them.
Speaker B:If I'm not really even following my own line of thinking, I might not understand it as much as I thought I did.
Speaker B:And so we're going to look at this word justification and, or justify.
Speaker B:And sometimes in our society we use the word justify as like I'm trying to make what I did right, like I'm trying to justify myself.
Speaker B:Like, you know, I got angry with this person and I'm giving you the reasons why I got angry with this person.
Speaker B:I'm trying to justify myself.
Speaker B:Well, we know, biblically speaking that we cannot justify ourselves literally.
Speaker B:The word justify means to declare righteous.
Speaker B:It means that someone can say, hey look, you are righteous, you don't have guilt upon your life.
Speaker B:And the Bible says in Romans chapter five, you can turn there with me.
Speaker B:Romans chapter five.
Speaker B:It tells us how we are justified not by our own words, not by our own actions, not by somebody else's actions.
Speaker B:At least someone else here in this room.
Speaker B:Like I can't look at over someone else and say, well, they told me I'm okay.
Speaker B:You ever heard someone do that?
Speaker B:They said, well, I think I'm doing okay.
Speaker B:And I asked someone else if I was doing this and they said that's fine, you could do that.
Speaker B:Well, you know what, they're not going to answer for you before the Lord.
Speaker B:And so the Bible tells us in Romans chapter five, what brings us our justification?
Speaker B:What brings that declaration of righteousness in our life and what is that righteousness?
Speaker B:Now for most of you, you would say, I know this, but, but I think it's important for us as Christians to be able to explain this to other people around us.
Speaker B:Because let's say they're reading their Bible and they get to that word justification, they think about it like this, well, that means how I can make myself look good.
Speaker B:But, but the Bible says here in verse 1 of Romans chapter 5, therefore being justified by faith, the Bible says that it is faith alone that justifies us now.
Speaker B:Not the work that we have done, but faith in the work that Jesus has done on our behalf.
Speaker B:So it says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:And so the Bible very clearly tells us here in verse number one, how we are justified.
Speaker B:We are justified by trusting in Jesus.
Speaker B:Now, you would say, of course, that's.
Speaker B:We know that.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But if I'm trying to explain this to somebody who doesn't really understand that concept.
Speaker B:You ever tried to explain to someone the gospel, and they've never heard the gospel.
Speaker B:They didn't grow up with the gospel.
Speaker B:I grew up with the gospel.
Speaker B:And so it was so ingrained in my mind that it just made a lot of sense.
Speaker B:But someone in the world might say, this can't be that easy.
Speaker B:I just believe in Jesus.
Speaker B:How?
Speaker B:How can.
Speaker B:And then, then in the same breath, we say that God hates sin, and we say that God judges sin.
Speaker B:Well, didn't you just tell me that I'm a sinner?
Speaker B:How can God look at me and say that I'm righteous?
Speaker B:How can I trust in Jesus?
Speaker B:And it all just goes away.
Speaker B:That's a question that a lot of people might have.
Speaker B:And so the Bible explains that to us because it says there, it's through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace.
Speaker B:So it's a gift wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Speaker B:And so the Bible tells us that we didn't earn this.
Speaker B:And I want you to think about another word that is connected to our justification, and it explains our justification, and that is in First John chapter two, our propitiation.
Speaker B:Now you're going to say, hey, I wasn't here tonight to hear all these theological terms.
Speaker B:Well, you know, these are good terms to know.
Speaker B:I don't necessarily think that you have to use them, but you do have to understand what they mean when you understand our salvation before Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:And so I want you to look at one John chapter two with me.
Speaker B:How can we be justified?
Speaker B:How can justification be a thing?
Speaker B:Well, justification is a thing because of what First John chapter 2 says.
Speaker B:First John chapter 2, the Bible says, my little children.
Speaker B:So he's speaking to Christians here.
Speaker B:So that's important for us to understand.
Speaker B:Christians should understand the principle of propitiation, these things.
Speaker B:Write I unto you that ye sin not.
Speaker B:I always used to get scared when I read that Because I was like, wait, he's telling us not to sin, but I know I'm going to sin, so what do I do?
Speaker B:Well, he says, don't sin.
Speaker B:So the desire should be not to sin.
Speaker B:We should strive to live a life that is pure and holy before God.
Speaker B:But what does it say in the next part?
Speaker B:It says, and if any man sin, meaning you're going to sin because you're still fighting that sin nature.
Speaker B:You're still fighting the flesh.
Speaker B:We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Speaker B:An advocate, Someone fighting for us, someone who has gone before, someone who has paid the price.
Speaker B:Someone who is our mouthpiece, our.
Speaker B:Our champion.
Speaker B:You ever had someone that just supported you.
Speaker B:Ever had someone that was like your, Your person who came before you and was like, hey, I can vouch for this person, right?
Speaker B:He's a.
Speaker B:He's a good person.
Speaker B:She's a good person.
Speaker B:What we see is we have an advocate with the Father and it says, they're Jesus Christ the righteous.
Speaker B:Now go back and think about this.
Speaker B:That's the declaration of righteousness is justification.
Speaker B:God declares us righteous, but it's not our righteousness.
Speaker B:We see here whose righteousness it is.
Speaker B:Jesus Christ the righteous.
Speaker B:And so what God does is he takes Jesus's righteousness and he takes his righteousness and he puts it on our account.
Speaker B:How can he do that?
Speaker B:How can a righteous and holy God look at an individual sinner and say, okay, I'm going to declare you righteous.
Speaker B:I'm going to put my Son's righteousness on your account.
Speaker B:Well, it says in verse two what that means.
Speaker B:And he talking about Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.
Speaker B:There's that big word, propitiation.
Speaker B:Now, if you don't know what that word means, it's very easy to skip over it and just say, well, it means something and it has something to do with my salvation.
Speaker B:Propitiation literally means a satisfaction.
Speaker B:Someone paid the price.
Speaker B:Someone took the place.
Speaker B:Because God in his holy and righteous character must deal with sin.
Speaker B:He must judge sin.
Speaker B:He must make the wages of sin death.
Speaker B: e and he was born in a manger: Speaker B:You can see it right behind me.
Speaker B:He came to Bethlehem.
Speaker B:But we all know Jesus didn't start in Bethlehem.
Speaker B:He's eternal.
Speaker B:And Jesus came to Bethlehem, but he didn't stay a baby.
Speaker B:We know that the Bible says that he grew in wisdom and stature and favor with the Lord.
Speaker B:So Jesus grew up and Jesus lived a life, and he lived a life that was sinless.
Speaker B:He lived a life with no sin.
Speaker B:He fulfilled the law.
Speaker B:The only person to ever walk this planet that can say they didn't sin, they were never born in sin, never committed a sin.
Speaker B:And the one who knew no sin, the Bible says in second Corinthians, the one who knew no sin became sin for us.
Speaker B:Now, that didn't mean he sinned, by the way.
Speaker B:I had a discussion with someone recently, a theological discussion, and they said, well, he would have had to sin to be judged as a sinner.
Speaker B:I said, no, no, the Bible is very clear.
Speaker B:Jesus committed no sin or he would be just like anybody else in the concept of his guilt.
Speaker B:But Jesus committed no sin.
Speaker B:So the one who knew no sin became sin.
Speaker B:He took the place, he took the punishment.
Speaker B:The only one who didn't deserve the punishment, he took that and he satisfied God's wrath.
Speaker B:I want you to know that the Bible very clearly teaches that when God was looking down on Jesus Christ in his sin, He.
Speaker B:He poured out his wrath upon him.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:It's not something that we talk about a lot of the Christmas season, right?
Speaker B:We don't get around with a lot of people and go, wow, we're going to just celebrate God's wrath being poured out upon Jesus.
Speaker B:But the Bible actually says that that is the case.
Speaker B:I want you to keep your finger in First John, chapter two in that idea of propitiation.
Speaker B:And I want you to go to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 53.
Speaker B:Now, most of you know Isaiah 53.
Speaker B:You probably are familiar with Isaiah 53.
Speaker B:You've probably heard it quoted in many different settings.
Speaker B:But I believe it's one of, if not the most obvious references to Jesus in the Old Testament.
Speaker B:I mean, there are plenty there.
Speaker B:There are plenty of prophecies of Jesus that were fulfilled in his life and some to come.
Speaker B:But what we do see Here in Isaiah 53 is a description of the Messiah that would come and pay the price for the sins of his people.
Speaker B:He would pay the price of sin in the eyes of God.
Speaker B:It says in verse number one, who hath believed our report?
Speaker B:And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Speaker B:For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant.
Speaker B:This is describing Jesus's growth, his physical growth.
Speaker B:And as a root out of dry ground, he had no form nor comeliness.
Speaker B:Now what does that mean?
Speaker B:That means that Jesus didn't walk around with like a glory around him.
Speaker B:People didn't look at Jesus and go, well, that must be the Son of God.
Speaker B:He looked like everybody else.
Speaker B:He Was he was a normal looking guy, average looking from the outside.
