Trinity  7

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Gen 2:7–17; Rm 6:19–23; Mk 8:1–9; Ps 33:1–11; antiphon: v. 6   –     7/19/26

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today I will teach you about sanctification, specifically as St. Paul speaks of it in verses 22 and 23: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, before I speak of Sanctification you must first understand Justification, since they are so often confused with each other. Both concern our state before God as Christians, but the later is the beginning of the Christian life and the former is the Christian life. Justification presupposes that we are all sinners by nature, which the Bible teaches in places like Romans 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and Jesus says in Mark 7, What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. (20–22) This means that all our thoughts, words, and deeds are a transgression of God’s law. However, God by His grace justifies the sinner for the sake of Christ’s death which paid for all sin which makes the justified man a Christian, that is, to be justified means that because Jesus paid for your sins on the cross God gives you faith in Christ’s death and the faith grasps onto the work of Christ. God declares you innocent of sin and attributes Christ’s righteousness to you, declaring you holy, innocent, and righteous in His eyes. That is justification, the beginning of the Christian life when God saves us from our sins.

Sanctification is our life after we have been saved, after God has shown the sinner the state of his soul, revealed to him his wickedness when he is measured against God’s Law, and God brings the man to repentance and puts faith and the Holy Spirit into the heart of the man. Then, Sanctification is the life of good works lived by faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection where the Holy Spirit daily works to conform us to the image of Christ, as you can see in 2 Corinthians 3:18: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Consider also these verses which show Christ’s instruction in good works, in the sanctifying life: And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Lk 6:34–36) Being merciful, being generous, loving your enemies, does not make you more righteous in God’s eyes, you have in Christ already been made righteous, but these are good works pleasing to our Father in heaven. And St. Paul says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10) Again, the good works follow our salvation, our justification, they are the Christian, you growing to be more like Jesus.

Our Confessions teach, “We say that good fruits, good works in every kind of life, ought to follow repentance, … [the renewal of the Holy Ghost in the heart]. Neither can there be true {repentance} where mortifications of the flesh and good fruits do not follow.” That is, the sanctified life is one where the Christian denies his sinful flesh what it desires, he mortifies, he makes as though dead, the passions of his flesh. “True terrors, true griefs of mind, do not allow the body to indulge in sensual pleasures, and true faith is not ungrateful to God, neither does it despise God’s commandments. In a word, there is no inner repentance unless it also produces outwardly mortifications of the flesh.” By which our Confessions mean that if one truly repents then that naturally leads to a changed life, one where the Christian by faith rejects his former sins and evil desires and rather seeks to lead a God pleasing life of love, charity, and good works. “We say also that this is the meaning of John when he says, Matt. 3:8: Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. Likewise of Paul when he says, Rom. 6:19: Yield your members servants to righteousness; just as he likewise says elsewhere, Rom. 12:1: Present your bodies a living sacrifice, etc. And when Christ says, Matt. 4:17: Repent, He certainly speaks of the entire repentance, of the entire newness of life and its fruits” (Ap XII (VI) §34–35).

Sanctification must follow Justification. If the man who claims to be a Christian, claims to believe in Jesus, does not change, does not even feel the desire to change, from the sinful habits of his former life, then it is evident he has not truly repented of his sin. He mimes being a Christian, but neither has believed nor knows what it is to believe. Thus Jesus says, You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. (Mt 7:16–17) Or hear what St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13: Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (5) How would you fail to meet the test? By living as though nothing had changed from your former life, or living like the rest of the world lives. Remember, there are some who attend church because it is the cultural thing one does, but they don’t believe for an instant. So, test yourselves. Ask, do I love my neighbor as myself? Do I pray for my enemies? Do I forgive my brother or my sister when they have wronged me? Am I generous to the poor and needy? Do I study God’s Word, or merely skim it? Do I work at my job as though I were serving Jesus, or am I thoughtless in it? Do I serve my family because they are God’s children, or because I get something out of it? Do I pay attention to the sermon?

