Declared Right but Made New
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Contemporary Christian artist Jason Gray sings a powerful for living the Christian life, appropriate for these times: in the loneliness places when I can’t remember what grace is. What is God’s grace to you? Such a vitally important question - not a substance, not a insurance policy to keep you out of hell. Grace is a relationship word - its what Jesus Christ we’ve seen through John, came bring wave after wave of God grace to us the center of our confession, is God’s gracious acts in Jesus, and then now what those actions of the Christ in history do in our lives - the Holy Spirit applying the graces and salvation of Jesus to us. Remember after describing the work of Christ, hones in on the central effect of Christ’s work the foundation on which God’s work and the whole church of Jesus Christ stands or falls, doctrine of justification. As that gets applied to our lives the Confession says - twofold blessedness - remember God says to you two words on the basis of Christ work in your place: Forgiven & Accepted. Not guilty, and definitively and totally righteous. So in that song, Jason Gray pleads remind me in these lonely times, remind me when I forget - not just who I am, but who I am to you, living God. The gospel is God delivering on all these promises of who we can be to God, what new relationship we can with Him. For eternity and for right now in your daily life, God makes a space for you to live in His presence, without condemnation and in total love and delight! And we saw when one has complete forgiveness and one has total acceptance by God as completely righteousness in Christ - changes everything. Faith is simply a gift by which the Holy Spirit enables us to embrace the Living Christ! Empty hands to receive this new relationship - this union with God through Christ.
But at the time of the rediscovery of the gospel with justification at its center, that we aren’t made righteous as a process in which Christ may infuse us with some of his grace and then we do works and have some faith - and then God looks at ours and says getting, better might be accepted in the end, at the time the gospel was rediscovered in the Protestant Reformation - the RC church in reaction - said if you tell people you just have to have faith, they will have no incentive to live holy lives, they’ll be the frozen chosen, they will claim forgiveness and live by the sin of presumption! They basically said that our idea of justification is just a legal fiction! IE CS Lewis - married Joy first as legal fiction - paper work, status, but no reality to it . Ever feel like that your salvation just an idea, just a theory, just some facts in history - but hasn’t actually changed you?
So our Confession , our witness to our neighbours says, no our idea of salvation isn’t a psychological trick, nor is it focused on us doing things right to earn God’s grace. Our salvation receives Christ, and that gift of faith that begins with a once for all justification - also brings with it a twin benefit of sanctification .
A) What is Sanctification?
A) What is Sanctification?
These are two halves of salvation we must live in. But unlike the justification through his atoning work, applied as we embrace Christ and are found in him, which is once for all declaration and with continuing effect. Our sanctification, is not once for all - but is a an ongoing process. It is the dynamic by which God changes you as you walk in step with His Spirit. Our understanding of salvation is that God’s grace and Christ applied by the Holy Spirit - working faith in us, bringing us into new relationship with God in Christ, not only guarantees that we are declared right and just in Christ, but we are actually and progressively made new in Him.
Imagine for a moment that our lives were run by IBM computers - the old DOS operating system. But let’s say some devious hacker - implant fatal virus - and your whole life you are living by this program, work gets messed up by, family life, friendship, everything slightly off and getting worse and slowing down. You and your friends and family modify the software a little to try to make it work better, but really have no idea what life without the virus and all its effect is like. And then wham-o one day - someone comes not only with a disk - that will deflate that virus, and not only that all those little work-arounds, don’t need those little rules, the disk restores you to a perfect - even better updated operating system that - has worked out every application. That’s the life of Christ salvation receives Christ the twin benefits of salvation - declared justified with new status and identity in Christ, and then through the same faith and by the same grace the Spirit renovates us from within.
truth faith, produced in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates him and makes him a “new man”, causing him to live the “new life” and freeing him from the slavery of sin. Belgic Confession Art 24a
That’s being born into a new life is the picture the OT prophesied and the NT explained. IN our text did you see what Ezekiel 36:25-27 proclaimed:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Not only forgiveness and acceptance, but God’s very Spirit put in us - why? so though we are totally accepted, we would begin more and more to live by the New Program, do you see that not according to the old program, not run by our desires gone awry, not even given the Spirit to live by feelings and experiences of the Holy Spirit directly new revelations - but look regenerate born-again into new life - to start a new walk according to God’s Law. That’s what the Torah was in the OT not a dry list of rules, to get self-righteousness - but living way of the LORD - to reflect image of God, by grace out of thankfulness - Confession is so clear
faith working through love, which leads a man to do by himself the works that God has commanded in his Word.” Belgic Confession Article 24c
And this is what our NT explains. The truth, as it is in Jesus is this: Eph 4:22-24
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Receiving Christ through faith and all His benefits includes this regeneration this birth into a new life, this renewal within the program of your self . In fact until Arminius arose three generations later to say that regeneration, born-again is caused by the merit of your faith and good works, your response to Jesus gospel and previenient grace, until then regeneration used in this broad sense, that when gift of grace given - your regeneration is ongoing work of the Holy Spirit giving you new life and killing indwelling sin. There’s no idea of this being perfectly done, or of it being the grounds by which God makes us right, Its’ the fruit of being brought into union with Christ, not the root of us getting in Christ. Get that straight our sanctification is the natural and inevitable fruit of really be ing made one with Christ, and it is God’s sovereign work which you get to progressively participate in, and justification is the root that God gives freely and sovereignly - once for all prior to anything we do with God and this new life working itself out in our lives.
So what is sanctification? Is helpful:
Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. WSC QA 35
We could look at it like Paul does in Romans 12:1. Christ has made us right positionally with God, won all those blessings, we don’t have work or have strong enough faith to win God’s grace and favour, but now in response to His great grace, by the power of the Spirit - God wants our lives to be now not just declared forgiven and accepted, but in real-time, right now in this life to be made right! And our response empowered with the new life of Christ given by the Spirit within that’s not the atoning sacrifice but it is in a sense one living offering, offered back a whole life thankful and dedicated to our Lord.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
In justification God imputes Christ righteousness to your account, to your identity. But listen in sanctification the Holy Spirit infuses grace within you, and enables you to exercise that inner grace - not to forgive sin, but listen carefully to subdue sin! In justification you are free from the revenging wrath of God against sin once for all and completely from all condemnation. But in sanctification we are free from the presence or power of sin, completely or perfectly, but we need to be growing up to perfection. WLC
B. How Does Sanctification Work in the Believers Life?
B. How Does Sanctification Work in the Believers Life?
While its clear that sanctification is the twin grace the Spirit works in us along side justification, let’s be very clear that it works differently than that once for all justification in our lives. There is so much resting in justification, so much foundational, identity confidence in it. But in the sanctifying work of Spirit within us, though there is such joy and thankfulness. There is also, don’t you sense it all over Ephesians 4, all over Romans 7 - there is so much struggle in it. How does sanctification work? It involves ongoing, never completely arriving in this life, dying to to the old self. And the longer you are Christ in the more aware you are of this, the more as our catechism puts it realize how small our steps to righteousness are even if making better and better progress.
So important to be reminded that half of sanctification is dying to sin, mortifying it, putting it to death. Live by Owen’s principle - Get killing sin in your life, or it will get killing you. You and I are meant to be humbled and to live in such dependence as we realize the Christian life is full of indwelling sin that needs to be battled in Christ. We need to recognize that though justified and secure in our identity and status and relationship with the Lord, our fellowship with God requires ongoing repentance - to live indifferent to God’s Law His will - is what Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
If you feel that grief you cause the Spirit when live out of character out of Christ, won’t feel no longer sealed for the day of redemption, but really feel lack of fellowship, disciples and ashamed of not living out the great gift. Why live as if enslaved if freed and can cooperate with the Spirit to get rid of the glitches in the system.
But eh second half of sanctification is the coning to life of the new. It’s to do good works. Remember Eph by grace through faith, gift not by works, but Eph 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
You are to make your life a sacrifice that puts off - all these practices the glitches of the old program, and at the same time - if just put of more devils fill if don’t put on - And Eph 4 is so helpful for how this putting on goes.
It’s not that you just try harder in your own steam, to tape good works on your life - produced by own effort and according own idea of what’s good thing, and which ones you’ll do, and you do them because you have to to get God’s acceptance, even pay him back for His gift of Christ, and your response of your good works - puts God in debt to you - so he has to reward your efforts -
Do you understand that’s how unbeliever, unconverted, unjustified person does good works. Works don’t flow from a heart with God working from within, working only by love and thankfulness, and in accordance with God’s Spirit and word working in tandem harmony. No how does an unconverted heart do good works, and why?
Eph 4:18
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
And that heart, will try to do good, not out of love for God, but only for themselves and fear of being condemned. Just a legal obedience, and one in which callous selfishness will taint everything and sinful desires runs all through.
It’s not that unbeliever can’t do a relatively good work, but the place of that good work in their lives and the motive is such that it - our best righteousness like filthy rags before the Lord. Isaiah 61
But look how and why a justified believer does good works of sanctification - these aren’t legal good works, and even recognize even the best still tainted with sin. But already accepted and forgiven, the believer does good, grows in sanctification - not for self-love and to escape condemnation; but this is the heart of Reformational understanding of sanctification it is Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
That faith and union in Christ, that justifying Faith gives us status and new identity and all the gifts of Christ, that faith which has none of earning about it, though it is apart from works from justification, that faith is never without works. It’s not a barren faith, But one that - out of thankfulness and love to God - not fear and performance and reward, - enables us to do works of the Spirit , commanded in His Word, and planned in specificity of the opportunities of our life - And that like a root just bringing forth rest of the tree and the fruit that comes from it.
