In this sermon, David Capoccia considers further application from the teaching of the Apostle John in 1 John 1:5-2:11. Specifically, David Capoccia addresses four truths from the Bible that are frequently twisted today in a way that harms sanctification. The four truths are: Christians Still Sin, God Is Sovereign, God’s Grace Motivates Christian Holiness, and God Provides Sufficient Means for Christian Holiness. These four truths are often interpreted to mean: Habits of Sin Are Normal for Christians, Christians Should Wait Passively for God to Sanctify Them, Meditation on Salvation Will Automatically Produce Sanctification, and Christians Can Pursue Holiness Alone/Other People Are Responsible for a Christian’s Holiness. David Capoccia counters these misinterpretations and reasserts God’s true standard for Christians.
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good morning it’s a privilege to preach again to you has pastors away I want to return this morning to the teaching about holiness set forth in the letter of first John which we looked at together two weeks ago I want to this morning explore further application of this teaching with you and I want to warn you about some errors regarding holiness that are so frequently circulating today therefore this message is going to be a little different than what we normally do with this church this is going to be little bit more topical than expositional but still based off of the passage that we looked at together let’s entreat the lower together in prayer father you are very great you are holy and you dwell in unapproachable light and yet you’ve made a way for us to approach you you’ve brought us in to your holy dazzling presence through Jesus Christ and then you’ve made us holy God it de-stresses me that there are some ideas and some teachings that suggest or encourage Christians to not pursue holiness so God I pray that through the message today you would work in the hearts of your people to show them what their obligation is but also show them that you have given them the empowerment to do it and that it is not a burdensome task it is a joyful task open my mouth to be able to speak these things clearly in Jesus name Amen be holy in 2016 among many other resolutions that you have made this year I hope that this one is chief among them to be holy and 2016 you must not make this resolution as others make as a high-minded ideal that when faced with hard reality for difficulty was quickly set aside no this is one resolution you must keep at all costs no matter the pain no matter what must be sacrificed be holy in 2016 why why be so serious about holiness well because we’ve seen together from the Word of God then unless our lives are characterized by holy behavior we are not true believers of Christ we are not saved let’s look back at the letter first John chapter 1 please open your Bibles there with me I want to briefly review the argument of the Apostle John that we looked at together last time before I discuss anything new so first John chapter 1 remember the setting of this text the last living Apostle John writes that the churches in Asia Minor to counter false teaching from the Gnostics these Gnostics were teaching that what one did in the body had nothing to do with salvation does not matter if you continue to sin since it is your knowledge and love of God in your spirit that saves you John the zealous apostle of love emphatically sets the record straight on what the true gospel is let’s read again first John chapter 1 verse 5 down to chapter 2 verse 11 starting in verse 5 this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him there was no darkness at all if we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin if we say that we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in US if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in US my little children I’m writing these things to you so that you may not sin and if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his Commandments and one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his Commandments as a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word and him the love of God has truly been perfected by this we know that we are in him the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked beloved I’m not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which you have heard on the other hand I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now the one who loves his brother abides in the light and there was no cause for stumbling in him but the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes recall with me that John presents three main points in this text related to the truth that God is light point one believers walk in light because their God is light because God is a god of dazzling holiness it is necessary that his people also become holy and their behavior God’s nature demands it he cannot fellowship with darkness nor accept a people of darkness to represent him therefore it is totally inconsistent for someone to know the god of light while continuing to allow deeds of darkness in his life but such holiness is not work salvation this holiness is the result of salvation as John makes clear in a second point point to believers have been cleansed by and continually seek cleansing in God’s light no one is wholly without being cleansed by Christ’s sacrifice all people must come to God confessing and repenting of their sins all people must ask for guards God’s pardon on the basis of Jesus sacrifice alone proclaiming I have no righteousness on my own but I trust in the perfect life and death of your son on my behalf to pay for my sin God honors this request he’s faithful to accomplish a complete cleansing and full pardon as the believer proceeds onward in his life he continues to see cleansing any time that he sins repenting of the sin and putting the behavior to death but all the while trusting