Progressive Sanctification, the Pursuit of Holiness, and the Quest for Full Assurance: 2024 Summer Sermon Series

 Progressive Sanctification, the Pursuit of Holiness, and the Quest for Full Assurance

2024 Summer Sermon Series

Sermon 1- Confusing and Abusing Grace in the Name of the Gospel

Jude 3-4; Romans 6:1, 15-18.  

 

Sermon 2- Working Out Our Sanctification as God Works in Us.

Philippians 2:12-13

 

Sermon 3- Fruits of Genuine Faith  (Pastor Josh)

1 John (sermon overview of the entire book)

Sermon 4- The Hole in our Holiness and the Great Commission Omission.

Titus 2:11-14; Matthew 28:18-20

Sermon 5- Sanctification: Then. Now. and One Day, For All Eternity!  The Past, Present, and Future Tense Aspects of Sanctification.

Selected Scriptures

 

Sermon 6- Essential Virtues of the Zealous, Divinely Empowered Christian.  (Pastor Kent)

2 Peter 1:5-11

 

Sermon 7- God Ordains the Means, Not Simply the End! (3 Biblical Principles of Progressive Sanctification)

Selected Scriptures

Future sermons forthcoming

Confusing and Abusing Grace in the Name of the Gospel. Romans 6:1, 15-18; Jude 3-4 (part 1)

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to (go the opposite direction) and to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. (WHY?) For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, these are ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 3-4)  

Jude understood how glorious it is to celebrate our common union in Christ.  Magnifying the redemptive grace of God and our undeserved salvation never gets old, does it?  Having said that, this emergency 911 epistle (aka Jude), illustrates that it is pastorally negligent to ignore a clear and present danger!  To act like everything is spiritually ok, when it's not, is both dangerous and wrong!  True shepherds protect the flock at all costs (John 10).  On the other hand, when danger appears "hirelings" leave the sheep unprotected.  Jesus reminded his disciples that hirelings really only care about themselves.  Their personal comfort and well-being is what they are most concerned about.  Add to that, Jeremiah 6:14 reminds us that false teachers say, "'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace at all."

After a wonderfully enriching five year journey through the signature Gospel of John, my original plan was to begin a new expository study of a brief, yet power packed, epistle. Philemon. Sadly, I cannot do that at this time.  Though the heresy of flown blown Antinomianism has NOT crept into our beloved church family (as was true in Jude's case), hyper-grace sanctification and lower-case “a,” Reformed antinomianism- has!  To do nothing and just hope for the best would be a dereliction of duty.  

Allow me to illustrate. How would you react if you heard that your city fire station captain responded like this?  "Fire station 401. Fire chief Caleb speaking."  "Sir, please calm down!  So just your attached garage is on fire? Well, we’re really busy waxing our trucks and few guys are catching up on sleep. We had a really busy weekend… Please call us back if the fire spreads to the entire house- bye for now!"  You would be outraged...and rightly so!

It’s the God ordained duty of shepherds/pastors to protect the sheep entrusted to their watch-care (Heb. 13:17) and to guard the doctrine of the church (1 Tim. 3:15). 1 and 2 Timothy make this very point over and over again. For a good example of what I am referring to read through Titus 2:1-15.  

Having said that, like godly parents, pastors and elders strive to be biblically balanced.  Wanting to be kind, patient, and gracious, but never at the expense of one’s personal walk with God. The overall doctrinal purity and spiritual well-being of God's people is a shepherd's chief concern.  

At the onset of this series, let me say this: Faithful biblical instruction must be balanced!  It must be positive and negative.  To what proportion, and to what degree, depends on the specific circumstances.  Read Revelation 2-3 and you will see the Perfect Shepherd's specific instructions to seven different local churches.  The tone of each letter varies greatly depending on what was taking place in each congregation.  When needed Jesus does not mince words.  He is perfectly balanced, "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14-18).

