What we Teach and What we Believe about Salvation - Sanctification

I want you to turn to two places in your scripture. Psalm chapter one, that's easy for you to find. Psalm chapter one, we'll turn to Psalm chapter one a little later first, and then Hebrews chapter five. These are some verses I do wanna put our eyes on. I'm going to refer to a pile of other scripture, and as always write those down. If you need those a little later, I can help you 'cause I want us to get all that we can get. I know I say that, I'm a broken record when it comes to that. I just want us to be good students and try to get all that we can get.

Now we're moving along, and like I said earlier, we're in the fourth section, the way of salvation. This is a part of our church confession, and I have said this over and over and over. This is our umbrella. We're dealing with God's plan for the salvation of man, the way of salvation, and I have said this before. There are other theological works that will look at some other parts of God's plan for the salvation of man, but we're going to be dealing with six portions of that.

We've dealt with grace and regeneration, repentance and faith, those two go together, and then we dealt with justification last week, and tonight we're gonna deal with sanctification, and next week I believe we're gonna take perseverance and glorification and tie those together, and we'll finish up with that section. Now I said it already, but last week we covered justification, or the question which must be asked, how can a man be justified? Another way to say that is, how can a person be right with God? Remember that justification is dealing with that basic universal, those two words are key.

Basic universal question, and all religions seek to answer the question, how can a person be made right with God or their God's little gee? And some are gods because some world religions worship multiple gods. It's the same old story. The Eastern religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, Judaism and Islam, Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses, the list just goes on and on and on. They have their own way where they're trying to answer that question, how can a person be made right with God? But the only religion that can answer that question correctly is biblical Christianity. I think we all know that.

And biblical Christianity says that a man is justified by grace alone through faith alone and in Christ alone. By grace alone and through faith alone and in Christ alone. If you have those three terms, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, then you have justification. You might pause and say, well, why did you give us all that last week? If that's all we need to know. There is a lot more to it. But if you have that, I'm telling you, you've got the heart of justification. Now, remember that I said some of what we're studying in God's plan for salvation, our umbrella. Remember I said that some of it is experiential while some of it is not.

I gave the illustration of going to Disney World. That's experiential. We experience all kinds of things, all right? Some of this is experiential and some of it is not. Let me run back through the list. Regeneration, experiencing God's grace, being born of God, born of the spirit of God, that is experiential. Some person, some man, some woman, some young person might not even know how to express it, but they can just say, well, God saved me. They experienced that. Repentance and faith. We turn from our sin and we turn to Christ. We express faith in Christ. That's experiential, but justification is not, remember? It is not.

It is not experiential. It is all sanctification. Sanctification is very experiential, very experiential. And it's good for us to see these things because it does help us in our understanding. Now, a question that'll help you. This'll help us get going in the right direction. What is the difference between justification and sanctification? What is the difference between justification and sanctification? I ran across a list of contrasts. It'll help us from some Wayne Grudem information. And I think this will help us get started in the right direction. Let me show you the contrast. In justification, it is a legal standing.

It is God who does that legal. He performs that legal transaction. Remember, our sin is imputed to Christ on the cross and his righteousness is imputed to us. It is a legal declaration transaction that is a legal standing. Well, sanctification is an internal condition. Well, in justification, it's a once for all point in time. It's a once for all act. It's a work of God. It happens one time. When we're converted to Christ, we are justified. Well, in sanctification, it's a continuous work throughout all of the life. Sometimes we're doing pretty good at it and sometimes we're not. In justification, it's entirely a work of God. God does that.

God does that. But with sanctification, we are cooperating with God in this work. I'm gonna speak more about that word cooperate. In justification, it is perfect in this life. In other words, when we come to faith in Christ, we are perfectly justified. We are perfectly justified. There's no middle ground there. There's no, I think I might be. No, you're either in Christ, under the righteousness of Christ or you're not. Well, in sanctification, it's not perfect in this life. We're gonna talk about that. Justification is the same for all Christians.

Listen, when someone comes to faith in Christ, no matter who they are, rich or poor, how much knowledge they have of the Bible, it's the same for all Christians. But yet with sanctification, some people move along in sanctification more than others. I think that list of contrasts has helped you and maybe it helped you like it helped me. Now, so we have this umbrella of the way of salvation and now we're moving to sanctification. Now, I wanna give us a definition and a couple of short definitions and then I want us to look at our paragraph. I like definitions. I really do, it helps me.

