Thank you, Ruth, that was very sweet. I don't deserve such kindness. Thank you.

All right, if you turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter one. Title of the sermon is Sanctified in Christ Jesus. So in Corinthians one, we'll start in verse one.

Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sophonies our brother unto the church of God, which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The church at Corinth, as we know very well, Paul had spent about a year and a half establishing this church. And upon his return to him, he had heard of many contentions among them. If you read on down, there were strifes, quarrels over baptism, divisions over preachers, getting drunk while observing the Lord's Supper. And there were heresies that had started creeping in.

But what did the Holy Spirit leave Paul to call them, to call these people? How did he address them? He had called them saints. The church of God, them sanctified in Jesus Christ. God knows, and Paul, he knew. The only thing that could heal, the only thing that could heal and bring peace and grace to these people was the preaching of the gospel. Christ and him crucified.

So once again, as always, God gathered them and God sent Paul to them. filled with His Holy Spirit, with His Word, and Paul preached Christ to them. Those saints who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we know, only those called can call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Paul reminds them of their calling on down in verse 26, For you see your calling, brother, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and things that are despised have God chosen. yea, in things which are not, to bring to naught those that are.

And why does he do that? Why does God call sinners? Why did Christ come to save sinners that cannot do anything for themselves, for his elect people? to save us from our sins. In verse 29 says that no flesh should glory in his presence. It's all of God. Salvation is completely and totally the work of the one triune God. It's all of God's free and sovereign grace. and his son whom he sent.

And it's through Christ's blood and righteousness that in verse 30 we see, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. He's our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and our redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Christ did it all. It's his notorious works that God gave him to do, that he accomplished. He is our all. There's nothing else we can glory in. We glory in the Lord.

All these things are of the Lord given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're only glad recipients. Blessed of God, born of God.

So what is it to be a saint? What is it to be sanctified in Christ Jesus? To understand any thing that is spiritual. We must be born of the Spirit. We must be born of God. Born again. We must be given spiritual everlasting eternal life and faith in Christ Jesus. And how can it be? How can this happen? God must by his electing grace have chosen you and his son before the foundation of the world. That's where it all starts. That's where it all is done because God said it.

God, by his irresistible grace, must draw you to his son. We don't go seeking God. Natural man cannot seek God and will not. And he must reveal himself to you. And he does it in the face of his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls you by his grace out of your darkness into his light. And this he does by his means that he has chosen. He sends a man to declare his word. He gives him what to say. And it must be Christ that speaks through him. Christ must tell you to live. Only he has that power to raise you from the dead. He must say, live. He must quicken, cause you to see and to hear his gospel, for we're born blind and deaf. Spiritually dead, it's Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Christ Jesus, the son of God, you must be made to believe on him for all your salvation, for he is the only acceptance to God. He's the only thing God will accept. It's his sacrifice, because God foreordained it before the foundation of the world to be.

In John 17, verse one, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee. as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

You see that Christ is the life, Christ is the truth and he is the only way. He's the giver of life. He is really all salvation. Salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's holy. God is holy in all his attributes. God is holy. In all his being, God is holy. And God who is holy demands perfection. Habakkuk 1 13 tells us, Thou art of pure eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."

Now is God going to look at you? God's holy. You're a sinner. I'm a sinner. Thou sinner. God says, I'm holy. Be holy. For I am holy. His nature, his divine nature is holy. All he does is holy. It's right. It's perfect. It's just. There is none beside him. There is none to compare him to. None. You and I are not born holy. We have the nature of Adam. Christ was born, he was born of a virgin. He was born of the spirit of God. You and I were born from the loins of fallen Adam. We have that sinful, God-hating nature of our father Adam, our first representative head. That's what we're born with. And we are sinners. And that's what we do. We sin. We are flesh. We are born spiritually dead. We can't call on God. We can't seek God. We don't know who God is. We don't seek after righteousness. We think everything we do is all right. We don't need anybody else's righteousness. The gospel is foolishness to us. It's offensive. It makes us angry. We're born into the world an unclean and an unholy thing. Totally depraved.

But oh, that free, unmerited favor of God. A favor that we did not merit. God's grace. How can it be given to us? But oh, the wisdom of God. He made a way to remain holy and just and then justify the unholy, unclean thing that he set apart in his son to be holy. He sent his son to save sinners. All those he chose in his holy son before the foundation of the world God made a way to save his elect people. And his son, he made a covenant with himself. Here in Hebrews chapter two, verse nine. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with the glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. And you know good and well it doesn't mean every man without exception. That's his elect people.

For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren.

