 Good morning to all of you. Last class we were looking at the doctrine of redemption. We started with the doctrine of sanctification but then we could only spend about five minutes on that. So today we will be continuing with the doctrine of sanctification and we'll try to wrap up all concepts related to salvation before the break itself so that after the break we can maybe start with the doctrine of the church. So coming to the doctrine of sanctification maybe we can begin by looking at a couple of verses that can be our introduction for today. So if we could have any one person read out a couple of verses which talk about what God has done for us and what we need to do from our side. So maybe we could first begin by reading 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9. If someone could read out for us 1 Peter 2 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. It says here in this verse that he has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. So we have been set apart, we have been specifically chosen, we have been declared a special people and we have been brought into the marvelous light. So because of what Jesus has done for us, because of what God has done for us, the sanctification has started because sanctification is about being set apart. So the setting apart started right at the moment of salvation when God declared us as chosen. He declared us as his own special people and he brought us out of the darkness and set us apart to live in his marvelous light. So that's basically when the sanctification process started in our lives. But we have to continue to walk in this sanctification if we are to grow in God, otherwise it will not happen. So let's look at the other verse which talks about sanctification. 1 John chapter 3 verse 9, a very familiar verse if someone could read out, 1 John 3, 9. Whoever has been born of God does not sin for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. So in the NKJV it says that no one who is born of God will sin. But then if you look at the actual Greek, it's the present continuous. So that is why NIV, it translates it as no one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed remains in them. They cannot go on sinning because they have been born of God. So all of us who have become true believers who have the work of the Holy Spirit happening inside us, we will not continue to sin. We will not go on sinning but because of the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we will start getting sanctified. We will start setting ourselves apart to live in this marvellous light rather than continuing to live in the darkness. So God has already declared us as his chosen people but now we are expected to live like this chosen people, living in a set apart manner and not continuing to sin. So if we see any believer who is living in habitual sin and is not repenting at all and is not showing any signs of even being convicted, then there's a chance that that person has not even become a believer. He might have said a few words, he might have made some kind of a resolution but that divine work of the Holy Spirit where that sinful fallen spirit being became a new living spirit that has not taken place which is why that person does not feel much conviction, that person continues to live in sin every single day, every single week and there is no change, there is no progress. So one year goes by, two years go by and the person is not growing spiritually. The person is still stagnating at that same level, held down by the same temptations, still living in those same sins because there's no divine work of the Holy Spirit happening inside that person simply because that person is now still a sinful fallen spirit being. He has never been crucified with Christ, he has never been reborn through the Holy Spirit into a new living spirit. So this is one verse which can help us assess whether we have become true believers or not. 1 John 3 9, where the present continuous tense is used, no one who is actually born of God, who has been reborn into a new living spirit being, such a person will not continue to sin because God's seed remains in them. I mean if we were to use the modern terminology, we would say it's like as if God's DNA is inside us. He is the one who has birthed us now into a new living spirit. So his DNA is now in us and so we will be like him. If you have a child being born to a couple of musicians, this likelihood that the child also will have musical talents because both the parents had musical talents, it's there in his DNA, it's there in his genes. So the child also will probably have musical skills. So this is something like that. God is holy and so if we have really been born of God, we also will experience the desire for holiness inside us. We will not comfortably go on living in sin because the DNA inside us makes us long to be different. It makes us long to be like God. So if a person is not feeling any kind of conviction and over the years if the person is not seeing any kind of growth, then maybe the person would actually have to ask themselves, did I ever really become born of God or did I just make some kind of a resolution and weep a few tears at that time when I said the salvation prayer. So being set apart is a continuous process where we choose not to continue in sin but we choose to keep coming out of one sin after another till we start gaining victory over all the areas of weakness which are there in our lives. So we'll now look at a series of verses which talk about this sanctification. This one verse which can be very comforting for us. First Thessalonians 5, 23, which is more like a wish which Paul is wishing over the Thessalonian believers. First Thessalonians 5, 23. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says here, may God himself sanctify you through and through. So sanctification is always a divine work. A person cannot make a new year resolution and just start being holy based on that resolution. It's a work of the Holy Spirit. It's something that God himself does inside us. So all that God is saying is that you cooperate with me even as I begin to change you, which is why we are told in Galatians 5, 16. We are commanded in Galatians 5, 16. So I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. So every day we wake up in the morning and we make a choice and we say, Yes Lord, today I'm going to walk by the Spirit. I'm going to take your help. I'm going to ask for your strength and I'm going to hold on to you. I will try to be sensitive to your hearing, to whatever you have to say, so that if you correct me, then I'll be ready to quickly respond. So we make this commitment every morning and we choose to walk by the Spirit with His enabling power, with His help. So we do this on a daily basis and even as we are doing that, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That DNA which is there inside us, that Godly DNA which is inside us, it will kick in. It will help us to start living a new and different way. I mean this is something that we have all experienced in our Christian walk. All of us who are true believers, we have seen radical changes in our lives. We are no longer what we used to be. Even as we have been trying from our side to walk by the Spirit, the Spirit has been refining us, cleansing us, changing us into people who are more and more like Him with His desires, His preferences, His kind of choices. This is something that we have actually witnessed in our own lives and if someone has not witnessed these things, then that person can go to the Lord and say, Lord, it looks like I have never even been born again but now I choose to repent and I choose to turn my back on my past and now Lord, even as I place my faith in You, please Lord, You be my Savior, You deliver me so that person would enter into a new walk with God. So this is a supernatural work which God does. He asks us to walk with Him so that He can do His divine work of sanctification inside us. Another verse that we need to look at is Philippians 1-6. Again, this is an assurance that is given to us. Philippians 1-6. Being confident of this very thing that He who has began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. So the Lord is interested in helping us and He will continue to do His good work in us. So we will not become perfect in one year. So the end of one year of your Christian walk, if you're feeling very discouraged and you're thinking, oh, have not become like Christ yet, you do not need to be discouraged because it promises us over here that until the day of Jesus Christ, until the second coming of Christ, God will continue to work in us. He will continue to polish us. This is an assurance of promise that He is giving His children. He says that He will complete the work which has been started. So He will do His work of sanctification in us if we choose to walk by the Spirit every day. Another verse. Why do we go through this process of sanctification? Is it just basically so that we can have a nice reward, so that we can have a nice big crown? Is it because we can have a nice mansion in heaven? Are these the reasons why we undergo the sanctification? What's the actual goal of sanctification that would be in Romans chapter 8 verse 29? So if someone could read out for us Romans 8, 29. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be confirmed to the image of His Son that He might be the first born among many brethren. This is the goal of sanctification so that we will become confirmed to the image of His Son. He wants all of Jesus' brothers and sisters to be like Jesus. So He is taking us through this sanctification process so that we will all begin to resemble our brother Jesus Christ. So we will look like as if we all belong to one family. So this is the goal that we will all become like Jesus. Therefore He is taking us through this sanctification process. So we are supposed to be excited about it. We are not just simply supposed to be excited about the free ticket to heaven. We are not just supposed to be excited about the miracles and the blessings which we, you know, God is releasing to us. We are supposed to be excited about the fact that we who once upon a time were slaves of sin are now being given a glorious second chance where people like us are becoming more like Christ. Something very divine is being done inside us while all the rest of the world is chasing after money and position and power and even though they may think that they have reached great heights when God looks at them, He sees that they are wretched and poor and blind and naked. That's how they look in God's eyes. We, on the other hand, instead of being in that pathetic condition, we are getting clothed in white robes and we are actually beginning to resemble Christ. We are going towards great heights. There's a beautiful future for us because, you know, we are moving towards edification, towards being built up, not like the rest of the world which is moving towards destruction. So we should be excited about these things and therefore, we should want to play an active role in our daily sanctification. Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 to 13 is where Paul gives this commandment to the believers. If we could read out that, Philippians 2, 12 to 13. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now, much more than my absence, walk out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Yes. I hope this is not something that I have already covered in one of our previous classes. If I have done so, please raise your hand because sometimes it's very difficult to remember what I have covered in which class, but I think I have not covered these verses in our doctrinal foundations class. So in these two verses, Paul is giving a command to the believers and he says, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. This is a command that he is giving. Now, he's not saying, work out your salvation in the sense, earn your salvation through good works. He's most definitely not saying that because again and again in all the scriptures, he has made it very, very clear that it is by grace through faith that salvation is attained. It has nothing to do with works. So what is he saying? What does he mean when he says, continue to work out your salvation? He is using the Greek word, kater gezomai. Okay. I'm sure I've assassinated the pronunciation, but that's basically what the word is. K-A-T-E-R-G-A-Z-O-M-A-I. That word over there, continue to kater gezomai your salvation. What exactly does the Greek word mean? It basically means to create something or to produce something. So he's saying, continue to create or produce works of salvation. He's not saying, earn your salvation. Salvation has been given to you freely by grace through faith. Now, start creating, start producing works of salvation which will show and demonstrate to everyone that yes, you are saved. When people look at your fruit, they will either think that you are a saved person or they will think that you are an unsaved person who's faking spirituality. So our actions, our choices, our lifestyle will automatically show people whether we are really saved and we are becoming more like Christ or we are moving in the opposite direction towards destruction. So he says, you know, whether I'm there to watch over you and supervise you or not, he says, dear friends, please continue to produce works of salvation is what he's trying to say over here. And he says, do it with fear and trembling. Does this mean that we should live in constant fear, always wondering whether God is, you know, about to beat us, punish us, criticize us? Does it, does he mean that when he uses this term with fear and trembling? No, that term which is used over there with fear and trembling, that's a term which Paul uses three or four times in his letters. And in all of those four places where he mentions this term, fear and trembling, he is not talking about being scared, he's not talking about living in fear, because he himself says right, in 2 Timothy 1,7 he says that we believers have not been given a spirit of fear. So no, he's definitely not talking about us being afraid all the time and being fearful, rather that's a verse which is talking about humility. Let's look at one example, you know, one place where Paul uses this term, 1 Corinthians chapter two versus two to four, if someone could read out, 1 Corinthians chapter two versus two to four. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and power. Yes, so here when Paul is writing to the Corinthian believers, he says, you know, when I came to you people to share the gospel with you, I didn't use all those special Greek, you know, speech styles which all these philosophers use. People go and you know, people go and sit in that assembly and listen to these great Greek philosophers giving long speeches using those beautiful Greek speech styles. He says, I didn't bother doing any of that. I didn't use any wise and persuasive words, rather I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. He was not scared of the Corinthians. He was not a man who lived in fear. Here rather it is saying, I came to you in weakness with humility. He humbled himself and he decided, I'm not going to try and pretend to be like those great Greek philosophers. I'm just going to talk in a very simple manner about Jesus Christ crucified. And the cross was not a very nice topic in those days. The cross was something which was looked down upon, something that is a humiliation but he humbled himself and he decided, it's all right, even though my message may sound weak, God's power will be revealed if I just speak out this simple message. And so with that attitude of humility, he chooses to present a very simple gospel to the Corinthians and so that term over there talks about humility. In the same way, if you look at the other places where Paul uses this term, humility is what is presented. Let's look at that. Second Corinthian chapter 7 verse 15, if someone could read out. Second Corinthian 7 verse 15. And his affections are greater for you. As he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. Yeah, so these Corinthian believers, they received him, not with fear. Here it's talking about how they received him with humility because he was conveying some instructions to them, which probably they would have found difficult, but they humbled themselves and they accepted what was being told. So the term is talking about humility. And it's the same thing that we see again in Ephesians 6 5 where he says, bond servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in sincerity of heart as to Christ. So here in this verse, he's talking to the slaves and he's telling them, be humble and serve your masters sincerely. Even if your master is a cruel man, you humble yourself and you do your work sincerely because you're doing it for the Lord, not for a human master. So in all of these places, that term fear and trembling is not talking about a negative attitude of fear. It's talking about humility. Okay, that's just a Greek term which when translated into English gives us a very wrong picture. So this is what Paul is saying as an instruction to the Philippian believers when he says, continue to work out your salvation, continue to produce, create works of salvation with humility or it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Why should you have this attitude of humility? Because it's God who's giving you the willpower to live in a sanctified manner. He's giving you the determination which you need to get sanctified day by day. He is giving you the determination and it says who works in you to will and to act. Not only does he give you the determination you need, the willpower you need to start changing your ways, he also gives you the power to do it, to actually act it out. So both the power and the determination are being supplied by God himself. So humble yourself and cooperate with him. Humble yourself and start producing works of salvation. So if a person were to continue living in their sinful ways and ignore what God is offering them because he's trying to work in them to give them the determination, the willpower and also the actual enabling power required to act out and live out in a sanctified manner. Because he is doing that, humble yourself and continue to produce works of salvation. That's the command that Paul gives to the Philippians. So this is a command which applies to us. We are supposed to fully cooperate with the Lord even as every day he gives us the determination which we need and he gives us the power which we need to overcome our areas of weakness. So there are two basic things that we can do, two basic ways in which we can work out or produce the fruits of salvation. What are the two basic things that we can do to produce or work out the fruits of salvation? First, first very good piece of advice is found in Hebrews 12 verse 1. Hebrews 12 verse 1. Therefore, we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin with so easily ensnazers and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Now this is a very, very practical point. Each of us has our own set of weaknesses. I may be a very strong in one area but I may be very weak in another. So all of us have certain areas where we tend to fall. Maybe I'm a very calm person who never loses my temper. So I'm a person who does not pick fights with people and I'm very patient and all of that but maybe I have some other sin, maybe I have the sin of pride. I think I'm better than everyone and I think I'm superior than everyone and I don't really listen to what God has to say because I tell myself, oh I'm not bad tempered like other people so I'm well off. I don't need to listen to everything God says that pride which is there in me that may be my area of weakness. So for another person, it may be their temper which is their area of weakness. We all have certain areas of weakness and the very practical advice being given over here is let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. There are some specific sins which always end up entangling us. So the advice being given here is that if you want to get serious about the race which you are running for God, you need to first deal with those specific sins which you always end up getting entangled in. So this is one way that we can start working towards producing the fruits of salvation. We have to be very very serious about those specific sins. I remember a long time ago when I was still a youngster, our youth pastor, he said to me, Deepika you're very nice to yourself, stop being nice to yourself, you need to be a little more strict. He said that in a very nice way but he I think saw certain things in me which I was not which I was very comfortable with. I was not interested in changing my ways regarding those particular areas and he said stop being nice to yourself. It's time that you become strict with yourself and get rid of those things because it's painful. Those are things which have become your pet sins. Those are areas where you fall again and again and you're quite comfortable living in that way. But unless you get rid of those and you throw them off like it says over here, everything that is hindering you, if you don't throw it off, you will never run the race. You'll always still be near the start line. You know when you have the Olympics and you have all these people, they once the gun is shot, they all start running forward and they're all racing forward. There's nothing, they don't have anything on them which can hold them back. On the other hand, what if you had one single participant who's still standing somewhere near the starting line because he's wearing all these baggy clothes and he's got all kinds of things in his hands and there's so much weight dragging him down. He's still fumbling somewhere near the start line where all the others have taken off. That will be the case of you and me if we don't get rid of the things which are hindering us. All the others would have raced forward to accomplish whatever God has set for them, whatever goals God has set for them and you and I will still be near the starting line holding on in our hands to all those things which are entangling us, not willing to let go. That would be such a defeated life and so Paul is telling those people, continue, please continue to work out, create the fruits of salvation which need to be done with all humility. Is it not true that most often we as Christians are like neither fearful nor trembling? Neither. We are neither fearful nor are we trembling. We always, I mean it's not the, we kind of like to see the softer side of Jesus and we accept it with grace through his faith and think. Yeah, of course here it's not talking about fear nor trembling, it's talking about humility but yes I get the point that you're making that we tend to take Jesus very lightly. We just want to, like you said, we just want to continue dwelling upon the softer side of who he is but we have to go back to Matthew chapter 11 where Jesus says, come to me, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble. So he is very gentle and humble in the way he imposes that yoke upon us but it is a yoke. It is something that you will have to carry. It is something that you will have to bend your and humble yourself and bend and accept on a daily basis. So he never lowers his standards. Yes, he's very gentle, very humble, very patient but he never ever lowers his standards. So this is something that we miss out on. We think that just because he's gentle and humble, he's just going to dismiss that yoke which you're supposed to take up and he'll give you some cheap substitute. No, because we are his children, he will discipline his children. He will not allow his children to grow into vagabonds who are just wandering here and there. He has a goal for us and he has promised that he will finish the good work which he has started in us. So he has to fulfill those promises. So we notice that he does continue to convict us whether we like it or not. Anyone was willing to respond to that conviction which they are feeling inside will have to ultimately take a stand and say, yes, Lord, I have been very lazy spiritually but I think now it's time that I take a stand. So one thing that I have understood is that in all of my experiences, when God gets hold of me regarding something and he does not give up, every time I go for my quiet time, he'll bring up the topic again and again and again. He will not back down. I try to give him explanations of why I cannot do that. I try to explain to him why it is so difficult. I try to explain to him how rotten the other person is behaving and it's not really my fault. I tell him everything but he's unshaking. He says, this is my stand and this is what I'm expecting of you. Are you willing to humble your stiff neck and bend your neck and submit? So he is very gentle, he's very patient. If you want to waste 10 years, he will wait patiently those 10 years but those 10 years are gone. You'll never get back those 10 years. All that you could have become, all that you could have achieved is lost. It's gone. They talk about how the grasshopper's eater will be restored but you can't just take that scripture out of context and apply it to all life situations. So he is humble and gentle but he will never lower his standards. He's very strict. Always in the end, it's me who had to bend because after all, he's right. He never bent. He never lowered his standards. Okay, fine. In your case, fine. You can live with this lower level. Never once has he said that. He has always waited and I have wasted years of my life. Fool that I am. Complete big fool that I am. No. So he is gentle but never forget. He will never lower his standards for you. He will help you, all that you require to rise up to his standard but he will not come down to your level. So I mean, I think I've mentioned this before earlier in one of my classes. When I was picturing myself as being in this pit, unable to get out and God is standing over there and looking down at me in the pit and thinking, oh my, this woman, she'll never get her act together. These are things which I'm thinking in my mind and then I felt that God was saying to me, I'm not standing on top and looking down at you. I'm in the pit with you. I'm willing to give you a push. I'm willing to boost you up. I'm willing to get you out by the power of the Holy Spirit but are you willing to cooperate? Will you bend your stubborn neck and start listening to what I'm saying? That was so encouraging. I said, Lord, you're right here in the pit with me even though I'm so disgusting. Thank you, Lord. Yes, I'm willing to listen and I think after that I started to make some progress because finally I understood he's literally in the dirty pit with me because he loves me so much and really wants me to get me out. So he never lowered his standards but he said I will help you in every way to come up to my standards and of course I'm still in the process but I am learning. So yes, he's a gentle and loving teacher but never ever forget that he is strict. He will never lower his standards. So maybe if we have become aware of that aspect of him then we will not take him that lightly. So yes, what else can we talk about regarding sanctification? So the first concept, get rid, throw off everything that is hindering you and holding you down so that you can get out of the pit very, very quickly and he will boast you up. He will help you, he will do whatever is required to help you but you need to first of all take a stand and say, yes, I'm going to start getting rid of these things. Second thing that we can do so that we can produce these fruits of salvation. The second thing we have talked about it many times Romans 12 too where it says to not confirm to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You have to choose to renew your mind and in fact this I think is one of the main points which can help us in getting rid of those things which are hindering us. When we actually start renewing our minds we start spending more time in God's presence because we are so desperate to change then God starts opening up those scriptures to us and we start seeing what he is saying is correct. All these excuses, all these arguments which I have been giving, they just literally fade in the light of his word and you begin to realize, oh, what he is saying is so true and he's saying that I can actually live up to that level and that he will help me. So you start holding on to those scriptures, you start believing those scriptures not just for other people but for you personally and then even as you start renewing your mind it becomes easier to get rid of those things which you have been holding on to. You'll be more willing to throw off those things and get ready to run that race for the Lord. So renewing the mind helps but renewing the mind does not happen with 10-minute devotions, a 5-minute prayer. It really doesn't work that way. I remember a long ago when I was working among youth there was this girl, I mean I admire her naivety and her innocence. So joyfully she's telling me, you know, ma'am every day without fail I read the verse on the calendar, the Bible verse which is there and whole day I think about that verse. So I am spending time meditating upon the word, just reading one verse on a calendar, that verse which is there for that, it is Christian calendars, they have a verse for each day. Just reading that one verse and then thinking about that verse a few times during the day, what kind of a spiritual growth and what kind of a renewing of the mind can happen with that. No, we would have to sit there in his presence at least for half an hour and allow those verses to penetrate into our hearts. Otherwise that mind of yours will never get renewed. You'll continue to think the way you used to think in your former life. So for that thinking to change, those scriptures have to sink into our heart. So when I actually began to get more desperate for God because I was seeing that I'm not changing at all and I was getting frustrated, then I said, Lord please give me a hunger to spend more time with you. And he's so sweet, he actually gave me that desire to spend more time with him. Then I think my mind started getting renewed a little bit. Till then it had that say, when you're listening to the sermon from the pulpit, you think, yes, whatever the preacher is saying is so correct. But after you go home, that effect of that sermon goes away because that mind never really got renewed unless you spend time in his presence meditating on his scriptures, absorbing those words into your very being, you will not get renewed. There's no shortcut to sanctification. You have to spend time with him as you spend time with him meditating on those scriptures. Those scriptures start becoming very real to you personally because the Holy Spirit starts imparting that into your inner person. And then the change process begins. Then you'll take those things which are holding you back and you'll throw them off so that you can run that race, not just for a crown, but to honor him and to listen to him saying, well done, good servant. I mean, if someone can get those words out of Jesus on that day, I think that'll be like more than enough for them. Doesn't matter whether your crown is big or small, who cares. He actually said to you personally, well done, faithful servant. I mean, if you can hear those words from him, that would be like the ultimate reward that you could possibly get. So we need to renew our minds. If your mind is still thinking the way the world does, no transformation or sanctification is ever really going to take place. So coming to some thoughts on fruitfulness. Matthew 5.16, we always when we talk about fruitfulness, we talk about the wine and the branches. Yes, we have to abide in him. When we remain in him, we are able to bear fruit. But this is another scripture which talks about fruitfulness. Matthew 5.16, if someone could read out. Let your light go shine before man, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. So if a person is really living as a true believer, their light will automatically shine. Whether they realize it or not, their light will be shining because people around them will see that they are different from the others. So whether the believer realizes it or not, because now their mind is getting renewed. They are no longer confirmed to the pattern of the world, but they are being transformed. People around them will automatically recognize that they are different from the others. They are not the same as all the other people. So whether they other than the believer realizes it or not, that believer's light starts shining when they do not confirm to the pattern of the world, but instead choose to be transformed. So their light starts to shine and people start observing to see how this person behaves, what choices they make, how they react and respond during a time of crisis, whether they fall into temptation or not. So people begin to observe them because they see that there's a light shining from this person, which is not there in other people. So it says here in Matthew 5, 16, Jesus says, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father. So when someone is living in that way, the father of these believers will automatically get honored. They will honor the Christ that you worship because you are living in a way which pleases him and that sets you apart from everyone else and so they will have a greater respect for Christ because of the way you are living and they will glorify the Father in heaven. So one good outcome of living a sanctified and fruitful life is that the father will get glorified through your everyday lifestyle. The second thing about fruitfulness, mango tree does not go on telling itself every day, oh, may is coming, I better produce fruit, I better produce fruit, I should produce fruit, let me somehow produce fruit. No, the mango tree does not struggle and strain and try to produce mangoes. When the season comes, it automatically starts producing the fruit because why? Because it is a mango tree. So if you are a person who is genuinely living, you know, abiding in Christ and living in a way that pleases him, without your realizing it, the fruit of the Spirit will get produced in you. You from your side choose to walk by the Spirit and even as you're walking by the Spirit, he will produce that fruit in you and people will start seeing the patience and the kindness and the long suffering and the joy and the peace. So the fruit he will produce inside you if you choose to just continue walking in him and abiding in him. So the branches of the mango tree don't go on straining and struggling to produce the fruit, they are just staying connected to the trunk and when the time comes, they will automatically produce the fruit because they have stayed connected to the main trunk. A third thing about fruitfulness, you're not trying to produce the fruits of salvation to earn salvation. No, you already have salvation. So fruitfulness is just an outcome of that. So we never try to do good deeds to please God or to earn salvation. God already loves us, we are already saved. So out of gratitude to honor him, we are producing the fruits. We're not, we never produce fruits, we never do good deeds to earn salvation. Salvation cannot be earned. We've talked a lot about sanctification. Just one last thought. Does sanctification mean that we should keep the Old Testament law? Because there's a lot of confusion about whether we should follow the Old Testament laws, not follow the Old Testament laws. Again, if I have talked about this in detail in this class, please put up your hand because I can't remember in what I have covered where. So basically, there are a lot of Old Testament laws which Jesus just got rid of. To use an example, Mark 7, 18 to 23, over there, Jesus talks about the food laws and he says, you know, it really doesn't matter what you eat because what goes inside is not going to pollute you. What is coming out of you shows whether you're polluted or not. So he, in fact, dismisses a whole bunch of Old Testament laws. However, he continues to stress upon the two great commandments, love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and also love your neighbor as yourself. So this, these two commands from the Old Testament, every believer is expected to keep because Jesus says in John 15, he says, if you keep my commands, you know, you will remain in my love. And in verse 12, he explains, my command is this, love each other as I have loved you. So we don't have to observe the Old Testament laws to get sanctified, but we are expected to keep these two great commands to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as our self. These are these two commandments remain from the Old Testament. There are other Old Testament laws which Jesus took and he gave them a new meaning, you know, you find that in that entire Matthew chapter five passage where Jesus gives a new meaning to the law about murder. In the Old Testament, it was just enough if you don't go and stab someone, but in the New Testament, even the words that you speak are, you know, equated with murder. So there should be no hatred in your attitude, because if you hate someone, that is automatically murder. So there's a new interpretation given to some Old Testament laws. Same thing regarding the Old Testament law about adultery. In Old Testament law, if you don't actually go and have an affair with someone, then that's fine. But in the New Testament, Jesus says, even if you look at somebody lustfully, that's as good as adultery. So Jesus gives new meaning to some Old Testament laws. So we would obviously have to keep all of those Old Testament laws. In Matthew five, it also talks about divorce. In the Old Testament times, people would divorce their wives for just about any reason. But in the New Testament, Jesus says, only in case there is unfaithfulness, then you can, if you wish to, you can choose to divorce your partner. So a new interpretation is given to some Old Testament laws and we would keep those laws in sanctifying ourselves. So yes, these are just some of the things that we could talk about regarding sanctification. And I think that should be enough. So after the break and we come back, we will get to the doctrine of the church. Alright, thank you.