And again, some of this came from Wayne Grudem and his work and this is his definition. Sanctification, sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our lives. Let me say that again, it's real simple. Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. I ran across some shorter definitions and some material I was reading the last couple of days. These are simpler. Sanctification is growth in likeness to Christ, that's accurate. Sanctification is the process or result of being made holy.

All of those are accurate. Now let's look at the paragraph in our confession. It would be sanctification under the way of salvation. Notice what it reads. We believe that sanctification is the process by which God sets believers apart for his own purposes and makes them to be partakers of his own holiness, that sanctification is a progressive work and that it begins in regeneration, that it is carried out in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit uses the ordinary means designated by the Father, primarily the word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, that would be watchfulness over the life, prayer, and that sanctification will continue until the believers' final glorification.

Well, with all of that said, let's dig a little deeper here and let's see if we can't get a broader and a deeper understanding of sanctification and what all of this means to us. Now I wanna start by explaining two very big, very basic truths about sanctification. These are vital, these are the biggest, these are the most basic, these are two truths that if we miss, we're in trouble from the beginning. Number one, God does the work of sanctification. God does the work of sanctification. Now remember where and when it starts. Remember where and when it starts.

When one is regenerated of God, when they trust in Christ, when they cry out in genuine salvation and they're born from the Spirit of God, that's when it starts. We learned in Titus three, verse five, when we dealt with regeneration, that we are spiritually washed by the Spirit, we're cleansed in regeneration and we're renewed by the Holy Spirit. All of this is a work of God and that begins this work of sanctification. But we must see who does the work, God. Now I'm gonna give you some scriptures here. This is where you might need to write these down. I will read them and I really want you to hear what we're looking at.

The first scripture, 1 Thessalonians 5.23. 1 Thessalonians 5.23. 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. Now earlier in the Thessalonian letter, earlier in his writing here, he's given the church a long list of teaching that really started in chapter four. And here Paul is giving a conclusion. One scholar I read called it a benediction of that teaching and he is showing them how they can obey the commands, the teaching, the edification, and that is in and through God, you see? They do not have it within them to obey.

They don't have it within them. It is because Paul knows that man does not have the ability to be sanctified in all that he is teaching them, you see? The second verse, it's a rather lengthy verse. I'm not gonna read it all. I'm gonna read a part of it. Hebrews 12 verses five to 11. I'm gonna read down to verse seven. You can read those on your own. Hebrews 12, five to 11. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord or be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the ones that he loves and he chastises every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? And verse eight, if you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not his sons. Here we see that God disciplines true believers. And the imagery here is of a father discipling his son. You see that language? And that is what God does in sanctification. That's what he does. He disciplines his children, his sons and his daughters. A discipline is a part of sanctification, you see? And then the third scripture, Philippians two, verse 13.

Philippians two, verse 13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Here Paul is telling the Philippian Christians that it is God who produces good works in them. And this is worked out through the indwelling work of the spirit of God in them. There's a little phrase I like by John MacArthur here. He says, and I'm quoting, God energizes both the believers desires and his actions. See that? That's so good. God energizes both the believers desires and actions. And this is not a mere move of the emotions. This isn't a flash of emotions here.

The word will in the verse, it speaks to a purposeful intent to do God's will and to do God's purposes. Now notice just with those few verses, and there's a lot more that we could dig into with those verses. Just with those few passages, we see that God, it is God that works in the believer in their sanctification. And there are many, many more verses that speak to the work. First Peter one, verse two, I ran across that one in my study. It speaks of the sanctification of the spirit in the believer. Galatians 5, 22 speaks of the fruit of the spirit. We know that.

You could say it like this, the work of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit, the work of the spirit. And again, there are many, many more. So number one, God does the work of sanctification. It's God. Number two, man has a responsibility in sanctification. Man, he has a responsibility in sanctification. Now again, remember where and when this starts. When one is regenerated of God, their nature has changed. We've learned this. First Corinthians 5, 17 says that one comes to faith in Christ, they are a new creation in Christ, they have a new nature. And after that initial work begins, another work begins, and that's the work of sanctification.

But we must see who does the work. Man, man does the work. Now in examining man's responsibility here, we need to see that there are two sides to the work. There are two sides to the work. There is a passive side. You can write that word down. There's a passive side to the work, and then there's an active side to the work. First, the passive. Now in passive sanctification, we need to see that here is where we depend on God. Here is where we trust in God, and we pray to God and we see God that he may sanctify us. A few scriptures here.

