Sanctification Through Life's Pressures: Embracing Grace

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This is a tremendously important question because it gets at a reality of sanctification that is often overlooked, namely that pride and various forms of that sin can lie latent, unseen, in the forgiven spirit indwelt Christian, often giving the impression to the Christian himself and to others that we are more holy than we are. [00:01:02]

I picture Christians in this condition like a glass of water. While the glass of water is very still sitting on the counter, the sediment of pride and other sins can lie unnoticed at the bottom of the glass so the water is clear and seems cleaner than it really is. [00:01:36]

God teaches us in his word that the pressures of motherhood or pastoring or any other kind of trouble or pressure small or great are designed by God for the purifying of his people. First Peter 1:6, for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials. [00:03:23]

The pressures of motherhood are like a fire designed not to consume but to refine the gold of the mother's faith. Hebrews 12:10, God disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. [00:03:54]

Tribulations and pressures drive some Christians away from the faith forever. Jesus said in the parable of the soils, as for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but he endures for a little while. [00:04:44]

God will not let that happen to his children, his elect. He will not let us be tested beyond the grace he gives us to stand. First Corinthians 10:13, or as it says in First Corinthians 1:8, he will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:05:21]

The story of Job shows that some of the most godly people have latent pride in their heart that certain pressures and troubles will reveal. The book of Job starts like this, there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. [00:06:06]

But then came the trials. At first, Job's response was as good as it gets, in submission, in humility, in trust he said the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. But later, it was more than he could bear, and he got angry at God. [00:06:43]

The result of Job's glass of water becoming cloudy with pride and anger at God was this, Job 42:5, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you, and therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. [00:07:36]

God exposes the remnants of pride and sin in our lives so that we will do what Job did, see ourselves more clearly, and repent more deeply. This means that in the process of sanctification, it often feels like we are going backward. This is what she asks about. [00:08:04]

Let your pressures and troubles and the apparent increase of sin which really was there all along, let it all make God's grace sweeter, and let it make your heart humbler, and let it make your repentance deeper, and your warfare against sin more earnest as you fight like a forgiven child of God. [00:09:28]

Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for bringing up the observations from the life of Job. That's quite insightful, and Victoria, thank you for such an outstanding question. I pray that this episode will encourage you in the long fight for personal holiness. [00:10:00]

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