Christ; Our Sanctification
A Sermon on John 1:16
Scripture
16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Sermon Description
How can the Christian be called “dead to sin” when they are not sinless? In this sermon on John 1:16 titled “Christ, Our Sanctification,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives an extended metaphor for how the Christian can be called dead to sin. He elaborates that the Christian is like a person who moves to a new country and changes their citizenship. Though their old country will influence how they live, the old country’s government has no jurisdiction over this person anymore. This person is as good as dead to their old country. Similarly the Christian may be influenced by sin, but it has no dominion over them. This sermon gives poignant details for the Christian to be able to understand how they can be free from sin and yet still struggle against fleshly desires. Listen to hear about progressive sanctification and how the Christian is made holy.
Sermon Breakdown
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The key to understanding the message is 1 Corinthians 1:30 - "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption."
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Jesus Christ has all the fullness of God in him. He has done everything necessary for our salvation and reconciliation with God.
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The question is how does this fullness in Christ become ours in practice and experience? The answer is that God has put us into Christ. Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
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Sanctification follows justification but they must be taken together. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
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Sanctification is the process whereby we are set apart for God from the world in Christ by the Spirit, and are being prepared for our eternal salvation in the glory everlasting with God.
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Sanctification does not happen automatically or mechanically. It is not all in Christ with nothing happening to us. It is not some sudden experience of being entirely sinless and perfect.
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The New Testament teaching on sanctification is found primarily in Romans, especially chapters 5-8. The principles are:
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We are in Christ. We are dead to sin and alive to God. Our old man was crucified with Christ.
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We are under the reign of grace. Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin shall not have dominion over us.
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We are dead to sin. We are no longer under the dominion and power of sin. Sin remains but does not reign.
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We are dead to the law. The law energized sin and brought forth fruit unto death. We are delivered from the law.
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Realizing we are dead to sin and the law, and alive to God is liberating. We are no longer afraid of the tyranny of sin and the law. We may fall into sin but we will never go back under the dominion of sin.
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The important thing is to realize we are in a new position, under a new government, and new influences. We are dead to the old and alive to the new.
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.