And again our Confessions teach that “But when man is born anew by the Spirit of God, and liberated from the Law, … and is led by the Spirit of Christ, he lives according to the immutable will of God comprised in the Law, and so far as he is born anew, does everything from a free, cheerful spirit; and these are called not properly works of the Law, but works and fruits of the Spirit, or as St. Paul names it, the law of the mind and the Law of Christ. For such men are no more under the Law, but under grace, as St. Paul says, Rom. 8:2 [Rom. 7:23; 1 Cor. 9:21].” That is, when you live the sanctified life, you do good works not from compulsion of God’s Law, but because you love God and love your neighbor. You see that your neighbor is in need and so you help him as God saw your need and saved you. In doing this you are imitating Christ and with your new heart by faith your new self, St. Paul says, is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (Col 3:10).

The Confessions continue, “But since believers are not completely renewed in this world, but the old Adam clings to them even to the grave, there also remains in them the struggle between the spirit and the flesh.” This is what I meant earlier when I told you to examine yourselves, do you trust in Jesus or in yourself? If in yourself, then your good works are worthless. But if you have faith in Jesus, then all your works are pleasing to the Father. “Therefore they delight indeed in God’s Law according to the inner man, but the law in their members struggles against the law in their mind; hence they are never without the Law, and nevertheless are not under, but in the Law, and live and walk in the Law of the Lord, and yet do nothing from constraint of the Law.

“But as far as the old Adam is concerned, which still clings to them, he must be driven not only with the Law, but also with punishments; nevertheless he does everything against his will and under coercion, no less than the godless are driven and held in obedience by the threats of the Law, 1 Cor. 9:27; Rom. 7:18. 19.” By which they mean that in our lives we must constantly be fighting against the sinful flesh which we yet retain, we must make a daily practice of self denial, and when we fail to live up to God’s Law because of our old sinful flesh, we return again to repentance. Then, when God through your brother who forgives you, or your pastor who absolves you, raises you up again you return to your struggles against the flesh, The Holy Spirit within you leading you to good works.

The Confessions continue, “So, too, this doctrine of the Law is needful for believers, in order that they may not hit upon a holiness and devotion of their own, and under the pretext of the Spirit of God set up a self-chosen worship, without God’s Word and command, as it is written Deut. 12:8, 28, 32: Ye shall not do … every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes, etc., but observe and hear all these words which I command thee. Thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish therefrom.” (FC VI §17–20) When we are looking for what good works we ought to be doing we should turn to God’s Law, especially the Ten Commandments as our guide. The Law no longer condemns us as sinners if we believe in Jesus, but rather is our guide and our friend.

So our Confessions teach, “In this way Christians are not under the Law, but under grace, because by faith in Christ the persons are freed from the curse and condemnation of the Law; and because their good works, although they are still imperfect and impure, are acceptable to God through Christ; moreover, because so far as they have been born anew according to the inner man, they do what is pleasing to God, not by coercion of the Law, but by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, voluntarily and spontaneously from their hearts; however, they maintain nevertheless a constant struggle against the old Adam. For the old Adam, as an intractable, refractory [donkey], is still a part of them, which must be coerced to the obedience of Christ, not only by the teaching, admonition, force and threatening of the Law, but also oftentimes by the club of punishments and troubles, until the body of sin is entirely put off, and man is perfectly renewed in the resurrection, when he will need neither the preaching of the Law nor its threatenings and punishments, as also the Gospel any longer; for these belong to this [mortal and] imperfect life. But as they will behold God face to face, so they will, through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, do the will of God [the heavenly Father] with unmingled joy, voluntarily, unconstrained, without any hindrance, with entire purity and perfection, and will rejoice in it eternally.” (FC VI §23–25)

Your life as a Christian began when God for Christ’s sake declared you justified in His sight. Now God has called you to a life of good works that you may daily grow by the work of the Holy Spirit to be more like the image of Jesus, to grow to be more holy. We will not see the culmination of Sanctification in this life because our sinful flesh remains, but we eagerly look for the day of Christ’s appearing. Who, St. Peter says,  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. (1.1:8–9) Amen.