Romans 12, one, I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as living sacrifices. We see this also in Romans 6, 13, do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, see conversion. And your members to God as instruments for righteousness, see in those passages just putting yourself before God. Then on down in Romans 6, verse 19, I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations.

For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members, your bodies as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. You see this presenting ourselves to God? Now this is where we need to say timeout, I need to give you a warning. Oh, this is real popular today. This is where some get off the rails. This is where some can go too far. When you hear people say like this, this is where they've gone too far. Well, I just let go and I let God do it. I just let go and let God do it. Or something like this, I just surrender and just God does it all.

Listen, that is a perverted view of sanctification and passive sanctification. Listen, that is a perverted view and they will almost always be casual and dealing with sin. People like this will almost always have sin in their lives and they'll chalk it up to liberty, stuff like that. So we're careful here, but let's look at the other side. Second is the active sanctification. Now an active sanctification, we need to see that here is where we are to work and to work and we're to work even more. Here's where it is up to us. Yes, we need God. Yes, we need the work of the spirit, but we have a responsibility.

Probably the best passage here is Philippians. I read a part of it earlier, Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Notice the verse. 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 in fear and trembling. See the work? Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And then the verse that we read earlier, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Here Paul is telling these Philippian Christians that they had a job to do, they had work to do.

This word work out, it means to continuously work on something, to continuously work at something, to bring it to completion. This does not speak to working to gain salvation, no. But this speaks of a believer's responsibility to purposefully, actively work hard in the process of sanctification. And notice the attitude there with great fear and trembling. This speaks to a solemn reverence, a healthy fear of God. And there are other passages which communicate the same responsibility. I ran across a list of whole sections. It would take too much time to read all of this.

There are whole sections of scripture, Romans 12, verse one, all the way to chapter 13, verse 14. That whole section deals with a man's responsibility. Ephesians 4, 17, all the way to chapter six, verse 20. Again, that section deals with a man's responsibility. Philippians 4, four to nine, Colossians 3, five, to chapter four, verse six. First Peter two, 11, all the way to chapter five, verse 11. Big chunks of scripture that speak to the fact that man has a responsibility. Again, I ran across some information by Grudem that really spoke to me. And I wanna go through this and see if this doesn't echo in your heart like it did in mine.

And I'm quoting here. And I'm gonna pause in this quotation and just kind of flesh it out more. Wayne Grudem says this, "We are continuously to build up patterns and habits of holiness." I like that. "We are to continually to build up patterns and habits of holiness." Do we sometimes, can we have patterns and habits of unholyness? And he goes on to say, "For one measure of maturity is that mature Christians," and he's quoting Hebrews, "have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5.14. I'm gonna go back through it again.

"We are to continuously, we are to continuously to build up patterns and habits for holiness. For one measure of maturity is that mature Christians have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil." See the work there? Now, in summary, notice what we have. Just with a few verses, I haven't covered them thoroughly. We see that we have a responsibility to work towards our own sanctification.

We read the Bible, we meditate on scripture, we pray, we exercise self-control, we work on our self-discipline, we enjoy Christian fellowship with believers, we sit under the teaching of God's Word and the life of the local church and more. And this is all working hard on our personal sanctification. Now, right here is where we run into our paradox. You see? Right here is where we come to these seeming contradictions. Remember that a paradox is a seeming contradiction and we know that we can't explain one side at the expense of the other. So we teach what the scriptures say and we stop.

Now, last time I used this illustration, I took some heat from a man in this room. Remember, I never was a big Beatles fan, but remember the Beatles sang a song, "Let It Be." It was famous. And what do we do? We teach what the scriptures say and we can't reconcile these and we just let it be. We let it be as it is, you see? So who is sanctification? Who is it up to? God or man? Yes. Yes. Now, I wanna introduce you to a word that makes some nervous. I used it earlier. That word cooperation, we see that we cooperate with God in our sanctification. It is fair to use this word, but we do have to be careful. Yes, we do cooperate in the work.

Remember Philippians, that verse, I'm gonna go back, Philippians 2, 12 to 13. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, "there's responsibility. "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." See, you work, God works. Both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Man does cooperate in his sanctification, but man does not have an equal role with God, never. We are the created, we are subject to the creator.

He is Lord, and he is always Lord in our relationship and in our work and in our cooperation in this work of sanctification. Our will and our work will never trump his will and his work and his purposes in our life. So it's okay to use the word cooperation. We just have to be careful when we do. Now here, I wanna make a shift, okay? Those were two serious, basic truths in dealing with sanctification. God works and we work. I think you got that. But in the scriptures, God gives us two pictures of sanctification and this will help.

