Theological term
Definitive Sanctification
10 sermons · All terms
2LCF Chapter 13 - Of Sanctification
Sanctification is a work of God's free grace — not of human effort — wrought in the elect by the Word and Spirit through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection. The 1689 London Baptist Confession, Chapter 13, sets out the nature and cause of sanctification: its undeserving recipients (the effectually called and regenerated), the initial definitive act of sanctifying grace at conversion, the progressive ongoing work of the Spirit, and the instruments God employs (Word and Spirit). The confession guards this doctrine on two fronts simultaneously: against moral-improvement schemes that reduce sanctification to human effort, and against sinless perfectionism that denies remaining corruption in the believer.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 2
Acts 19:11–22 presents four movements in Paul's ministry at Ephesus: the unusual miracles God works through him, the humiliating defeat of the itinerant Jewish exorcists who invoke Christ's name without saving faith, the voluntary burning of occult books by Ephesian believers as fruits of genuine repentance, and a Lukan progress report declaring that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. The sermon argues for cessationism — that the apostolic sign-gifts authenticated the apostles and their message and have ceased with the closing of the canon — while exposing the fraudulence of those who imitate them today. Believers are called to examine all teachers by Scripture, to expect progressive fruits of repentance throughout the Christian life, and to take confident hope from the unstoppable advance of the gospel.
2LCF Chapter 16 - Of Good Works
1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 16, 'Of Good Works,' teaches that good works are defined exclusively by God's revealed word, flow necessarily from justification and sanctification, and are enabled entirely by Christ as the believer's vine. The chapter distinguishes scriptural good works — requiring the right matter, root, manner, and end — from both the meritorious works Rome supposes possible and the common-grace works of the unregenerate, which, lacking a heart purified by faith and the goal of God's glory, cannot please God. Believers are exhorted to pursue good works not as the ground of their acceptance before God, but as the fruit of a living faith, performed in Christ's strength and received by God through Christ despite their imperfection.
Of Sanctification (2LCF 13)
What does it mean to be sanctified, and how does that work itself out in the Christian life? Working from 2LCF Chapter 13 and Ephesians 4:17–24 as a core text, this teaching distinguishes definitive sanctification — the once-for-all, irreversible breach with the dominion of sin that occurs at union with Christ — from the progressive sanctification that follows as the Spirit applies Christ's death and resurrection to the believer's daily conflict with the flesh, the world, and the devil. The confession's three paragraphs frame the exposition: the inception and source of sanctification in Christ's virtue, the imperfect yet real struggle with indwelling sin, and the certain progress of grace toward evangelical obedience. Believers are called to reckon themselves dead to sin, take up the means of grace daily, and press on toward holiness as those who are already God's special possession.
The Spirit's Application of Redemption
The Holy Spirit's work in applying redemption to sinners is the focus of this exposition of Ephesians 1:13–14, the concluding verses of Paul's great doxology on the blessings of God the Father and God the Son. The Spirit functions both as a seal — impressing upon the heart of the believer the assurance that he is a child of God — and as a guarantee or down payment of the full inheritance yet to be received in glory. Drawing from the 1689 London Baptist Confession's chapter on assurance and the writings of J.C. Ryle, the sermon calls believers struggling with weak faith to rest in the objective work of the triune God, and exhorts them to pursue holiness through the means of grace as the proper fruit of that assurance.
2LCF Chapter 13 - Of Sanctification
Sanctification belongs to the unbreakable chain of redemption: all whom God effectually calls and regenerates will be sanctified and glorified. This study of 1689 LBCF Chapter 13 traces both a divine and a human chronology of sanctification, distinguishing definitive sanctification — the once-for-all decisive break with sin's dominion accomplished in Christ's crosswork — from progressive sanctification, the ongoing renewal of the whole man by the indwelling Spirit through the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. The sermon insists that conflating sanctification with justification corrupts the gospel no less than denying sanctification's necessity, and calls believers to pursue holiness through joyful, evangelical obedience to the law of Christ.
2LCF Chapter 12 - Of Adoption
The doctrine of adoption — that God, by free grace, receives the justified into the number and privileges of His sons — is the subject of 1689 London Baptist Confession chapter 12, paragraph 1. The teaching works through five aspects of adoption: its origin in God's eternal loving-kindness and decree, its procurement by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit's role as guarantor and testifier, the recipients (the elect alone), and its nature as an objective legal determination made by God as Father. The doctrine is grounded in the ordo salutis, follows logically from justification, and calls believers to be grounded in the joy of adoption, to walk as children of God, to welcome fatherly chastisement, and to love their brothers and sisters in the household of God.
2LCF Chapter 11 - Of Justification, Part 2
The forensic doctrine of justification — God's one-time legal declaration that the sinner is righteous on the sole ground of Christ's imputed righteousness — faces persistent assault in every era. This session surveys three modern deviations: Arminian evangelicalism (which collapses faith into a meritorious work or relocates righteousness within the believer), the New Perspective on Paul (which reframes Paul's argument as a corrective for ethnic exclusivity rather than a remedy for the condemnation of sin), and the Federal Vision (which renders righteousness relational, conflates Christ's faithfulness with the believer's, and anticipates a future eschatological justification grounded in covenantal obedience). Against all three, Scripture and the confession insist that justification is a completed legal verdict, not a process, and that its ground is exclusively the active and passive obedience of Christ credited to the elect.
A Real Savior for Real Sinners
Paul's description of the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 — fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, revilers — followed by the three-fold declaration 'you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified' — furnishes the text for five observations on the nature of the gospel. The sermon confronts self-deception about standing before God, refutes the claim that sin is genetic or environmentally determined, and sets out the biblical doctrines of regeneration, definitive sanctification, and justification by imputed righteousness as the only remedy for real sinners. The application is threefold: these truths ought to promote worship, drive evangelism, and sustain holiness in the lives of those who have been washed in Christ.
One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church
The four classical attributes of the church — one, holy, catholic, and apostolic — are not ecclesiastical slogans but biblical realities grounded in the redemptive work of Christ. Drawing from John 10:14–16 and John 17:15–23, this sermon argues that each attribute finds its source in Christ alone: his atoning blood purchases a universal people, his sanctifying work makes the church holy, his intercession secures her unity, and his apostles' doctrine defines her apostolicity. The sermon closes with a direct call to repentance for those outside of Christ and a summons to every believer to walk worthily of these gospel-given realities.