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Voddie Baucham - The Spirit's Work in Sanctification · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: As we continue here in Romans chapter 8, Paul is
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  Speaker 1: summing up this section on sanctification. And particularly, he is
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  Speaker 1: introducing the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's work in sanctification.
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  Speaker 1: And what the Holy Spirit does in the life of
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  Speaker 1: the believer. In his work of sanctification. As we talk
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  Speaker 1: about the work of the Holy Spirit, let me just
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  Speaker 1: say a couple of things here. A couple of preliminary things.
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  Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is a he, not a what. Let
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  Speaker 1: me say that again. The Holy Spirit is a he,
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  Speaker 1: not a what. Not a who.
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  Speaker 2: Not an it.
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  Speaker 1: Not an it. So when we talk about what the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit does, we don't talk about what it does.
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  Speaker 1: We talk about what He does. The Holy Spirit is
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  Speaker 1: the third person of the Trinity. He is not merely
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  Speaker 1: a force. He is a person. So we do not
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  Speaker 1: use it when we refer to the Holy Spirit. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: Repeat after me. I will not use it. In reference
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  Speaker 1: to the Holy Spirit. Just like I will not put
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  Speaker 1: an S on the end of Revelation. All right. Very good. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Now that we got those out of the way. All right.
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  Speaker 1: And so as we talk about what he does, now
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  Speaker 1: as sure as I just did that, there's going to
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  Speaker 1: come a time in this sermon where I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: say it. Okay. Okay. As we speak about what He does,
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  Speaker 1: it's also important that we sort of move away some
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  Speaker 1: of the clouds in our culture. Because there is a
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  Speaker 1: tendency in which we either talk about what the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: does as though He is the only member of the Trinity,
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  Speaker 1: or at least the most important member of the Trinity,
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  Speaker 1: or we don't talk about what He does at all.
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  Speaker 1: And there's a ditch on both sides of that road. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: Another thing that we have a tendency to do is
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  Speaker 1: sort of reduce the work of the Holy Spirit to
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  Speaker 1: that of signs and wonders. That's it. And either you're
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  Speaker 1: a signs and wonders person or you're not a Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit person at all. That is simply not the case. Amen, somebody?
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  Speaker 1: And so the Holy Spirit is very active in the
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  Speaker 1: salvation process. His work is crucial in the work of
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  Speaker 1: both regeneration and the work of sanctification. But particularly here,
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  Speaker 1: we're looking at sanctification. We're also going to sort of
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  Speaker 1: touch on this issue of regeneration as well. Let's read
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  Speaker 1: the entirety of that first paragraph. Remember, we broke up
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  Speaker 1: that first paragraph. Today we're looking at that second paragraph,
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  Speaker 1: but the second half of the first paragraph is really
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  Speaker 1: a link between paragraph one and paragraph two. So we'll
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  Speaker 1: read all of paragraph one into paragraph two. If you'll remember,
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  Speaker 1: we looked at verses one through four on last week.
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  Speaker 1: Let's begin verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation
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  Speaker 1: for those who are in Christ Jesus. There just needs
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  Speaker 1: to be an amen at the end of that verse.
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  Speaker 1: Then they're just written right in there. For the law
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit of life set you free in Christ
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  Speaker 1: Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God
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  Speaker 1: has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could
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  Speaker 1: not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness
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  Speaker 1: of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in
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  Speaker 1: the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the
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  Speaker 1: law might be fulfilled in us who walk, not according
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  Speaker 1: to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. That's where
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  Speaker 1: we left it off last week. Don't miss that link.
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  Speaker 1: The idea there is that we do keep the righteous
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  Speaker 1: requirements of the law. Now, we are not able in
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  Speaker 1: our flesh to keep the righteous requirements of the law. Yet,
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  Speaker 1: the law is not bad. If you remember, the law
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  Speaker 1: is good, the law is holy, and the law is righteous.