Speaker B:Now we know that the acts that he did obviously made him distinct.
Speaker B:But it says that he would have looked normal.
Speaker B:There is no beauty that we should desire him.
Speaker B:He is despised and rejected of men.
Speaker B:A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Speaker B:And we hid, as it were our faces from him.
Speaker B:He was despised and we esteemed him not.
Speaker B:Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Speaker B:Yet we did esteem him stricken spin of God and afflicted.
Speaker B:But he was wounded for our transgressions.
Speaker B:He was bruised for our iniquities.
Speaker B:The chastisement of our peace was upon him.
Speaker B:And with his stripes we are healed.
Speaker B:You guys are familiar with that?
Speaker B:That's describing what Jesus went through for us.
Speaker B:Verse 6.
Speaker B:All we like sheep, have gone astray.
Speaker B:That talks about our sin condition.
Speaker B:We have turned everyone to his own way.
Speaker B:And the Lord hath laid on him.
Speaker B:That's Jesus.
Speaker B:The iniquity.
Speaker B:That's our sin of us all.
Speaker B:He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
Speaker B:That speaks to Jesus's humility.
Speaker B:He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shears is dumb.
Speaker B:So he opened not his mouth.
Speaker B:He was taken from prison and from judgment.
Speaker B:And who shall declare his generation?
Speaker B:For he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people.
Speaker B:He was stricken and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence.
Speaker B:Neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Speaker B:Yet it.
Speaker B:And this is the verse that I'm getting to to set the context.
Speaker B:Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
Speaker B:He hath put him to grief.
Speaker B:When thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall his see his seed and shall prolong his days.
Speaker B:And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Speaker B:Now we're going to stop there.
Speaker B:But what we can see there is that it.
Speaker B:It was a satisfaction of God's wrath.
Speaker B:Now, now it's hard for our minds to reconcile that concept of it pleasing God to bruise his Son.
Speaker B:But we do know that was God's love for his people like the recognition that Jesus did this for the sake of love.
Speaker B:But God commends his love towards us.
Speaker B:And now while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Speaker B:Jesus went to the cross, as it says, with love.
Speaker B:We also know in the book of Hebrews that he went to the cross with joy, though we know that he struggled with it in the garden.
Speaker B:In his humanity, he did say, lord, let this cup pass from me.
Speaker B:If there be any other way, nevertheless, that will be done.
Speaker B:And so Jesus, out of his love for us, out of the joy, he went to the cross.
Speaker B:And that is how there can be that propitiation.
Speaker B:Jesus paid the price for our sins.
Speaker B:And so one John, Chapter two, verse two, he is the propitiation.
Speaker B:So because of the propitiation, we are able to have justification by faith, not by works.
Speaker B:Which leads to another word, theological word, that you're probably familiar with, but sometimes we're not always familiar with when it comes to its significance, is sanctification.
Speaker B:Now we have the propitiation of Jesus Christ, which leads to, by faith, justification, the declaration of righteousness.
Speaker B:But we all know, hopefully you know, that salvation is not the end.
Speaker B:A lot of times we think of it that way.
Speaker B:Well, I've got my ticket to heaven.
Speaker B:I'm justified, and now I can just go back to living the way I want to live.
Speaker B:That's not what the Bible actually says.
Speaker B:The Bible actually says that justification is the start of it.
Speaker B:And now you're on the path of sanctification.
Speaker B:What is sanctification?
Speaker B:Well, literally, sanctification means to be set aside for a specific use.
Speaker B:In our household, there's things that we know not to put out around our kids, right?
Speaker B:Because if we put it out, it might get broken.
Speaker B:And so there are certain things that we want to set aside and keep safe because we don't want it to get messed up in the house.
Speaker B:And that's the same thing when it comes to us as Christians.
Speaker B:God has called us now as his, as his children, he has called us for a specific job, a specific purpose.
Speaker B:Ephesians chapter two talks about that.
Speaker B:We read Ephesians chapter two quite frequently.
Speaker B:I read it in church on Sunday morning.
Speaker B:It's one of my favorite passages of Scripture.
Speaker B:And we know, usually we're very, very familiar with verses 8 and 9, but we don't always think about what Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10 says.
Speaker B:Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8, 9.
Speaker B:For by grace ye say it through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Speaker B:But here's the verse that tags into that with sanctification.
Speaker B:For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Speaker B:And so the idea of this is that now that you are saved, now that you are a believer, God has a purpose for you.
Speaker B:And that is to serve him, that is to live a life of good works.
Speaker B:That is to live a life of public proclamation of your faith.
