Tuesday, August 22nd | Sanctification Recap

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Tuesday, August the 22nd. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

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We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from Deuteronomy 4, verse 29. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Yeah, that is a logical progression, but it's also a promise. If you seek him, you will find him. It seems obvious to us, but it's really not obvious to a lot of Christians, because there's hurt in our lives, and there's disappointment, and there's catastrophes and tragedies. What we do, and I know I've done this so many times, is we attribute them to God. I sought God, but he didn't answer.

Could it be that he answered you in a way that you didn't expect or that works together for your overall good? It just hurts in the short term. I love this promise that when you seek him, you will find him. I won't always like what I find, but it's going to be for my good.

It's going to always benefit me. Well, think about it. There's an entire group of people out there who have the theological viewpoint that God may exist, but he is entirely unknowable. He is totally distant, and completely other, and completely removed from us. God is different from us, yes, but God loves us and wants us to know him intimately. He wants to be understood and found by his people. He hasn't left himself shrouded in mystery. He hasn't left himself far off so that we can understand. He's given us his word, for goodness sakes. You'll always hear atheists and skeptics and agnostics and people like that who have a platform say, this whole religion thing, I tried.

I gave it my level best. You really did, because this word says right here, you're going to find him if you seek him with all your heart and all your soul. If you are trying to say, all right, I'm going to give it the old college try so I can prove the Christians wrong, then you're not going to find God. He's not interested in proving you right or proving you wrong. He's God.

If you want to find him, you seek him with all your heart and all your soul, with genuine faith, then you're going to find him. That's what the Bible says. What is today? I know.

Hang on. I know what today is. It's your anniversary. Well, yes, it is my anniversary. August 22. Yes, it is my anniversary.

Happy anniversary, babe. This will be seven years? No, this will be eight years. Eight years.

That's awesome. Seven years. 2015 to 2023. Eight years.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's eight years. It's really tough to get a hold of, because we started dating on August 24, and then we wanted it to be the same day that we got married, but that was on a Monday, and she was like, no one's coming to a wedding on a Monday, so we'll do it the Saturday before, so it's the 22nd. So now those, I get mixed up all the time.

Ah, that's close together. Elizabeth and I, our dating anniversary and our wedding anniversary are far enough apart that I can keep them both, but if they're that close together, yeah, that's tough. Yeah, today is my anniversary, but it's also time to harvest some gripes. Welcome to the Grapevine. Happy John and Ellie's anniversary to me.

I know I went last week, but I gotta go with him. Please, please. If the harvest is ripe, you can't fight it. Because this is something that's really been bothering me. This has been on my mind, I would say, for years.

Years? I have talked to Abigail, who is Dr. Schell's daughter. I've talked to Rebecca, who is also Dr. Schell's daughter. I've talked to David, and David, I'm gonna need your expertise here. I'm not Dr. Schell's daughter.

No, David is not Dr. Schell's daughter at all. I really didn't see that coming. But we have a culture in this church of loving The Office. The TV show, The Office. There are some people who love The Office. Now, I'm gonna go ahead and say this right now. I think The Office is fine.

It's fine. It's a good... I would even say it's a pretty great show.

Yeah, I just want to warn you, be careful of the ground you tread on. I don't want to say we. The collective royal we at Clearview have really elevated The Office to a place that I don't feel it belongs. It's not a masterpiece.

It's fine. I have no complaints with the show overall. Here's my problem with The Office. It commits one of the most cardinal sins of fiction, which is giving us an unlikable main character. Do you want to fight now?

No, I don't want to fight. Michael Scott, if you watch The Office, I want you to sound off in the comments and text us, why do you like Michael Scott? He is an unlikable man in every way. He does not grow. He doesn't learn from his mistakes. He doesn't change over the course of the series. He is the best character. He is selfish, petty.

And listen, I have no problem. He's selfish, he's petty, he's egotistical. He doesn't listen to anybody. And all those things are completely fine if he changes by the end of the story. In fact, all those things I listed are characteristics of great writing if he changes, because the worse the character is, the more catharsis at the end of the story when he evolves. He doesn't.

Okay, hold on. Before you even begin to talk about how once the character is at the end and blah, blah, blah, it evolves, you haven't even watched the whole thing. I'm in season seven, and he makes his exit win in season eight?

I think so. Okay, so seven seasons in, he's the exact same character, but then by eight... Season eight better be zesty.

Yeah, I'm saying season eight, he changes on a dime, and you think that's good? He is the best character in The Office. Why? Because he's funny. He is a lovable idiot. I don't think he's lovable. He is just an idiot. Yeah, I think he's just an idiot. He's mean. There are times where he's mean. There are times where he's a bad guy, but he always will think through it. No, go ahead. He'll think through it, and then he'll be like, you know, that wasn't great.

I need to make that right, because this is my family. That's not true. 100%. He will think through it, and then every time he always finds a way where he was the actual hero. I have very little to say, because I don't watch The Office.

Michael Scott, he will think through it. The episode where he tried to make sure Phyllis wasn't Santa. Yeah, he didn't make that right. Yes, he did. No, he didn't. He ended up being Santa in the end. No, he let Phyllis be Santa in the end, and he realized that he was wrong. He went through a few stages that I don't know if I can talk about here. Michael Scott, my problem with him isn't that he's a bad person. I'm cool if a character is bad and then learns to be good or make it right, or at least have some justice.

But he doesn't. He never learns his lesson, and by the end of the show, and we cannot get this, it's just all an intro. We need to devote an entire episode to this.

But he always finds a way where he's like, you know what? Thank goodness I did that, after all. I was the hero in this situation. The only full-length episode of The Office that I can remember is the one where, I can't remember the context, but there's a run for charity or something. I do love that one. Oh, the charity fun run for rabies.

Yeah, yeah. He hits his employee with a car. He hits her with a car, and then he organizes a charity event for her.

The fun run for rabies, and he eats a tub of fettuccine alfredo at the end of the race, and then is violently ill. He hits Phyllis with his car. No, he hits Meredith with his car. I'm sorry, I meant to say Meredith with his car. He is then convinced that The Office is cursed, and they had to break the curse. And then they're like, oh wait, no, Meredith has rabies. And he's like, I know how to make this right.

I'll do a fun run for rabies so that everyone will forget that I hit her with my car, but I'll do a charity run so people will think I'm a good guy. But he loves the people that he's with, too. He really does. The way that he doesn't always express that well, but the way that he treats everybody in The Office, he does love them.

We're low on time. I want to wait until Dr. Shaw's back so we can really dive into this. Because I know he watches The Office. He does, and I want to really dive into this well. That is my gripe that so many people, and David, this is kind of mild. Abigail and Rebecca will defend him to the death. They think he's the greatest character who ever lived to grace all of fiction. He could be.

I don't know. I'm not a Michael Scott fan. Now, Stanley? That's my man, for sure. Stanley. Yeah, I love Stanley.

We're going to dive into the show in just a second, but if you guys have any questions or suggestions, let us know your opinion on Michael Scott, as well. Text us at 252-582-5028, or visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. We'll be back after this. You know, 1 John 515 says, And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clear View Today Show, we want to know how we can pray for you, as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clear View and share your prayer requests, but the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at ClearViewBC.org, or you can download the Clear View app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening.

Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. That's right, and if today is your first time ever joining us here on the Clear View Today Show, Dr. Abbadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. You can find all of his work on his website. That's AbbadanShah.com. And on today's episode, we are continuing to discuss some of Dr. Shah's sermons.

He's still traveling, so keep him in your prayers. The sermon that we're looking at today, this is one of my favorite series. I feel like I say that about every series. No, this one was great, because it walked through all those levels of salvation that we don't ever tend to think about.

You hear, like, ask Jesus into your heart, and the ABCs of salvation, admit, believe, confess, all that kind of stuff. Boom, it's done. Yeah, the end. And there is a simplicity to it, but it is not simplistic. There are layers, and there's depth, there's theological significance. This message is titled Sanctification, so let's give it a listen. Perfect sanctification already been pre-appointed by God.

It's going to happen. Our problem is how to get from here to here. How to live the Christian life. And this is where that passage comes in that we read in the opening, where Paul talks about, why do I do the things that I don't want to do?

And why do I not do the things that I want to do? Don't raise your hand, but how many of you would say, that's, I know exactly what that means. You see, after much studying, I have concluded that Paul was describing not a lost person. He was not describing an unregenerate Jewish person struggling with the law or whatever.

No, he is describing a saved person who is trying to live the holy life in his own strength, in his own power. And there is angst, there is frustration, there is struggle. I just don't know. I don't want to get angry. Why do I get angry? I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be blaming people. I don't want to be constantly controlling. Why?

Why? Why is it that I always have these negative thoughts and they keep coming and they're discouraging and full of doubts and fears and self-pity and I don't want to be like that. And then you go right back into them. To understand how to deal with this, we're going to walk through Romans chapter six, seven and eight, because that's what those passages are about. Now keep in mind, we have two problems. We have the problem of sins, plural, and the problem of sin, singular. Problem of sins, plural. Jesus took care of that problem by taking our sins upon him on the cross.

He became our substitute. Not only did he take our sins on himself, he also gave us his righteousness, but that's only one half of the problem. How about sin singular?

How about the nature of sin? Why do we have to deal with this in the meantime? Our Christian life has begun, but then we go like this. We start going well and then there's a dip. Why can we keep going up?

Well, Paul explains here, Romans chapter six, verse one, how God took care of the second problem. Listen to this. I hope your bowels are open.

They're never going to learn. Some of y'all opening here. Finally, I can hear some pages rustling. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Certainly not. How shall we who, what's the word? Die to sin.

Live any longer in it. How did we die to sin? We're all born in the family of Adam, the family of sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from the dead of sins, but we still carry the family germ of sin that was in Adam and has been passed down to us. So what we need is to get out of the family of Adam and go into the family of Christ.

We need to die. We can't just like walk out of the family of Adam. We need to die in this family and be born into the family of Jesus Christ. That's the only way we're going to do away with the old germ of sin that is running through Adam's family. We're going to do away with the old germ of sin that is running through Adam's family. Got it, Pastor Shaw.

I got it. I remember Jesus talking about, you know, you have to die to yourself. No.

How about those passages where it talks about pick up your cross and follow me. So every day you're just dying to your old sin, right? No.

Listen to what Paul says here, Romans chapter six and verse three. Or do you not? What's the word? See, if you had your Bibles open, you would have shouted out. Do you not? No. Do you not know? There is a knowledge that is missing.

Do you not know? What do we not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus or baptized into his death? Verse four. Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. We understand Jesus being our substitute.

Do you also understand that Jesus is also our representative? He died the death I'm supposed to die in the family of Adam. He was buried and he rose again. And in that death burial and resurrection, I died, I was buried, and I have risen to walk in the newness of life. Means this death is not something you accomplish today.

This has been done 2,000 years ago. When Jesus died, you died. When he was buried, you were buried. When he rose again, you rose again.

And when you got saved, God simply applied that to your account. It begins by knowing that baptism doesn't wash your sins. Baptism is simply a demonstration of this union with Christ. That's why when I take that person and take him down in the water, submerge him in the water, you know what's happening? It's nothing like nothing spiritual happening. You're just like, oh, I don't know what's happening.

It's nothing like nothing spiritual happening. You're simply telling the world that this person who just got baptized died with Christ, buried with him, and have risen to walk in the newness of life. And then we hand them a candle. Amy helps me and we tell them, you know, the light of Jesus is burning brightly in his or her heart. Oh, Pastor Shaw, do you think kids understand that? They don't understand all of that. Some of you didn't until I just told you that. What are we going to do about your salvation? Take it away. Thank God we can't do that.

You get the point? They are doing this under God's command. Jesus said, go into all the world, make disciples baptized. In time, we begin to learn this just like many of you learned it the first time today. That's what baptism means. It's my union. It's my identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is already done. It is past tense. You have to know it. And if you're awake and alive today, you just got to know it. But listen to verse five. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly also we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.

So what do we do with this sin nature? Verse six, knowing this, you see the word no shows up again in the Greek, different Greek words are used by the same idea. You got to know this. That's what George Outlaw was saying. I knew there was more.

I just didn't know it. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. The old man is the old nature, which was crucified with Christ.

What was crucified? The old nature was crucified with Christ. This does not mean that sin was crucified. This does not mean that sin has been eradicated.

Neither does it mean that the old nature has been eradicated. Hey, keep in mind the old man has been crucified. What does that mean when somebody is crucified? The body is dead. When someone dies, what happens to that person? The body dies. What happens to the spirit? The spirit is still living. Either the spirit will go in the presence of God or the spirit will go away from God waiting for the day of judgment. But the person has died.

The body is dead, but the spirit is alive. Pay attention to what Paul says here in Romans chapter six and verse six. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Oh yeah, we all, you know, we all, we all do things, you know, we shouldn't be doing.

And please stop saying that. You're preaching wrong doctrine, teaching wrong doctrine. Let's get back to scripture. That's why you got to dig. That's why you got to study.

That's why you got to listen and know. And that's when you understand the old nature is crucified. The body of sin is done away with. The spirit is still alive. But you're no longer slaves to sin.

No longer slave because their body is no longer ruling over you. It's dead. It's crucified. Nature is crucified. Now here's, listen to verse seven. For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Unfortunately, what many people do is this. When they have struggled with sin, they try to work on the old man, the old nature. They try to train the old nature. They try to suppress the old nature.

They try to fight the old nature. Oh, I'm not going to get angry. I'm not going to, I'm not going to get bitter. I'm not going to, I'm not going to pout.

I'm not going to pout. And then you end up doing the very thing you think you shouldn't do. How does God deal with our old sin nature? He deals with it by making us weaker and weaker and weaker by removing the sinner, by putting us to death. And it's already been done because he doesn't leave us dead. He's already made us alive.

How do we know that? Verse eight. Still have your Bibles?

Are y'all tired of me saying that? Someday, someday you will, you will say thank you. Now, if we died, it's already done. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

Already accomplish. God is not asking you to go crucify yourself or to do penance for your sins. By the way, couples do that to each other, making each other do penance. I don't know what spiritual life you're leading or living there, but it's so contrary to the word of God. But listen to verse six. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Means Jesus is not going to keep going back to the cross. It's done.

He's not going to keep coming out of the grave. It is done. Likewise, you also, verse 11, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here's the second word to remember is the word reckon.

Now, if you grew up in the south, you're going to have to retrain your mind. We're not talking about, are you coming to the barbecue? Oh yeah, I reckon. We're not talking about that reckon, okay? Maybe.

Reckon is logizomai, which means integrate, to count it, to calculate. This is done. This is a fact. And you have to start living that fact.

It's like when you go on a vacation, you put a certain amount of money on the card, and then when you are paying for something, a meal or whatever, you pull out the card, you have complete confidence that this card has the money. The same idea is here. Reckon it. Count on it. This whole thing that Pastor Sha got up here and said, you died indeed to sin. You have left the family of Adam.

You are alive in Christ Jesus. Jesus doesn't go back and forth on this. Neither should you. You have to know it, and you have to reckon it.

Count on it. And the moment you try to do that, be aware there is going to be a fight because the devil will do everything possible to fight you, to lie to you, to point out all your faults. He will tell you that's not true. Look at this. I know what he's saying.

Maybe it works for him, but it doesn't work for you. But as long as we reckon on this and keep our eyes on Christ, we are able to walk this life. This progressive sanctification. And here's what begins to happen. Here comes a trial in your life, family problems or financial problems, but you have already reckoned.

You realize that there's no need for you to worry. You need to trust God. God is sovereign. God is in control. You better reckon that you're going to re- reckon the word reckon.

I reckon that's true, yeah. I think one of the things about this whole thing about sanctification, this progressive thing that happens in our life, is what Paul said. Why do I do all these things that I don't want to do? When he said that, I was like, oh my gosh, I feel that in my soul.

Me, too, dude. I know that it's wrong to be prideful. I know that it's wrong to be arrogant. I know that it's wrong to lust and to steal and to do all this stuff. And yet, I find myself always tempted by these same old things that I hate, these things that I don't want to do. It's the most relatable thing.

And I love the conclusion that he made. Paul is speaking to Christians trying to live a holy life on their own terms. I'm trying to do it with my own power. And we will always go back to the thing that we don't want to do, because the sinful part of us does want to do it. The sinful part of us is wants the things that are disobedient to God.

That's why it's a struggle. If we didn't have a sinful component, sin wouldn't be a struggle for us. I don't have any holiness in me.

I can't manufacture it. God has to deliver me from sin, and that's where holiness comes in. When you see me doing godly things, it's not me. It's the Holy Spirit living through us. And the more he does it, the more he transforms us into the image of Christ.

And is that not acceptable? I also really love the fact that Dr. Shaw just continually was like, Are your Bibles open yet? Are your Bibles open yet? And here's why I love that. Because so many pastors would just look out and be like, Well, they're probably just following along. Or they can read on the blog.

But no, I love the fact that Dr. Shaw holds us accountable. And it's like, Hey, you need to open your Bible. Yes, you've got an app. Yes, you can scroll on your app.

Yes, it's on the screens. But you need to have the physical copy of God's Word in front of you, because there is something in your Bible that you need to know. And that's why I love that.

I'll be honest. Because there is something that matters about reading along. Even while we were sitting here doing this, David was following along in his Bible.

As he's over there monitoring the sound, he opened his Bible up and was following along. It matters. Yeah. But most people are like, I'm good. I'll be all right. And it's one of those things, I mean, Dr. Shaw even said it, there's nothing you're going to do. You're not going to walk out of the family of Adam. To get out, you have to die.

You have to die. And I was like, Golly, yeah, that's true. So many times we're trying to walk out like, Well, I'm going to go to church, and that'll count. And then I'll say a prayer with my kids before bed, and then that's going to count. And I'll teach my kids how to say grace, and that'll count. And so I'm just going to start building up all these things that are going to count. Yeah.

I'm trying to outweigh my Adam sonship. Right. Not going to happen. Does not work that way. Because the battle ultimately is not between the old nature and the new nature. The battle's between the old nature and this Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Right.

Yeah, absolutely. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, if you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. Or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, and you can partner with us financially on that same website.

Be a part of reaching the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today. Bye.