that his advocate Jesus Christ will plead Jesus righteousness on the believers behalf the believer has no need to fear loss of salvation or the wrath of God for these occasional sins he trusts that he is covered once and for all by Jesus cleansing blood however no believer may use Christ’s work as a license to tolerate habits of sin believers do sin now and then but it is no longer their pattern their lives used to be characterized by sinful habits and sinful patterns but no more because they have been transformed by the light of God believers are now marked by righteous behavior and continual effort to destroy sin wherever it appears in their lives any Christian who uses Christ cleansing as an excuse to not go all out and putting sin to death shows as John says that he is not really a Christian at all he doesn’t know God Christ’s followers love and obey Christ and they’ve been empowered by Christ to do so that’s John’s third point point three believers are empowered to keep God’s law of love by the new light of Christ God’s law summarized in the command to love other people never goes away for the Christian before salvation God’s great old commandment shows a person that he does not meet God standard and can never he will be punished unless cleansed by Jesus Christ but after salvation God’s old command becomes new the believer has a new standard Christ’s love a new example Christ’s sacrifice and a new power the transforming light of Jesus believers are regenerated by the Holy Spirit to actually obey God’s law they want to do this and they are able to do this through God’s supernatural working within them therefore all christians become characterized by righteous behavior especially sincere and consistent love for others those christians who exhibit a pattern of lovelessness or indifference to others especially their own brethren show that they are still in darkness they are stumbling away from God and stumbling toward eternal damnation so yes the Apostle John makes very clear that holiness is extremely important for a believer it is the expected outworking of God’s salvation gift of faith in a person’s life so dear brethren consider specifically with me are there areas of your life that are still marked by sinful habits are there areas where you regularly commit sin even though it is not necessarily every moment or even every day you sin you feel bad you repent but the sin keeps regularly appearing in your life some examples for illustration to get us thinking through this do you have a habit of sexual sin indulging in lustful acts or imaginations indulging in pornography masturbation prostitution or adultery Paul says not even a hint of immorality is to be in the lives of believers do you have a habit of sinful anger anger that does not accomplish the righteousness of God but is zealous for what you believe you are do do you as a pattern get angry when people sin against you or when your kids don’t do what you want or when a situation doesn’t work out the way you thought it should do you hold grudges and habitually not forgive others do you live in a pattern of anxiety any time a stressful situation appears in your life you berate yourself for not making wiser choices you think endlessly about the problem and it’s potential negative outcomes and you do not trust God’s power to provide what you need if you are simply obedience are their sin habits that you have been maintaining in your life like these are there areas in your life where you regularly fail to do righteousness it’s not just the sins that you commit but it’s the righteousness that you don’t do again give you some illustrations just to get us thinking even though you are sexually faithful or hard working at your job do you consistently fail to give quality care and attention to your family to your spouse to your children do you regularly refuse to share the gospel with others always saying to yourself no not this time they won’t accept my witness this will be too awkward I’m not ready do you realize that making disciples is one of the primary commands of Jesus do you proceed through life without giving consistent attention to that which God says you must to prayer to the scriptures to the fellowship of believers to serving Christ body do you always give the same excuses I’m too tired I don’t need it they’ll be fine without me I’ve got too many other things going on do you not know that Christ commands believers to seek God’s words like milk to pray without ceasing to forsake not the fellowship of the body and to use the gifts he’s given you for everyone’s edification are there righteous deeds that you have regularly been failing to do like these now perhaps you were ignorant about these things you didn’t know what God commands you you what God commands you or you didn’t know that you’ve been empowered and obligated to do that God’s commands hell if so then now is the time to repent to change your thinking and to change your life perhaps you want to obey but you’re not sure how to do it you’re not sure how to apply the principles that God gives in his word well if so then get help from mature believers get help from your elders subject yourself to continual discipleship and to the teaching of God’s Word be present during sunday school and during the worship service listen to messages outside of sunday those are for your equipping god provided that for you so you would know how to apply his word know what the will of the lord is and how to do it to further aid you to further aid us and unnecessary pursuit of holiness i want to take the rest of time today to talk about certain truths of the Bible that are frequently abused today in a way that harms our pursuit of holiness just as in the apostles of the Apostle John’s time you can pause time all the Apostles bad teaching has become widespread error has become attached to truth and when we fall into that error we find ourselves deceived and unable