Speaker B:Now, some would say, well, does that mean that I have to do that to stay saved?
Speaker B:No, but what he's saying is a true heart change, transformation.
Speaker B:Romans chapter 12 tells us to be transformed.
Speaker B:Second Corinthians, chapter 5 says, We're a new creation in Christ.
Speaker B:And so therefore, a new life in Christ will be transformed to serve.
Speaker B:It will be transformed to live for him.
Speaker B:And so there's this idea that, and I've said this phrase before, and it's not original to me.
Speaker B:I don't know where I heard it, but I did not come up with this.
Speaker B:I'm not that smart.
Speaker B:But it says this.
Speaker B:We're not.
Speaker B:We don't serve to be saved, but we're saved to serve.
Speaker B:And that's the idea that we have as Christians is it's not the service that is our salvation, but it is the manifestation of what's happened in our heart already.
Speaker B:And so sanctification, there's three elements to sanctification.
Speaker B:I know this is more like a class here this evening, but I hope that you can glean something from this.
Speaker B:There's three elements to sanctification.
Speaker B:There's the positional sanctification.
Speaker B:God has taken you from the side of an unsaved person and moved you, as the Bible says, from darkness into marvelous light.
Speaker B:He has now made you a new creation.
Speaker B:So that's your positional sanctification.
Speaker B:He set you aside for that purpose.
Speaker B:Now you are on the path of what some call progressive sanctification, meaning it's a growth process, work in progress.
Speaker B:You ever driven in Delaware?
Speaker B:There's always road work, right?
Speaker B:Work in progress.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:As a Christian, we should always have that sign in our life.
Speaker B:Work in progress.
Speaker B:Paul mentioned that.
Speaker B:He says, not that I already attained, like in Philippians 3.
Speaker B:He says, I haven't reached it.
Speaker B:I'm going to keep pressing forward.
Speaker B:I'm going to keep pushing forward.
Speaker B:The book of Second Peter really addresses this idea of sanctification.
Speaker B:Second Peter, chapter three.
Speaker B:Normally.
Speaker B:Normally I'm an expository preacher, so I'm preaching through a passage tonight.
Speaker B:We're going to be bouncing around, and I hope that that's okay.
Speaker B:But we're going to see here in Second Peter, chapter three, the phrase that he uses is growing in grace.
Speaker B:Now, I will tell you what I used to think about.
Speaker B:Growing in grace was the more wrongly I believe.
Speaker B:I used to think that the more I serve God, the more grace.
Speaker B:He will just like dole out to me like, I'll earn this grace.
Speaker B:Now there's a problem with that because the problem with that idea is that's a very man centric idea that I'm earning this right.
Speaker B:The gift of salvation is a gift of grace.
Speaker B:So therefore the gift of sanctification is a gift of grace.
Speaker B:I cannot earn my spiritual growth now.
Speaker B:I have to work.
Speaker B:But I work in the power of God.
Speaker B:It's all a grace.
Speaker B:So, so I used to think about it this way.
Speaker B:God's sitting up in heaven and he's got like this, this grace bucket.
Speaker B:And he says, okay, they're, they're working extra hard for me.
Speaker B:I'm gonna give him a little bit more grace today.
Speaker B:I, I believe the Bible very clearly says that at the moment of our salvation, God abundantly pours out infinite grace upon our life.
Speaker B:I believe that it says here in, in 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse.
Speaker B:Let's see here, let's, we'll start in verse 15.
Speaker B:We'll start.
Speaker B:Well, let's just, let's go to verse 18.
Speaker B:And, and you can, you can backtrack and read that for yourself.
Speaker B:But he's talking about the account of long suffering of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:And then we get to verse 18 and he says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:To him be the glory, both now and forever.
Speaker B:So the way that I have grown to understand this is that God has already infinitely poured out his grace upon me.
Speaker B:And as I grow in my knowledge of him, and as I grow in the knowledge of His Word, and as I understand him and as I get to a place in my life where I'm serving Him and I'm seeing the benefits of a sanctified life, now I understand his grace more.
Speaker B:I'm able to wrap my mind around his grace more.
Speaker B:I'm able to grow in that area of the understanding of his grace.
Speaker B:Now again, we would say, well, I don't know about that, Pastor, because, you know, I've seen some new Christians make a lot of big mistakes.
Speaker B:I've seen some older Christians make, you know, Christians that have been saved for 50 years make mistakes.
Speaker B:We all make mistakes.
Speaker B:There's, there's that element of grace in our salvation.
Speaker B:We don't lose our salvation.
