Here we go. We're studying the doctrine of adoption. We took our little break and we're back with it again. And I ask you to remind me to share about the peculiar people. It's a husband and wife drama team. Oh, Charlie and everybody know her name? Jones I think is the last name. Anyway, they're tremendous. I can't forget the sketch they did on adoption. It was beautiful. He played the father of course. And he's sitting in his chair reading his paper. And his wife did a great job as a little girl, a little daughter of, oh, maybe three years old. A bright little kid just with her fingers in her mouth and drooling in the whole deal. She was believable, really good. At her father's feet, he's trying to read his paper and she's bugging him. And she asks why he and why did you and mommy adopt me daddy? Why did you adopt? Why did you make me part of your family? And she's thinking and he's trying to read his paper. So, you know, she keeps pulling him back. And she says, I know why it was. It was because I was the brightest baby in that in there, wasn't it? And he said, well, you are a very bright girl. You are a very bright girl. But no, we couldn't tell how bright you would be. You're just a little baby. And she went on with different things like that. It's because I was the prettiest one, right? He said, well, you are very pretty. But again, all the babies look pretty. That's not the reason. So she just thought. And she finally concluded it was because I was the best one, right? You're a good girl. But we had no idea how good you would be. So, finally, she's just something she says, why did you choose me? And there's not a dry eye in the house when it's so obvious the father speaks for God who adopted us as his children. And he says, because we loved you. It's a beautiful picture of God's love for us. And that indeed is the ultimate source of our adoption. God's will, his love. How about the means? How does God bring it about that we go from being children of Satan to children of God? Most immediately because we believe it's a true answer to the question. More ultimately because the Son of God redeemed us with his blood. Galatians 4. 4.4. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son. Don't miss the fact that the very names of the first two persons of the Trinity are most appropriate for communicating salvation to us in these terms. God is father. And he is apart from the doctrine of adoption. But we don't know him apart from his grace in adopting us and also regenerating us. It is true. And God, the second person of the Trinity is God the Son. And it is as the Son that he does his work and makes us sons and daughters of God. When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, in order to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons. Adoption is a metaphor that is somewhat expansive in Scripture. There's a presentation of our need in terms of bondage. Here is the atonement of Christ, the unique Son of God, presented in terms of redemption. It goes with slavery. Understand? The background for redemption is bondage. We were in bondage. Christ redeems us with his blood. The consequence is the liberty of the sons and daughters of God. The liberty of the sons and daughters of God. Christian liberty, our freedom in Christ, has its roots right here. The Son of God's redemption is the means whereby we are adopted. The Father sent the Son to perform His work of redemption that we might be adopted into God's family. Notice there's a commonality between the Son of God and us. He's the Son, we are sons and daughters. What we have in common is we have the same Father, a remarkable notion, and the Bible extends that and says later on, we're heirs and so forth, just tremendous outlet. It works this doctrine out in all kinds of directions. But there's also a difference between Christ's sonship and ours. I want to miss that because the difference establishes the commonality. He is the Son of God. We are sons and daughters of God in the plural. He is the Son of God by nature. Understand? He always was the Son of God. There never was a time when the Father didn't have a Son or the Son didn't have a Father. It's one of the ways of talking about the eternal relations within the Godhead. He is the Son of God by nature, not by grace. He didn't become the Son of God by being saved. He never was saved. He never needed to be saved. He always has been the Son of God by virtue of who He is by nature. We are the sons and daughters of God by grace, by adoption. It is by the work of the unique Son of God. So, first of all, we set Him apart from us and we honor Him. Having done that, He draws very close to us. He was born of a woman, became one of us in order to redeem us. And we receive His place in the family. The Father receives us as His sons and daughters because of the unique redeeming work of His Son. Again, we say it, praise the Lord for His grace. The means, and it's a real means, it's not ultimate. Ultimate is what the Lord did before creation. It's not even penultimate, that's what the Son did on the cross. But it is a real means. There can be less than ultimate means that are real. Our faith saves Galatians 3.26 when it's placed in Christ. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Adoption is by grace through faith even as justification is by grace through faith. So, if I'm filling out my trusty chart, having admitted, I'm way off of the circle now. This is weird. Adoption goes right here. Adoption goes right there. It is very much akin to justification. How can I say it? It's in a different part of the court, justifications in the criminal division. And after condemning us, the Father acquits us in His Son. This is over in the family court and we become adopted. It's legal in that sense. But more it is familial as we said before. Faith are by means of faith. We are justified by believing in Christ. We are adopted by believing in the Son of God. No one is adopted who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The means of our adoption is faith in Christ. We are sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. In fact, we are Abraham, seed and heirs according to the promise. We participate in the new covenant which is ultimately the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. That God made with Abraham way back in the book of Genesis. John 1.12 says the same. As many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God. Even to those who believed in His name, the name stands for the person. Faith in Christ is the means of our adoption. Could we present the gospel in this way? Yes. We can turn people toward God and the personal knowledge of God as Father and membership in His family as we point them to faith in His unique Son. If you ask me what the Bible's burden is concerning the doctrine of adoption, where does it spend the most time when it speaks of these things? There's no doubt it speaks of the answer is the results of our adoption predominate. On the break of students said, couldn't we include among the results the freedom that we have in Christ by virtue of Christ's redemption? The answer is yes, and that indeed would expand these notes. The notion of Christian freedom, Christian liberty. We are no more slaves of Satan. We are God's children. The results I have written here, first one is we have the spirit of sonship. Let's go to Romans chapter 8. It's time to turn from Galatians 4 to Romans 8, the second great adoption text. Remember I said before, two of the three persons of the Godhead's names are very appropriate to communicate the doctrine of adoption to us. God is Father, the Lord Jesus is Son. Watch this. The third person's name is qualified in terms of this doctrine. In Romans 8 he is called the spirit of adoption, amazing. But one of the titles of the Holy Spirit is spirit of adoption. So there's the Father, the Son, and the spirit of sonship. How God loves us, and how He wants us to know that we're part of His family. The spirit of adoption does two works. He enables us to call God Father, and it's true. He assures us of salvation within. Verse 14 of Romans 8 says something like this. The children of God are discernible, they're identifiable. Because those who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. This leading is not like James 1 asking for God for wisdom and guidance and receiving it. The Bible promises that, but not here. The thing is the way the privates follow the sergeant. It means in effect those who obey the spirit of God. Not those who receive divine guidance and answer to prayer. A biblical truth, but not here. No, those who obey the spirit, who follow His leadership are sons of God. In other words, Christians are observable because of the way they live. First John teaches the same thing. You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave. There's that slavery motif again, again to fear. But you received the spirit of adoption or sonship, okay? There is the fact that His name is qualified by this teaching. What does He do for us? What's the spirit's role? Two things. By Him we cry, Abba, Father. Our first cries of fatherhood. The first time we call God Father and mean it. It's a result of the Holy Spirit's inner work. Thus I think this is another way of saying, of showing that faith is a gift from God. Even our calling God Father and it being true, anybody can call God Father. Okay? But the point here is, like first John 3.1 said, what amazing love the Father has called us as children. And we are. It's true. We call God Father and that corresponds to reality. That calling, that crying out of Abba, Aramaic word for Father, Father, Father, it's the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So He gives us the gift of faith. He establishes this family relation in the first place. Suppose that could be here under means in between the sun's work and our faith would be the spirit's enabling us to call God Father and mean it. Most recently I have understood what this means and the way I've just told you. Secondly, the spirit not only initiates this relation whereby we call God Father and it's true. The spirit has an intimate personal ministry to us. Verse 16. The spirit himself testifies with our human spirit as a sense that we are God's children. When I study the assurance of salvation and try to boil down what the Bible says about that in big categories, I've got three categories. God assures us by the promises in his word, believe in my son in your saved. And he promises to keep us saved. So word is, as a matter of fact, the most important way we know that we're saved. But it's not the only way. God sends the spirit of his son into our hearts to bear witness to us existentially and within. It's wonderful how God loves us. He could have just told us in the book. That would have been enough. But he goes beyond that and he testifies to us inscrutably who can figure out the Holy Spirit's work and personally within our own hearts that we are God's children. Thirdly, he changes our lives. Not totally. That's going to happen in the resurrection of the dead. But genuinely, as Hukama says, we're not totally new, but we're genuinely new. We're different