to live lives of holiness so I’m calling these the four frequently abused truths the four frequently abused truths and here they are one Christians still sin to God is sovereign three God’s grace motivates our holiness and for God provides sufficient means for our holiness well all of these are true and biblical they become twisted today away from their original meaning and implications in such a way as to discourage holiness and encourage sin let’s see how as we look at each of these truths in turn we’re going to look at what the truth of the scripture actually is and how it’s wrongfully being interpreted frequently today so abuse truth number one Christians still sin what is this truth abused to mean it’s abuse to mean sin habits are normal for Christians sin habits are normal for Christians despite the clear teaching from first John and many other places in the Bible many speak or act as this continual failure to mortify sin is normal for believers in fact if you assert the Bible’s real standard of holiness you are painted as out-of-touch unloving judgmental and legalistic you sometimes hear people say things along these lines like I’m only human though i’m a christian i sin just like everyone else or it’s not about whether you overcome the sin or not it’s about whether you struggle or I don’t want to appear holier than thou I’m just the same as you or any sinner strangely bizarrely sinfulness has become like a badge of honor even among Christian teachers in an effort to seem more real and relatable to their audiences and to supposedly give God more glory they love to talk about how sinful they are you know I am really messed up we all are but God’s grace is greater than our sin even on the way to church today I sinned I’m just a wretched sinner we are just like Israel we are so faithless but when we are faithless he is faithful now granted it is right for a Christian to confess that he is not perfect Paul does the very same thing in Philippians if you’re in homegroups you’ve studied this recently philippians 3 12 paul says not that i’ve already obtained it who have already become perfect but i press on so that i may lay hold of that for which I was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus so Paul admits he’s not perfect but Paul could also say second Timothy 13 I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did and first Corinthians 11 1 Paul says be imitators of me just as I also AM of Christ Paul was not perfect but he had a standard of righteousness and any preacher ought to be able to say the same things this strange glorying and sinfulness we see today extends to Christian music even some of our beloved hymns songs declaring how we are so prone to wander how we are just so wretched how loveless we frequently are toward Christ now before you think I’m calling for us to trash all these songs these lyrics are lyrics like these are true and worshipful if understood in the right way yes before salvation we are completely helpless and wretched but Christ has given us life and made us holy and yes after salvation we do still have a sinful nature that desires to wander from Christ but Christ gives us victory over the flesh and yes even our occasional failures to us are so Grievous that we rightly believe them to be all too frequent but we should never allow our music to give us the impression that habits of sin are normal or somehow God glorifying for Christians we must not glory in sin will we do exactly what Paul forbids Roman 6122 what shall we say then how are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase grace will be magnified may it never be how shall we who died to sin still living it but someone will say doesn’t Paul himself confess that he doesn’t do what he wants to do and he does do what he doesn’t want to do isn’t that admission an admission of frequent failure to mortify sin we don’t have time to fully look at that today but yes and Romans 7 Paul does make statements to that effect but if you look just a little bit earlier in the chapter you’ll see why Paul is not talking about his present life as a Christian but he’s talking about God’s how God’s law by itself is powerless to produce holiness in someone’s life our sinful nature Paul says I’m paraphrasing him just for the sake of time our sinful nature uses God’s law to take us captive and we become totally helpless and enslaved to our sin even though we know god’s law is good and right we say all those standards are good yes i should be like that we do not and we cannot keep it our sin nature is inflamed by hearing the command of God and it takes us over but all of that changes in Christ which is why Paul says at the end of that chapter Romans 7 verses 24 to 25 wretched man that I am who will set me free from the body of this debt thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord Jesus sets us free from the law and gives us life by his spirit and because we are cleansed by faith in Christ we now actually can be obedient to God’s commands and must be Roman 76 before Paul even given those examples about how helpless we are under the law Paul says Roman 76 but now we have been released from the law having died to that by which we were bound so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in old pneus of the letter that’s what Paul was talking about and this is why Paul is able to say in a very next chapter of Romans Romans 8 verses 12 to 14 so then brethren we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you are living according to the flesh you must die but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body you will live for all who are being led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God that is the exact same thing that we learn from the Apostle John isn’t it the old commandment has become new for you because you now have Christ spirits therefore you are obligated to be holy and to put to death the deeds of the flesh those that glory in sin or treats in habits as normal for Christians are plain not being faithful to the scriptures true belief and repentance in Christ always produces visible fruits do you want to know whether your repentance is real whether your first repentance to believe in Christ or any subsequent repentance look for fruit look for change look for a changed habit of life because anything else you look for or try to use as evidence can be deceptive we often associate sorrow and guilt with repentance and those things do a company repentance often but they themselves are not repentance you can have those things without being truly repentant Esau and Judas both expressed sorrow and guilt but they were not truly repentant they received nothing from God even an expressed commitment to change if you say I’m now going to change or if you say to yourself you know i’m no longer than going to be this way even an express commitment to change or a momentary sensation of sin is not in itself repentance consider Pharaoh 10 times Pharaoh went back on his promise to release Israel even after he confessed his sin he said I’m the sinful one God is the righteous one that sounded like repentance but it wasn’t because he never changed his pattern we’re consider King Saul soul when after David various times wanted to kill David and then David confronted him had mercy on him several times and Saul confessed David to be more righteous he called off the pursuit of David and then a short time later he resumed he resumed the hunt Saul had never put to death the idol in his heart he was still lusting after the kingdom the only genuine proof of repentance dear brothers and sisters is a changed pattern of life that is the only proof and believers must display such proof John the Baptist says Matthew three verses 8 to 10 therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves we have Abraham for our Father for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham the axe is already laid at the root of the trees therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire Jesus himself also says Matthew 7 verses 17 to 21 so every good tree bears good fruit but the bad tree Bears bad fruit a glittery cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire so then you will know them that is people by their fruits and then James says James to 17 even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself without fruit there was no proof of repentance but instead a fearful expectation of judgment let us not deceive ourselves or try to deceive others about our state Ananias and Sapphira stride to do this you remember at the beginning of the church age at the church’s establishment in the book of Acts they lied to the Holy Spirit they lied about their generosity for God’s sake and God supernaturally struck them down God wanted to make clear at the beginning of the church’s life that his gathering of believers is to be marked by holiness not sin and not hypocrisy one last note before we move on to any of the other truths but how is God faithful when we are faithless that verse is quoted a lot but let’s look at the context of that statement actually turn over there in your Bible I want you to see this yourself second Timothy second Timothy chapter 2 verses 11 to 13 so this is towards the latter part of the New Testament second Timothy chapter 2 verses 11 to 13 how was God faithful when we are faithless look at verse 11 it is a trustworthy statement for if we died with him we will also live with him if we endure we will also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us if we are faithless he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself context give us a little better understanding of that statement doesn’t it how was God faithful well if we turn to Christ believe and obey we receive salvation and reward but if we deny Christ and disobey God denies us and bring a judgment on us he doesn’t say oh you denied me well I’m going to keep being faithful to you oh he’s faithful to himself God cannot deny himself he’s too glorious he’s too holy to let habitual unbelief and unrighteousness to go unpunished God is faithful to himself so yes Christians still sin but this does not mean habits of sin are normal or glorious in the Christian life Christians are to be marked by holiness so we see the first abuse truth but it’s not just truth about the Christian condition that is twisted to harm sanctification people also twist truths about God so this brings us to abuse truth number two God is sovereign this truth is frequently abused to mean Christians must wait passively for God to sanctify them Christians must wait passively for God to sanctify them this is sometimes the thinking when people say you can’t just expect people to change right away sanctification is a process I can’t do something unless God does it first I don’t want to do something on my own strength they often search for these verses to support their erroneous interpretation Philippians 16 Paul says I’m confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus they say see God begins the work and he has to do the work or second Timothy 2 24 to 25 they highlight the phrase with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth they say it’s God who grants people repentance you can’t actually repent of us in until God allows you and empowers you to do so you’re helpless until then or John 15 5 they take the words of Jesus I am the vine you are the branches he will bind in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing we have no power to do anything apart from whatever Christ does we have to wait on Christ they say now it is true God is sovereign how sovereign over everything is sovereign over what happens in your life he’s sovereign over salvation and he sovereign over sanctification it’s true that if you make any progress in holiness it is because of God it is because he has given a gift of kindness