The Believer’s Lifelong Battle for Holiness – Dr. John MacArthur

In the following 46 minute MacArthur sermon on Christian holiness, Dr. MacArthur clarifies what it means to walk in the Spirit. He also identifies common errors that lead many off the true path of sanctification, such as pietism and legalism.

His illustrations are very memorable; therefore, I recommend listening to the sermon instead of or in combination with the list of highlights that precede it.

SERMON HIGHLIGHT POINTS [emboldening, underscoring and bracketed statements are mine]:

  • The state of the Galatian church summarized: Galatians had come to faith via Paul’s preaching and faith via the Spirit of God; false teachers were convincing them that they also needed to practice Moses ceremonies
  • Paul confronted them over the contradiction that was playing out in their lives – having come to faith via the Spirit; now trying to be sanctified in the flesh (by the law)
  • That is, the teachings of the false prophets corrupted the doctrines of salvation and sanctification
  • In Galatians 1-4, Paul was writing to undermine the teachings of the false prophets; Paul therein demonstrated that salvation was by faith alone, apart from any internal or external work
  • In Gal. 5, he began to focus on sanctification when he said that they had begun to believe in sanctification by external ceremonies instead of walking in the Spirit
  • Christ is formed in a Christian via the work of the Holy Spirit, not by external ceremonies
  • The KEY to the sanctified life is progressive holiness and conformity to the image of Christ
  • The law, circumcision and ceremonies cannot restrain the flesh; the Spirit does that via His sanctifying work in believers
  • Verses 16-25, walking in the Spirit: “walk” is a key New Testament term: it does not mean “leap” or “jump” or “run.” It indicates one step at a time; by receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit
  • Walking in unity, purity, contentment, faith, good deeds, knowledge, wisdom, light, love, truth and separation
  • In Ephesians 5:18, Paul called believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to give Him control over one’s life; in Colossians 3:16, believers were told to let the word of Christ dwell richly in them, being saturated by the word of God revealed and illuminated by Christ’s Spirit; 1 John 2:6 believers were told to walk as Christ did, in perfect obedience to the Holy Spirit in Him
  • The legalism taught by the false prophets was a formula for hypocrisy
  • When we set out to obey the command to walk in the Spirit, we run into the CONFLICT
  • Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
  • The above verses are a diagnosis of our spiritual condition
  • The flesh, our unredeemed human fallen-ness, our sin nature, is still present
  • “Doing whatever you want” from verse 17, is a reference to manifestations of the flesh; the kinds of things you wanted before conversion
  • But God gave His Spirit to oppose those former things [lusts of the flesh]
  • The Holy Spirit is in us to empower us in the direction of righteousness and to restrain us from doing the things we please (as in before our conversion)
  • This divine diagnosis of our problem, the conflict, should be good news to us, as it indicates that God understands our problem, that our flesh wants the things that please it [the conflict results from the Holy Spirit’s opposition to the flesh getting its former ways with us]
  • As we grow spiritually, becoming more like Christ, sin decreases and obedience increases
  • Paul’s words also indicated to the Galatians that the law would not result in sanctification, that they should not expect it to
  • In chapter 3, he stated that to be under the law they were under a curse, imprisoned…
  • [The law is also performance-based sanctification which is a very common error among Christians, and idolatrous; see link at the end of post]
  • To be under the law is not a reference to being under God’s moral law (10 commandments); but to external behaviors and ceremonies
  • There is a battle in all of us between our unredeemed flesh, not yet changed until glorification, and the indwelling Holy Spirit, living and moving through our new nature; that is, we live in this conflict
  • The Lord saved us, loves us, gave us His Spirit; but He understands that this is a very real battle
  • What is the solution to winning this conflict?
  • Is it an instantaneous flash of understanding from heaven that causes progress; that is, instant sanctification?  No.
  • The battle to be fought during the Christian’s walk is a step by step process.
  • Illustration: when Jesus called Lazarus out of his tomb, in John 11, as he walked out bound, he may have looked like a mummy hopping along; but when he was unwrapped, the stench of the grave clothes was removed from him; we however, carry with our new nature, “the body of death” as Paul called it in Romans 7:24.
  • In ancient times, murderers sometimes had their victims chained to them; their sentence was to drag that carcass with them until they became ill and died
  • We have a new nature, a new life with new longings, love, desires; and the Holy Spirit empowering us, restraining the flesh in us, but this flesh is still clinging to us; that is, sin is present with us but it is no longer dominant; Paul talks about that in Romans 6: 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7for the one who has died is freed from sin… 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
  • Romans 6:12Therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13and do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your body’s parts as instruments of righteousness for God. 14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.
  • Is Paul saying that we are sinless? No.
  • THOSE WHO TEACH CHRISTIAN SINLESS PERFECTION:
  • There is a longstanding, popular, widespread theology that believers can be perfectly sanctified in this world. That they can be free from original sin and depravity; in a state of total devotion to God and holy obedience and love, made perfect —  a direct quote from the church of the Nazarene articles of faith
  • They believe that entire sanctification is an act of God the Holy Spirit subsequent to regeneration, that accomplishes the above, instantly, by faith, following entire consecration