than we were. We have to be different. God has given us his spirit. God has joined us to his son and so forth. In any case, one of the results of our adoption is we have the spirit of sonship. He enables us to call God father in the first place and in an ongoing way, he whispers deep within our hearts. Assuring us of the Father's love, I love you. You are my son. You are my daughter. Nothing can separate you from my love. I love you deeply. We have an inheritance that makes sense as befits the sons and daughters of God. Up top here, I had mentioned Sinclair Ferguson's book, Children of a Living God. My students who have read it tell me it's wonderful. I give tribute to Jack Miller's good sonship materials and that ministry. Here I mention, I have not spelled this wrong. Bob Peterson is a different Robert Peterson. He spells his name wrong. He uses two T's in his name. I say that because he's a friend. I'll tell you his story. It's incredible. What a story. What a testimony. But first of all, let me speak of this inheritance. We find it in Galatians 4, but I won't turn there because of time. Here in Romans 8, 17. Now if we are children and we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, the imagery is extended. It's amazing. We're not only God's children, but well, children of a father and mother have an inheritance. It is so. We have an inheritance, even eternal life, even glory, even the new heavens and the new earth, even all things. Because everything belongs to God and God belongs to Christ and we belong to Christ. So everything is ours in him. Bob Peterson was the son and the illegitimate son of an unmarried woman who had a number of children in this way and he is now a pastor. It is a miracle of God because all of the siblings had just burned out and crashed. It's terrible. He said their childhood was a horror show. They went from foster home to foster home and in this one they were beaten unmercifully. And in this one, they were made to eat out of dogs, dishes on the floor. And in this one, they were sexually abused. I mean, it is just. There's no Peterson here yet, okay, in his last name. I don't know what his name was, but just terrible. His mother didn't care for them and the fathers were unknown and so forth. Anyway, one sister is a prostitute and one brother died from drugs and it's just what you might expect, okay? In God's grace, he gives credit to God. He said the Lord chose to make his individual life an illustration of the doctrine of adoption. That's all he can say. He was adopted by some guy named Peterson. And he's happy. He had spelled his name with four teas if the guy spelled it that way. Listen, Bob Peterson, okay, who came out of that background with no father or mother, nothing. He is not only this guy, Peterson's son, but he's happily married. As happy kids is a successful pastor. God has blessed him. He counsels and heals other people's marriages and family problems and get loaded with this. He is an heir to millions. He leaps. He just let he rejoices at the grace of God. He said, what did I do to deserve that? By rights, I should be where my poor siblings are. But here I am. He said his grace and his life is an example of grace. We have a family resemblance. Romans 8, 14. Remember, those who are led by the spirit of God, those are the sons of God. And Romans 8, 17, I didn't finish it before. Now, for children and we're heirs, coheirs with Christ, heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. That means if we have truly believed in him, that is the sense. We have a family resemblance. That first John 3, that incomplete verse, is an attempt to again go to first John 3, 10, which distinguishes the children of God and the children of the devil from there on the basis of their lives. That's the point. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. The children of God don't only do righteousness, don't perfectly do righteousness, and don't perfectly love their brothers and sisters, but they genuinely love their brothers and sisters, and they basically do right. And they grieve over their sins when they do wrong and they confess them. What I'm trying to say is, we have a family resemblance. If I could line my four boys up here amidst 25 other boys, you could pick them out. That's just the way it is in most families. There are chips off the old block, as you say. There's a family resemblance. Sometimes we're not happy about it. And the mother says to her daughter, where did you get that mouth on you? Before she's done, she understands where the daughter got it by copying her mother. You with me? We can be mortified. We can be convicted. They can be little mirrors who show us our own sins. And by the way, the doctrine of adoption. If we believe it, it ought to change our fatherhood and our motherhood. Oh my goodness. We need to be convicted before God. At the way he treats us. Oh, he disciplines us. And that's coming up. But he disciplines us in love. And sometimes we discipline our children in anger. And that's wrong. Think about how our father has dealt with us and we should do the same with our kids. We have a family resemblance and a responsibility to represent our father in the world. What kind of image of God do we portray? What would people gather that God is like by looking at your life and mind? You want to be convicted? Meditate on these things a little while. Understand? Oh, let's see. He's kind of narrow-minded. He's cold. He's a complainer. Some of that. We exude some of that. May it not be. May we grow? They're not going to say he is seamlessly perfect. Because