to you he has sanctified you he has done all the work he deserves the thanks and all the glory however it is not true that God’s sovereignty means that we should be passive or just wait on God rather because we know that God is working in us to make us holy we are to strive with as much effort as possible Philippians 2 12 to 13 says this so concisely for us you know the verses so then my beloved just as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is god who is that work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure yes is doing it all therefore you give maximum effort it’s like what we’ve been seeing in Sunday school with Joshua God promised to give the land the whole Promised Land Israel but Israel wasn’t supposed to just sit back and wait for it to happen they were to obey God’s commands and go forth courageously in the battle they could be courageous because they knew God was fighting for them it’s the same in our sanctification God does holy provide our sanctification but that means he uses include our own striving and our own suffering for Christ’s sake furthermore God’s means of sanctification include the scriptures and the church one cannot say I’m sorry I can’t put this in habit to death until god shows me I need to and he shows me how don’t you see that God is already doing that when he confronts you with his word or when he confronts you with concerned brethren God is directly providing for your sanctification why are you resisting the work of God why do you like Saul of Tarsus kick against the goads and why would you even want to wait around this is like those who say well if I’m elect God has to come get me obedience being with God is the place of blessing disobedience is the place of cursing and painful discipline why would you want to drag your feet don’t you desire to receive the best or is the reality that you believe your sin is better than God that’s why you dragged your feet God does receive all the glory for the sanctification process of our lives but we have a responsibility just as we are accountable to believe in Christ we are accountable for living Christ in our lives going all out to know and to do God’s will we sang in one of the songs but Paul says that the Christian life is like running a marathon race and not just to finish it but to run as if you are going to win it or you were trying to win it that means it takes effort it takes discipline it takes suffering but Christ is sufficient motivation to do this I’ll read you some relevant versus first Corinthians 9 verses 23 to 27 Paul says I do all things for the sake of the gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker of it do you not know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the prize run in such a way that you may win everyone who competes in the games exercises self control in all things they then do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable therefore I run in such a way as not without aim I box in such a way as not beating the air but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after i have preached to others i myself will not be disqualified you can’t simply wait until running the race seems agreeable to you seems easy to you it never will it’s a race it will always be hard that you can do it and you must do it because God will be the one to keep your legs from giving out if you go all out to win the race of holiness and salvation he will cause you to win but someone will say sanctification is a process God doesn’t sanctify all parts of your life at the same time right well let’s not misunderstand what is meant by process sanctification is indeed a process but not a process which we maintain sinful habits and slowly decrease the frequency of those habits over time I only had it a three outbursts of rage this week instead of five as progress I can’t be right have these sin habits to continue in our life because that would contradict the teaching of Paul and John sin is still characterizing us no let’s not forget that salvation itself coming to believe in God for the first time is a total crucifying of the old way every sin was put to death in Christ when you believed every part of your life was immediately given over to sanctification and each of those parts are to remain sanctified if you are true follower of Christ what is gradual about sanctification is that we learn how to be sanctified in new areas any new believer can relate to the experience of reading or hearing the teaching of the Bible and saying I didn’t realize that this thing that I’ve been doing is sin I’ve got to stop doing it now or I didn’t know that I need to be doing this act of righteousness I’m going to start doing that our sanctification is gradual gradual because it takes time to learn and understand what God really calls for us to do we don’t know that all at once it’s also the experience of believers that even when they have established patterns of righteousness when they have put to death sins by faith God stretches their faith with a new situation or a more difficult challenge I was one thing for Abraham to trust God by traveling to Canaan but it was another thing to trust God by offering up Isaac his son it was one thing for job to trust God when everything was going well but it was another thing to trust God when his life became a ruin these men were being sanctified in areas in which they already were obedient but God was just taking that obedience to new heights by putting them in a new more difficult situation there are other ways we can describe the gradual pneus of sanctification but the idea of process certainly does not mean that we are son somehow unable to put to death certain sin habits until we somehow level up as Christians its striking actually speaking of first John and the verses after the ones that we looked at the Apostle John pauses to say things like I’m writing to you spiritual fathers I’m writing to you young men