lesson 11 the doctrine of sanctification sanctification is not an immediate event but an ongoing Cooperative process it is ongoing because it begins that conversion and continues until the day we die it is cooperative because God has a part and we have a part and it's a process because no one looks like Jesus at the moment of conversion it takes time effort and massive quantities of Grace to reflect a little of his likeness conversion should invariably lead to changed Behavior if there is no change in the life and character of a person who has professed Christ it is doubtful that the person has experienced a true conversion therefore sanctification is the testimony that a work of Grace has really happened in our hearts so what do we believe about s sanctification we believe that sanctification is the process beginning at regeneration whereby God conforms his people to the image of Christ through his word and Spirit by Grace Christians grow in Holiness and in love for God and others throughout their lives as they submit to Jesus obey God's word and walk by the spirit and fellowship with other disciples so let's unpack the doctrine of sanctification with the following Five Points the first is this God conforms Believers to the image of Christ 1 Thessalonians 5: 23 and 24 say this now may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ he who calls you is faithful and he will surely do it Wayne gudam defines sanctification as the progressive work of God that makes us more free from sin and more like Christ in our actual lives sanctification contrasts with justification justification is a one-time work of God that provides us with the legal standing of perfection in God's eyes therefore the level of justification is the same in every believer justification is the work of God Alone alone we cannot justify ourselves Martin Luther provided this illustration when we are Justified it is as though a doctor has just administered a sure and certain remedy for a fatal disease though the patient may still endure a temporary struggle with the residual effects of his illness the outcome is no longer in doubt The Physician pronounces the patient cured even though a rehabilitation process must still be carried out if we continue Luther's metaphor then the rehabilitation process is sanctification sanctification is not a onetime event like justification but one that is continuous throughout our lives therefore every believer is at a different level of sanctification sanctification is the work of God but we must cooperate with him both parties have distinct roles in the process with the goal being the image of Christ God is at work in us to conform us to the image of his son and our confidence is in God's power to accomplish it but we have an essential role to play in the process in the first Thessalonians passage Paul emphasizes God's role in conforming us to the image of Christ he's just finished a lengthy section concerning sexual Purity brotherly love respect for leaders love for other people rejoicing prayer and concern for public worship and all of these are necessary for sanctification but Paul identifies the power behind that process God himself will sanctify you completely he is faithful and he will surely do it the second point is Believers grow in sanctification throughout their lives Romans 6:19 says for just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness so now present yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification sanctification begins at regeneration theologians call this positional sanctification it is the gift God gives us at conversion when we're born again something significant changes in our Lives Many old sinful habits patterns and choices no longer control us a definite break from the ruling power of sin in an orientation of Our Lives desires from sin to righteousness occurs a new spiritual life within can controls us this power keeps us from practicing sin and we are no longer enslaved by it this is why the Bible occasionally refers to us as already Sanctified Paul said to the Ephesian Elders I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are Sanctified the Greek expression are Sanctified implies a completed past activity and a continuing result sanctification increases throughout life theologians call this Progressive sanctification sanctification should increase in our lives but it rarely grows in a steady upward Direction there are es and flows throughout life but the general Trend should always be forward not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own Flippy Ians 3:12 sanctification is completed at death and when the Lord returns theologians call this perfect sanctification and although we can get increasingly more like Jesus we will never be Sanctified entirely in this life John said we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as is as he is it's 1 John 3:2 that knowledge produces in us a yearning for continuous sanctification ation and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure point three Believers grow in sanctification by Grace Philippians 2: 12- 13 say therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to Will and to work for his good pleasure the phrase work out your own salvation has created many misunderstandings throughout church history various religious Traditions have claimed that it proves we must add our works to Faith to a attain salvation but Paul does not say work for your salvation he says work out your salvation there's a vast difference between those two ideas the term salvation is a broad one encompassing everything God has done for us to Deliver us from our lost condition in sin sin it includes regeneration justification sanctification adoption and glorification and In this passage sanctification is the emphasis sanctification is a Cooperative process and our text underscores that idea God works as we saw in 1 Thessalonians 5 and we work this does not mean that we have equal roles however in sanctification certainly God's work is more significant but it does mean that we have a role in the process and that role is mainly a responsive one when Paul says God is at work in us he uses a Greek word that conveys the idea of God actively and continually putting forth his energy to support and strengthen our obedience the energy is his grace it works on our will first creating a holy desire to please God in all things then it energizes and motivates us to work for his good pleasure John Piper summarizes the power of Grace to propel our sanctification in this way he says the whole lifelong triumphant offensive called operation sanctification by which we wage war against all the remaining corruption in our lives is sustained by the supply line of the spirit that comes from the secure unassailable home base of justification by faith alone and it will be a successful operation but only because of the unassailable home base our our fourth point is that Believers grow in sanctification with other believers 1 Thessalonians 3 12 and 13 says may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another so that he may establish in your hearts blameless and Holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his Saints the New Testament regularly speaks of sanctification in the context of community for example Jesus petitioned the father concerning his disciples