Our Pursuit of Holiness

OUR PURSUIT OF HOLINESS

By Jay Wegter

This article is adapted from Possessed by God, by David Peterson (pp. 69-92)

I. We are to pursue holiness as a lifestyle.

A. “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable, and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2) provides an excellent summary of the pursuit of holiness as a lifestyle. In these two verses we are able to see the relationship between the accomplished action of God in His sovereign mercy (the indicative) and the command of God (the imperative). The indicative is the grace truth that every true believer is the object of God’s mercies. This is Paul’s summary of what it means to be Christ’s disciple.

B. The imperative concerns the ethical responsibilities that flow from the indicative.

In this text the imperative is the responsibility of the believer to “present his or her body to God,” “and, to not be conformed to this world,” but, “be transformed” by the action of God’s Word. Transformation is by renewal of the mind (in the literal Greek, metamorphosis). The benefits and blessings of obedience found in these verses are encapulated in the closing sentence: the obedient child of God will prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Simply put, God’s grace is full and free to believing sinners; but with His grace comes the status that we are sons of God. The obligation to live as His obedient children is the imperative described above.

II. We are to be pre-occupied with the end goal of holiness (the study of what happens at the end is known as ‘eschatology’).

A. The eschatological feature of sanctification is that the end goal of holiness (Christlikeness at His return) is moving closer to us!

A careful reading of 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 and 1 John 2:28-3:3 reveals that the eschatological feature of sanctification provides certain incentives and motivations for devotion to Christ. The incentives and motives which flow from the eschatological feature of sanctification are as follows:

• A desire to be clothed with our resurrection body (2 Cor 5:2)

• A desire to be fully prepared to live with God (2 Cor 5:5)
• A desire to be at home with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8)
• A desire to be pleasing to the Lord (2 Cor 5:9)
• A desire for a favorable judgment (2 Cor 5:9)
• A desire to greet the Lord with shameless confidence (1 Jn 2:28)
• A desire to be made like Christ in purity and glory when He returns (1 Jn 3:2-3)

As you look over the bulleted list above, perhaps you may be thinking, “Yes, I do desire these wonderful promises, but I am not entirely sure that they are mine.” Assurance that these promises indeed belong to you is what the Scriptures describe as ‘hope’ (Rom 8:18-25). The gospel is filled with the message of God’s purposes for His people. Your hope will be deepened as you gain reassurance by feeding your faith upon God’s loving purposes for you. The intensity of your hope is the ‘barometer’ of your spiritual health. God’s loving purposes for His people are found in the gospel promises.

B. God’s ‘end goal’ for His people and for the creation is not a benevolent ‘wish’—it is the guaranteed future of the church and the universe (Rom 8:29-30).

God’s goal is the coming Kingdom of God. The people of God will be like Christ in holiness. God will be everything to everyone in the Kingdom. We will experience unbroken bliss while enjoying true community in a restored paradise. God’s love will be

ordering all things (Peter Jensen, At the Heart of the Universe, pp. 32, 36-37).

Does this sound too fantastic—too unbelievable? If so, we need to meditate more upon the gospel; for the promise is that the ‘word of His grace’ is able to build us up and give us the inheritance among those who are sanctified (Acts 20:32). Our daily task is to find joy in the gospel, and to identify ourselves as God does—as those having a status in Christ of holiness; favor; right-standing; acceptance; and sonship.

1. What has to happen in our lives for God’s end goal to become our end goal? The answer is to cultivate hope by focusing upon God’s loving purposes for us so that these purposes regularly fill our meditation. True believers are called by God to a life of hope (Eph 4:4). We are commanded to hope, “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:13).
2. This hope has a sanctifying effect upon our lives by consolidating our yearnings and centering them in the Lord Himself. For the true believer is described as, “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13).

3. When this hope is yours there is a longing for that end goal of life with the Lord. This hope is the opposite of a vague or general hope of heaven. Biblical hope has a precise and specific content which is intended to stir and satisfy the soul. It is the hope of glory with everything that promised glory entails from freedom from the presence of sin to the final installment of our adoption in Christ (Col 1:27; Rom 8:23).

4. How do you know if you have a lively hope? The answer is that God’s end goal will have become your end goal. Only then will you regard all other goals as lesser goals. And only then will you take the steps necessary to reach that end goal. Our goals and values will be increasingly conformed to the goal which God Himself has—the goal of conformity to Christ (Jensen, pp. 19-21).

C. Living by faith, and as a person “called of God” produces a different quality of life, a different character, and a different value system (Heb 11:13-16; 24-27; 1 Thess 4:3-7; 1 Pet 1:15-16).

Let’s consider why living as an individual called by God produces resoluteness in striving toward the goal of Christ-likeness (1 Cor 1:2).

1. First of all, that to which we are called radically conditions how we live. God’s calling on us as believers in Christ defines us, identifies our Master, our purpose, our values, our mission, our priorities, and our ultimate goal. Believers are called to God as their true home and destiny.
2. Secondly, Christ-likeness is the “finish line,” the end goal of our sanctification. God has called us and set us apart as His eternal possession. All these values are antithetical to the world’s temporal values. “According to Hebrews 11, faith gives us a different value system, with different priorities, leading to a profoundly different lifestyle”

(Peterson, p. 73).