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  Speaker 1: So we're condemned because we don't keep God's law. We
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  Speaker 1: can't keep God's law. We are saved by grace. Not
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  Speaker 1: by keeping the law. However, a result of our salvation
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  Speaker 1: by grace is that now we are enabled and empowered
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  Speaker 1: to keep the righteous requirements of the law. Not in
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  Speaker 1: order to be saved, but as a byproduct of our salvation. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: But what is the mechanism for that? The mechanism for
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  Speaker 1: that is the person of the Holy Spirit at work
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  Speaker 1: in the life of the believer. That is the mechanism
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  Speaker 1: for holiness and righteousness. The person of the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: at work in the life of the believer. Look at
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  Speaker 1: verse 5 now. For those who live according to the
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  Speaker 1: flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: but those who live according to the Spirit set their
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  Speaker 1: minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set
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  Speaker 1: the mind on the flesh is death, but to set
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  Speaker 1: the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For
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  Speaker 1: the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile
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  Speaker 1: to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 7 and 8, you just need to underline that
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  Speaker 1: because it is of critical importance, not just to what
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about today. But also it is of critical
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  Speaker 1: importance in us understanding chapter 8 at all. It's of
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  Speaker 1: critical importance. I'll explain that a little bit later. It
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  Speaker 1: is also of critical importance for a number of doctrinal
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  Speaker 1: and theological reasons. This makes necessary a number of doctrinal
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  Speaker 1: positions to which we hold. Again, I'll explain that momentarily.
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  Speaker 1: That next paragraph. You, however, are not in the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of
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  Speaker 1: God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if
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  Speaker 1: Christ is in you, although the body is dead because
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  Speaker 1: of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
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  Speaker 1: dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead
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  Speaker 1: will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who,
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  Speaker 1: not that, who dwells in you. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: This is just good, folks. This is good. Because if
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  Speaker 1: we're going to understand sanctification and how it is that
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  Speaker 1: we are made righteous, not just positionally, but actually, we
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  Speaker 1: have to understand this critical doctrinal juncture. First, as we
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  Speaker 1: talk about the role of the Spirit in sanctification, the
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  Speaker 1: role of the Spirit in sanctification is contrasted with the
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  Speaker 1: role of the flesh. Now, you saw that at the
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  Speaker 1: end of that first paragraph. Let's look at that again.
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  Speaker 1: Those who live according to the flesh, verse 5, set
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  Speaker 1: their minds, rather than read it that way, let me
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  Speaker 1: do it this way. I have a chart. We'll take
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  Speaker 1: those two paragraphs and put them together and listen to
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  Speaker 1: the contrast. Those who live according to the flesh set
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  Speaker 1: their minds on the things of the flesh. On the
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  Speaker 1: other side is the Spirit. Those who live according to
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Then we see that to set the mind on the
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  Speaker 1: flesh is death. To set the mind on the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: is life and peace. He goes on that the mind
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  Speaker 1: that is set on the flesh is hostile to God,
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  Speaker 1: for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot.