And so look at the greatest verse about how this happens: Philippians 2:13
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Gospel good works, evangelical obedience, Spirit empowered sanctification can have no part of earning or meriting grace and your from God. We don’t do this perfectly yet, growing and more earnest than if just trying to avoid punishment, we are doing this cooperating with living God who is at work in us - thankful ness and love - walking instep - no I don’t have to do this work (in order to merit salvation), I want to . And though not prefect, it’s covered cleansed and sanctified by the same Saviour who forgave my sins, he counts my thank offering acceptable and pried!>
And that brings us to the concluding point does living in a pious and holy way, do good works matter to you, to God?
C) Why? God’s Goal in Sanctification & Reward of Good Works
C) Why? God’s Goal in Sanctification & Reward of Good Works
Last week I mentioned the warmth and personal character of our Heidelberg Catechism so focus on our comfort. I also mentioned that the Belgic in spelling out salvation at its very heart - asks about the blessings that the the Holy Spirit applies from that atoning work. This week I want to also mention the distressing character of both confessions.
When it comes to good works - you may at first congratulate yourself, and rest in your record and performance, but as you consider what a truly good work is - not just the act “civil/relative good” but the motivation and the method of doing it. It is positively distressing. Listen to the catechism
Heidelberg 91 What do we do that is good? Only that which arises out of true faith, conforms to God’s law, and is done for his glory; and not that which is based on what we think is right or on established human tradition.
Doesn’t that make you tremble - good works gospel empowered, Holy Spirit, God’s Word directed good works - aren’t what RC or Arminians think they are.
They aren’t just good things done on our own steam that can merit God’s reward. We don’t ultimately live by karma. If so we’d be toast.
But where then do good works come from? Only truly good work that will be reward by God, even though not completely perfect, you know where that comes from - from that space that God created you to live in, in Christ. Justified through faith, that same faith enables you to live by faith, the just will live by faith. Those justified aren’t going to live by self-love or by fear, they don’t do good to rem-make their relationship with God, God in Christ remakes us within by love, and by His Spirit we now live out the right way to be and act in the world. You at the core are loved by God in Christ, and then you love Him back faith working through live
So those Works count to God, works have to do with how He has restored us to the original program. Do you see it justification wasn’t the end goal, but is really the means by which God moves towards us to brings us to the goal. God creates this world and is towards His creation. The Son in mercy and grace pulls us back in grace, and now we see if the Spirit takes the lead in remaking us in Christ image - so we have this new ability to do good. As one commentator put it everything turns on justification Christ won, but its not all about justification. its not like God justifies us and then he’s done, just sitting back until heaven Christ's return. No now our God is just as much at work and towards Christ from heaven by the power of His Holy Spirit dwelling within in you, not just to save you but to fulfill God’s will in our lives and on the earth.
Romans 8:29-30
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
That’s the heart beat of a believers life - to be conformed to the image of His Son, that ‘s the purpose for which we were called, regenerated, justified - that little by little sanctified, we’d be glorified in Christ. the ethos of our living the TORAH - instruction from God on how to live - NT too ethics fulfilled in Christ = as justified through faith, Spirit also engages us in God’s work - share in his purpose for humanity commanded… Regenerated by the Spirit with new ability to truly do it from the heart… This article tells us what Jesus about in the history of our world since His work accomplished and what by the Holy Spirit he is doing in your life and mine and in His church in the world. He is justifying sinners, regenerating them, sanctifying them.
Last week I hope you graduated from just thinking that justification is only just-as-if I never sinned, its that total forgiveness and the new acceptance - Christ obedience and record, His acceptance as totally righteous declared and imputed to you. This week I hope you also graduate from thinking that it is God’s work to justify us, and then it is our work to sanctify ourselves. No both are by grace alone, through faith,. Justification deals with the guilt of sin, and your legal standing with Almighty God. But sanctification deals with the pollution of sin and its ongoing effects in your life. Its a gradual progressive work of the Holy Spirit with your conscious effort
Summary: These double benefits of Christ form the essence of our salvation. For when God the Father justified us and dealt with the guilt of our sin, the Holy Spirit also began to deal with the pollution of sin so that we would be declared righteous in principle and begin to be made righteous in practice. While justification and sanctification are two distinct benefits won for us by Christ, they are inseparable benefits. The same faith that justified us also begins to sanctify us. The faith that embraced Christ’s obedience for our justification also begins to enliven us to sanctification according to the commands of God in his Word. Something wrong if your just a justification man. Something wrong if we i. continue to live pagan life; or ii. don’t struggle at all with sin, plagued with nagging doubts, or raise q of how to put what believed into practice = Romans 7:14-25 normal struggle and battle . The struggle isn’t the problem its a sign of life. The real problem is apathy to the things of God and indifference to our personal sin, that’s the big sign of trouble!
DEF: that life-long process through which the old habit of sin (what we call “indwelling sin”) is progressively weakened and the new nature (given us by virtue of regeneration) is progressively strengthened. The fruit of the flesh (as depicted by Paul in Galatians 5:19-21) gradually begin to diminish, while the fruit of the Spirit (v. 22-23) spontaneously begin to appear in our lives. = since by faith we are united to Christ and indwelt by the blessed HOly Spirit -sanct. a natural consequence of once and for all declaration that we are justified!
Luther:
“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”