John MacArthur has a sermon from 1989 on “The Ministries of the Holy Spirit”. In it he cogently summarizes the decline of the true biblical sanctification in the teaching of the evangelical church. Here’s an excerpt on one of the reasons for this phenomenon:

The second contributing factor to the decline of interest in sanctification by the Spirit is what we call pragmatism. In a very highly defined sophisticated complex culture like our own where we are the victims of so much data and so many theories and so many viewpoints and so many solutions and so many programs and seminars and operations and systems, we tend to look in the pragmatic realm at the natural level rather than the supernatural level for the matter of sanctification.

The transcript of the sermon can be found HERE.

One of the things to be wary of is the use of psychology in the counselling ministry of the pastorate. Many pastors will tell you that they practice “biblical counselling”, but what they’re doing is using an unholy admixture of humanistic psychology and biblical principles.

While this system may produce some results, and some change in the subjects, we need to remember that not all change is sanctification.

If we’re to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, The Word of Truth is the only basis for true change.