Episode 57: The Apostles’ Creed: Article 3: Sanctification

The Third Article: Sanctification

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

This is most certainly true.

LC II:34-46

Who is the Holy Spirit?
- He is God, the third Person in the Holy Trinity.
- “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
What is the work of the Holy Spirit?
- He sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth.
- “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.“1 Cor.6:
What does it mean to sanctify?
- To sanctify means to make holy.
How does the Holy Spirit make you holy?
- The Holy Spirit sanctifies me through the word of God and the holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
- “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17
- “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ” Titus 3:5-6
- “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
Can you come to faith in Jesus Christ or please God without the Holy Spirit?
- No, I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.
- “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3
- “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given by God. … The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually understood.” 1 Corinthians 2:12, 14
- “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!'” Galatians 4:6

LC II:47-53

What is the holy Christian Church?
- It is the Communion of Saints, a congregation of people whom the Holy Spirit has called by the Gospel and continues to sanctify. Martin Luther writes, “Thank God, today a seven-year old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd [John 10:11-16]”
- “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27-28
- “And [God the Father] put all things under [Christ’s] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 2:22-23
- “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. … Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:23, 25-27
How do you identify the holy Christian Church?
- The Church is where the Word of God is preached in its truth and purity and where the Sacraments are rightly administered. (Marks of the Church)
- “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42
Are you a member of the holy Christian Church? How do you know?
Yes.
- I am Baptized. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…” Matthew 28:19; “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved…” Mark 16:16
- I have faith in Jesus. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
- I gladly hear God’s Word. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27; “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:68

“In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.”
- I thought Jesus died to forgive my sins and makes me holy by his blood. (“who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Romans 4:25; ” the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 ) How then does the Holy Spirit forgive my sins?
  - The Holy Spirit delivers forgiveness of sins to me from Jesus through the preaching of the Gospel.
What must you necessarily have to receive the forgiveness (justification) Jesus won for you on the cross?
- “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. ” (Romans 3:23-25)
- Faith.
Can you believe (have faith in) the forgiveness Jesus won for you without the Holy Spirit?
- “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-14
- “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3
- No.

LC II:54-59

“In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.” What does the Holy Spirit do within the Christian Church that forgives your sins? How do you experience this in real life?
- The Holy Spirit works through (1) Baptism, to wash away my sins; through the power of the (2) words of Christ to create faith in God’s promise, through the (3) Lord’s Supper, which forgives my sins and strengthens my faith.
  - (1) “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5
  - (2) “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” Romans 10:13-14, 17
  - (3) “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you,for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'” Matthew 26:27-28
It should be understood now that you can only receive Jesus, his forgiveness, righteousness, and salvation through the Holy Spirit. So, where do you find the Holy Spirit?
- Wherever the Word is taught in its truth and purity and the Sacraments are administered rightly. In short, in the Christian Church.

LC II:60-65

Who will be raised from the dead?
- “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2
- “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out.” John 5:28-29
- Everyone.
Of those raised from the dead, to whom will the Holy Spirit give eternal life?
- “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
- “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
- To me and all who believe in Christ.

What will happen to those who do not believe in Christ?
- “He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” Matthew 25:41
- “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2
- They will be condemned to hell forever.

Are you certain that your sins are forgiven and that you will rise from the dead and have eternal life with Jesus? Why?
- Yes, because God promises that Jesus won all this for me in his holy Word.
- “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:16
- “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Romans 3:23-25a
- “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
- “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15
- “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
- “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
- “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11

LC II:66-70

Conclusion on the Creed.