But don’t take my word for it. Notice what the Word of God requires of pastors/elders in Titus 1. Two voices are required in biblical ministry:  1) Positive exhortation is the enjoyable part of shepherding and preaching.  “By God’s grace you’re doing well flock! EXCEL STILL MORE!” (per 1 Thess. 4:10).  Some weeks I pinch myself…“I can’t believe I’m getting paid this week, in part, to study and preach the theology of John 3:16! 'For God soo loved the big, bad world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.'"

The second voice is "negative." 2) Biblical shepherds must also “warn,” “challenge,” “admonish,” and when necessary, “correct something” and/or “rebuke someone.”  Take special note of the 2 Timothy 4:2-4 mandate as well as what Paul says in Titus 3:10-11.

Titus 1:5-10 highlights the biblical qualifications, the skill set, and specific ministry duties of New Testament church leaders. As the Spirit-equipped, shepherd-theologians of the church (per Eph. 4:11-16 and 1 & 2 Timothy) pastors and lay elders "must (Titus 1:9) hold firmly the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be ABLE BOTH A) to exhort in sound doctrine and B) (they must) refute those who contradict."  

In Pastor Titus’ ministry context there were rebellious people, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision that were leading various sheep astray!  Upsetting entire households.  Verses 11-15 inform us these are false believers and false teachers Titus is dealing with. The Greek word refute means "to eliminate error!"  Building up the faithful is hard work but it's generally very rewarding! (2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).  Exterminating heresy, calling out error, and confronting sin is the rigorous and risky side of ministry! Faithful pastors that do this have the internal scars to prove it! In Galatians 4:16, Paul had to ask, "Have I become your enemy for telling you the truth."  God's Word warns that if you reprove a proud scoffer chances are they will despise you for it (Prov. 9:8-12)!

Let me encourage you to read through the book of James this week.  Take special note of all the positive instruction in the book.  Also keep track of, if and when, the Holy Spirit corrects error and/or confronts sin. It’s perfectly balanced biblical instruction.  Of course it is, it's the infallible Word of God.

The point I am trying to make is simply this.  In many ways, if I never had to correct aberrant theology or sinful behavior; parenting, pastoring, counseling, and discipleship would be a walk in Eden Park.  

Don’t Mistake Your Passion for Theological Precision

Caring Enough to Be Careful

I’m glad there are people in the world—most people in the world, it turns out—who know more about cars than I do. I don’t want good-natured well-wishers to replace my alternator. I want someone who has paid careful attention to the intricacies of auto repair. I want someone who cares about precision. I want someone who knows what he’s doing. I want an expert.

To act as if no one knows more than anyone else is not only silly; it’s also a serious mistake. In his book The Death of Expertise, Tom Nichols cites a survey from a few years ago in which enthusiasm for military intervention in Ukraine was directly proportional to the person’s lack of knowledge about Ukraine. It seems that the dumber we are, the more confident we are in our own intellectual achievements.

Nichols relays an incident where someone on Twitter was trying to do research about sarin gas. When the world’s expert on sarin gas offered to help, the original tweeter (a world-class “twit” we might say) proceeded to angrily lecture the expert for acting like a know-it-all. The expert may not have known it all, but in this case, he knew exponentially more than someone crowdsourcing his research online. And when it comes to chemical warfare, I’d like my experts to have as much expertise as possible.

We live in an age where passion is often considered an adequate substitute for precision.

We’ve swallowed the lie that says that if we believe in equal rights, we must believe that all opinions have equal merit. Nichols also tells the story of an undergraduate student arguing with a renowned astrophysicist who was on campus to give a lecture about missile defense. After seeing that the famous scientist was not going to change his mind after hearing the arguments from a college sophomore, the student concluded in a harrumph, “Well, your guess is as good as mine.” At which point the astrophysicist quickly interjected, “No, no, no. My guesses are much, much better than yours.”1

Christian Leadership and Pastoral Ministry Is Not For Sissies

"A question was submitted for the 2019 G3 Conference questions & answers session that asked the following question:  “I’m a young man who is preparing for pastoral ministry in the local church. As a seminary student, what counsel would you give to me as I prepare for the future?”

