David Powlison - How Does Sanctification Work?

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Theres nothing more invigorating in your walk with Jesus than getting up every morning and getting actively engaged in your own sanctification. To partner with the Spirit of Christ in your own change, growth, and maturity is a wonderful way of making it your ambition to be pleasing to him. And Im so excited that David Powlison shows the reader how to do just this in his remarkable new book How Does Sanctification Work? I give it a hearty thumbs -up!

Joni Eareckson Tada, founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center; author, A Spectacle of Glory and Beside Bethesda

Every Christian leader, writer, or pastor should have David Powlison whispering in his ear, Gods Word is deep and rich... dont just sit on one paradigmteach the full counsel of God. This book will do that for you.

Paul Miller, executive director, see Jesus ; author, A Praying Life and A Loving Life

To know David Powlison is to know a man who is growing in the sweet fruit of sanctifying grace. To witness his ministry is to see one whom the Lord is using to sanctify many. That is why I am so grateful for How Does Sanctification Work? One of the most crucial areas of debate among Christians today concerns the doctrine of sanctification. Davids is a voice of sound, biblical wisdom in the midst of much confusion. If you are looking for a book on sanctification that is profoundly personal, biblically balanced, and deeply relevant, then this is it.

Heath Lambert, associate pastor, First Baptist Church of Jacksonville; executive director, Association of Certified Biblical Counselors; author, A Theology of Biblical Counseling and Finally Free

In this book, David Powlison sets out a case against simplistic statements that sanctification can be reduced to a just do this or just believe that kind of process. Doing what he always does so brilliantly, he shows us how the riches of Scripture get applied to the details of life. Personal, practical, and bursting with fresh and important insights, here is a book to help Gods people become more like Christ.

Steve Midgley, executive director, Biblical Counselling UK; senior pastor, Christ Church Cambridge

When I think about wise men who have shaped my life and thinking, David Powlison consistently rises to the top. His thoughtful and incisive insight into the human heart and what makes sanctification work is something each of us desperately needs. David recognizes that for all the conversation and writing which have taken place on the topic of sanctification, what seems to be left out is you ! David helps bring his personal story and others narratives into the discussion surrounding sanctification, and in so doing reminds us of the multifaceted way God works in peoples lives. Grab this book today, read it and soak it in, and join David and many others in the process of becoming more like our Savior.

Jonathan Holmes, pastor of counseling, Parkside Church, Uniontown, Ohio; author, The Company We Keep: In Search of Biblical Friendship

Sanctification is a very long word. Though many Christians would be able to give a simple definition such as growing in holiness or becoming like Jesus , few have given much thought to the dynamics of how it happenshow it works. In How Does Sanctification Work? , Powlison helpfully identifies five ways our growth in holiness happens. The principles are grounded in Scripture and illustrated by a transparent look at how it has worked in his own life. And this is an encouragement for us to see how itno, how Gods Spirit is at work in our lives, too.

Timothy Witmer, professor of practical theology, Westminster Theological Seminary; pastor, St. Stephen Reformed Church, New Holland, Pennsylvania; author, The Shepherd Leader and The Shepherd Leader at Home

Sanctification is essential to fulfilling our greatest calling in life: namely, to love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. David has not only set forth the essential themes of this process but also described many of the spiritual nuances that guide our steps through this blessed transformation.

Ken Sande, founder, Peacemaker Ministries and Relational Wisdom 360

Sanctification is a life -and- death matter. What David Powlison offers in this book is no mere how - to manual on having your quiet time. Instead, behind this straightforward title lies an explosively powerful and practical theology of human transformation. This book is deep enough to instruct those who have spent their lives agonizing over how sanctification really works, and accessible enough to guide those who have never had the question cross their minds. In short, this book will leave you fundamentally changed for the better.

Alasdair Groves, director of counseling, CCEF New England

How Does Sanctification Work?

David Powlison

How Does Sanctification Work?

Copyright 2017 by David Powlison

Published by Crossway
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Kevin Lipp

Cover image: Shutterstock

First printing 2017

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NASB is from The New American Standard Bible. Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture marked NIV is taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Trade paperback ISBN: -1-4335-5610
ePub ISBN: -1-4335-5613
PDF ISBN: -1-4335-5611
Mobipocket ISBN: -1-4335-5612

Library of Congress Cataloging -in- Publication Data

Names: Powlison, David, 1949 author.

Title: How does sanctification work? / David Powlison.

Description: Wheaton : Crossway, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016035995 (print) | LCCN 2016040166 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433556104 (tp) | ISBN 9781433556111 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433556128 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433556135 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: SanctificationChristianity. | Spiritual formation.

Classification: LCC BT765 .P69 2017 (print) | LCC BT765 (ebook) | DDC 234/.8dc23

LC record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2016035995

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2017-04-28 02:42:00 PM

To Paul Miller

faithful friend, wise counselor,

and mere Christian

Contents

At the close of his Gospel, John stands back and considers all that he has witnessed over a lifetime: Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25). I love the juxtaposition of those two sentences. The fact that John left out innumerable stories prompts a cosmic leap of insight and imagination. He has just finished a sixteen -thousand- word bookslightly shorter than the short book you are holding. But the whole earth could not hold all the other books that could be written about what Jesus did!