Speaker B:God just extends that grace to us in the midst of that sanctification process.
Speaker B:So there's that progressive sanctification, growing in grace.
Speaker B:Now what does that look like?
Speaker B:Because we have to be tangible about that.
Speaker B:Like, we have to put some sort of measurable there.
Speaker B:Because if I just walk up to you and go, hey, are you.
Speaker B:Are you growing in grace?
Speaker B:And they go, well, I hope so.
Speaker B:Like, what does that look like if I, if I come along?
Speaker B:Use Alicia as an example, because I go home with her tonight, and so hopefully, hopefully she'll come home with me tonight.
Speaker B:And I go to her and I'm like, okay, are you growing in grace?
Speaker B:And she says, yes, I'm growing in grace.
Speaker B:And I said, how are you growing in grace?
Speaker B:And she's like, well, I just.
Speaker B:I just feel like I am.
Speaker B:And I go, okay, well, maybe you are.
Speaker B:And I don't tell her what growing in grace looks like.
Speaker B:She doesn't understand what growing in grace means.
Speaker B:We might be on totally different levels.
Speaker B:Some of you that are married understand that communication sometimes can break down and one person assumes one thing and the other person assumes the other.
Speaker B:So biblically, what is growing in grace?
Speaker B:What is sanctification?
Speaker B:What is spiritual growth?
Speaker B:Where?
Speaker B:I'll ask you a question here tonight, and I know it's awkward to answer it in this setting, but pretend like we're in a Bible study in a room and we're all sitting around.
Speaker B:Where would we get the information to tell us what it looks like to grow in grace?
Speaker B:The Word, right?
Speaker B:It's not my opinion.
Speaker B:Because my opinion.
Speaker B:I don't necessarily know what you're doing in private.
Speaker B:I don't know what you're thinking.
Speaker B:I don't know what you're doing in your Bible reading, your prayer life.
Speaker B:And so I can see someone come into the building and go, wow, they look like they've got it really together.
Speaker B:Look at that family.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're top notch.
Speaker B:But I don't know for sure.
Speaker B:And it's really not my job to be able to say, well, you know what?
Speaker B:I need to inspect a wife.
Speaker B:I need to follow them wherever they go.
Speaker B:No, the Bible says it's the Word.
Speaker B:It's matching our lives up to the Word to say, does my life match up to Christ?
Speaker B:Because really, spiritual growth is just being more and more like Christ.
Speaker B:It's Christ likeness.
Speaker B:So we would study the Word to see how Christ lived His life.
Speaker B:We study the Word to see what he says when he says, hey, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Speaker B:So, therefore, His Word.
Speaker B:How closely are we matching our lives to His Word?
Speaker B:What does His Word mean to us?
Speaker B:And so we go to Second Peter, chapter one.
Speaker B:Second Peter, chapter one.
Speaker B:He says, this Is so.
Speaker B:This is so exciting.
Speaker B:I love this passage of Scripture.
Speaker B:He says, according, Second Peter, chapter one, verse three, According as his divine power have given unto all of us the things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So God has called us to obviously to a life of glory in.
Speaker B:In ultimate.
Speaker B:We're going to get to that part here in a second.
Speaker B:But ultimately we're going to be glorified with him one day.
Speaker B:But he says he's also called us to a life of virtue, virtuous living, godly living, whereby are given unto us exceeding in great precious promises.
Speaker B:God has given us promises in his word to trust in, right?
Speaker B:If you do this, this is what happened.
Speaker B:Trust in me.
Speaker B:Believe in me.
Speaker B:So he's given us great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the div.
Speaker B:To be more and more like Christ, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Speaker B:So the Bible says you've escaped the corruption of the sinful world and now you're called to be more like Christ.
Speaker B:You're called to live like him.
Speaker B:You're called to grow in him, to be more of verse five.
Speaker B:And beside this, so beside this, after this salvation, then this giving all diligence.
Speaker B:So lest we think that, hey, spiritual growth just happens by osmosis.
Speaker B:Like if I, you know, I used to.
Speaker B:There was a guy I knew that he said if I just put the textbook underneath my pillow at night, everything will just bleed into my brain.
Speaker B:It will just seep in.
Speaker B:That doesn't work.
Speaker B:We're not just going to become Christians by walking around here at the church and there's just glory off of the walls.
Speaker B:No, it says you got to give diligence and the power of God.
Speaker B:You have to take action, add to your faith.
Speaker B:So what we see here is that there's an example here, there's a directive here that we are to grow, we are to add things into our life.
Speaker B:We are to grow in certain areas.