In the fall of the year just before we would move to Louisville to attend seminary the following January, my wife and I made an agreement that we would not purchase Christmas presents for each other and we would save money for the upcoming move. Without my knowledge, she wrote to several preachers asking for them to write a letter to me in order to provide wisdom for me as I prepared to move away to attend seminary. She compiled each of those letters in a nice binder and provided it to me as a gift that Christmas. I still look through it to this very day as it sits on the shelf in my study. One letter stands out to me as it states the following:

My word to you is to always remember that you are merely a vessel and He is the Treasure. Just a river bed for the river to flow. Any demands God makes on you is not on your ability but on the Christ who promised to be your sufficiency for the journey. Remember that any old bush will do if God set it on fire for His glory. May the Holy Spirit give you enough problems to keep you trusting, enough hurts to keep you broken, and enough victories to keep you praising Him. Only God can take nothing and indwell him so he can be more than a conqueror.

How Church Discipline Can Be Like Doctor Shopping

How Church Discipline Can Be Like Doctor Shopping

Article written by Dr. Moore

"Law enforcement officials use the term “doctor shopping” to refer to the way those addicted to prescription pain medications seek to avert accountability. If you go to your doctor to ask for Vicodin, and your physician refuses to prescribe it, you are doctor shopping if you then seek out multiple doctors until you find the one who will prescribe the Vicodin. Sometimes an addict will have multiple doctors going at once, all prescribing different medicines, often those that are dangerous to mix. I’ve noticed the same thing going on when it comes to church accountability.

The truth is, there’s a certain type of personality that doesn’t want accountability, but affirmation. If one wants to divorce someone one shouldn’t divorce or marry someone one shouldn’t marry or do something one shouldn’t do, he seeks out a pastor’s “accountability.” When the pastor tells him the opposite of what he wants to hear, he leaves and goes to find a pastor or counselor who will. And this goes on and on.

This isn’t being shepherded. It’s the same old autonomy of the self, that first manifests itself in the life-cycle of a child saying, “But Dad said it was okay…” except now grown up into something with a far more malevolent motive and a far more dangerous outcome.

Sadly, there are too many ministers of the gospel out there willing to empower this sort of behavior. If you have a church member who has been warned or disciplined by another pastor or church, you have a responsibility to investigate what’s going on. True, it might be that the old church spoke where there is no authority to speak, disciplining a parent for not homeschooling, for example. But, even then, if you will give an answer for the soul of this person, you bear the responsibility to find out what exactly is going on.

If you’re the kind of minister who refuses to acknowledge the discipline or accountability structures of other churches, you might simply be more enlightened than those churches and leaders. Or you might not know what you’re dealing with. And you just might be fighting against a word spoken by Jesus himself, handing over an unrepentant soul to Satan, with the hopes of ultimate repentance (1 Cor. 5:4-5).

Your affirmation of an unrepentant and fugitive-from-discipline church member isn’t an act of love or mercy. It’s an act of hatred. You are empowering the unrepentant to “bear the name brother” or sister (1 Cor. 5:11), to assuage a conscience that should be convicted by the Spirit. If so, you’d be better off just prescribing an addict another round of Percocet." 

Originally posted in 2013.