This is practical and I want us to look at these pictures and then I'm gonna ask us some questions and application. Now, we like pictures, we like examples and I think some of this teaching will help you. So the first picture, sanctification is pictured as a tree bearing fruit. This is where we go to Psalm, Psalms chapter one. Sanctification is pictured here as a tree that is bearing fruit. I'm gonna read this in my New American 'cause I studied it so many years in my New American. Now listen to the verses.

"Now blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, nor stand in the path of the sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law or word, he meditates day and night. He will be," here's the picture. "He will be like a tree firmly planted or rooted by streams of living water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers." Here we see a person who exercises discipline, they exercise self-control, they do not walk with sinners, they turn from sin, they turn from sinful people, they turn from the sinfulness of the world.

I think you can see that. But conversely, notice, they read God's word, they study God's word, they meditate on God's word, they do this day and night. You see? And verse three says that they are like a strong tree, bearing fruit full of leaves, and they are prosperous. So the one who is growing in their sanctification, they are alive spiritually, they are growing spiritually, they are healthy spiritually, they are producing fruit, they are prosperous. This is all a spiritual work in their life. I'll give you an example. This is the time of year we get out in our yard, isn't that right?

I tried to cut some of my grass yesterday, it was just so wet, I got stuck twice. Maggie had to help me get the lawnmower out once in my neighbor, and his son had to help me get it out the second time. You know, we all have projects in our yard. Well, I have a couple. I have a dead tree in my yard. It is dead. It is deader than dead. But it's way off to the side. It's falling down now. It's okay, it'll just fall. I'll deal with it when it falls. It's in the bushes, no big deal. But I have a half dead tree right in my front yard. That massive oak tree. Got leaves on the bottom limbs, but not the top.

You know, I don't believe in signs, but not only did I notice that the top seemed dead, it was a buzzard in the top of it yesterday. But you know, in my backyard, I was noticing today, I've got some very healthy trees, all right? But what do we see here? This is pictured here. This picture in Psalm 1. Listen, the one who is working hard in their sanctification, what do we see here? They are spiritually alive. They are spiritually growing. They are spiritually healthy. They are producing fruit, and they are spiritually prosperous. They can be going through the most difficult trials in life. They can lose their job.

They can sell everything they have to have. See, not prosperous physically, but this is spiritual, a spiritual prosperous. Second, sanctification is pictured as a growing body. Here's where I want us to go to the book of Hebrews. Sanctification is pictured as a growing body. Hebrews 5, 11 to 14. Concerning Him, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. Sounds familiar? We can be like that. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have need for milk and not solid food.

For everyone who protects only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness for He is a babe. Verse 14, "But solid food is for the mature." Who? Because of practice. Their sanctification, folks. "Have their senses trained to discern good and evil." Here we really see two different Christians. The immature Christian and the mature Christian. The immature can only take spiritual milk, not solid spiritual teaching, not solid spiritual food, but not the mature. The mature can take solid spiritual food. And in this teaching, the writer of Hebrews is rebuking. Those Christians who have not walked in obedience, you see?

And because they have not worked hard in their own sanctification, they are described as babies. They are infantile. They are unable to understand the deep things of God and much less teach. Have you ever seen those stories of maybe children who were in orphanages, who didn't get proper nutrition? We don't see that in our country maybe like we used to, and we don't see that like we see in other countries. There are times I have gone out of the country and you can see that. But you think about it. When a child is growing, they have to have the proper nutrition and the proper food.

And if they don't get the food and the nutrition that they need, it stunts their growth. And it would be a horrible thing to have a 12 year old little boy up here. And really he has the physical stature of a six year old. But that's what was happening here, you see? I think those pictures are easy for you to see. Sanctification is pictured as a tree bearing fruit. And sanctification is pictured as a growing body. Now with those two pictures in mind, now we are supposed to be strong trees, spiritually bearing fruit, us. We are supposed to be growing and maturing in the body, spiritually. I wanna ask you some questions.

I wanna ask you if there are any obstacles in your sanctification. I want us to evaluate, I want us to be honest, and I want you to be personal with yourself. Five things, five questions. Do you think too highly of yourself? Are you arrogant? Do you think too highly of yourself? And you do not pursue holiness like you should? Romans 12 verse three speaks to that. There are some, they just are a little too puffed up, they're a little too arrogant, and they don't have to work hard. For some reason, they just think they'll get it.