sanctify them in truth your word is truth and then he prayed that they may all be one just as you father are in me and I in you that they also may be in US Jesus linked their growth in sanctification with their growth in their relationships with one another and himself and the father in the first Thessalonians passage Paul prays that the Thessalonian Believers love for one another would grow a abundantly as a result God will establish their hearts blameless in Holiness when Believers grow in their love for one another they also grow in sanctification at the end of the same letter Paul prays again now may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely Paul's prayer for the entire church comes after he has urged them to grow in their love for one another encourage one another build one another up and do good to one another sanctification happens in community Paul exhorted Timothy to flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness faith and love and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart we flee evil and pursue sanctification with other Christians as Aid the concept of our sanctification apart from The Community of Faith is a foreign concept to the New Testament sanctification requires Community we cannot become more like Jesus without walking in relationship with others and our fifth point is this Believers grow in sanctification through spiritual disciplines 1 Timothy 4: 7 and 8 says train yourselves for godliness for while bodily training is of some value godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come the spiritual disciplines are scriptural practices designed to strengthen our relationship with God and make us like him we can learn these activities and cultivate them through diligence but like all training they begin as a decision and should continue as a lifelong habit the disciplines are not means to attain righteousness that is a gift from God instead these activities are channels for God's power to transform us into His Image it is the Holy Spirit Spirit who initiates energizes and maintains the spiritual disciplines in our lives however he does it in partnership with our continuous choice to discipline ourselves the disciplines can quickly degenerate into works for righteousness but the holy spirit is a safeguard against that possibility there are many spiritual disciplines but the main ones center around God's word and prayer the word of God is the primary instrument of sanctification Jesus pray that the father might sanctify them in truth your word is truth Paul told the Ephesian church that Christ gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word Peter told the scattered Believers in Asia Minor that God's exceedingly great promises would make them partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption in the world because of sinful desire adding a disciplined life of prayer with the word of God produces a powerful means of sanctify ification Jesus told his disciples before he went to the Cross watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak the disciples saw the power of Prayer in the life of Jesus and they asked him to teach them to pray Luke 11:1 if we train ourselves for godliness through the spiritual disciplines we will look more and more like Jesus daily and that's what we believe about the the doctrine of sanctification Lesson 12 the doctrine of the second coming the ultimate appearance of God's kingdom is the focus of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation but the scriptural emphasis is not on times dates or world events but on the revelation of Jesus Christ as The Sovereign Lord of all creation Christ's sacrifice on the cross secured our Salvation in victory over sin and death but his return will bring us into that state of complete Victory when we have glorified bodies unstained by sin and fleshly desires that will be the Fulfillment of our blessed hope so what do we believe about the second coming we believe that Jesus the king of kings and Lord of lords will return to Earthly B Earth bodily in power and Glory at a time fixed by the father and unknown to the church to raise the dead and judge the world he will clothe the righteous with Immortal glorious bodies rewarding them according to their deeds but the unrighteous Satan and the forces of Darkness he will punish with eternal destruction God will consummate Redemption and renew creation and his people from every nation will enjoy worship and reign with him forever so let's unpack the doctrine of the second coming first point is that Jesus Will will return to Earth bodily acts 1:1 says this Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven God's rule is continuously advancing throughout history it will culminate in the final establishment of his kingdom when Jesus returns to the Earth suddenly visibly and bodily he is The Sovereign Lord of creation and history and and when he returns to establish his kingdom he will remove all evil and set up his throne of righteousness and Justice God is in control of history and his victory is assured the theme of God's coming Kingdom unfolds in scripture from Genesis to Revelation the biblical writers never emphasize times dates or world events but God's plan to establish his role on Earth therefore we should look forward to the Lord's return but we should not be consumed with dates and times God has set a definite time for the return of Christ but no man can know when it will be see Mark 13: 32-33 and verse 35 one reason God has not told us when Jesus will return is return is so we will not turn our Focus away from the Great Commission and towards self-preservation rather than being concerned with when he will return God wants us to focus on why he will return we should not wait passively for his return but actively obey the mandate to make disciples of all Nations God's Victorious return should spur us to action as we disciple the Nations but we do look forward to his return because he ascended with a physical body and will return with a physical body we have hope that we will also have glorified physical bodies one day this assures us that the material creation is valuable to God and is part of his ultimate plan for the universe this knowledge protects us from the aasis severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence we can fully enjoy God's material blessings as a part of our worship Point number two Jesus Will judge the world when he returns Matthew 25: 31-32 says when the son of man comes in glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious Throne before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats he ascended into the he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father the Apostles Creed affirms the Glorious truth that Christ has ascended into heaven and Reigns Victorious it further affirms that he will come again to judge the living and the dead this truth stir our hearts with the promise that every wrong will one day be made right that should comfort us and terrify us at the same time everyone will die and face a personal Judgment of either damnation or salvation there will be a great final Judgment of belie Bel vers and unbelievers all will stand before the Judgment seat of Christ and hear his proclamation of their Eternal Destiny life is not cyclical and we do not get multiple chances through reincarnation death and judgment are the inevitable reality for all people this judgment is good news for Christians for on that final day Jesus will say come you who are blessed by my father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world but this judgment is bad news for unbelievers for on that day Jesus will say depart from me you cursed into the Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels this Doctrine has several positive moral influences on our life it satisfies our inward need for justice we live in a world marred by sin and rif with Injustice and we know that no laws or leaders can ultimately fit fix what is wrong we long for the judge of all the Earth to do what is right it is ALS it also provides a motive for holy living and evangelism Paul was deeply mindful of his accountability before a holy God that knowledge produced in him the fear of the Lord a yearning for Holiness and a desire to persuade others to be reconciled with God for we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body whether good or evil therefore knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade others the third point in this is that the righteous have a great hope in the resurrection 1 Peter 1:3 says blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great Mercy he has caused us to be born again to a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day breaking death's hold on Humanity he is the firstborn from the dead as it says in Revelation 1 15 or Colossians 1:18 the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep as said in 1 Corinthians 15:20 he was the first to be resurrected eternally but not the last on the final day God will raise the righteous to eternal life and the unrighteous to to Eternal condemnation so his resurrection ensures our Resurrection it gives us a Living Hope a hope that is securely Kept For Us in heaven it is our inheritance imperishable undefiled and unfading see 1 Peter 1: 4-5 but through God but though God purchased our Salvation through his son's death our final salvation will not be complete until the day of the Lord Jesus Jesus Christ this is what theologians call the already not yet tension in this life we experience his promises but the full completion of those promises awaits our Resurrection on the last day that is why Christianity is a forward-looking faith it is a life of Hope the basis of our hope is in the finished work of Jesus Christ but the object of our hope is the final appearance and complete salvation he will bring when he returns his sacrifice on the cross secured our salvation and victory over sin and death but his return will bring us to that state of complete Victory where we will where we have our glorified bodies that are unstained by sin and fleshly desires therefore hope is a dominant perspective about the future we're not simply trying to hold on until Jesus comes back we labor expectantly during this brief time that God enables us to inhabit his planet and we labor against the backdrop of Christ's ultimate return and victory power and Glory our fourth point is that the wicked will pay the penalty of Eternal destruction 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire inflicting Vengeance on those who do not know God and on those those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus they will suffer the punishment of Eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord Jesus taught more about eternal judgment than any other biblical author he called hell a place of eternal torment and un unquenchable fire from where which there was no return a place of outer Darkness where people will Nash their teeth in anguish and regret he called it gehenna in reference to the valley along the south of Jerusalem where people burned garbage and corpses maggots consumed bodies in the trash because there was a constant supply of trash and corpses the maggots that fed on them never died three Old Testament authors referred to Eternal destruction Daniel Malachi and Isaiah eight of the nine New Testament authors also refer to it Matthew mark Mark Luke John Paul Peter Jude and the author of Hebrews despite all the biblical evidence Eternal destruction is still one of the most challenged doctrines to embrace ji Packer said the sentimental secularism of modern Western culture with its exalted optimism about human nature its shrunken idea of God makes it hard for Christians to take seriously the reality of hell it assumes booms a depth of insight into Divine Holiness and human sinfulness that most of us do not have God does not punish sinners in a fit of temper but rather as a result of his perfect love and unchanging hatred of evil hell is a place of Justice not cruelty cruelty involves punishment more severe than the crime cruelty in this sense is unjust and God is incapable of inflicting an unjust punishment but the human concept of justice and love are distorted by sin and therefore deceptive and unreliable God is indefinably worthy of our love obedience and honor and our failure to do so is an indefinite evil an infinite evil and deserving of Eternal destruction the fifth and final point about the second coming is that the entire creation will be made new and glorious Revelation 211 says then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth had passed away and the sea was no more Allan Johnson once wrote God created the Earth to be man's permanent home but sin and death entered the world and transformed the earth into a place of rebellion and alienation it became enemy occupied territory but God has been working in Salvation history to affect a total reversal of this evil consequence and liberate Earth from bondage to sin and Corruption though God subjected the original creation to fality the new creation will be free from corrupt corruption and full of the glory of God awaiting us is a glorious future Kingdom where death is defeated and God will wipe away tears of Sorrow pain and grief the sea the source of the satanic beast in Revelation 13 and the place of the dead in Revelation 2013 will be no more this is a symbolic picture of the New creation's Freedom From Evil in all its forms in this new creation we will enter into the full enjoyment of life in the presence of God forever Jesus will say to us come oh blessed of my father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world in this Kingdom there shall be no more there shall no more be anything cursed but the Throne of God and the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall worship him that's Revelation 22:3 God made the original physical creation very good see Genesis 1:31 nothing is inherently sinful about the physical world God will perfect his Creation in the new heavens and earth and bring it into harmony with his original purpose we will dwell in a fully redeemed universe that is very good we shall eat and drink at the marriage supper of the Lamb the river of the Water of Life Will flow from the Throne of God the tree of life will bear 12 kinds of fruit for healing of the Nations and our physical bodies will again be very good in God's sight to fulfill the purpose for which he created us this is our blessed hope this is what we believe about the doctrine of the second coming all right now we're going to to pass you off to your small group leaders for further discussion questions