Speaker B:So he says, you have faith, great.
Speaker B:That's where it starts and that's where it must continue.
Speaker B:But he says, add to your faith virtue, virtue, knowledge and knowledge.
Speaker B:Temperance.
Speaker B:What's temperance?
Speaker B:Temperance is self control.
Speaker B:I like to sometimes call it God control, right?
Speaker B:Because I can't.
Speaker B:I can't control myself sometimes in my flesh.
Speaker B:But when I allow God to take over, he takes over.
Speaker B:So there's this idea of temperance.
Speaker B:And to temperance, patience.
Speaker B:And to patience, godliness.
Speaker B:And to godliness.
Speaker B:Brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, charity.
Speaker B:So you see how it goes.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He says, these are things that you have to add to grow spiritually, to be a mature.
Speaker B:To be a mature Christian, live a virtuous life, grow in your knowledge of God, have self control, have patience, have godliness, be more like Christ.
Speaker B:Brotherly kindness, that's a marker of spiritual growth.
Speaker B:I'm going to be nice to other Christians.
Speaker B:You would think that that would be natural, but sometimes we don't see that and it goes on even further in charity.
Speaker B:That's the idea of selfless love, sacrificial love.
Speaker B:These are all elements that don't necessarily come immediately after we're saved.
Speaker B:And I'm going to tell you folks, it's something that we grow on throughout our whole life.
Speaker B:We grow in these areas.
Speaker B:And so he says, do all these things, okay?
Speaker B:For if these things be in you, these elements and abound and grow, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.
Speaker B:So what does the Bible say?
Speaker B:The Bible says that if we live a life that isn't growing in the Lord, it isn't progressively becoming more and more like Christ.
Speaker B:We will be, as it says here, barren and unfruitful.
Speaker B:Now, I don't know about you, but I want to be a fruitful Christian.
Speaker B:Like my desire is like I want to see fruit in my life.
Speaker B:I want to see people come to Christ.
Speaker B:I want to see people grow in the Lord.
Speaker B:And he says, if you want to be a fruitful Christian, grow in these areas.
Speaker B:If you want to be an unfruitful, barren Christian, don't grow in these areas.
Speaker B:That's what he's saying here.
Speaker B:He says, and do that in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:But then he says, what happens to someone who doesn't do these things?
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So you're going to be barren and unfruitful.
Speaker B:You, me, all of us.
Speaker B:I don't want to direct it just to you, but this is verse nine.
Speaker B:But he that lacketh these things is blind.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So when we don't keep our eyes fixed on what the Lord has called us to do, we.
Speaker B:We get blinded and it says, and cannot see a far off.
Speaker B:We, we get cloudy our visions.
Speaker B:Like if I wear contacts, right?
Speaker B:And if I took these contacts out right now, I would not be able to know who you were, except for the fact that I know where most of you sit.
Speaker B:So I would say, okay, I know that's brother so and so over there, because that's where he always sits.
Speaker B:I might get a picture of the blurriness and say, okay, I think that's who he is.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But the idea is here, that's what he's talking about.
Speaker B:He's talking about, if you don't grow, you'll begin to lose sight of the things around you.
Speaker B:You'll begin to lose sight of what God's doing in your life.
Speaker B:You'll lose sight of what God's plan is for you in his workmanship.
Speaker B:And then it says, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Speaker B:Meaning you start to forget about the great work of salvation in your life.
Speaker B:It becomes just dead to you.
Speaker B:Just, ah, I don't care whatever, you know, yeah, I was saved.
Speaker B:I was taken from darkness into light.
Speaker B:But, you know, it's that idea of apathy.
Speaker B:And so when you don't grow spiritually, you get to a place where you lose sight of what God has done for you, and therefore you live your life that way.
Speaker B:And so I would be cautious to say that, hey, you know what, if there's a point in your life where you say, you know what?
Speaker B:I haven't seen any spiritual growth for years, I would say you probably, probably lost the joy of your salvation.
Speaker B:You haven't lost your salvation.
Speaker B:I believe in eternal security, but I do believe that you can lose the joy of your salvation.
Speaker B:David, even the psalmist said, lord, restore unto me the joy of my salvation.
Speaker B:And we have.
Speaker B:And I've been transparently, there have been periods in my life where I have lost the joy of my salvation.
Speaker B:And it's got to the place where it's just mundane, I gotta go here, I gotta do this.
Speaker B:And the Bible says, no, restore that by growing in the knowledge of God and growing in these areas.
Speaker B:And so that's our progressive sanctification.
Speaker B:So you had the positional sanctification, the progressive sanctification.