Second question, do you take your salvation for granted and assume that since you were saved, that striving for holy living is just optional? Well, you know, I'm saved, everything's fine. Romans six verses one to two speaks to that. There are people that can fall into that air. They can say, hey, I'm born again, that's all that matters, I'm gonna make it to heaven. And then there's some, they're too arrogant to work hard. And then third, do you have a wrong view of the Christian life? Therefore, you ignore the lordship of Christ over your life. First Peter three, verse 15. He is Lord over our life.

He commands us and expects us to work hard in our sanctification. And so if you have a wrong view of the lordship of Christ in your life, you can just think, I can live however I want. Then fourth, do you like the energy, the zeal, the desire to make personal holiness a top priority in your life? First Corinthians, or excuse me, Second Corinthians seven one. We see that in lots of these church situations. So there are sometimes people they have, they lack the zeal, the energy, desire to work hard in their personal holiness. Maybe they have trial in their life and they just give up.

And the fifth question, do you try to live a holy life in the flesh because you're not truly converted? Spurgeon said it's a fearful thing. I'm quoting loosely. Spurgeon said it's a fearful thing, how far a man can go in religion and still not be converted. Some of the most frustrated people are those who try to live for God in the flesh and they're not converted and they're doing all of this stuff in the flesh. Usually they're mean, a lot of times they're frustrated. It doesn't work. Matthew 13 verses five to seven. Now notice, any one of those five will hinder the work of sanctification in your life.

Any one of the five will be an obstacle to personal growth, personal holiness, spiritual health, any one of the five, any one. You know, this passive sanctification thing is a big deal these days. Sometimes people just have no expectations. They'll look around them and say, "Hey, I'm better than the Christian to my right, "I'm better than the Christian to my left." And you know, no big deal. See, we can't let any of these erroneous thoughts, habits creep into our minds. Now I want you to hold on, we're not doing yet. There's more and this is really needed. We need to see that sanctification is seen in three ways.

Okay, we can say it like this, sanctification can be seen in three ways and we see it expressed in three ways in the scriptures. And some of you, I think maybe have been confused here because you see it and you might not know what the writer is saying. And this will be rather short. First, sanctification is a past reality. Sanctification is a past reality. Theologians and scholars call this positional sanctification. If you do reading on your own, you'll come across that term positional sanctification. There are times when we see sanctification as a present tense reality, couple of verses.

In Acts chapter 20 verse 32, one of my favorite portions of scripture, Paul is addressing the elders there at the church at Ephesus and he spoke of the inheritance that they share as those who are sanctified. He's talking about those who are in Christ, they're sanctified. In Acts 26 verse 18, Paul was before King Agrippa and he was defending himself and his ministry and he was describing his ministry to the Gentiles. And Paul said that they were turning from darkness to light and they were sanctified. Now, what does this mean? There is a past tense application of sanctification which speaks to salvation.

When a person is born again, they trust in Christ, they are seen as sanctified. They are set apart by God, for God and unto God. This is positional sanctification. I will say to 1989, February the 9th and positionally I was sanctified in Christ. It means that we are in Christ, that is a reality, you see? Second, sanctification is a present work. So it's a past reality and then second, it is a present work. Now we've covered all this. Sanctification is, this sanctification here is most often seen and presented as a progressive work in the believer. Who does the work? God or man? Yes, there's the paradox.

And theologians call this progressive sanctification. Now I'm not gonna look back at all that we've covered, but remember what this means. There is this present tense application of sanctification in the scriptures which speaks to a present ongoing, sometimes successful, sometimes not so successful work of God towards holiness and usefulness. So this is progressive sanctification, meaning that God is working in the believer and the believer is cooperating and working in God in the spirit towards sanctification, you see? So it's positional and then also it's progressive. And third, sanctification is a future event. A future event.

Theologians and scholars call this perfected sanctification. You might run across that term, perfected sanctification. The meaning is this. There is a future tense application of salvation and sanctification which speaks to glorification. This takes place when one's life is done in their sanctification, it's brought to completion here on earth. We see this in 2 Corinthians 3.18. Paul talks about the transformation that comes when a believer leaves this life. They are transformed in the image of his glory. Now what that means is this. There is a future tense application of this sanctification which speaks to leaving the life.