  • That is, if you, in your strength of will, consecrate yourself totally to God, you will then, as an act of faith, be elevated instantly into Christian perfection
  • Some may have grown up in a church wherein the remnants of this theology are practiced, for example: “How many of you want to consecrate your lives to Christ,” or, “Re-dedicate your life to Christ,” or, “Re-consecrate your life to Christ”
  • The implication is that if you will just do that, then God will elevate you to Christian perfect sanctification
  • However, those who practice this theology also believe that the perfect state of sanctification can be lost, as well as their salvation
  • They believe that one is above depravity when he is perfected; therefor, if he thereafter sins, he can lose his perfection
  • This theology is Arminian Wesleyan
  • Martin Luther called this the false philosophy of Aristotle, adopted by medieval scholastics – teaching that sin is completely destroyed by baptism or repentance, and regard it absurd that the apostle Paul should confess “sin dwells in me,” Romans 7. They believed that as a converted man, he could no longer have any sin in himself; that he spoke from an unconverted state in that passage
  • B. B.  Warfield, the last great Princeton Theologian, in his book, Perfectionism, traced the modern influence of perfectionism back to John Wesley – he infected the western protestant world with the idea of entire sanctification, this was the element of his theology that he and his followers most revered
  • To believe that you have been entirely sanctified, and have been lifted out of your depravity, you have to REDEFINE two Christian doctrines: SIN and SANCTIFICATION
  • One could not achieve Christian perfect sanctification using God’s definitions of the above terms from the pages of scripture
  • Illustration: Charles Finney, a purveyor of this theology, taught that salvation is an act of the human will; sanctification also, via consecrating oneself to God – including re-consecration, dedication, re-dedication to God
  • Again, the doctrine of sin and depravity has to be downgraded if one is going to believe that he has achieved perfect sanctification
  • Finney’s followers in NY State created around 50 little utopian cults – the fruit of his ministry
  • One such cult, in the town of Oneida, NY, where they made flatware to sustain themselves, was founded by Henry Noyes. It was not discovered till after the death of Finney, 1879, that this commune had practiced communal marriage: every woman was available to every man in the commune
  • That is, to arrive at the status of entire sanctification, this commune made some drastic changes to the definition of sin as it is defined in the Bible: they believed themselves to be perfectly sanctified, yet they practiced communal marriage
  • This is an extreme, but a true example of this unbiblical theology
  • Such a system required people to live a fantasy; they believed that sin was only that which was pre-meditated, conscious and intentional; unconscious and unintentional acts are called ‘mistakes’ not sins
  • They practiced such a system at the expense of a confused and tortured conscience; being told that they were completely sanctified, while their conscience was accusing them of sin, calling them a liar
  • These people did not understand sin or holiness, yet they believed they were responsible for their sanctification
  • Variations of Finney’s holiness theology are still around
  • But here in the epistle of Galatians, we are told that we are NOT sinless, nor holy; this is the necessary confession of a Christian who will move forward in sanctification
  • [In this blog, I have noted many times that Jesus described His true kingdom citizens in the beatitudes: in Matthew 5:3, he began that description with “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit[those who know their spiritual bankruptcy]; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are those who mourn [over their sinfulness]; for they shall be comforted…” The beatitudes also describe the process of sanctification; furthermore, Jesus declared a blessing to believers in every new attitude state]
  • Puritan theologian Thomas Watson said that saving faith lives in a broken heart; growing in a heart humbled by sin; in a weeping eye and a tearful conscience [that statement includes ideas found in Psalm 51, King David’s confession over adultery and murder; and in the beatitudes; Christ’s description of the true Christian]
  • While Christians are on the earth the conflict within them will rage; it is also indicated in the following scriptures: Hebrews 12:1 the sin that so easily clings…; Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, I have cleansed my heart, [no one]; 1 John 1:8-10: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…; James 3:2 we all stumble in many ways…
  • Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
  • That is the statement of a godly man; the opposite of one who believes himself to be sinless
  • Again, it should comfort us that God knows of our conflict and has given us the Holy Spirit to lead us in our sanctification which will be finished at glorification, when we leave this earth. We will then be able to come into His presence [MacArthur used Psalm 15; 2 Timothy 2; and Psalm 66:18 to explain these points]
  • Why is sanctification important? Because you can’t worship, witness, work, pray or be built up in the faith unless you’re in the path of sanctification, walking by the Spirit, becoming like Christ
  • Sin is not killed when it is only covered up, exchanged for a different sin…
  • Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh

 

 

For the post on the error of performance-based Christianity, see the fourth of five videos in that post at the following link; it is an 8 minute video, but well worth hearing:

https://sheeplywolves.com/study-helps-a-checklist/

For other posts in this blog, on sanctification, holiness… see CATEGORIES: Holiness; Knowing God and Self; New Christian Orientation; Salvation; Sanctification; Justification; Sin; Study Helps; Family Life and Godliness; and Christian Walk.

The following links accompanied Dr. MacArthur’s sermon at YouTube:

For details about this sermon and for related resources, click here: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-l…

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