Speaker B:And some theologians, because they have to keep the same letter, say, call it perpetual sanctification or eternal sanctification.
Speaker B:Another word for that would be glorification.
Speaker B:So one day we take our last breath and we're with our Savior.
Speaker B:One day we will have glorified bodies.
Speaker B:One day we will be in his presence physically.
Speaker B:I believe that.
Speaker B:And I don't know what your eschatology is, your end times philosophies are.
Speaker B:But I do think we could all agree that God is going to give us glorified bodies, that he is going to restore us in his presence.
Speaker B:The Bible says, absent with the body is present with the Lord.
Speaker B:That's when it's all going to come into clarity.
Speaker B:That's when it's all going to make sense.
Speaker B:Because right now, let's just be honest, a lot of things that sometimes we face in our life don't always make sense.
Speaker B:It doesn't make sense to me why God allows certain things to happen over here and he doesn't stop this or he doesn't do this.
Speaker B:I mean, it's okay to say that.
Speaker B:It's okay to say that you don't understand the ways of God.
Speaker B:And that's actually a theological truth to say.
Speaker B:I don't know why God does what he does.
Speaker B:I wish I could tell you.
Speaker B:I mean, you have people broken coming to you.
Speaker B:Why would God allow this to happen?
Speaker B:I don't know that answer.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I know that he didn't cause that evil in your life, but I do know that.
Speaker B:I don't know his ways are above my ways.
Speaker B:His thoughts are above my thoughts.
Speaker B:But one day there will be a time when I believe it all will come together and we're glorified and we're with our Savior face to face.
Speaker B:And that's what we long for.
Speaker B:That's what progressive sanctification is all about.
Speaker B:We're not going to be there yet on this side of heaven, but one day we will be.
Speaker B:And that's what we're striving for.
Speaker B:That's what Paul says.
Speaker B:I press towards the mark.
Speaker B:I'm going hard.
Speaker B:Paul says, at the very end, I fought the good fight.
Speaker B:I finished my course.
Speaker B:I've kept the faith.
Speaker B:I guarantee you, when Paul was facing off against the Roman Empire and Nero was about to martyr him, I don't think Paul was sitting there going, well, I wish I didn't do this.
Speaker B:I wish I didn't serve God.
Speaker B:I guarantee you he was longing to see his Savior.
Speaker B:And we know that all of the early church martyrs were brave and bold in that.
Speaker B:And so the reason why we know that they could do that is because they had hope in something more.
Speaker B:And as a Christian, I do believe that it's so important for us to understand that glorification so that we can do the mundane and the difficult in the progressive sanctification.
Speaker B:It's not easy.
Speaker B:That's why they're called spiritual disciplines.
Speaker B:It's not always easy to wake up in the morning and read our Bibles.
Speaker B:It's not always easy to pray.
Speaker B:It's not always easy to serve and to fast and to go through all of these things that don't come naturally to us.
Speaker B:In our flesh.
Speaker B:It's not easy, but the more we do it, the more exercise we get in it and the more we understand the motivation behind it.
Speaker B:I'm gonna tell you, like, I.
Speaker B:I like to run.
Speaker B:And the very first time I got told the story, I might have told the story to the whole church.
Speaker B:I was telling the story to our children one time, I said, you know, the very first time I got out to run, I tried to run to the end of our block, and I thought I was going to die.
Speaker B:And I was like, I'm never going to get out and run again.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:But the next time I did it, I got a little bit further, and I was able to get a little bit further, right?
Speaker B:And so it was the discipline of doing it more.
Speaker B:And there was a point where I was like, you know, it isn't that bad to run down to Burger King and back, okay?
Speaker B:And then it was, I didn't need a Burger King.
Speaker B:That would have been counterproductive.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But the idea was, is that the more you do something, the more you understand the benefits of it, but the more you understand the outcome of it.
Speaker B:So as a Christian, like, for example, you might wake up tomorrow morning, you might say, well, you know what?
Speaker B:I could pray for five minutes.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker B:If you don't pray for five minutes in the morning, five minutes is better than nothing.
Speaker B:And so if someone says, how much should I pray?
Speaker B:How much should I read in my Bible?
Speaker B:More, do more.
Speaker B:You do five minutes, do six minutes, right?
Speaker B:Grow, but grow in the love.
Speaker B:Not because it's a duty, but there is going to be times in our life, in the spiritual disciplines, that we have to do these things.
Speaker B:And we might not feel like we want to do it, but what we do is we say, okay, I might not feel like doing this today, but I know what I'm doing this for.