we're not. But they ought to say he loves people. He listens. His children say they're sorry when they sin. They are grateful to God. The Bible teaches a great connection between joy and gratitude. And if we are really grateful, we will be a happy people. I'm not talking about putting it on. And I'm not talking about being somebody else than who you are. And be yourself and the joy that shows through your personality is different than through somebody else's. Don't pretend to be bubbly barber if you're not. That doesn't make it doesn't work. But be yourself and be grateful and people will say, children of God, they are happy people because they know God and so forth. May the Lord use this truth in our lives. John, fathers don't exasperate your children. Yes. I wish it also said, children, don't exasperate your fathers. But that's right. It does say honor your father and it does specifically say to fathers. I don't know what the Lord says that. But that specifically says to fathers, don't exasperate your children. And we need to hear it. It's true. Patience indeed is a be careful if you pray for patience is one of my friends says, I'm gonna pray for that again. If you say, Lord gave it you the heart away to hyperactive kids. We receive fatherly discipline. We receive fatherly discipline. Friends, according to Hebrews 12, discipline, including the hard guys sometimes. I mean, the spiritual board of education applied to the seat of instruction is a badge of fatherhood of sonship. It's a badge of belonging to God. My son do not make light of the Lord's discipline. Hebrews 12, 5 quoting Proverbs 3. And do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines those he loves. And he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. So if God's discipline in you, be patient. Submit because your father loves you. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons and daughters for what son is not disciplined by his father. He couldn't envision the 20th century. We know plenty of them. And even secularists are backing off now. And they're saying we have done so poorly. We need to re-institute some discipline here. It's getting out of hand. It's not good for the kids to do whatever they want. If you're not undergoing, if you're not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. The discipline of God is a sign of sonship. That's amazing. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live? Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best. But God disciplines us for our good. Watch this principle of family resemblance that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Why do we buck at our father's discipline? Instead, we should humble ourselves before him. Certainly, that is appropriate. Lastly, we await our final adoption. We await an adoption that is still to come. In other words, if I put this up on one of my handy-dandy charts, have you figured out yet why I have a chart like this? Yes. It's the same reason we use big terms. So you'll need us. We want to be needed. We want to be employed. That's exactly it. Adoption is initial. There is no biblical notion of after having been a slave and becoming a daughter or a son in being a slave again and being adopted a second time. There's nothing like that that I can find in the scriptures. There's an initial adoption and a final one. Romans, so it's initial and final with me. Look at that parallel to justification. I didn't squeeze it that way. That's exactly what the Bible teaches. My own method is to teach, to study the doctrines as much as possible, independently of the others. I honestly did not try to make adoption fit justification. As a matter of fact, I came to it through trial and error over a period of years seeing that they were parallel. Oh, not exactly, but in a number of major ways they are. Romans 8 and verse, well, 23 is the real clincher. We ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters. Even the redemption of our bodies. So adoption has a future and bodily aspect to it. So we, you know, we've been adopted already. First John 3, too. It has not yet been revealed what we shall be. And that's kind of exciting. Now we are the children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. Talk about family resemblance, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him. We're going to be like our older brother who happens to be the son of God for we shall see him as he is in the meantime. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Many results of adoption more than this could be listed. I would add this notion of the liberty of the sons and daughters of God. We are free in Christ Jesus free to sin. Oh, no, but free to worship and love and serve our father who by his grace has put us into his family union with Christ adoption sanctification. Once again, our guide is hukama 192 to 233 of saved by grace definition from 192. We may define sanctification as that gracious operation of the Holy Spirit involving our responsible participation. This is the definition of progressive and not initial adoption if I'm right by which he delivers us from the pollution of sin renews our entire nature according to the image of God and enables us to live lives that are pleasing to him. You know how much I appreciate his book, but I need to be critical at some points constructively and respectfully critical. He acknowledges both an initial or definitive and progressive sanctification. His definition does not speak of initial however it speaks of progressive sanctification. He thus falls back into the common way we define it which isn't