3. This preoccupation with the ‘finish line’ is to fill the believer’s affections. Our hope of the future, characterized by Christ’s unending presence in glory, is designed to produce intense satisfaction as well as purpose and resolve. The specific content of this animating hope is the very opposite of vague concepts of the future. A specific understanding of the believer’s hope is necessary if we are to take the steps necessary to reach the goal God has for us His people.
4. Have we ever plumbed the depths of what it means to be made like God in holiness? This promise found in Hebrews 12:10 is beyond our capacity to fathom completely; for God is promising that His loving purposes for us include being made like Christ in holiness. This is the only way God can make us eternally happy and blissful—that is to be made like our Lord in holiness.

III. The Father’s faithful discipline of us keeps our progress in holiness on track.

A. Our submission to the Father’s discipline is inseparable from our progress in sanctification.

In Hebrews 12, God tells us precisely how He wants us to respond to His discipline (Heb 12:3-9). The believer must respond to God’s discipline with a compliant spirit of resignation and trust. We must avoid carelessness and we must brace ourselves for conflict and trial. We are to continue to esteem highly our infinite spiritual blessings in Christ. We must remember that God is disciplining us so that we might share His holiness

(Heb 12:10) (Peterson, p. 75).

B. The author of the book of Hebrews is utterly realistic—discipline is painful to our flesh.

But, the promise is that the Father is absolutely trustworthy, and that the discipline will produce the precise training we need for spiritual peace and fruit-bearing (progressive sanctification). The promised outcome of submission to His discipline is “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb 12: 9-11).

1. We are to continually recognize God’s holiness by our obedience (disobedience is a disregard for God’s holiness). Submission to God’s discipline is joined to our child-like trust in our Father’s infinite wisdom in training and correcting us.
2. Our text warns of the great danger in refusing to submit to His discipline (Heb 12:12-17). A refusal to submit to discipline can expose us to more severe forms of chastening. Turning away from God begins with devaluing His promises and ignoring His demands. The Christian is commanded to patiently learn while under the Father’s rod of discipline.

3. There is a great temptation to become sullen under the Father’s discipline and to turn to illicit sensuality for ‘comfort’. However, our text warns that stubborn insistence on self-gratification can be a sign of spiritual ‘drift’ (Heb 2:1), and even falling away from the Lord (apostasy) (Heb 12:16-17).

C. The Christian life is a life of ongoing repentance.

According to 1 Corinthians 11:28-32, when we “judge” ourselves (biblical self-confrontation) we are practicing repentance (1 Cor 11:31). In other words, by judging ourselves we are identifying sinful patterns and attitudes in our lives we must confess, and from which we must turn away. In our repentance, sinful behaviors are mortified (or ‘put to death’—Rom 8:12-13). When we mortify sin we are starving and forsaking it by ceasing to make a provision for it (Rom 13:14).

Ongoing repentance entails “course corrections” in which each area of the believer’s life is brought back under God’s rule and control. These course corrections occur when as we daily reflect on the character of God by faith in Christ and the gospel. When we ‘navigate’ spiritually in this manner, a life of dedication and separation unto God issues from our faith. Calvin states that definitive sanctification (positional sanctification) is worked out daily in life by repentance born of faith. Ongoing repentance consists of countless ‘course corrections’ in our Christian walk.

In summary we would stress that as we keep preaching the gospel to ourselves, our hope grows and we become more convinced and assured that God will accomplish all of His loving purposes for us. Perhaps you have had conversations with believers who have said, “I am not looking for rewards, I’ll be happy to just squeak into heaven, just to make it in.” This is an ill-advised sentiment because it often is symptomatic of a weak hope. Only a vigorous lively animating hope can move us to holy living now. And this hope comes from deepening our grasp of God’s loving purposes for us in Christ. The future—God’s ‘end goal’ is meant to shape, form, and condition all of our goals and values in the present. “And everyone who has this hope fixed upon Him purifies himself just as He is pure” (1 Jn 3:3).

LIVING

BETWEEN THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

Adapted from Possessed by God, by David Peterson (pp. 93-114)

We have seen in the last few lessons that at the moment of salvation the Lord sets us apart unto Himself to live as ‘God’s possession’. In this lesson we will continue to explore what it means to live as God’s possession, but we will do so from the vantage point of God’s righteousness. To receive God’s gift of justifying righteousness through Christ means that God’s righteousness has taken possession of us. We now live our lives out of our union with Christ, and we find that in Christ all that we need for communion with our righteous God is provided (Gal 2:20). By means of union with Christ the believer is ‘complete in Christ’ (Col 2:10). The gospel completely overturns the idea that we give our righteousness to God; for in the gospel we learn that God gives His righteousness to us through His grace. This infinite wealth of grace we have received in Christ comes with specific ethical responsibilities for a believer. We will also examine these responsibilities in this lesson.

I. At salvation God sets the believing sinner right with His own righteousness.

A. The basis of our right-standing with God is His gracious act of regarding us as righteous in Christ.

Romans 1:16-17 captures the theme of the epistle: The gift of God’s righteousness is given to everyone who comes to Christ in faith. In vv. 16b-17 Paul is saying that “[t]he gospel is God’s effective power active in the world of men to bring about deliverance from His wrath in the final judgment and reinstatement in that glory of God which has been lost through sin” (C. E. B. Cranfield, A Shorter Romans Commentary, p. 19).

The concept of God’s righteousness brought to bear upon our salvation is also inherent in the Old Testament. See Is 46:13; 51:5-8; 56:1; 62:1. In these Isaiah passages, “making known salvation,” and “showing forth His righteousness” are parallel expressions conveying the same thought (John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, pp. 28, 29).