The believer has completed their journey, their work of progressive sanctification on earth. They are made perfect, they are glorified, they are set apart, they're sanctified. So this is perfected sanctification, meaning the believer is glorified, you see? So in summary, we see that sanctification can be seen in the scriptures in three ways. Don't let that confuse you. This will help some of you because you will run across it in your Bible study. It's past, it's present, and it's future. It's positional, it's progressive, and then it's perfected. Positional sanctification speaks to an event in the past when we're born of God.

Progressive sanctification speaks to the present work in the life, the life of the Christian, begins at conversion and it ends at glorification. And perfected sanctification speaks to the future event. It takes place when the believer leaves this world, they have finished this race, they have finished their work, they are perfected, they are sanctified. I think you got all that, don't you? I hope you do. I'm still working on it. Now let's go back to our statement of faith, all right? And then I've got a really relevant application, illustration to close this out.

Let's go back, see if this just doesn't all ring together in your heart and mind like it has been for me for two days. We believe that sanctification is the process by which God sets believers apart for his own purpose and makes them to be partakers of his own holiness, that sanctification is a progressive work that it begins in regeneration, that is carried out in the hearts of believers by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit uses the ordinary means designed by the Father, primarily the word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness and prayer, and that sanctification will continue until the believer's final glorification.

Now I wanna conclude with one word, the word life. The word life. Have any of you ever seen a body that didn't have life? A dead body? Years ago, my wife and I were called to go to the hospital. Somebody we knew and had been ministering to was in an automobile accident and they were fine. We were in the emergency room of King Daughters, rather small. So we were on one side of the emergency room with the people we knew, but on the other side of the emergency room were people we didn't know. And I didn't realize at first, but it was real, real quiet. It was real sober, lots of strange looks. And I didn't realize what was going on.

Well, I was there, Christie and I were there ministering to the people we knew, and someone asked me if I could walk over to the other side, and that's when I found out that the other young man in the vehicle was deceased. So I go into the room, there's the coroner there, I know him, and there's family. And I didn't know them. I ministered to them as best I could. I know the coroner, many of you do. He's a believing man and he does his job as a Christian. And he was more of a minister than I could be because he knew them. And it was sad, there's the boy on the table, lifeless. I mean, he's dead. He was blue, not breathing.

No vital signs that tell us there's life. But you know, for us, we should be a people with life. We should possess spiritual life. We should possess certain vital signs that point to life. Vital signs that point to life. In my early study this week, I ran across a list of vital signs. And this is from John MacArthur. It is so good. Now follow me here because I believe this will help us. I'm just gonna read it and I'll make a few comments. Notice what he says. Having formerly been spiritually dead, isn't that what we were before Christ? But now made alive to God, isn't that what God does in conversion?

The believer can check his vital signs to determine the fact that he is indeed alive because he walks in the works that God has prepared. Ephesians two verses one to 10. And what he does is he goes on to give a list of important vital signs for the true Christian. Vital sign number one, Christian fruit. John 15 verse eight. There should be fruit in our life that we are a Christian. What happens if the tree doesn't have fruit? Maybe we give it another year and we cut it down. Vital sign number two, a love for God's people. John chapter 13 verse 35. What did Jesus say to the disciples?

This is how the world will know who you are, that you're my people because you love God's people. You see? Vital sign number three, it concerns personal holiness. First Peter chapter one verses 13 to 21. A vital sign is we are pursuing personal holiness. Vital sign number four, a love for God's word. That we love God's word. First Peter two verses two to three. Vital sign number five, a desire to obey God. John 14 verse 15 and 21 and 23. Vital sign number six, I know I'm going fast. A sense of intimacy with God. We know God, Romans eight, 14 to 17. Vital sign number seven, perseverance, Philippians one, 27 to 28. We don't give up.

How many people give up? Fellowship with God number eight, Hebrews 10 verses 24 to 25. I mean fellowship with God's people. And then vital sign number nine, a desire to glorify God in the life. Matthew five, 13 to 16. And then vital sign number 10, witness to Christ's personal reality. We know Christ is real because he is in our life. First Peter three verse 15. Now I know that I have zoomed through this. What is my point? Every one of those vital signs I mentioned are signs to spiritual life. And every one of those vital signs point to spiritual life and they are a part of sanctification. Sanctification.

Now, we looked at grace and regeneration. It's what God does. Then we looked at repentance and faith. It's what we do when God does what God does. We looked at that legal declaration where in Christ our sins been imputed to Christ and his righteousness has been imputed to us. It's a legal declaration. And then we have sanctification. And I'll say this before we close. Sometimes it's easy. It's not good English, but it fits. Sometimes it ain't. scientific.