bad, but it's partial. He actually leaves out the future aspect of adoption which hurts his presentation a little bit surprise surprise sanctification that I say adoption. I did say he knows he includes the future aspect of adoption. He my tape recorder came back in my mind he neglects the future aspect of sanctification if my memory serves me correctly sanctification is in union with Christ. No surprise on that score we are sanctified 194 in union with Christ Romans six is a great text for this we were buried with him into death. Romans six four and five in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father we too may live a new life if we have been united with him like this in his death we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. What Paul is trying to accomplish in Romans six is to further the sanctification the progressive sanctification of his ears the way he does it is by teaching them union with Christ and the way he does that is by reminding them that they have been baptized and thereby joined to Christ in his death and resurrection. So sanctification speaks sanctification is by virtue of union with Christ it is and notice this individualistic Americans it is corporate it is individual of course and the corporate never undermines the individual aspect we want to go to Ephesians but it is not only individual. I am not only individually sanctified being sanctified Ephesians five is a great place to show this 25 to 27 husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrink or any other blemish but holy and blameless that's corporate that's as corporate as you can get one of the purposes for which Jesus died is to sanctify his church by the way that verse gives us hope there is no local church on earth whose pastors and leaders and members would at any time think this church is now perfectly radiant no stain wrinkles or blemishes but it's no in fact we have all kinds of spiritual zits acne pimples and a whole deal you know lots of the time but there is hope for us the church will be made perfect we can count on it our confidence is in the work of Christ who will present his church in that way to himself spotless and holy sanctification is corporate it's also individual of course we're not denying that the means that God uses to sanctify his church corporately and its members individually is our the means are the word and faith right there we saw the word Ephesians five 26 Christ gave himself up for the church because he loved her to make her holy cleansing her by the washing with water through the word the word is God's means of sanctification it's how he cleans up his church the Jews had the right idea I'm turning the John 17 they called the Old Testament scriptures and we could call the whole Bible list this the the writings the book that defiles the hands in other words the scriptures convicted them of their sins they had the right idea it was the holy writings of a holy God that showed them their sins John 17 17 is famous sanctify them Jesus prays to the father of the ones the father had given him by the truth your word is truth and context it means the spoken word of God but in fulfillment of John 14 15 and 16 it means the written word of God because Jesus promised that the spirit of truth would lead to the disciples and teach them and bring the things from him give his things to them and so forth this sanctification in verse 17 is grounded in Jesus own personal sanctification in verse 19 Jesus sanctification yes for them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified it's tricky two different uses of the word in one verse why do you say that he didn't need to be sanctified in the way we are his sanctification is his priestly consecration he sets himself apart to his cross work for them I sanctify myself father I consecrate myself as the great high priest that they too may be truly consecrated to God in the sense of having their sins forgiven and by virtue of his cross work then contemplated I understand but yet really just to happen shortly to happen he could say in verse 17 father sanctify them by your truth acts 26 18 speaks of those who are sanctified by faith feels like a sword drilled a night turning many pages in our eyeballs Paul is testifying before her it a grip of two of his conversion and in 26 18 well in verse 17 Christ the glorious Christ speaks to him I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles I am sending you to them act 26 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to right from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me sanctification includes these means others as well but the word and faith I would also include the sacraments the ordinances baptism and Lord supper as visible words would come under word of God and the church itself and prayer and other means could be could be cited but for the sake of economy I'll just mention those pattern the whole word of God is our pattern for sanctification understood in terms of the progressive revelation of Scripture here Christ himself is our pattern of sanctification his own perfection is a model for us not that we will attain it in this life but God's standard is perfection make no mistake about it the end of Matthew 5 be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect Jesus say first Peter 2 quoting Leviticus be holy as I am holy says Lord time out you say God has as the standard for the Christian life absolute sinless perfection yes but we cannot attain that in this life that is correct what is God doing perpetually frustrating us no he is showing us that the standard is