When Isaiah the prophet spoke of God’s righteousness revealed he meant more than its disclosure to human apprehension. He meant that God’s righteousness was revealed in its action and operation. It is divine righteousness made manifest with saving effect. Thus when the Apostle says, the righteousness of God is revealed, Paul means that in the gospel God’s righteousness is actively and dynamically brought to bear upon man’s sinful situation—divine righteousness is manifested with saving power and efficacy (Ibid, pp. 29, 30).

God’s righteousness here (1:17) is not merely a divine attribute; for His righteousness is actively brought to bear upon us unto salvation. It is His righteousness unto our salvation. It is God acting decisively regarding our ruin, death, condemnation, and alienation. In the glorious gospel it is God’s righteousness decisively answering the ruin of our sin and misery (Ibid.).

God’s saving activity gives us His own righteousness by gracious donation. He does so in order to pronounce us just in His sight (to be justified is to have right-standing before Him). God’s gift of His Son is the gift of His own righteousness to helpless guilty sinners. By faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the sinner is united to Christ and is thereby given a God-approved righteousness.

Regarding 1:17 Cranfield notes, “‘God’s righteousness’ means man’s status of righteousness before God which is the result of God’s act of justifying” (Cranfield, pp. 21-22). Paul’s intent (v.

17. denotes the righteous status which is given by God. The sense of the whole sentence may best be understood as follows: “For in it (that is, in the gospel as it is being preached) a righteous

status before God which is God’s gift is being revealed (and so offered to men), a righteous status which is altogether by faith.” “By [God] revealing and making available precisely this gift of a status of righteousness before Himself God is indeed acting mightily to save” (Ibid.).

1. The book of Romans is the book of ‘God’s righteousness revealed’. His righteousness is revealed in the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who trusts, of the Jew first and then the Greek. For in the good news God’s way of man’s right-standing with Him is uncovered, the Way of faith that leads to greater faith, just as the Scripture says, ‘the upright man must live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17 —The Williams Translation).
2. It is common to think of God’s righteousness as His constant goodness. This is true to a point, but God’s righteousness is much more than His unchanging standard of goodness. His righteousness is active and dynamic—God puts His righteous character on display in our salvation when He imputes moral perfection to us in Christ (Rom 3:24-26). God’s righteousness is inseparable from His zeal for His Name (Ez 20:14, 44).

B. God’s own righteousness is manifested in the justification of sinners who trust in Christ.

Thus, righteousness is both the manner and mode in which God manifests Himself supremely in justifying believing sinners (Peterson, p. 101). God makes His righteousness the cause of our righteousness. Righteousness is not what we do to please God so much as it is the revelation of God expressed in our salvation. It means that God’s righteousness claims us as His possession, sustains us, and finds its final expression in eternal life (Peterson, pp. 100-101).

The upshot of God making His own righteousness the cause of our righteousness is that gospel salvation is intensely God-centered. This is precisely the opposite of natural religion which places the focus on the pietistic efforts of the devotee. Consider that in all false religion penance involves man managing his own imagined merit. By contrast the true gospel involves God clothing us with His righteousness like a robe (Is 61:10). The New Testament believer is said to have clothed himself with Christ (Gal 3:27).

II. How does our justification translate into living as God’s possession?

A. The emphasis in Scripture is that holiness is a divine gift (definitive sanctification sets us apart unto God as His holy possession).

Our definitive sanctification has implications which need to be worked out in daily life. Our holy status in Christ demands that our walk be one of separation and dedication to God (Rom 6:11-13).

Scripture commands us to set our affections on things above where Christ is (Col 3:1-2). The believer is not to live as a passive owner of spiritual wealth—he is to exult in of the glory of God

(Rom 5:2). One of the results of faith in the word of grace is overflowing gratitude (Col 2:7). Ongoing repentance keeps our affections focused on Christ. When the believer labors by faith to have his affections conformed each day to the word of grace he is thinking God’s thoughts after Him and loving the truth. Concerning this great topic of our religious affections, in a future lesson we will deal more fully with what it means to take delight in the Lord.

1. Calvin notes that repentance means “the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and honest fear of Him.” The moment our progress is impeded, we ought to repent. Faith and the fear of God are primary as the cause of our ongoing repentance: “Therefore, having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1).
2. Our repentance is also joined to the indescribable wonderfulness of God. To see God’s glory in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6) is to repent—it is to have true sorrow over sin—it is to weep for having preferred idols to Christ our true treasure (John Piper, God is the

Gospel, p. 108).

3. God has begun a renewing work in His people. Nothing must be allowed to hinder the progress of that work. The Apostle Paul places a high premium on unimpeded progress in the Christian life. Believers are not to live passively in their pursuit of holiness. Paul commands Timothy, “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Tim 4:15). We are to constantly be answering the upward call—that is, as Paul says, “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:12a-14).

B. In Romans 6:1-23 we learn how our union with Christ is to be lived out in daily life.

Our baptism was a “funeral rite” which marked our decisive break with the values of the present age (Rom 6:3-11). Now as those set free from the dominion of sin we show who our new Master is by our conduct. We are to revolt against sin in the Name of God who is our rightful Ruler and Master. Physical and emotional needs frequently attempt to usurp God’s rule if they go unchecked. Christians must guard against indifference to the glorious gifts they have through the gospel.

According to Romans 6:6, it was our old self that was crucified with Christ. The old man (old self) was crucified in order to set us free from slavery to sin, putting sin “out of business” as a ruling tyrant in our lives. Our old self was all we were prior to salvation in Christ.

C. The believer’s faith response to God’s work of co-crucifixion is to “reckon” or count our old self as having died with Christ.

When we reckon or count, it means we are regarding ourselves as God does (Rom 6:11). Our old self was what we were before we were created anew in Christ (2 Cor 5:17; Eph 2:10). The sinful values of the “old self” are described in Titus 3:3 and Ephesians 2:1.

III. The most important sermons are the ones we preach to ourselves.

A. A biblical understanding of sanctification regards holiness to consist of our relationship with the Lord more than the mastery of a moral code.

In Romans 6:11-13 we learn that God has consecrated us to Himself by the death of His Son. Our obedient response to God’s action is that we must not let sin go on reigning unopposed in our daily lives. Our willingness to put sin to death is our “revolt” against sin. By our ‘revolt’ we express our loyalty to the Lord as our rightful Ruler and Owner.

As a young believer I found that reckoning myself dead to sin was a tremendous help in overcoming temptation (Rom 6:11). But part of my problem was I was still living with a ‘grit your teeth’ mentality. I was so centered on what I had been saved from (sin); I was forgetting what I was saved to (communion with God). I was neglecting the second half of verse eleven in Romans chapter six, “[reckon yourselves] alive to God in Christ Jesus. The saint must learn, as I had to learn, that we are saved to fellowship with God, and therefore our revolt against sin is crucial in maintaining our relationship with the Lord.

B. Every sin begins with a breakdown in faith first.

There are only two rulers; sin and righteousness. Unbelief takes us to sin as a false source for satisfying our needs. It is our love for God that drives our revolt against sin—the more we trust in His love by faith in Christ and the gospel, the more we will express our love to Him by putting sin to death. Reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God is inseparable from maintaining our relationship with God.

C. Romans 6:15-18 describes the believer’s new orientation to God as being “obedient from the heart.” At the moment of salvation, the cross of Christ produces in the believing sinner a form of obedience that is ‘from the heart’.

This means that the believer is united in mind, heart, will, and affections concerning the gospel and its ethical demands. The believer regards the true nature of freedom to be living life according to God’s design. Therefore the obedient Christian exhibits a joyful willingness to be ruled by God’s Word. In order to maintain a united heart in obedience, the Christian will have to frequently reason with himself (‘preach to himself’—even argue with himself) concerning the nature of true freedom (submission to God).

The world defines freedom as liberty from divine design—liberty from all external restraint and interference by others. By contrast, the biblical definition of freedom is union with Christ. For by union with Christ we have freedom from condemnation because of our unchanging state of justification. Those united to Christ are free from guilt, fear, condemnation, and sin. These freedoms mean that the Christian may approach God anytime in bold and free access (Eph 2:18) (Peter Jensen, At the Heart of the Universe, pp. 157-160).

D. The text of Romans 7:1-6 assists us in understanding that our sanctification is relational.

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God” (Rom 7:4). This is a ‘remarriage’ metaphor which assists us in understanding that salvation is a relationship given. Because of our depravity, our relationship to the law was like being married to an abusive husband. The law constantly condemned us and called for our judgment— even our death. The blessed news of the gospel is that we were made to die to the law through the body of Christ. In other words, by the death of Christ our Substitute we have been set free from the law’s condemning role in our lives so that we might be joined to Christ who is our loving heavenly Husband (Gal 2:19; Eph 5:25-32).

“Death to the law has the purpose of setting us free from the law so that we may be ‘wedded’ to Christ” (Rom 7:3). F. F. Bruce notes, “In [the Apostle Paul’s] experience, ‘allegiance to a Person had displaced devotion to a code. . .” (Peterson, p. 104). Every saving benefit the believer experiences is by union with Christ’s Person—Christ has earned every redemptive blessing for the church. In fact Christ does not give a single benefit apart from giving an eternal relationship with Himself. The believer’s grateful response is to exercise pure and simple devotion to Christ (2 Cor 11:3).

Believers have been released from the Law and are now joined to Christ in order to bear fruit for God (vv. 5-6). Because definitive sanctification is a particular relationship to God which is given; it cannot be reduced to a moral code. The believer must feed his faith daily on the truth that he has been transferred and discharged from the old era of sin by identification with Christ in His death (Peterson, p. 104).

The intended result of our new relationship to God is fruitfulness. Through the death of Christ, the believer has been freed from his hostile relationship to the law that condemned him. He is now “remarried” to Christ (MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1704). The law’s condemnation and penalties no longer have jurisdiction over him. Christ rules by constraining love, and the law by constricting judgment.

Central to this fruitfulness is submission to God which results in our progressive sanctification: “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life” (Rom 6:22).

E. A genuine knowledge of God will be demonstrated by the lifestyle described in Hebrews 11:24-27, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.”

Young believers today growing up in media-driven culture frequently wrestle with the question, “Can Christ make me truly happy?” Let us not forget that Moses faced similar temptations: fame, honor, popularity, worldly wealth, and the enjoyment of the passing pleasures of sin. His victory over temptation was the outcome of his faith. He was enabled by his faith to see Him who is unseen. This faith ‘seeing’ informed all of his values and choices.

To a great degree, our victory in spiritual warfare is tied to seeing the glory of God in the face of Christ. This ability to see Him who is unseen has a powerful impact upon our response to trial, doubt, temptation and affliction. The battle in which we are engaged is all mainly at the level of spiritual sight (John Piper, God is the Gospel, p; 169).