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  Speaker 1: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. On
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  Speaker 1: the other side of the equation there, we have if
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  Speaker 1: Christ is in you, although the body is dead because
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  Speaker 1: of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Again,
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  Speaker 1: we go on the flesh side of the equation. Anyone
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  Speaker 1: who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not
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  Speaker 1: belong to Him. On the other side of the equation,
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  Speaker 1: if the Spirit of Him who has raised Jesus from
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  Speaker 1: the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus
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  Speaker 1: from the dead will also give life to your mortal
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  Speaker 1: bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. There is
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  Speaker 1: this contrast between the life of the flesh and the
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  Speaker 1: life of the Spirit. Now, we already saw in chapter 7,
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  Speaker 1: that we still wrestle with the flesh. Understand that contextually here,
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  Speaker 1: he is not talking about this idea of us living
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  Speaker 1: in bodies made of flesh. He is talking about two
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  Speaker 1: realms that are mutually exclusive. So when he says to
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  Speaker 1: set the mind on the flesh, that we live according
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  Speaker 1: to the flash he is not merely saying that there's
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  Speaker 1: a flesh part you it's the idea that there is
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  Speaker 1: one realm that is the realm of the flesh and
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  Speaker 1: another realm that is the realm love the spirit and
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  Speaker 1: that they are mutually exclusive and that we cannot live
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  Speaker 1: in accordance with both of those realms simultaneously was this
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  Speaker 1: from James Edwards The antithesis of spirit and flesh is
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  Speaker 1: to this day often mistaken as a dichotomy in morals,
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  Speaker 1: good and bad. We hear that, don't we? The flesh
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  Speaker 1: is good, the flesh is bad, the spirit is good,
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  Speaker 1: more of this and less of that. Or in religion,
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  Speaker 1: do's versus don'ts. Or in personality, mind and body, spirit
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  Speaker 1: and matter, etc. But spirit and flesh are not descriptive
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  Speaker 1: of a theological or ethical schizophrenia. or of higher and
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  Speaker 1: lower principles in the same person, one Christian, the other unchristian,
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  Speaker 1: or one saved, the other unsaved. Spirit and flesh are
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  Speaker 1: rather two exclusive realms, two authorities or governing powers. One
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  Speaker 1: is either in the spirit or in the flesh, but
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  Speaker 1: not both at the same time. Yeah, but I thought
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  Speaker 1: we wrestled with the flesh. Yes, that's because we're in
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  Speaker 1: the spirit. Amen. That's why we wrestle with that residue,
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  Speaker 1: because we are citizens of another realm. Now, every man
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  Speaker 1: is born into the realm of the flesh. Every man
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  Speaker 1: is born into the realm of the flesh. It's the
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  Speaker 1: doctrine of original sin. We are born in sin. We're
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  Speaker 1: shaped in iniquity. That is who we are. Every man
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  Speaker 1: is born in this realm. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1
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  Speaker 1: through 3 alludes to this. And you were dead in
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  Speaker 1: your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following
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  Speaker 1: the course of this world, following the prince of the
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  Speaker 1: power of the air, the spirit that is now at
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  Speaker 1: work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all
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  Speaker 1: once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out
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  Speaker 1: the desires of the body and the mind, and were
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  Speaker 1: by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
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  Speaker 1: We lived in that domain. We were under the domain
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  Speaker 1: of darkness, under the domain of sin, in the domain
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  Speaker 1: of the flesh. And we lived in accordance with our desires,
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  Speaker 1: which were our fleshly desires. And they were the only
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  Speaker 1: desires that we had. They were the only desires that
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  Speaker 1: we could have. Look again there at verse 6. For
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  Speaker 1: to set the mind on the flesh is death, but
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  Speaker 1: to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
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  Speaker 1: You can't do both of those at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 7. For the mind that is set on the
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  Speaker 1: flesh is, number one, hostile to God. The mind that
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  Speaker 1: is set on the flesh is hostile to God. That
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  Speaker 1: is where we are by nature. We are hostile to God.
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  Speaker 1: That is how we are born, hostile to God. None
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  Speaker 1: of us, none of us, not one of us is
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  Speaker 1: born with any inkling of loving God. Not one of
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  Speaker 1: us is born with any inkling toward desiring to satisfy God,
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  Speaker 1: to please God, or to obey God. There is none righteous. No,
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  Speaker 1: not even one. We've already read that. Here he reiterates it,
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  Speaker 1: but he reiterates it in order to explain how sanctification works.
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  Speaker 1: He talks about it in chapter 3 in order for
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  Speaker 1: you to understand the depth and breadth of the guilt
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  Speaker 1: of every man. Now he wants you to understand how
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  Speaker 1: sanctification works. This is incredibly important. Look at the next verse.
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  Speaker 1: The next part of the verse. For it does not
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  Speaker 1: to submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Why are
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  Speaker 1: you hostile to God? Because you do not submit to
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  Speaker 1: God's law. Indeed, you cannot. Now, whenever we talk about this,
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  Speaker 1: there is always that same question that is raised. And
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  Speaker 1: that question that is raised is, yes, but what about
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  Speaker 1: the heathen, the unbeliever that does things that are good?