Church Discipline: What, Why, and How Come? (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; Luke 17:3-4)

CHURCH DISCIPLINE (see Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5; Luke 17:3-4)

"Though the word discipline carries negative connotations, the practice of church discipline ought to be motivated by a positive, loving desire both to preserve the purity of the church (2 Cor. 7:1; cf, Acts 5:11; 1 Cor. 5:1-13; 2 Thess. 3:6-15; 1 Tim. 1:19-20; Titus 1:10-16) and to restore sinning brothers and sisters to the fellowship (cf. Luke 15:3-8; Jude 23), Church discipline should never be motivated out of self-righteous pride, political agendas, a desire to exercise power in an unbiblical way, or an intent to embarrass people.  Rather, it should be overseen by the elders who, as shepherds of the flock, sincerely long to see wandering sheep repent, return, and be restored (cf. Gal. 6:1)

The process of church discipline is outlined by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 18:15-17; If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.  If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.  And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

This passage delineates a four-step process for how churches are to deal with sin among their members.  First, believers are to address sin on an individual level, approaching the offending party with a spirit of gentleness and humility.  If the sinning brother responds to that private confrontation in repentance, the church discipline process comes to an end.  He is forgiven and restored (Matt. 18-15). But if he refuses to repent, the process moves to a second step, in which one or two more believers join in confronting the sinning brother.  These witnesses (cf. Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; 19-15; John 8:17; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28) primarily confirm that the sin was committed, and they also observe how the offending party responds after being confronted a second time (Matt. 18:16).  It is hoped that the added weight of their rebuke will be enough to prompt a change of heart in the sinning brother.

 Should he still refuse to repent after being given adequate time, the process moves to a third step.  In light of the sinning brother’s persistent hardheartedness, the witnesses are to bring the matter to the church (Matt 18; 17) by notifying the elders, who in turn communicate it to the congregation.  Because of the public nature of this step, the elders must perform due diligence to confirm the facts of the situation—that the church member has sinned, has been confronted, and has refused to repent—before announcing it to the entire congregation.  The purpose of alerting the church is twofold; to remind other members of the seriousness of sin (cf. 1Tim. 5:20) and to encourage them to confront the sinning brother in the hopes that he will repent and be restored.

John Stott on Hyper-grace Sanctification and Legalism

Photo Credit: http://www.pentecostaltheology.com/

For some time evangelical church leaders have expressed various biblical concerns with the theological trajectory of the free-grace/ hyper-grace sanctification movement.  In recent years certain Christian authors and preachers have attempted to outdo one another in effort to be even more "gospel-centered" and "grace-orientated" than the next guy (or gal).  As such, a large number of books have been published on gospel-centered preaching, gospel-centered parenting, gospel-centered counseling, gospel-centered athletics, gospel-centered dog rearing, etc.  No Christian is against genuine, grace-driven ministry and gospel-centered living.  But just like the super market, not every product that claims to be "organic" is truly pesticide free.  Such is the case with some gospel-centered literature.  Upon careful consideration some gospel-centered material is actually off-centered.  

Biblical discernment is essential.  We must be aware of the true so we can beware of the counterfeit.  We must ask God to help us discern the very subtle differences between right and almost right.  Christians must know their Bibles, love theology, and be actively part of a Word-saturated local church led by qualified shepherd-leaders.  

In the judgment of this Christian blogger, Bryan Chappell (slightly) over-corrected his theology many years ago in effort to avoid the potential ruts of "legalism."  Elyse Fitzpatrick and Tullian Tchividjian went much further and as a result have gotten themselves into trouble (see sanctification, grace, and the obedience of faith;  The continued folly of hyper-grace sanctification).  Tullian was removed from the Gospel Coalition and Elyse was uninvited to the annual Woman Discipling Woman conference.  

Tullian, a leader of the hyper-grace movement, was later found to have been living a double life of gross sexual sin/adultery, etc and was removed from pastoral ministry.  In hindsight, it appears Tullian passionately promoted a hyper-grace sanctification paradigm to appease his guilty conscience.  From Tullian's point of view, how can I uphold what the Scriptures teach concerning progressive sanctification and personal holiness if I am secretly sleeping with congregants?  Sometimes people change their theology in order to accommodate their own beliefs and private practices. Hence passages like 1 Timothy 4:16, Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.