As with Moses, the lifestyle of the redeemed will be characterized by the following: a willingness to suffer persecution for righteousness sake, a loving identification with the people of God, beholding God by faith, endurance and perseverance in doing good and holding fast to the truth, a rejection of the world’s values and promises, and a lively hope set upon resurrection life with the Lord. The Lord’s people rely upon the Spirit who is always working to make that separate and distinct lifestyle possible. A holy life reflects the character of God (Peterson, p. 88).

F. Training in godliness is never to be separated from dependence upon God’s grace.

Zeal for progress in holiness must not be exerted apart from trust in Christ’s sanctifying work on the cross. Without this New Testament perspective, in which we share in the life and character of God, one is left with only the uncertainty of moralistic perfectionism and the impotence of bare will power (Peterson, pp. 91-92). By preaching the gospel to ourselves we may keep remembering that effectiveness in the Christian life flows from faith in Christ and His finished work. Gospel faith helps us remember that holiness is the divine gift of a relationship given— meaning that the child of God is a set apart one unto God.

IV. “Gospel Formation” takes place as we live between the Cross and the Resurrection.

By “gospel formation” we mean that the gospel is the ‘mould’ into which God ‘pours’ our lives so that the word of grace increasingly shapes us into its form.

The gospel of Christ gives the believer’s new life its appropriate shape and pattern (Peterson, p.

102. God “pours” his new children into the mould of divine truth (Col 2:6; 2 Cor 6:14-7:1; Titus 2:11-14). Through the gospel’s transforming power, new believers have a compelling desire to know and obey God’s truth (MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1704).

A. The true believer lives between the cross and the resurrection—not only chronologically, but also as the focus of our gospel faith.

Here is the reason why: as we live the cross-centered life we are constantly reminded of what we were before Christ and who we are now in Christ because of His cross. The gospel functions as a corrective lens—showing us who and what we are in ourselves; but more importantly, showing us who we are in Christ.

Now, not only are we cross-centered, we are also focused upon our future resurrection—we live between the cross and the resurrection. Fixing our hope upon the resurrection to come reminds us that we shall be like our Savior—holy, immortal, and glorified. Thus we live between the cross and the resurrection.

Romans chapter 5 helps us understand what it means to live between the cross and the resurrection. This chapter of Romans serves as a “bridge” passage which conducts us from the doctrine of salvation to the doctrine of sanctification. Romans five begins to concentrate on the outworking of the gospel in relation to the individual. Romans 5:1-11 contains an “already, not yet” tension.

The believer does not yet actually reign with Christ over the earth in a resurrection body, but does already belong to that new age and rule of life in Him (see vv. 17, 21). Being joined to Jesus Christ, we experience the outworking of the “reign of grace through righteousness to eternal life” (v. 21).

1. The role of ongoing faith in the gospel increases our cognizance of our participation in the reign of grace and life (v. 17). Ongoing faith in the gospel is necessary for a life-transforming awareness of the reign of grace.
2. As we exercise ongoing faith in the gospel, our assurance, hope, and joy are deepened. With this growth in hope comes confidence in the unshakable fact that the reign of grace cannot be frustrated, no matter what tribulations we face (Rom 5:1-5). This life-changing hope produced by faith in the gospel is essential to victorious Christian living.

B. According to Romans 6, progress in holiness involves both the cross and the resurrection.

We pursue holiness by putting to death what God has already sentenced to death (our sin and old man) on the cross (crucifixion). And, we live out the new life given to us by the indwelling Spirit of Christ (resurrection).

God regards us as being dead to sin, and alive to Himself in Christ Jesus. We are to regard ourselves the same way (Peterson, p. 100). Preaching the gospel to ourselves each day helps us see ourselves as God does.

1. ‘Reckoning’ involves both the cross and the resurrection: the cross secures our death to sin, and the resurrection our newness of life. Though our absolute freedom from sin will not take place until our resurrection, Christ’s resurrection gives us the promise of defeating sin and living for God here and now (Peterson, p. 99).
2. “Preaching the gospel to ourselves daily” assists us in living between the cross and the resurrection so that both of these aspects of Christ’s finished work exert sanctifying value in our lives (Rom 6:11-13).

C. Romans 6:1-8:13 establishes us as beneficiaries of Christ’s death and resurrection. Calvin notes that mortification (putting sin to death), and vivification (new life) are an essential demand rising out of union with Christ in His death and resurrection.

A radical life change or “moral renewal” takes place after conversion. Change proceeds from our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. There is no “fiction” in the believer reckoning himself dead to sin and alive to God, for sin and death have truly lost their hold on those ruled by God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

1. The moral benefits of being united to Christ are guaranteed—there will be deliverance from the old era of sin and there will be newness of life lived out toward God. Our Lord’s death and resurrection cannot fail to produce the effect the Father intends. “Christ’s death and resurrection have made possible a profound change of attitude and motivation, a real sense of belonging to Him, a new freedom to resist sin and serve God because of justification” (Peterson, pp. 95-96, 101).
2. Union with Christ necessarily brings us into conformity with Christ. However, the believer is not passive in this moral renewal. He has a profound obligation to the One who has brought him from ‘death to life.’

3. The believer has life because of the righteousness of justification (Rom 8:10-11; Phil 3:9). The indwelling Spirit presses upon the believer the obligation of rejecting the dominion of the flesh (Rom 8:12-13). The Spirit, our pledge of ultimate victory, continually leads us to put sin to death. There is an unbreakable link between ultimate victory and a life of putting sin to death by means of the Spirit (Rom 8:9-13).

V. The moral aspect of sanctification is secondary to is soteriological reference (soteriology is the study of salvation).

A. We are to keep in mind that sanctification is primarily a relationship to God given, more than it is a moral quality attained.

The believer’s moral obligation rises out of God’s saving activity by which He consecrates us to Himself. Believers are His distinct, dedicated people, possessed by Him. This means that our responsibility to live as God’s obedient children rises out of His saving purposes for us and His ownership of us (Titus 2:11-14).

B. God’s purpose is to purchase (redeem us) and purify for Himself a people for His own possession who will glorify Him by reflecting His holy character through their good deeds (Titus 2:14).

To embrace salvation through grace is to embrace God’s plan outlined in these in Titus 2:11-14. Faith in Christ’s redeeming work (2:11-14) becomes a basis for victory over sin.

CONCLUSION: So we have seen that our walk of obedience flows from being ‘right with God’s righteousness’. In other words, our faith, love, and honor are directed towards God’s Name (His Name is expressed in His righteous work of salvation). This “drives” our practical righteousness. God’s consecrating us to Himself is accompanied by a change in our nature. To live as one “possessed by God” is to live with self dethroned.

Our relationship to God is to be lived out through the ongoing presentation of the members of our body to God (6:12-13ff.). The result is a life of unselfish love to God and neighbor. Holiness is preeminently expressed in love (Rom 5:5). God has taken possession of us and the benefit of this new relationship with God results in a God-ward life in which our consecration to Him brings Him honor and brings us joy.

TRANSFORMING GRACE

D A Y 7

ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

I. The importance of assurance of salvation (2 Pet 1:10-11).

A. Assurance of salvation is not assurance that God’s promises are true; it is assurance that God’s promises are ours.

Assurance is the essence of hope. The grace (or essence) of hope is, according to Scripture, a personal, confident expectation of salvation (Rom 5:2, 5; Phil 1:1-20).

A well-grounded assurance is important because it is related to joy, comfort, and Christian service. And, as we will see assurance of salvation is also intensely practical for progress in personal holiness (Ernest C. Reisinger, Lord and Christ, p. 110). (Note that the title of Thomas Brooks’ excellent treatise on Christian assurance alludes to the great joy and comfort of assurance, Heaven on Earth, Banner of Truth.)

1. Assurance of salvation is a God-given conviction of our standing in God’s grace; it is ‘stamped’ on the mind and the heart supernaturally by God’s Spirit (Reisinger, p. 113). “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16).
2. True believers may have assurance in this life. God desires that His redeemed know that they belong to Him: “These things I have written to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 Jn 5:13).

B. There may be hypocrites and there may be ‘temporary believers’ who think they are Christians, but are not (there is such a thing as false assurance) (Matt 7:21-23).

The Bible teaches that some unconverted men and women presume that they are saved but are not. They are deceived; they have placed their hope upon faulty or insufficient grounds. “Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which, no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).

1. People are easily deceived in religious matters. Because self-deception is common, there are many warnings in the Bible. “The hope of the hypocrite shall perish” (Job 8:13). The Pharisees of Jesus’ day imagined that they possessed eternal life. Jesus warned them: “Woe to you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one convert, and when he is won, you make him twice the son of hell as yourselves” (Mt 23:15).

Transforming Grace Thirty days of

2. Jesus will say to the ‘religious’ who were unconverted, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Mt 7:23). Those who make confident claims of assurance of salvation are in reality deceived if they have no corresponding holiness of life (Samuel Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession, p. 227).

C. The fact that false assurance does exist should not keep us from genuine assurance.

God promises in His Word that true believers may have assurance in this life (Rom 8:16; 1 Jn 2:3; 3:14, 18-19, 24; 2 Pet 1:10). The genuine assurance that God gives will not deceive or fail. Christians who possess God-given assurance are not mistaken regarding the confidence that they stand in God’s grace.

Therefore, believers who desire assurance should not be fearful about the possibility of deceiving themselves. God offers to true believers an assurance which will not deceive. It is assurance about which a true believer will not be mistaken (Rom. 5:1-5.)

D. True assurance is inseparable from a ‘savor’ for spiritual things.

250 years ago Jonathan Edwards penned his magnum opus, The Religious Affections. He wrote this work in order to address the problem of false conversions. His book is a masterful exposition of the marks of true salvation with particular emphasis placed upon the supreme mark of salvation known as the religious affections. Edwards argued that true salvation must have a foundation that goes deeper than self-interest. Genuine salvation is characterized by a Spirit-engendered sight and savor of God’s glory.

Hypocrites lack this mark of salvation. In his book Edwards presses his case stating that the truly converted man has seen Christ spiritually whereas the world has not seen Christ in this way (Edwards, The Religious Affections, p. 23). Edwards constantly stresses that the religious affections are the fruit of a new heart, and that these affections are what moves the Christian life like a watch spring (Ibid., pp. 28-31). The Holy Spirit takes up residence forever in the true child of God and confirms to His child that God’s glory and our happiness are bound up together (Ibid., pp. 166-167). Satan cannot counterfeit this sentiment—no natural man sees God’s glory and the creature’s happiness woven together in Christ.

We might also express it in this way: in false conversion, Christ is added to one’s life. In true conversion, Christ is one’s life (Phil 1:21; Col 3:4). The true believer ‘feeds’ upon Christ.

The hypocrite, says Edwards, speculates about spiritual things whereas the soul of the truly converted feeds on spiritual truths, upon Christ’s perfect suitability to save (Ibid. pp. 172-173, 197-200). The true believer is always growing in his affection for divine holiness, and as a consequence his disgust for what is unholy grows (Ibid. p. 317). Strong love for Christ expresses itself in fruitfulness, self-denial, and mortification of our lusts (Ibid. pp. 352-354, 371, 374-375).

E. God’s promise of assurance is His pledge to His redeemed children.

“In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us” (Heb 6:17-18ff.).

How we need strong encouragement from Scripture. “Most Christians live between fears and hopes, and hang, as it were, between heaven and hell. . .they hope that their state is good, at other times they fear that their state is bad” (Thomas Brooks, Heaven on Earth, p. 11).

Spirit-given assurance moves salvation from the realm of probability to that of absolute certainty. Thus the command, make your election and calling sure (2 Pet 1:10) involves the exercise of diligence necessary to NOT content oneself with probability of salvation; but to press all the way to certainty of salvation.

1. Assurance is attainable; it is worth the effort and diligence necessary to gain it. God’s free and gracious promises of salvation (purchased by the blood and righteousness of Christ) are the central basis for this certain (or infallible) assurance (Waldron, p. 228).
2. Believers ought to know the differences between true and false assurance:

• True assurance produces genuine humility and overflowing gratitude (Col 2:6-7).
• False assurance produces spiritual pride.
• True assurance leads to increased diligence in pursuing holiness (Ps 51:12-19).
• False assurance leads to laziness, self-indulgence, and lack of caution concerning sin.
• True assurance leads to transparency before God and self-examination—a desire to

be searched and corrected by God (Ps 139:23-24).

• False assurance leads to an attitude of self-satisfaction with appearances; an avoidance of accurate self-examination by Scripture.
• True assurance seeks after intimacy with God and makes it a priority to abide in

Christ (Jn 15:1-10).

• False assurance does not seek after greater intimacy with God (A. A. Hodge, “Assurance of Salvation,” in Confession of Faith, p. 239).

II. The three biblical pillars of assurance:

A. The first ‘pillar’, or ground of assurance, is the promises of God in the gospel.

Saving faith in the gospel, and knowing for certain that we are saved are not the same thing. Faith bears a relationship to assurance as a root does to a flower. The root may exist without the flower; but the flower cannot exist apart from the root. Assurance is supported by our faith in the gospel. Assurance does not rest upon a subjective impression; for saving faith is ‘hard-wired’ to its object—God’s immutable promises in Christ.

We will have assurance in proportion to our faith in the promises of God. The unsaved sinner dead in sins (Eph 2:1-3) is blind to the things of God. The sinner needs both sight and light. He needs sight (spiritual illumination, 1 Cor 2:12-15), and he needs light (the ‘light’ is God’s truth in

His Word). In regeneration, the Spirit applies the Word of God opening up the sinner’s understanding. “Lydia, . . . a worshipper of God, . . . was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14b).

The promises of God in the gospel are ‘made alive’ by the Spirit of God. It is not just the promises of God alone; they are applied to the believing sinner by the Spirit’s gracious work. The promises of salvation in Scripture are made real to us by the Holy Spirit. As newborn babes we are to long for the pure milk of the Word that we may grow in respect to salvation (1 Pet 2:2-3).

1. The above aspect of assurance is the essence of saving faith because the principle acts of saving faith consists of accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life (Reisinger, p. 119). We saw in our previous lesson that saving faith is not merely mental assent or bare agreement with the truth; it is the soul’s response to Christ— the whole man is involved (mind, will, conscience, affections). This ‘whole-soul’ faith issues forth in a new life direction.

2. To believe in Christ alone for salvation is to be persuaded or assured that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ibid.). When clouds of doubt cast shadows over the soul, we must continue to look to Christ alone for salvation. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever (Heb 13:8).
3. The following questions provide an additional way to personalize the first ‘pillar’ of assurance: Do you take great delight in God’s way of salvation? Do you see God’s holiness, kindness, love, and wisdom in His plan to send His only begotten Son for sinners? Has the gospel reconciled you to God so that you are no longer His enemy and so that you no longer walk according to the flesh and the world? Can you attest with joy that the only possible solution to your guilt and enslavement was for Christ to die in your place?

B. The second ‘pillar’, or ground of assurance, is the witness of the Spirit.

The Spirit imparts assurance to the hearts of believers of their salvation and sonship. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16). “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father’” (Gal 4:6).

The ‘Spirit of adoption’ is given to all believers (Rom 8:15-16; Gal 4:4-6; 3:2). The indwelling Holy Spirit gives believers the consciousness, or awareness, that we have been adopted by God. Therefore, it is natural for the true Christian to behave toward God as Father, and to call upon God as his Heavenly Father in prayer. You have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15b).

1. The Spirit’s testimony gives believers the assurance of their adoption and consequent safety. The internal witness of the Spirit is not divorced from our faith and behavior. The Apostle John says, He who believes in the Son of God has the witness within himself (1 Jn 5:10).

2. Questions to help personalize the second ‘pillar’ of assurance: Do you have peace with God so that you know your standing before God? Do you have the confidence God has forgiven you? Do you bring your hopes, fears, requests, and sins to your Heavenly Father? Do you count it your greatest treasure to be an heir of God?

