God does not stop transforming us once we place our faith in Christ.

Through a lifelong process called sanctification, God makes us look more and more like Jesus.

Welcome to the Radical with David Platt Podcast, the latest sermons from teacher, author,

and pastor David Platt delivered weekly.

As always, you can find thousands of more Gospel-centered nation-minded resources at our website Radical.net.

But today, in this message from 2 Corinthians chapter 3, David Platt helps us understand the process of sanctification,

including the fact that this is not something we do in our own strength.

True abiding transformation only comes about through the power of the Spirit as we continually behold the glory of the Lord.

Here's David with the sermon title, The Cross in Christian sanctification from 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18.

As you find your seats, if you have his word, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to open with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

Feel free to use table of contents in Bible if you need to define 2 Corinthians in the New Testament after the Gospels

who come to Acts and Romans, then 1 Corinthians, then 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

Platt, that worship guide that hopefully you received when you came in, that's got some notes, so we'll guide our time together tonight as we talk about the cross and Christian sanctification.

So one of the doctrines, in Scripture, that I, we talk a lot about is the doctrine of justification, what it means to be justified before God.

And then one of the reasons we talk about it is because this is a doctrine that has been confused and misunderstood throughout the history

of Christianity. Going back to the first century, all the way to the 21st century, it was this doctrine, the doctrine of such a justification that was at the center of the Protestant Reformation centuries ago when Martin Luther stood before the Catholic church and said,

we are not justified by what we do for God. We're justified by what God has done for us.

Justification is the crux of the gospel. So for every non-Christian who is here tonight, this is the good news that we hope you will hear and are singing and are praying and even now as I preach, we pray that this good news will make its way from your ears into your heart.

The good news that God loves you. God loves you and he has made a way for you to be saved from the penalty of your sin against God.

And the good news is that that way is not dependent on anything you can do or must do for God.

We had the opportunity to share the gospel yesterday with a man whose entire belief system is based on what he can do to earn his way to God.

And we share with him the good news of the God who has made his way to us. God has come to us in the person of Christ and get this.

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