Christ Jesus has made unto us sanctification. For Christ's sake, we are made one with him. He is our only salvation. God made him our surety. God made him our representative head. God accepts us only in his Son. He is our only hope of eternal life.

Now here are three ways that sanctification is used in the scripture. Number one, it was done in eternity. We are set apart, set apart by God to be holy in His Son. accomplished by Jesus Christ, we are declared holy. We are bought, we are ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And we belong to God, we're his possession. Third, he makes it known to us We're made holy. It's imparted. Born again of God, given spiritual life and faith in Christ Jesus, given a new divine nature.

Now we have two natures. Made a new creature, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's all of Christ. It's all of Christ. The inward working of the Holy Spirit. This is God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. Salvation is all of the Lord. It's God's purpose. It's God's promise to his elect. It's God's grace that unmerited, we unmerited, favor of God. All for his namesake, only for his elect, and it's all for God's glory.

Number one, set apart. God the Father's electing grace. You know, in the Old Testament, the tabernacle, the laven, the candlesticks, the showbread, all those things, the altar, They were all types. And all those objects were common objects. They were common things. But when God set something apart, they're sanctified for his use and for his glory. for His purpose. And so were some of you.

Look in 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse 11. And such were some of you You were a common thing. You're no different from any other person born from hell. Where are we? We're sinners, saved by grace. Such were some of you. But you are washed. But you are sanctified. But you are justified. in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

When God sets something apart to be holy. Look down at verse 19 and 20 of that same chapter. Says what? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God? And you're not your own, for you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

He wants to use his body for sin, and you enjoyed it, and you were serving Satan. Serving the lust of your own belly. Now God's in you. You're made a new creature. There's a new creature in you. We're still in this old nature. We're still in this old flesh, but God uses it for a reason. He killed it. It's dead. We're no longer under the law because we're under grace. We were in Him. They were in Him. That old man's dead. You walk in the Spirit, you look to Christ. He says, don't you know your bodies are the temple? The Holy Spirit's in you. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's, or His workmanship. We don't merit anything. We never have, we don't now, and we never will do anything, please God. Not in this flesh. Mm-mm. It's all in Christ, that Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We fail in a substitute. We're saved in a substitute. The substitute. God chose his people and his son before the foundation of the world to be holy. He sanctified you and his son. God is holy. His purpose is holy. Leviticus chapter 20, verse 26 tells us, and ye shall be holy unto me. For I, the Lord am holy, and listen to this, and have severed you. from other people. Does God love everybody? No. He severed you from other people that you should be mine. God says, I chose you. You didn't choose me. This is the grace of God.

The only way that we can be holy, the only way we can have peace, that peace that he talks about, that grace is through Christ Jesus' sin, atoning blood being shed for you. He sanctified us. He justified us. Look in Ephesians 1. You all can probably recite it by heart. but it's wonderful and it needs to be said over and over again. In verse two, grace be to you and peace. It's from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, justification, sanctification, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise and of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us, made us accepted in the beloved.

in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, that's what separated us from God, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded on them, abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence. Christ is the wisdom and the power of God. Look at 1 Peter. chapter one real quick. First Peter chapter one. First Peter chapter one in verse two, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. When I see the blood, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Multiply. That's where grace and truth and peace comes from.

And look on down in verse 18 of that same chapter. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by traditions from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest, made known in these last times for you. who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and your hope might be in God.

Christ's precious blood was shed for you, dear saints. You see, you call him. There is nothing good in us. Nothing good in natural man. In eternity, God sets you apart in his son. By grace, you are saved. We are what we are by the grace of God. In Christ, his son. And it's Christ's blood. It's his righteousness. It's his perfect obedience to God unto death. fulfilling the law of God, bearing the wrath of God, taking our sins, making him to be sin for us, who never sin. He is everything in our salvation. His grace, Christ is sufficient for us. Everything he did, His meritorious works, grace, came by Jesus Christ. He's all that God requires. He's holy. He's perfectly holy.

Number two, declared holy. When Christ came, God manifest in the flesh, born without sin, born of a virgin, born of the Holy Spirit of God, God had already put us in Him. He'd already sanctified us in Him. We were in Him. He came to save His people from their sins. In His own body, He put away our sins. He justified us and sanctified us on that cross while we were yet sinners. He died for us. This is what the Old Testament saints believed. By that God-given faith, and by that same faith, that same common faith, that's why we believe. They were looking for the Messiah to come. We believe he came, and he's coming again.

So today, when Christ cried on that cross, it's finished. He gave up the ghost. He gave death permission to take him. That's how sovereign God is. And that soldier, that soldier pierced his side. He had already died. Didn't have to break his legs, as prophesied. And as prophesied, he pierced his side. And what came out? Water and blood. Water and blood came from our Savior's side.