C. The third ‘pillar’ of assurance is Christian character and conduct (a changed life).

Christian character and conduct give evidence that a person is regenerated (born again). Theologians refer to Christian character as evidence of grace, or the ‘marks of grace.” Regarding these ‘marks’, the epistle of 1 John provides four major ‘tests’ of eternal life:

o The test of belief—“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 Jn 5:1). The ‘belief’ mentioned here is not merely mental agreement. It is belief in which the sinner responds to the Savior in faith and repentance. It is belief which reaches the whole man—his mind, affections, and will.

o The test of obedience—“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him ” (1 Jn 2:3-5).

o The test of love—“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 Jn 3:14). “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jn 4:7). To be a child of God is to love those who are members of God’s ‘forever family’.

o The test of doing righteousness—“You know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 Jn 2:29). Righteous living is evidence of the new birth and genuine faith. “Faith without good deeds is worthless” (James 2:20).

The true believer is led by the Spirit away from sin and lust. He welcomes his obligation to put sin to death. “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom 8:12b).

Questions to help personalize the third ‘pillar’ of assurance: Do you find that you have a whole new principle operating in you with new affections for the Lord, His Word, and the things of God? Do you have a new bias and power against sin? Does your gratitude for salvation motivate you to please God and to daily fight indwelling sin (by the power of the Holy Spirit)? Do you have a solid, well-grounded gospel hope that Christ will receive you favorably into His eternal kingdom?

III. The biblical way of gaining and keeping assurance

A. Keep the three pillars of assurance together! The Word of God keeps them joined.

The three ‘pillars’ of assurance are: a.) faith in the Gospel promises of God, b.) the witness of the Spirit, and c.) Christian character. The believer’s assurance of salvation rests upon all three pillars. To eliminate any one of the pillars is to distort the meaning of assurance. In the case of false assurance, one or more of the ‘pillars’ is missing in that person’s life.

B. Be diligent in seeking solid biblical assurance; Scripture regards assurance to be our duty.

The Scriptures command us to be diligent in seeking to attain a solid assurance. “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling you and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble” (2 Pet 1:10). In this passage, Peter bids his readers to seek full assurance by adding to their faith the graces of the Spirit—in other words pursue Christian character and sanctification (1:5-9). Determine to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (3:18).

Welsh evangelist Howell Harris issued the following warning150 years ago, “Churches are filled with folks who have a détente with sin; they are at ease under its dominion. They won’t study the fruits of faith or make their election and calling sure, but turn the grace of God into licentiousness” (Edward Morgan, The Life and Times of Howell Harris, p. 71).

Harris has a powerful insight here: those who are apathetic about assurance of salvation commonly have a peace treaty with sin. By contrast, those with strong assurance do not have a peace treaty with sin.

C. Utilize the biblical means of gaining assurance.

We cannot expect to enjoy biblical assurance if we do not utilize the means of grace that God has given. The means of grace are: baptism, the study of the Word of God, prayer, Christian fellowship, the Lord’s Table, corporate worship, and the preaching of the Word. Solid assurance is only enjoyed by those who walk uprightly before God. Allowing secret sins to remain in one’s life will erode one’s assurance. Obedient Christians live a sin-judged life—they keep ‘short accounts’ with God (1 Jn 1:5-10).

D. Realize that assurance is not for our comfort only; it promotes our sanctification.

Assurance does not produce pride, presumption, and wickedness. According to God’s Word, it produces purity. “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 Jn 3:3). Assurance ‘enlarges’ our peace, joy, hope, and comfort (Rom 15:13). In so doing, it adds strength and joy to our duties and Christian service (Rom 6:11; Col 3:1-4).

E. Accept the fact that a Christian’s sense of assurance may vary.

A true Christian may lack assurance. The answer is still to be diligent in seeking it. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Heb 6:11).

The pressures of life can also impact our assurance. Doubt can enter when we face any of the following: sudden temptation, emotional trauma, overwhelming trials. At times God hides His smile that we may seek Him more diligently. Note the prayers of the Psalmists.

QUESTIONS:

(I.A.1-2) 1.) In what ways is assurance not only comforting, but also valuable for one’s Christian walk?

(I.B.1-2) 2.) Why are there so many warnings in Scripture about false assurance?

(I.C.) 3.) How would you counsel a young believer who said the following: “I don’t dare seek assurance because I don’t trust my own heart.”

(I.E.2) 4.) What positive marks of true assurance made the greatest impression on you? What marks of false repentance are the most sobering to you?

(II.A.1-3) 5.) Using ‘pillar’ one as a reference, how would you answer a person who said, “Assurance is only a feeling; no one can be ultimately sure of their salvation in this life.”

(II.B.1-2) 6.) Read Romans 8:14-16. How does the Holy Spirit let a true believer know that he is really saved?

(II.C.) 7.) Why do you suppose that the third ‘pillar’ of assurance (Christian character) is the most neglected pillar in the church today? (Hint: Note that it is very common to offer people full assurance of salvation even when the third pillar is missing from their lives.)

(III.B.) 8.) Is assurance a duty, a privilege, or both? Why?

(III.C.) 9.) If a professing Christian is neglecting the means of grace; should it be a surprise if they lack assurance? Why or why not?

(III.D.) 10.) How would you answer a person who said that assurance promotes a careless, sinful lifestyle?

(III.E.). 11.) Read Psalm 88. Is it possible for a strong believer to ever doubt his salvation?