too high for us that he might number one humble us that we may never think that we've made it oh we've made it in the son of God in the sense of being forgiven okay but we never can rest on our laurels and say what a fine Christian I am Lord I mean good shape no we need to keep striving but less that produce unbelievable frustration we need secondly to say not only is this standard of absolute perfection humble us but it drives us to the enabling grace of God every day of our lives we're not only saved by grace once and for all but we live the Christian life by grace every day again and again and again that sounds boring to you I suggest you bow before the cross again and think about what Jesus did that's not boring that's exciting there is victory in Christ but it's not I'm not teaching a fool's gold here it is not sinless perfection God knows our tendency to forget him to make a little progress in the say point now I've arrived I'm really something great I hope others are noticing how spiritual I am today so he sets an impossible standard to keep us needing his grace and realizing that we need to walk with him as our father with our hand in his and so forth Romans 8 29 another way to say it is this for those God for new he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be the first born among many brothers the pattern of sanctification is the Lord Jesus Christ it is one of the reasons we have the gospels first John 2 says let everyone who says that he is in him walk as Jesus walked it means live as Jesus lived the work of the Trinity sanctification is the work of the Trinity and of believers it's the work of the father Hebrews 12 10 we've just read this under the doctrine of adoption there's overlap here God the father disciplines us that we may partake of his holiness I botched it let me look God disciplines us for our good Hebrews 12 10 that we may share in his holiness although discipline at the moment is painful later on it produces a harvest of righteousness for those who have been trained by it the father sanctifies his people the son sanctifies his people Jesus love the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify the church Ephesians 5 25 through 27 and the Holy Spirit sanctifies the people of God as well 2nd Thessalonians 2 and verse 13 but we always ought to thank God for you 2nd Thess 2 13 brothers love by the Lord why do we thank God because from the beginning he chose you to be saved when was the last time you thank God for choosing for for the election of another Christian it's biblical he chose you to be saved through the sanctification of the spirit through the sanctifying work of the spirit and through belief in the truth I'll say more about this in a moment but for now obviously the whole Godhead is involved in our sanctification you say well based upon my Christian life that makes sense it's going to take the whole Trinity to keep working and so forth anyway that's what that's the way it is remember I said the application of salvation is the work of the Trinity especially of the Holy Spirit and indeed I would say sanctification is especially the province of the spirit after all he's the Holy Spirit who makes us saints in the first place and who works practical holiness into it into us but it is not the spirit separated from the father or from the son the father son and Holy Spirit sanctify their people that might speak to us of how important our sanctification is to God sanctification is definitive progressive and final it is definitive the text I just read I believe speaks of as definitive you can also say initiative I'm sorry initial initial initial once and for all progressive and final it's initial sanctification second Thessalonians 2 13 we are always to thank thank God brothers loved by the Lord because from the beginning he chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the spirit and through belief in the truth those two seem to go together I would even suggest the sanctifying work of the spirit is perhaps hinted at here as the cause of belief in the truth but I won't use it to prove it it's my instincts tell me that but I'm just saying this it's the sanctifying work of the spirit that isn't conjunction with belief in the truth it's initial or definitive sanctification one more and that's first Peter one I'll go to this one because here I can show that initial sanctification is the cause of faith some of you are interested in my attempt to work with these things I told you before I cannot follow the traditional notion of the order of salvation and try to put all these doctrines in a neat cause and effect relation I did say I have three tiers tier one God makes the first move he gets to glory calling regeneration and initial sanctification are the cause of repentance faith now's my time to prove that to attempt to do so repentance faith two sides of one coin are the instrument the means of justification and adoption I guess I regard the rest of it basically as proved except for this point calling I relied upon the drawing of John six for my calling text the generation first John five one John three looks this way and John one 12 and 13 as well what about sanctification show me by the way here you see sanctification on this chart as initial progressive and final remind me to speak of the holistic consequences of that but for now prove to me I'm from Missouri you say that initial sanctification produces saving faith I'll be happy to but I think I need to give you a break first less we run out of film let us break for about nine minutes and try to conclude our class one time