I’m writing to you children but his message is the same to each group be holy in your behavior it wasn’t just for the fathers it wasn’t just for the young man it was for everyone they all could do it they all were responsible to do it and in every area of their lives so God’s sovereignty is important for us to understand and sanctification but not in a way that leads us to be passive needs to be understood in a way that leads us to be active in obedience we pray to God and we obey God because we know God has power and he uses that power in us and on our behalf so we see the second abused truth but is there yet some secret way to make sanctification easy or effortless or automatic some seem to think there is and this brings us to abuse truth number three the truth is God’s grace motivates our holiness but this truth is abused to mean if I just meditate on x.x being some spiritual concept then my sanctification should happen automatically if I just meditate on X then my sanctification should happen automatically you can hear this idea and various versions of the hyper grace movement which greg describes someone to go in his sermon on sanctification people say things like if just meditate on your identity in Christ if you just meditate on the law of christ has for you or if you just meditate on the acceptance that you have from God or if you just meditate on the greatness of God or if you just meditate on the joy of christ you’ll become sanctified they also say things like you need to develop your affections for Christ and for the things of God before you can be obedient or if you try to be obedient for any other reason then total love and affection for Jesus then you’re actually being idolatrous and hypocritical you dishonor God unless you are totally and on one hundred percent motivated by love those who espouse these ideas often go to vs like Romans 24 again they highlight a certain section not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance they say no other motivation except positive appreciation of God’s love are acceptable for repentance and obedience or John 14 15 or Jesus says if you would love me you will keep my Commandments they say see you have to love Jesus first before you can rightly obey him or first John for 18 there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love they say again love is the only acceptable motivation for obedience now this error is particularly painful for me because I found myself going along with it for a time I thought it was correct now it is true we ought to meditate things on things like the kindness of God and our identity in Christ and it’s true we are to exhibit genuine affection for god and his commands and it’s true that christ is our motivation for all holiness god’s grace is our motivation for sanctification however over emphasizing these concepts leads to short circuited sanctification because christians become obsessed with their feelings they pay too much attention to their feelings and they fall into a tragic cycle which often looks like this unless they feel total affection for God they feel that they are not able to be obedient and any effort towards obedience will not be accepted by God after all if it’s not done out of a hundred percent love its hypocrisy and God hates that they therefore constantly seek out activities that ought to increase their affection for Christ they steady zealously the Word of God they participate often in worship and in fellowship with other Christians they expect that maintaining a spiritual high from these activities will somehow make them strong against temptation but when temptation comes sometimes their feelings under influence of the flesh begin to wane for Christ they begin to want to go after their sin and they they now notice that they don’t have total affection for Christ and they despair being able to overcome I don’t I no longer love Christ 100% my opinions won’t be acceptable to him therefore why even try and then give in to their sin and after a time of grief they resolved to do better next time by better cultivating their affections for Christ so that they won’t fall and they suppose that the new mercy that they fell from Christ as Christ takes them back like the prodigal son despite their sin they suppose that this will be an even better bulwark against falling again they should now love Christ even more because how gracious he was to their sin but the cycle repeats their feelings Wayne they given in to their sin and they resolved to cultivate better affections next time and if you come alongside such a one and say you need to put to death this in sinful habits are not to remain in a believers life the one answers you were being unloving to me by making me feel grieved and ashamed about my failures those feelings will only lead me away from Christ I only love of God’s kindness will bring me back to him you need to encourage me by showing me Christ’s love that’s the only acceptable motivation in this interpretation of Christ motivating motivating grace true sanctification never takes place because the adherence fail to realize a number of important things first the joy of christ is the result of obedience and not the prerequisite the joy of christ is the result of obedience and not for requisite no matter how much you meditate on christ if you do not obey Him then you do not have the right to enjoy him Jesus says and John 15 10 if you keep my Commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father’s Commandments and abide in his love only those who obey Christ are able to abide in his love they alone can enjoy Christ’s love they can stay there as long as one season join Christ or anything that belongs to him as a precondition to obedience instead of a promised result that one will not consistently obey Christ because he already has his prize without obedience he already has the joy of christ so where’s the real motivation to persevere in fact when you sin that just makes you enjoy Christ more he already has his prize so he’s not going to put to death his son they need to realize that Christ the joy of crisis result not the prerequisite of obedience they also need to realize that feelings are not a reliable indicator of what you love but your actions are your feelings are not a reliable indicator of what you love but your actions are those who participate in this error forgets that the flesh is still with believers and many times when presented with the choice to obey our disobey our fleshly part will unsurprisingly not feel like being obedient this does not mean that we have to go back and re instruct the flesh or inflame our emotions for Christ the flesh is never going to want to do right you can never fully get rid of the flesh obedience is not eliminating the flesh it’s choosing not to listen to the flesh to not submit to its desires and instead by faith choosing to listen to the Holy Spirit to listen to the Word of God and consequently obeying it’s like the man whose wife asks him to wash the dishes sometimes the man may say I’m so overflowing with affection for my wife this doesn’t seem like a chore to me at all but if you are a frequent dishwasher you know that’s not always the way it feels sometimes when the man here’s the wife request he thinks oh man I really don’t want to do the dishes there are a lot of them it looked pretty gross mmm but thinking this thought having this thought does not mean that the man obviously doesn’t love his wife feeling some desire not to do her will is not proof of his state what is the proof of his love if he decides to serve her in spite of his feelings or not it is what he does that shows whether he values his wife or not his actions not his flesh influence feelings are the better indicator of what he believes you can see what he values based on what he does now yes a man may do the dishes resentfully or fearfully just as a man may obey Christ while feeling resentment or fear and that obviously is not godly that is sin coming out in his actions but it is going too far to say that feeling the influence of the flesh at all is a sign that well you don’t love Christ totally that’s just not true the old man remains with us and it always will love is proven through obedience over fleshly feelings not listening to the old man so we need to realize that feelings are not a reliable indicator of our love for Christ but our actions are and also we and those in this error need to realize in order to help ourselves and others love Christ it is right for us to make use of so-called bad emotions in order for us to help others and help ourselves love Christ it is right for us to make use of so-called bad emotions what am I talking about things like fear sorrow and shame those who’d like to say positive appreciation the kindness of God is to be our only motivation for holiness forget the context of that statement Romans 23 24 you can turn there if you wish you can see it yourself Romans 23 24 what does Paul mean when he says when he mentions the kindness of God brings us to repentance look at verse 30 mins to verse 3 but do you suppose this oh man when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself that you will escape the judgment of God or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance Paul was not looking to comfort his audience when he referred to the riches of God’s kindness but he instead one of them to feel what guilt shame even fear look at how lightly you are treating God’s patience towards you are you not ashamed are you not afraid fearful a judgment awaits you if you do not repent of this great and gratitude or hear this from Paul first Corinthians 64 after mentioning to the Corinthians that the crib that there were Christians in their congregation suing one another taking one another to court Paul says I say this to your shame is it so there’s not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren Paul wanted them to feel ashamed that they had allowed such blatant sin in their midst why so that they would repent so that they would end this sinful pattern and be free from their shame or hear this from Paul second Corinthians verse our chapter 7 verses 8 to 10 second Corinthians 7 verses 8 to 10 Paul says for though I caused you sorrow by my letter I do not regret it though I did regret it for I see that the letter caused you sorrow the only for a while I now rejoice not that you were made sorrowful but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us for the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation but the sorrow of the world produces death Paul rebuked the Church of Corinth and made them feel sorrowful but that was a good thing it was a sorrow unto repentance that’s the whole point now don’t misunderstand me believers walking in light have no need to fear God’s judgment or feel any longer shame or guilt what John said in first John 4 is still true there is no fear in love when you’re walking in the Lord when you walk in his love when you walk in his light you have no need to fear or be ashamed you have the cleansing and assurance of Christ but if you walk in darkness then you need to see how you ought to be sorrowful ashamed and fearful of long as you don’t repent only obedience to Christ can free you from those painful emotions but that’s the point you want to run to Christ but someone will say won’t using shame or fear just turn people off from repentance well truly some do use these godly prosze as excuses to flee from God Adam and Eve hid from God because of their shame though they should have run to God for cleansing Judas hanged himself because of his guilt and sorrow rather than repent but in these situations it was the reaction to God’s prod that was wrong not the prod itself indeed men always look for excuses to run away from God God’s kindness they use that as excuse not to come to him God’s chase inning they use that an excuse not to come to him the bible does instruct us to speak gently and to reason patiently with others but it is to be done with firmness must not compromise the true gospel of god salvation is by faith but its result is the total setting aside of sinful habits wherever they appear and whatever we notice them if we are afraid to expose the sin of the unrepentant and make them feel ashame sorrowful Orson or fearful how can we ever bring them to the holiness that is necessary and the life of a saved believer so no there is no shortcut to sanctification meditation on Christ is love the joy of God while all helpful and necessary they will never completely rid us of the fleshes desires but true love for Christ is not displayed in how we feel but in what we do and what do we do we choose to obey the Word of God over the false word of the flesh God’s grace does motivate our holiness but we will always have to apply effort and deny the flesh so we see the third abuse truth God’s grace does motivate our holiness but that doesn’t mean it can never become automatic by just meditating on spiritual truth this last abuse truth we don’t have time this morning to fully explore but I’ll just mention it briefly abuse truth number four God provides sufficient means for our holiness God does provide sufficient means for holiness but this truth is misinterpreted it in two contrasting ways sometimes people take this to mean I must and can conquer meissen alone I must and can conquer meissen alone over relying on the Holy Spirit and their personal willpower a believer goes after sanctification without using all the resources God has provided he does not consistently pray does not consistently read the scriptures does not subject himself to preaching and does not seek the counsel and fellowship of others this is not the method of sanctification that God meant this is a recipe for failure going all out against sin means you make use of all the resources you have in Christ and in the church just you and the Holy Spirit are not enough but there’s another way that people interpret that this truth that God God has provided sufficient means for holiness they say well others then must conquer my sin others are responsible to conquer my sin a believer blames his own sinful failures on others supposing that he didn’t receive the he didn’t receive enough from them enough love enough support or enough instruction to attain victory or maybe other people tempted him to go astray that’s their fault I can’t win because of them this is especially true when a person supposes his sin problem is so deep or unique that it requires an anointing amount of attention from others to be defeated or else it’s not his fault while the Bible clearly shows us that we are to make use of discipleship and fellowship as part of our sanctification each person must ultimately bear his own load we cannot blame others for our failures we are responsible for our own sin but there’s a gracious promise if we truly seek mortification if we seek help the Lord will provide what we need you will give us enough I don’t have time to consider the full reference but you know that no temptation has overtaken a man except what he is able to bear and God causes him or provides him with the route of escape we can never blame God or others for not giving us enough he does so in closing the Scriptures make it clear or these truths from the scripture that are abused today are true as they were originally meant Christians do still sin God is sovereign even over sanctification God’s grace does motivate our sanctification and God does always provide sufficient means for our holiness but we must not misinterpret these ideas I must not miss apply these truths this does not mean that sin habits are normal for Christians or somehow God glorifying this does not mean that we are to wait passively for God to sanctify us this does not mean that simply meditating on God’s truth will make sanctification effortless this does not mean that we can conquer sins alone or that we can blame others if they do not conquer our sins for us these ideas are twisting of scriptural truth and they harm sanctification that’s not God’s Way that’s not what God has actually declared God’s people walk in lights because their God is light so this morning I ask you do you need to change the way you’ve been thinking about sanctification is the reason that you have not put to death certain sins even though you’ve tried and you’ve tried is because you’re thinking about it the wrong way you’ve taken hold of an error of one of the misapplication of scriptural truth if so I urge you this morning repent change your thinking and conform it to the Word of God let’s close in prayer father we do recognize that you are sovereign and unless you provide for sanctification and one sense it won’t happen every every way that you that you caused us to conquer sin is a gracious gift and we thank you for the different means that you’ve provided that you provided your church that you provided the scriptures that you provided preaching that you provide a discipleship and fellowship that’s all part of causing us to walk in light yet Lord your scripture make it clear that we have a responsibility we ought to run with great efforts so we can win this race Lord we know that this does not bring us salvation and this does not earn us favor with you in a Cell Vivek sense but it is the result we know it’s the result you make it so clear in your scriptures again and again and again and again it’s a father I pray that you move each person here and anyone listening to go all out and putting two deaths in because you are worth it you are worth saying no to the flesh you are that great Lord as your people we choose to believe that what you declare about yourself is true that you were trustworthy and that our feelings are not so God sanctifies we trust that you will in Jesus name Amen