Speaker B:Because of what my Savior did for me and what he's promised me.
Speaker B:Remember what Peter said, Those precious promises, those wonderful promises that he's extended to us?
Speaker B:Those are why we do what we do.
Speaker B:That's why we go through difficulties.
Speaker B:That's why we serve when we might not get praise.
Speaker B:That's why we say, you know what?
Speaker B:I'm going to love my enemy, number one, because the Lord told us to.
Speaker B:But number two is because there's a purpose behind what we're doing.
Speaker B:There's a why.
Speaker B:There's a why behind what we're doing.
Speaker B:We don't tell our children we go to church because we go to Church.
Speaker B:We tell our children we go to church because of what Jesus Christ did for us.
Speaker B:We go to church because this is our church family.
Speaker B:We want to be around them.
Speaker B:And the reason why is because I was burdened very, very long time ago, that there needs to be a why behind what we do in the spiritual realm and in the physical.
Speaker B:But either way, you need to have a motivation.
Speaker B:And that motivation shouldn't be, well, you know what, we go to church and people notice us, or we go to church and we get these positions, or we go to church and we have this.
Speaker B:No, it's because of what Jesus Christ did for us.
Speaker B:And so it starts from the beginning.
Speaker B:Jesus Christ, the one who's the propitiation.
Speaker B:Then we have the justification, then we have the sanctification.
Speaker B:And I want you to think about that here this evening.
Speaker B:I know that nothing that I said tonight is new, but I think it is important for us to understand how that all ties together that whole process.
Speaker B:Because like, sometimes we just say, well, I'm saved.
Speaker B:And it's true, we are saved.
Speaker B:Salvation.
Speaker B:But, but when we understand it and break it down into the nuances of what God has done for us, it's a lot.
Speaker B:I, I believe it's a lot more meaningful to see what all happened in that miracle of the moment.
Speaker B:Okay, it is a miracle of the moment.
Speaker B:I don't think you get saved over a period of 10 years and once you get this all done, then you're saved.
Speaker B:No, I believe that when you have faith in Jesus Christ, you're saved.
Speaker B:But, but all of that stuff is happening in that moment, and we don't always necessarily recognize that until maybe after.
Speaker B:And so as we go through this process, so let's say it this way.
Speaker B:If you're a believer here this evening, you're on that path.
Speaker B:I don't know where you're at on that path, but you're on that path.
Speaker B:And I would encourage you to think about it from that perspective.
Speaker B:Like, I need to add to my faith.
Speaker B:I need to grow in grace.
Speaker B:Not because I have to, not because Pastor Josh is going to take notes and check in and all those different things.
Speaker B:No, that's not why we do it.
Speaker B:We do it because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.
Speaker B:And it's the natural reaction to thankfulness.
Speaker B:And so, so I wanted to use those three words tonight as a, as a, as a one piece study.
Speaker B:And I hope that it was encouraging for you tonight.
Speaker B:Next week, like I said, we're going to go through the term Messiah, right?
Speaker B:You hear that word a lot in the Christmas season.
Speaker B:What does that mean?
Speaker B:And it's, it's important to see those things.
Speaker B:A couple of other things when we get into.
Speaker B:And I encourage you to come back if you can.
Speaker B:I love Wednesday nights.
Speaker B:I really, really do.
Speaker B:And I enjoy.
Speaker B:I would, I would do it if no one was here, but I love when people are here.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So we're going to come back in the new year.
Speaker B:We're going to be studying some really interesting books of the Bible.
Speaker B:We just got done with Zephaniah and we're going to start.
Speaker B:We're going to study a few of the smaller ones in the New Testament that you may or may not be familiar with.
Speaker B:So we're going to go through the Book of Jude.
Speaker B:Jude's a very, very interesting book.
Speaker B:One chapter, so it shouldn't be too long, but we're going to break it down really, really slowly and go through some verses.
Speaker B:There's a lot of Old Testament references there in the Book of Jude.
Speaker B:Very interesting.
Speaker B:And then we're also going to study a book after Jude called Philemon.
Speaker B:And maybe you are familiar with Philemon, maybe you're not, but it's a, it's a really cool one as well.
Speaker B:So kind of weighing the appetite for the future.
Pastor Josh:Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this sermon has been.
Speaker B:A blessing for you.
Pastor Josh:If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletown baptist church.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Pastor Josh:You can also email me directly@josh massaroiddownbaptistchurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast.
Pastor Josh:Please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.
Pastor Josh:Thank you so much.
Pastor Josh:God bless.
Pastor Josh:Have a wonderful day.