1 Corinthians 6.11 again says, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. If you look in 1 John chapter five, First John chapter five says, this is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the spirit that beareth witness because the spirit is truth.

Redemption was accomplished, sanctification and justification. Christ accomplished it all. It came by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the will of God on that cursed tree. He perfected all that God sanctified in him. Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, verse nine. Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. Christ is the end of law for righteousness. That he may establish the second. That covenant, that promise by the which will. At will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. And every priest stand at daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but this man. after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also was witness to us, For after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Hallelujah What a Savior Christ Accomplished Our salvation in full That's where your grace and that's where your peace with God comes from he put you sins away He washed you He justified you, He cleansed you, He made you holy before God in Him.

Christ loves His church with an everlasting love. He loves His saints. He gave Himself for it. His blood, His obedience, His righteousness, His one-time offering. Sacrifice of himself satisfied the holy justice of God. Have we offended? And God foreordained that before the foundation of the world to be. For you ever were a sinner, God already made a way to save you. It is done. And why? Why did he do it? Let's look at Ephesians 5, 26. Ephesians 5, 26. Here's why I did it. for his church, for his people, for God's elect, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy. And without blemish.

He made you acceptable. Made you fit. For heaven, for God to stand before him. Perfectly just and whole so he can look on you. And when he looks on you, he sees his son. He don't see you. It's his blood that you're washed in. It's his righteousness that finally you're roped in. Sanctified.

We're saved by grace through faith and it's not from us. We're his workmanship. He's our sanctification and he's our justification. And he's made us holy. And he's made us righteous by taking our sins away. Water and blood came from his pure side on that cross. And he was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

And finally, third, we're made holy in the experience of grace. It's like we're glorified. Well, we have an experience together. We're saved. One day we're going to know for sure we're going to be complete, right? God makes us holy in the experience of that grace. He makes it known to us. Only God makes you holy. For only God is holy and this is God's purpose and God's promise to his elect for his glory and for his namesake. He will come to us at a point in time of love while we're yet in our sins and he will reveal himself to us in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, his son. The experience of grace the glory of God.

Look at 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God warns us again. He sends a preacher. with his word, his message, and he makes it effectual. It's your time. He says live. It's the inward working of God the Holy Spirit. Look over in Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 23. And I will sanctify my great name which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and I'll cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. It's all of God. and ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Now, born again by the Spirit of God, born by His will, we reverence Him. We regard Him as holy. We don't make God holy. But we regard him as holy. We reverence him as holy. We adore him as holy. We know he is holy. And we know we're sin. We know he's our only acceptance, our only hope. How? Because God gives us that new nature, that divine nature. He gives us life and faith to believe on his son. That divine nature that loves God, and loves the brethren. He makes us a new creation, a new creatures in him, in Christ. And we have peace with God by grace. He reveals Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Look at 2 Peter 1. 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 2 Says grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ According as his divine power Have given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Christ has conquered the world for us. He's conquered us. We're now taught of God. He grows us in His grace. He grows us in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That Holy Spirit is given to us. It's in us, convicting us and teaching us all things Christ. He applies that precious blood to our new hearts and our conscience. We are born again of God, sanctified. He lets us know He lets us know who Christ is and what He did for us. And that life and that faith is given to us. And we belong to God. And by His grace and His faith, we know and believe that what God says is true about His Son. We believe on Him. Our faith looks to Him. And He was sin of God. He is that Christ. He is the Messiah. He is our only acceptance to God.

And he is now sitting upon his throne at the right hand of the majesty on high. And he's ruling and reigning sovereign till all his enemies be made his footstool. Till we're all gathered, till he gathers us all to himself. And he ever lives to intercede for us. We can come confessing our sins. And he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Because he's already done it. He's already accomplished. He's already put our sins away. But we can come to him. It's his faithfulness. And he has put our sins away that we might have peace with God. He's our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. He's all that God requires. He's all our hope. He is our life. And we're in Him. He's in us. And He's faithful. And He's going to keep us. He's the one who keeps us till the end. Because He is coming again. And He's going to keep us for eternity. We're going to be known as we know.

And in Hebrews 9, one more, one more thing. Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9, verse 11. But Christ, being come in high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but his own blood, He entered into, once into the holy place, having obtained eternal rejection for us. For if the blood of bulls and the goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, then how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offer himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works that you might serve the living God.

Brethren, we are born of God and we serve the living God in Christ Jesus. This is what it means to be a saint. This is what it means to be sanctified in Jesus Christ. Nothing in us or of us It is all of God's free and sovereign grace. And his only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior.