Sanctification 101 (Introduction)

In this introductory message on sanctification from Romans 8:12-13 (read in context from vv. 12-17), Pastor Robert McNutt argues that Paul's "so then" grounds Christian living in the doctrine already established in Romans 8:9-11, warning against the deadly error of treating Christian truth as a merely intellectual interest. He clears away two faulty views of sanctification before building the positive case: first perfectionism, the holiness-movement claim that a second-blessing "baptism of the Spirit" eradicates sin entirely (built on misreadings of Acts 15:8-9 and Acts 26:18), and second the "let go and let God" two-stage scheme that locates victory in a crisis of surrender (built on a misuse of the bent woman in Luke 13). Against both, McNutt shows that Paul never appeals to surrender or to a fresh crisis experience but reasons from who we already are in Christ, repeating the argument of Romans 6:11-13 and addressing the believer's understanding rather than merely the will. The present-tense command to "put to death the deeds of the body" proves that sanctification is not instant and dramatic but a lifelong, habitual mortification of sin empowered by the indwelling Spirit. Because the believer is no debtor to the flesh but belongs to Christ, he fights sin until death in the sure hope of full redemption at Christ's return, growing through the Word as faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/6...