We'll begin today in the book
of 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Well, the Lord answered our prayers.
Our prayers was this, Lord if it be thou will, please bring
that family, those families again. He answered our prayers. I guess
they weren't real pleased with whatever they heard. Or maybe
they're still searching. Who knows? Maybe they'll be back.
We don't know. They're not here today. If they
were here today, you know what they'd hear? Almost the same
exact message they heard last week. Folks, that's all I got
for you. It amazes me Could you imagine
what was going through Gene Harmon's mind? 38 years! The last year. I can just picture in his mind,
he's sitting there thanking himself. It has to be from God. Why would
anybody else show up and hear that same message for 38 years
over and over and over again? Oh, how often we hear these words
from those who want to study God's Word in all kinds of other
ways. There's so much more to the Bible
than just Christ and Him crucified. Well, of course there is. But
what is it to Savior's name? There's more to the Scripture
than just Him crucified, but He's the basis for all things.
All things in it. Brother Gabe brought a message
this morning. I sent him a text afterwards.
They're done three hours ahead of us. I sent him a text afterwards.
It was a Bible study, by the way. It's titled, I think it's
titled, One Doctrine. One Doctrine. One Teaching. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ
from cover to cover. I told him, I said, Brother,
you can bring that over and over and over again. It would not
hurt anyone of God's feelings, God's people's feelings to hear
it next Sunday just as well. He could do the same message.
And it'd be just as good to me next week or this afternoon as
it was this morning. I want to bring Three points this morning to
you. Sanctification, justification, and glorification. And the first one is sanctification.
That's a pretty big word, but it simply means this. It means
to be made holy, to be set apart, to be set aside for holy things,
to be dedicated to. to be made holy. Would that not
suggest possibly that the thing being made holy was not holy
to begin with? That sure sounds like John Rhys. I can see it That elderly woman,
once again, getting up and grabbing her granddaughter's hand and
said, I'm not that much of a sinner. I am. I am. It would suggest that something
that had to be made holy was not holy in the first place.
And the first step for bringing a dead, unholy sinner to salvation
is for them to be brought to know the depth of that sin. We
talked about this on Friday night. You know, if I was to say, and for those of you who know it,
this church will, you'll stay seated. You'll stay
right where you're at. Those of you who don't know will
get up and walk out, but I'm going to tell you this, you could
be just as bad as Hitler himself. I could do the things that Hitler
did if it weren't for the restraining hand of my Savior, God Almighty. What makes you think we're any
different than Herod? What makes you think we're any
different than Pharaoh? What makes you think we're any
different than Esau? There's only one thing that shows
God's people that we're any different than those, and that is the salvation
through the Lord Jesus Christ. But this book is from cover to
cover about Him. I'm a sinner just like all of
those that I just mentioned. The heart is desperately wicked.
Who can know it? That's me. That's John Reeve. I don't know the depth of my
depravity. I could be just, I could, if
God would allow it, I could go down the very same path that
Pharaoh did. Being raised up by God Himself
to be struck down and destroyed to show God, to show the world
His power. We must be shown the depth of
our depravity, dead in trespasses and sin. We sin because we are
sinners by nature. Listen to 1 Timothy 1 verse 15. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. of whom I am chief," said Paul. Paul wrote this long after his
regeneration. He wrote it long after his conversion
on the road to Damascus, pursuing after the Church of Christ, where
we came from is ever before us. It's always going to be before
us. That miry clay that God pulled us out of, the very thing that
was pulling us down into the death of this world, our God,
who loved us from before the world was, picked us up, pulled
us up, just like he pulled Peter up out of the water when he reached
down and grabbed him and he was starting to sink. Just like that,
he pulled us out of that miry pit and he set us upon a rock,
solid, crushed, and him crucified. where we came from is ever before
us and it will be ever before us until we leave this life and
enter into the bliss of eternal life with our very The very one
we love, Christ Jesus our Lord, our exalted Savior. Absent from
this body is to be present with the Lord, it says, for those
He died for. As long as we walk in this life,
the Spirit will war with the flesh, but that's only to a quickened
spirit. That means given one who is made
alive. One that was dead, but has been reborn. One that was
unholy, yet made holy. Our Lord tells us you must be
born again, as it says in John chapter 3 verse 3, John answered
unto him and said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto them, How can a man be born when he is old? How can
he enter in a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
And Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. To be born of the Spirit, to
be born again, is that the will of God, not the will of man. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The
Spirit of God set a people apart, that's what that word means,
sanctified, to be set apart, to be made holy, to be the recipients
of his grace, vessels of honor. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Can he not make a vessel in any
way he wants to? Who are you and I to question
what God does? Oh, many say, oh, that's just
not fair that he would make a vessel and to dishonor. Who? Who are we to say what's fair
with God? His ways are not our ways, folks. His ways are right. Period. No argument. He has created vessels of mercy
And this was done before the world was ever created. Look
here at verse 13 with me of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. But we are bound to
give thanks always, always to God for you brethren, beloved
of the Lord. Paul is thankful. He's writing a letter to these
Thessalonians, the second letter of love. And he's telling them,
I'm bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren. That's
what I told Brother Gabe this morning. That was the text that I sent
him. I thank God for you, brother. I'm thankful for that message
you preached. One doctrine, the doctrine of Christ. What an excellent
way to start the day off. This is what Paul's doing. He
says, I'm thanking God for you. For God hath chosen, because
God hath chosen, sorry, let me back up, I'm not reading it right,
my mind's going one way, my mouth is going another. Because God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of, now catch that, how are we sanctified? He has chosen us. He has chosen us to salvation
through setting apart, being made holy of the Holy Spirit
and belief in the truth. Sanctification. We were set apart
by the Spirit from all of creation to be made holy and without blame
before Him. Isn't that what the Scriptures
tell us over in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4? Listen to this. According
as He had chosen us, In Him, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be, and here's that same word, sanctified.
Sanctification. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. But did you notice that this
setting apart, this being made holy, was not an act of man? It was not a decision that man
had made. Oh, I've decided to follow Jesus. I'm in so much trouble in my
life. There's so many bad things going
on. I've just got to turn things
around. My family is falling apart. I've got to do something. I think I'll go to church and
turn myself over to God. That's not what he said he did
at all, did he? We were sanctified how? We are
sanctified of the Spirit. The Spirit of God, the one who
gives life to God's people, the very one who comes to us when
we're dead and trespasses in sin, the very one who came to
Lazarus when Lazarus was in that tomb and gave him life so he
would hear the words of Christ that cried out, Lazarus, come
forth. Do you ever stop to think about
that? Christ is God in the flesh, folks.
When he says something, people are going to do exactly what
he says. If he had not used the name Lazarus, every grave would have opened
up under the power of his word. Every person that had ever died
before would have come forth out of that grave, because that's
the power of God who spoke. Yet he used one name. He didn't
use the name of all of those others that were laying in that
tomb, in that graveyard. How many graves do you think
were in that area? We don't know for sure, but we
can kind of guess, can't we? There had to be some here and
there. And is the power of God what's holding his voice back?
Nothing! Yet he used one name. The one that was made holy. Do you think Lazarus did something
in that grave to be made holy, to be sanctified, to be set apart?
No. That's what we read there in
Ephesians chapter 1. According as He had chosen us
in Him, God the Father has chosen us in God the Son before the
foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him. It was not in any way to your
decision, to your rededication, or in any work that you can think
of in your own imagination, but that of the Holy Spirit. Salvation
is of the Lord. The dead can't do anything. Lazarus
couldn't make that decision and live. Yet He came forth under
the power of God who set Him apart and made Him holy. Who gave Him life that He would
hear the calling, the irresistible calling of our Savior. And that's
exactly where you and I were when the Lord called us dead
in trespasses and sin. But how then? How are we made
holy? Now we understand what the word
sanctified means. How is it that we are made holy? And that brings me to the second
point, justification. Sin cannot be in the presence
of our Most High God. He who is holy cannot look upon
sin. It must be punished. His justice
must be satisfied. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die, is what he says in his word. Hebrews 9 verse 22, without the
shedding of blood there is no remission. Turn over to Romans
chapter 3 if you would. Go to the left in your scriptures
over to Romans chapter 3. This sin-tainted body, tainted
with the blood of man, can never wash away our sins. How can we wash away sins if
we're trying to wash it with the dirty rag of our own flesh? You ever try to wash something
with a rag that's all dirty and full of goop from food that you
had already eaten of? You gotta do what you gotta do.
You gotta throw that rag away. Get a clean one. We can't just throw our sin away.
It can't be swept under the carpet as we do maybe the dust in our
home. It has to be satisfied. The justice of our God, the creator
of all that is, must be satisfied. How then? How can one be made
holy? How can one be justified before
a thrice holy God? Are you with me in Romans chapter
3? Look at the beginning in verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Being justified. That means justice
had to be satisfied. The justice of God, the punishment
for sin, had to be met. And Christ Jesus the Lord did
exactly that for His people. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, He says. Well, that's who? That's the
ones that He says, My sheep hear My voice. The very ones that
hear His Word of the Lord Jesus from cover to cover, no matter
what page a preacher goes to. It's about our Savior, Christ
Jesus, what He has done. Well, what did He do? He died. He laid down His life. We read in Hebrews chapter 10,
God the Father prepared a body. Why? So that God the Son, who
has always been God the Son, it has always been since the
beginning of time, we know this because it says in John 1 verse
1, in the beginning was God, and God created all things, and
that very God that it speaks of in John 1 was manifest in
the flesh. So we know it's talking about
the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God. had to
have a body prepared. Not a body, not a body from Adam,
not from the Daddy Adam like you and I have, but from the
Spirit, holy and pure. Everything He did pleased the
Father. He looked down upon His Son and
He said, This is My Son in whom I am well pleased. He prepared that body to die
on the cross. To have all of the iniquities
of His people, our iniquities, our shortcomings, our sins laid
upon Him. Being justified freely, back
in Romans chapter 3 verse 24, being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. Folks, that's what our faith
is. We're going to come to the table here at the end of today's
service. We're going to pray to the Lord to bless the bread. The very bread that is a picture
of that body that was prepared to die. That body that was prepared
to serve the justice of God Almighty. And it did exactly that. The
blood that was shed that day washed all of his sheep's sins
clear. He who knew no sin was made sin,
that you and I would be made the righteousness of God in Him. How are we justified? We're justified
through the blood of our Savior, verse 26, to declare, I say it
to you at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is the boasting
then? Is it excluded by what law? Of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. We are justified by faith in
Him. We put all of our trust in Him.
We turn it all over to Him. We have no confidence in the
flesh, as we read in Philippians 3, verse 3. He is our justification. Our sins were laid upon Him.
He who knew no sin was made sin, that we would be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Turn over to Acts 13. Turn over
to the left again, Acts 13. And look with me, if you would,
at just a couple of verses there. Acts 13, beginning at verse 38. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified
from all things. from which he could not be justified
by the law of Moses. He bore our sins in his own body. He took our sins into that grave.
He is the just and the justifier of him which believeth on Jesus. He paid the debt for our sins
and it was laid upon him. He is the seed of mercy, as you
might call it. Verse 24 of Romans chapter 3 says this,
being justified freely. That means no cost. No cost to
you and I, but what a cost it was for the Son of the living
God. He had to give His life. Did
you know that God the Son came here for that very purpose? For
that very purpose, He came to this world to be a servant. A
servant to God the Father. To serve Him in the purpose of
the scapegoat. The sacrifice. The spotless Lamb
of God. Isn't that what we read in Revelation? He who is God was manifest in
the flesh. He humbled Himself and set His
glory aside and became a servant, a substitute. He laid down His
life for His sheep. He laid it down and then He took
it up again. Wicked hands crucified the Lord,
yes, but it was by His determinate counsel as we read in the book
of Acts chapter 2. God proposed purpose to save
a people unto Himself, and if God purposes something, can anything
deter Him from His purpose? I'm here to tell you, no. I stand
up to you and say, no. If anything could be deterred
of God's purpose, then He doesn't deserve to be called that title,
God. If He's waiting on men to do
something of their own good, He's not deserving of the title
God. But He is God. And He's not waiting
for us. He's coming to us when we're
dead and giving us life. Sanctifying us to show us that
we were justified in His Son. I can't remember when I first
heard Gene say this, but he said it over and over again. Justified
is just as if I've never sinned. Isn't that wonderful news to
a sinner? Isn't that wonderful to know
that everything that I deserve, my Savior has taken upon that
cross and paid the price so much so, so full, To every slash of
the T, every dot of the I, everything is paid for. And my Savior, that
God accepted, the Almighty, Righteous, Perfect God accepted the blood
of His Son for our sakes. Who or what can stay His hand?
If it is His will to save someone, shall they not be saved? Turn
over to one last set of scriptures if you would, the 17th chapter
of John. And let me read for you some
familiar words that we all know from Romans chapter 8 verse 29. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate. He predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified. But it doesn't stop right there,
does it? It says, and this was confusing
to me for a long time, it says, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. And that brings me to the last
point. Glorification. If there is no confidence, no righteousness, In our flesh,
how is it we are glorified? How is it? What in us could deserve
any glory? How could God inspire Paul to
write, then he also glorified? Well, if you're looking at something
that you're doing, I'm going to church on Sundays. That would be robbing glory from
God, wouldn't it? That would be giving you the
glory, wouldn't it? I made a decision. I turned myself over to God.
I accepted God. I prayed the prayer. I got in
the waters of baptism. I come to the table. I, I, I. If that's where you're
looking for your glorification, you have looked in the wrong
place. There's nothing in that at all
for us to be glorying in. What is it? If there's no confidence
in this flesh, if there's no righteousness in our flesh, how
is it we are glorified? Christ in us. Christ in us, the
hope of glory. That's hope. Christ in us. Our glory is not in what we do,
not in what we are, not in anything that we have that is in this
flesh, but what is in our spirit. I heard this dear lady, Juan
Dean, confess this morning who her God was sitting at the table
next door, praising Him for the miracle.
See, she had a little problem just like our sister, Pauli Mary.
And by the way, if I didn't mention this before, Pauli Mary's still
not doing well. She's not doing any worse, but
she's not getting any better. And Juan had the same problem.
I hope I'm not embarrassing you, Juan. She had the same kind of
problem. They found something on her brain
somewhere, and it was causing her to have the same kind of
symptoms, maybe not exactly, but similar to what Pauli Mary's
going through. And they were able to do some
kind of a, not a medical treatment, but something that had to do
with a radiation type of treatment. And somehow or another, that
spot is gone. That part that she was dealing
with, it's gone. It's not bothering her anymore.
Folks, that's God's work. That's the Lord doing it. She
praised the Lord. She gave Him all the glory. That's
Christ, the hope of glory in us. That's giving Him the glory
as our God. Every time we acknowledge that
He is the ruler of every molecule, every red light, every trial
that comes our way, He's Christ and God over that? And every
time we turn to that and recognize it and look to it as God our
Lord, we give Him the glory. We glorify His name. It's not
this flesh that we glory in. It's the One who lives and dwells
in this flesh. It's the One who gave Himself
that this man, this spirit would be with Him in glory forever.
Our glory is not in what we do. It's what is in our spirit. We
glory in Him. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse
17, But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. It's not I made a decision. It's
not I walked the aisle. It's not that I gave myself to
the Lord. There's no glory in those words.
The glory is this, that Christ became flesh. The Son of God
became a man. Why? so that he would establish
a righteousness for me, for you, for all that he was sent to die
for. And he did exactly that. He walked
perfectly. Perfectly. There's no glory in those words
I spoke. The glory is in God laid down
His life for me. That's where the glory, that's
my glory. There's no glory in what I have
done. The glory is that the God-man took it up against because He
is God Almighty in the flesh and He sits on His throne today. He's sitting on His throne, ruling
as He will, saving whom He will and when He will. Where is the
glory in these words? We glory in Him. Can you see it? Can you see His
glorification in you? It's Him. just as all things
are in Him, of Him, and for Him, as according to His Word. All
glory is His, and He will not share it with another. Are you
with me in John chapter 17? Look at verse 8 with me if you
would. John 17 verse 8, For I have given unto them the words, which
thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known
surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou
didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am
glorified in them." Oh, you know, so many people Religious folk
love to come into this world and say, see how the Lord has
glorified in me? I fed the poor today. I brought 30 people, people who
were hungry, and I fed them. And they came to the Lord and
rededicated themselves because I fed them this week. That's
what I heard from those folks up there at Paula Kine. The folks
that went up there to Pollock Pines, it was all about the homeless
and the poor. There's a lot of poor people
in Pollock Pines. If I was a poor person in Pollock
Pines, I'd be going to that church to feed too. I don't care what
you want me to do. You want me to turn myself over
to Christ? I'll do that. You'd be surprised what people
will do when they're hungry. That's not the glory of Christ.
Here's the glory of Christ. All mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. Folks, sanctification
is in Christ Jesus the Lord. We are made holy in Him. We are set apart in Him. He didn't have to. He could have left us to ourselves. We looked at this Friday night.
In Luke, I think it's chapter 24, I don't remember what verse,
but Herod... I'm sorry, Pontius Pilate. One
of those two, I can't remember which one. He turned the Lord
Jesus over to their will. What was the will? The will of
the people. Give us the murderer. Crucify
the one who has done nothing but heal the sick. That could be our will. If it weren't for His will overriding
it. Justification is in Christ Jesus
the Lord. The justice of God was met by
Him. God provided Himself a sacrifice. Glorification is in Christ Jesus
the Lord. We give Him all the glory, the
glory in calling, the glory in saving, and the glory in keeping. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. You know, that's what this is
right here. We're not made any better by
coming to the table. We're not made any worse by not
being able to come to the table. But we're giving the One who
deserves all the glory, His glory due to Him by saying it's by
His body that He provided. It's by His blood that He shed
upon that cross that any are saved at all. And it's by His
mercy and by His grace that we have
been brought to see that very thing.