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  Speaker 1: doesn't exist there's not a lost person who's ever done
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  Speaker 1: anything good they may do things that appear to be
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  Speaker 1: good but there's not a lost person that's ever done
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  Speaker 1: anything good why? because they're hostile to God they do
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  Speaker 1: not obey God's law indeed they cannot obey God's law
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  Speaker 1: well but wait a minute there are people out there
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  Speaker 1: who are lost but they work really hard yes they
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  Speaker 1: do Go back with me if you will. We've preached
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  Speaker 1: through this, but let's look at it again. Go back
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  Speaker 1: to Matthew chapter 5. And let me explain this from
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  Speaker 1: a theological perspective. Because again, we do, we say, you know,
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  Speaker 1: there are lost people out there and they do things
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  Speaker 1: that are good. In fact, I've heard people say, there
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  Speaker 1: are lost people out there who live better lives than
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  Speaker 1: believers do. Man looks on the outward. God looks at
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  Speaker 1: the heart. And if you do what you do for
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  Speaker 1: wrong motives, what you do is wrong. Matthew chapter 5.
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  Speaker 1: Listen again. You have heard that it was said to
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  Speaker 1: those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders
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  Speaker 1: will be liable to judgment. Listen again. And we say, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: there's lost people out there who make a decision not
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  Speaker 1: to murder. They think murder is bad, so they won't murder.
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  Speaker 1: But I say to you that everyone who is angry
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  Speaker 1: with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults
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  Speaker 1: his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever
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  Speaker 1: says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot murder a person physically and spiritually physically. still
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  Speaker 1: violate the sixth commandment not my words christ's words let's
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  Speaker 1: look at another one verse 27 you have heard that
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  Speaker 1: it was said you shall not commit adultery that's right
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  Speaker 1: there's unbelievers out there who've been faithful to their spouses
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  Speaker 1: therefore they're righteous right But I say to you that
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  Speaker 1: everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has
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  Speaker 1: already committed adultery with her in his heart. Those who
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  Speaker 1: are in the flesh do not obey the law of God. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: they cannot. They cannot. They cannot. Their behavior can be
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  Speaker 1: modified such that they conform to the rules, roles, norms,
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  Speaker 1: and mores of the society in which they live. But
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  Speaker 1: there is a tremendous chasm between behavioral modification and spiritual transformation.
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  Speaker 1: And you simply... Cannot get there from here. Look at
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  Speaker 1: the last verse. Those who are in the flesh cannot
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  Speaker 1: please God. There's where we have a problem. Because we
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  Speaker 1: say this person who's not even a Christian is doing
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  Speaker 1: things that are good. Nothing is good unless God says
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  Speaker 1: it is good. And the Bible says that the person
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  Speaker 1: who is in the flesh cannot please God. Therefore, nothing
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  Speaker 1: he does is good. By the way, on the flip side,
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  Speaker 1: the only reason that anything that I do is good
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  Speaker 1: is because I am in Christ and His Spirit is
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  Speaker 1: in me. Amen? I am no better. I am no
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  Speaker 1: better than the heathen. I'm better off, but I'm not better. Amen? Amen?
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  Speaker 1: You know that old saying, but for the grace of God,
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  Speaker 1: there grow I. Amen. I may be better off, but
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  Speaker 1: I'm absolutely no better apart from the Spirit of God
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  Speaker 1: in me and me being in Christ. Secondly, the role
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit in sanctification is to transfer us from
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  Speaker 1: the realm of the flesh. The role of the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: in sanctification is to transfer us from the realm of
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  Speaker 1: the flesh. Look at this in verse 8. You, however,
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  Speaker 1: there's the problem. There are individuals who do not keep
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  Speaker 1: God's law, who cannot keep God's law, who cannot please God. Why? You, however,
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  Speaker 1: are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Remember
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  Speaker 1: what we said about those two mutually exclusive realms? You
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  Speaker 1: are not in the flesh, but You're in the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, again, that's the only way you can
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  Speaker 1: war against the flesh, because you are in the realm
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit. You are not in the flesh. You
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  Speaker 1: are in the Spirit. If, in fact, the Spirit of
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  Speaker 1: God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. Pause here
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  Speaker 1: for a moment. The role of the Spirit is to
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  Speaker 1: transfer us from one realm to another. Yet, there are
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  Speaker 1: people out there, Christians out there, who say, Who believe
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  Speaker 1: in the idea of a spirit-less Christian and a spirit-filled Christian.
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  Speaker 1: The idea of the second blessing, if you will. There
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  Speaker 1: is being saved, and then there's the second blessing. And
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  Speaker 1: in the second blessing, that's when you get the Holy Spirit. Okay? Okay?
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  Speaker 1: There's even a saying, saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost.
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  Speaker 1: You hear that in Pentecostal circles. Saved, sanctified, filled with
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost. As though those are three mutually exclusive
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  Speaker 1: occurrences in the life of the believer. There is no
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  Speaker 1: sanctification here. Without the filling of the Spirit. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: there is no justification without the Spirit of God. Look
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  Speaker 1: at what he says. He completely obliterates any idea of
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  Speaker 1: a second blessing. Any idea of a Christian who doesn't
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  Speaker 1: have the Holy Spirit. You, however, are not in the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of
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  Speaker 1: God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. You cannot
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  Speaker 1: be a Christian without having all of the Spirit. And
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  Speaker 1: people have the audacity to call this blasphemy full gospel.
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  Speaker 1: They only got part of the gospel over there. We
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  Speaker 1: got the full gospel over here. And it is absolute blasphemy.
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  Speaker 1: The idea that there are some Christians who are without
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit of God and that there are other Christians
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  Speaker 1: who have the Spirit of God. By the way, the
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  Speaker 1: evidence is, there's just one usually. It's speaking in tongues.
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  Speaker 1: Hold on. God gives us the Spirit of God in
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  Speaker 1: order to conform us to the image of Christ, that
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  Speaker 1: we might be sanctified. And yet we are saying what
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  Speaker 1: you really ought to be after is babbling that no
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  Speaker 1: one can understand but you. Or not even you, for
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  Speaker 1: that matter. How deceived can a person be? How utterly
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  Speaker 1: deceived can a person be? If you don't have the Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: you don't belong to Him. If you don't have the Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: you haven't been born again. If you don't have the Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: you are not a Christian. And if you think the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit is something that you need to go and get
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  Speaker 1: after you were justified, first of all, you don't understand justification.
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  Speaker 1: If you believe in a spiritless justification, you believe in
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  Speaker 1: an unbiblical justification. You're not even His apart from the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the second thing. The Spirit's work in the life
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  Speaker 1: of the believer is about so much more. The Spirit's
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  Speaker 1: work in the life of the believer is about first
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and foremost transferring you from the realm of the flesh
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: to the realm of the Spirit. You're His. In fact,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: go with me to the right and look at the
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: book of Ephesians again. Ephesians chapter 1. Beginning in verse 11.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: according to the purpose of Him who works all things
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: according to the counsel of His will, so that we,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: who were the first to hope in Christ, might be
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: to the praise of His glory. In Him you also,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with... The
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: promised Holy Spirit. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: until we acquire possession of it to the praise of
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: His glory. You are sealed with the promise of the
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit when you believe the gospel. You're His. You
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: are baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit. That's the
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: baptism of the Holy Spirit. You're baptized into Christ. We
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: say that we're in Him. How do we get in Him?
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: We're baptized into Christ by the person of the Holy Spirit.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: You are sealed by the Holy Spirit when you believe.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: And your justification is actualized through the work of the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit in your life. And the enemy has us
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: running around looking for the Holy Spirit. Like a man
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: for a check for a million dollars in his pocket
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: on the corner begging for change to go get something
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to eat. It is absolutely and utterly ridiculous. God is
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: sanctifying you and conforming you to the very image of Christ. Oh,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: if I could just make noises with my mouth that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: people couldn't understand. God has united you with the person
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: of Christ. And you're seeking what? What? You are in Christ.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: And the Spirit indwells you. And He empowers you to
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: be conformed to the image of Christ. Listen to this
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in Galatians 5.24. And those who belong to Christ Jesus
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Is
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: that not good news? crucified the flesh, nailed it to
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the cross with Christ. But then listen, Galatians chapter 3
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: and verse 3. Paul is upset in the book of Galatians.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: And here's one of those areas. Oh, are you so foolish?
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: by the flesh? That makes no sense. That somehow you
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: began by the Spirit and now you are going trying
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: to be sanctified by works? You're trying to be perfected
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: by the flesh? Absolutely not. That's an entirely different realm.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: You don't belong to that realm anymore. You have been
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: transferred from darkness into His marvelous light. And you're trying
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: to get darkness to make you more like the light?
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: It is the Spirit of God who sanctifies. It is
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: us being in Christ, baptized into Christ by the Spirit.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: And it is Him being in us, the Spirit of
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: God indwelling those of us who believe. The role of
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the Spirit in sanctification also gives us the greatest hope
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: possible that we will be sanctified. Look at the next
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: part of this text. But if Christ is in you,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you. Please.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: get this. Who is this Holy Spirit who indwells you?
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: He is the one who raised Christ from the dead.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: That's who He is. I don't know what you're facing
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: in your life. But there's probably something in your life,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: and there are days in your life when you believe
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: that you cannot be sanctified beyond that point, beyond whatever
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: this thing is. I just can't be sanctified beyond this thing.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: I just can't overcome this thing. Listen to me. I've
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: asked this question before. I'll ask it again. Is that
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: thing bigger than a dead Jesus? Yes. Because the power
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: that is resident in you is powerful enough to raise
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Christ from the dead. I'm going to go out on
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: a limb here and say it's more powerful than whatever
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: that thing is that you think you can't be sanctified from. Yes,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: but you don't know what I'm addicted to. Yeah, but
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: he was dead. Yeah, but you don't know my past
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: and my background. Yes, but he was dead. Dead. Yeah,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: but you don't know how long I've had this struggle. Yes,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: but he was dead. You mean to tell me that
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: being addicted to drugs or alcohol or pornography or anger
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: or violence or selfishness or pride of whatever else is
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: more significant than being dead? No. It is not. And
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that same power that overcame the grave resides in you
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: to empower you to keep the righteous commandments of the
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: holy and righteous law of a holy and righteous God
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: to the praise of His glory. That's who you are.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: That's what's in you. By the way, this is what
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: makes it so inappropriate for us to expect unbelievers to
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: act in righteousness. Finally, the role of the Spirit in
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: sanctification explains the doctrine of total depravity and the necessity
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: of the new birth. This doctrine explains the doctrine of
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: total depravity, and it explains the necessity of the new birth. Why?
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Back up with me, if you will. Look again in
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: verses 6 and 7. Go back to verse 5. For
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: those who live according to the flesh set their minds
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: on the things of the flesh. But those who live
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: according to the Spirit set their minds on the things
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: flesh is death, but to set the mind on the
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Spirit is life and peace. Now, again, to set the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: mind on the Spirit is not something that you can do.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: So you don't have access to that life and peace
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: by something you can do. You don't volunteer to go
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: from one realm to the other here. You are taken
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: from one realm to the other here. How do I
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: know that? Look at verse 7. For the mind that
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: is set on the flesh is hostile to God. The
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: It cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Now,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: we're going to get ahead of ourselves just a little bit.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: And we'll do more explanation of this passage later on.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: But remember what I said. This doctrine in understanding the
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Spirit's work in sanctification helps to explain the doctrine of
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: total depravity and the necessity of the new birth. Go
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: with me, if you will, down to verse 28. Or
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: verse 29. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to be conformed to the image of His Son, in
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Here's the argument, okay, that is made from the Semipalagian side,
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: from the Arminian side. Those whom he foreknew. That phrase
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: means that God looked down the corridor of time and
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: he saw the people who would choose him. And he
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: chose them because he foresaw that they were going to
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: choose him. Now, that comes just a few verses after.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: For the mind that is set on the flesh is
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: hostile to God. Yes, but there are some out there
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: who are not hostile to God and God sees them
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: before they... For it does not submit to the law
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: of God. Yeah, but God looked down and He saw
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: some people who would. Indeed, it cannot. Yeah, but God
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: was looking and He saw some... Those who are in
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: the flesh cannot please God. And yet the Arminian argues...
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: That election happened because God foresaw those who would please
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Him even though no one can. That dog won't hunt.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: The necessity of the new birth. Being born again is
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: not something that you work up toward. It is something
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: that the Spirit of God does. So, here's the Spirit
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: of God. You are dead in your trespasses and sins.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: He makes you alive together with Christ. When you're dead, well,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: He does that because you want it. No. Dead men
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: don't want anything. Well, He does that because you take
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: the first step. Dead men don't take steps. In order
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: for you to want it or to take steps, you
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: would have to please God. When you're in the flesh,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: you can't please God. So you have to be taken
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: out of the flesh before you can do anything to
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: please God. Therefore, the necessity of the doctrine of regeneration
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: before faith, not as a result of faith. Why is
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: all of this important? I believe that the Spirit of God...
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: awakened me in my sinful state when I was hostile
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: to God and He gave me a new heart and
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: gave me faith. I placed that faith in Christ and
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: turned from my sin. I was born again. He sealed
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: me until the day of redemption, baptized me into Christ,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: so that now I am in Christ and Christ is
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: in me. He indwells me, that same power that raised
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Christ from the dead. And yet there are some Christians
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: who come to the other end of the spectrum and say, Oh,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: I'm just not sure if I'm going to make it
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: all the way through. Why? Why? He jerked me by
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: the nap of my neck. Borned me again. When you're
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: a preacher, you get to make up words. He borned
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: me again. Shield me. Baptized me into Christ. Fills me.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Only to then... Leave it up to me? As to
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: whether or not it's seen through? No. Those whom He justified,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: He also glorified. He is going to conform you to
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: the image of Christ because that's what He does. He
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: is going to see you through because that's what He does. Well,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: what do I do?
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Believe it. Act like you believe it. Live like you
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: believe it. Live like you know this to be true.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Walk in holiness and righteousness because it has been prepared
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: for you. Trust Him to bring it to pass because
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: that's what He does. A couple of passages here to
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: look at. Look at John 3. We talk about this
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: new birth stuff. We could just read all of John.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Look at John 3. Look at those first eight verses
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: there in John 3. Now when there was a man
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: we know that you are a teacher come from God.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: For no one can do these signs that you do
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: I say to you, unless one is born again, he
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: cannot see. He didn't say he cannot enter. He cannot
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: can a man be born when he is old? Can
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: he enter a second time into his mother's womb and
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: be born? Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: and you hear the sound, but do not know where
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: it comes from or where it goes. So it is
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Go to
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: chapter 6. And look beginning at verse... 63. Let's go
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: to 60. When many of the disciples heard it, they said,
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: about this, said to them, do you take offense at this?
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Then what if you were to see the Son of
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Man ascending to where he was before? It is the
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: Spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: How about that? It is the Spirit who gives life.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: The flesh is no help at all. The words that
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: there are some of you who do not believe. The
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: flesh is no help at all. What are the implications
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: of this? There's several implications of this, but let me
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: just give you a couple as we look at Romans
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: chapter 8 and the doctrine of sanctification. We've talked about
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: some of the implications of our sanctification, how we view
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: our sanctification, and how we live in light of the
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Spirit's work in our sanctification. But there are a couple
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: of other peripheral areas where this is important. Area number one,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: In our evangelism. In our evangelism. Evangelism today has turned
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: into manipulation designed to get man to exercise his will.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: Because we believe that man can exercise his will toward God.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: This changes the way we view evangelism. We are not
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: about getting men to exercise their wills. We are utterly
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: dependent upon the Spirit of God. By the way, one
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: of the reasons that people are so afraid to evangelize
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: is because we really believe that effective evangelism is contingent
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: upon our ability to say the right words in the
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: right order and answer questions the right way so that
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: as a result of our words, we can bring a
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: person to new life. In other words, we believe that
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: we can do the Spirit's job. If you can't say amen,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: you ought to say ouch. And so we don't do evangelism.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: Some would argue, well, if you believe that God is
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: sovereign over people being saved, why would you do evangelism
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: at all? Because I believe that God is sovereign and
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: therefore my evangelism is guaranteed to be successful. No. Amen.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: In spite of me, it's guaranteed to be successful. So
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: what's the goal? The goal is not to be as
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: convincing as possible. No, we do need to be convincing.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: The goal is to be as clear as possible. I'm
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the power of God unto salvation. The gospel. And so
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: we share the gospel. There is another implication here. And
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: that is the implication of how we treat the unconverted
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: and what we expect of the unconverted. How many times
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: do we talk to people who say, well, yep, I'm
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: going to go to church, but I just got to
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: get my life right first. Really? Because if you could
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: do that, you wouldn't need the church. Amen. And yet,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: don't we do the same thing? We tell the alcoholic
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: to stop drinking. But we don't tell him the gospel,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: which is his only hope of ever overcoming that sin
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: in the truest sense. Because the alcoholic can stop drinking
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: and still, in his heart, be an alcoholic. Poor God.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: We tell the homosexual, stop being a homosexual. Stop being
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: a homosexual. But we don't tell him the gospel, which
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: is his only hope of ever being healed from that
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: sin and doing anything that pleases God. We want to
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: tell people around us to do the right thing, but
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: we leave off the other side of the equation, which
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: is why it's the right thing and why you can't
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: do the right thing apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: And chief among those sinners whom we do a disservice
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: and disregard is our children. Teaching our children that right
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: behaving is the be all to end all. And not
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: reminding them of the gospel. And what it is that
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: is in them that causes them to misbehave in the
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: first place. You didn't do this because you forgot what
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: mommy and daddy told you. You did this because you're
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: a sinner. And you want to do it. And you
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: need to be saved. Because Christ died for sin. And
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: he's your only hope. Amen. This is our only hope.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: And when we're evangelizing, we need to keep this in mind.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: Dealing with sinners over their sin, we need to keep
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: this in mind. We also need to keep this in
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: mind when we're dealing with believers who need to be counseled. Amen.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: There's an anger problem in your marriage. Well, you need
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: to go to anger management. No. See, that anger problem
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: is a sin problem. You don't manage a sin. You
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: obliterate it with the gospel. Amen. That's the answer. It's
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: the gospel. We're having problems with ABC or XYZ, whatever
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: it is. What counsel do we give? And what's the
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: foundation upon which we base our counsel? Our approach to
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: counseling people has everything to do with what we understand
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: about sanctification. Because here's an area of life that needs
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: to be brought into conformity with Christ. How do we
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: get from here to there? Is it the gospel and
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: the power of the Spirit that sanctifies? Or is it
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: some other tool or ideology that gets to behavioral modification?
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: The answer for most of Christianity in our culture is
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: the latter and not the former. And all of this
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: hinges on our understanding of the role of the Spirit
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: in the sanctification of the believer. Doctrine matters. Not just
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: so that we can say we know doctrine, but because
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: our doctrine dictates the way we live. Or in other words,
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: our orthodoxy gives rise to our orthopraxy. And in very
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: few places is that clearer than in our understanding of sanctification.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: This is absolutely critical. And again, there are others who
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: try to work towards sanctification without coming to God in
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: repentance and faithfulness. You can't get there from here because
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: you're in the flesh and you cannot please God. What
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: is your only hope? Christ is your only hope. Turn
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: from your sin and turn to Christ. Embrace Him, the
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: death that He died. Embrace Him and the price that
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: He paid. Embrace Him and the resurrection that He experienced.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: Embrace Him. who is now seated at the right hand
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: of the Father, forever making intercession for those who are His.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Embrace Him as your only hope and stop trying to
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: be sanctified without first being justified. Trust Christ and Him alone.