Growing In Christ #1

Faith Church October 27, 1991

- we're talking about Basic Bible truths and today we're
moving into the second major area we want to study
together, and that's the subject of "Growing In Christ."
- after a person is sure of his or her salvation - the next
thing that must be understood and practiced is how to
change and grow

- when we talk about growing in Christ - we're talking about
the doctrine of sanctification
- in this study, we're going to be using that term
interchangeably with the word "growing", but I want to say
right off the bat that sanctification is a biblical idea
that:
- can be understood by everyone here
- must be understood by everyone here

- remember - we can get pretty lazy with our minds if we
don't work at disciplining our thinking - and it's going to
be important that we work hard at understanding and
applying what the Word of God says in this area

- let's start with:

I. Understanding Sanctification

A. Definition

- original words literally mean "to separate, set
apart"
- our English word "sanctify" came from two Latin
words (sanctus - holy / facere - to make)

- the word is used in the Bible in many ways (all
emphasizing the idea of being set apart)

- i.e. - Gen. 38:21 - INPUT - what English word in
this verse do you think comes the original Word
usually translated "sanctify"?
- "harlot" - WHY? - someone "set apart" to a
specific purpose

- cf. also Jer. 6:4 - INPUT - what English word there
do you think comes from the original word
translated "sanctify?"
- "prepare" - again, the idea of set apart for
a specific purpose

- many passages in the Word of God show how God wants
us to be "made holy", set apart from sin so that
we are better prepared to accomplish His purposes

- I Thess. 4:3

- I Peter 1:16

B. Four "aspects" of sanctification

- I don't want to spend a lot of time on these next
two points - but there are a couple of things we
need to say about this subject to avoid confusion
as we move ahead in our study

- one is - sanctification is a "big subject", and as
a result, as we study the word in the Bible, we
find that the Lord talks about sanctification in
four ways

1. preparatory

I Peter 1:2

- the work of God where he sets us apart for
salvation

2. positional

I Cor. 6:11

- the work of God where he sets us apart at
salvation

3. progressive

- the ongoing work of God where He commands and
enables us to change and grow to become more
like Jesus Christ

4. prospective

- I John 3:2

- in this study, we are going to be talking primarily
about the third aspect - progressive sanctification
- how a believer changes and grows.
(develop - one of the most neglected doctrines
in the church)

- one more thing we need to do with our definition of
sanctification (or growing) is to differentiate it from
other important terms in the Bible.
- there's two reasons why:

1) some of the things that happen in a believer's
life are entirely the work of God. It's imperative
to understand "which are which" so that:
- we're not trying to do something we have no
business doing or:
- we're not failing to do something that God
expects us to be doing.

2) some of the things that happen in a believer's
life are instantaneous, some are ongoing, and some
won't happen in the future.
- it can be very frustrating for a believer if
he/she gets these parts of the salvation
process confused

C. Chart (from More Than Redemption)

Doctrine Act Process God alone God enables
does it man to do it
_______________________________________________________

Regeneration x x

Conversion x x

Justification x x

Sanctification x x

Glorification x x

INPUT - what is unique about sanctification and what
are the implications of this?

II. Why Sanctification Is Important

GROWING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS