Brethren, the Scripture says
that in order for God to receive us, we have to be holy. God is holy. That means He is
perfect. And if God is going to have anything
to do with you and I who are sinners, before He can receive
us and accept us, we have to be perfect. We have to be holy
as God is holy. Clean, pure, without sin, perfect
before God. That's what's being said here
in our text in Exodus 22 verses 29 through 31. The Lord gives
them these things to do and it's not just these things He's talking
about. He's talking about everything in the law but these first ripe
fruits and His firstborn sons they were to give, the firstborn
of the oxen and the sheep, These all point us to Christ. And even
these unclean animals here has to do with his people being made
holy. And God says to them, if you
do this, you should be holy men unto me. You should be holy men
unto me. Holiness, also known as sanctification,
is one of the most misunderstood parts of God's salvation of everything
God does for His people. This is one of the things that's
just completely misunderstood. Holiness is to be set apart by
God for His holy use. It is to be made perfect before
God so that He can receive us. He says His people have to be
perfect to be accepted. Anything offered to God has to
be perfect to be accepted. That's why in all these offerings,
God said He can't have a blemish in it. If you've got a white
lamb that you're going to offer and you go over that lamb and
you found one little black hair, God said, I won't receive it.
That's to picture how whatever comes to God, whatever God receives
has got to be perfect. It's got to be holy because God's
holy. And most speak of holiness as
something that the believer and God do together. and that's not
so. Holiness, sanctification is of
God alone, of the triune God alone, apart from our works. Most speak of holiness mainly
as something done in the center, but the greater part of sanctification
is performed outside of us. And most speak of it as entirely
something done within us or even by us, but the majority of what
takes place to make us holy is done outside of us. Our subject
is you shall be holy. Now this law of Sinai was a covenant
of works. God said if you do these things,
then you shall be holy. Go back to Exodus 19 and let's
see this. When he first gave the law, Exodus
19 verse 5, God said, if you will obey my voice indeed. Now
what is it to obey God's voice? It means you keep every commandment
with absolutely no sin whatsoever. That's the only way you have
obeyed His voice. He says, if you will obey my voice indeed
and keep my covenant, then you shall be. See the if then? If
you do this, then you shall be. a peculiar treasure unto me above
all people, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be unto
me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That is if you keep this
whole law. Now that's a covenant of works,
if then. If you keep this, then you shall
be holy. That's a covenant of works. But
here's the truth of the matter. Scripture's so clear on this,
no sinner has ever the law of God. Ever. Not one. Not one. God didn't give it for
you and I to keep it. God could make that statement
right there. If you do this, then you shall be. That's a true
statement. And men think because God said that, that means that
he expected us to be able to keep it. That's not what he was
doing. God gave the law, Romans 3 tells
us clearly, We know what things soever the law says. It says
to them who are under the law, here's the purpose, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. That's why He gave this law. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. He gave it to teach us our
sinfulness and to shut our mouths in guilt. That tells us the law
and our works have nothing to do with us being made holy. That
one verse tells us the law has nothing to do with us being made
holy. Not our works under the law. God alone makes his people
holy. This is what I want you to get
from this today. God alone makes his people holy. He makes us
holy. And within the law, God gave
us pictures of this. He gave us pictures and types
to see that it's God alone that makes his people holy. And that's
what we see in our text today. When I say God alone, I mean
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one God
in three persons. He is our sanctifier and He is
our sanctification. Let me show you this. First of
all, God's people are made holy by God our Father electing us
in Christ the firstborn. Remember Christ said, I've kept
my Father's law. He's talking about the law of
Sinai. This is God the Father's law right here. And look at what
the father said, Exodus 22, 29. He says, thou shalt not delay
to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors. The
firstborn of thy sons thou shalt give unto me. And he said, and
likewise you do the same with your animals. The first you give
to me. The first fruits as well as the
firstborn were God's. And you know why? Because God
said, I sanctified all the firstborn to me in the Passover lamb on
the day I brought you out of Egypt. Look at Numbers 18. I mean Numbers 8. I'm sorry, Numbers
8 and verse 17. Look at this. He said, All the firstborn of the children
of Israel are mine, both man and beast. On the day that I
smoked every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them
for myself. You see, that pictures how God
the Father sanctified and set apart and made holy His people
in Christ. He did it when He chose us in
Christ. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And God the Father sanctified
us when He poured out His wrath and smote His Son in place of
His people. He sanctified all the firstborn
to Himself. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places according as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy. That's not speaking of just in
time, that means when he set us apart from all the rest of
humanity and he chose us in Christ, that is the very definition of
holiness. You've been set apart, you've been made holy in the
beloved, accepted in the beloved. He did that in eternity. And
then in time, when his son came forth and he laid on him the
iniquity of all this people, God said, I smote all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt when I smote that Passover lamb. You know, God smote all the firstborn
in Egypt. Those in the houses of Egypt
and those in the children of Israel's house. He smote all
the firstborn. The difference was God had provided
a lamb for the children of Israel. And he smoked the lamb instead
of the firstborn in the houses of the children of Israel. And
that's what he says here. When I did that, when I smoked
all the firstborn, all the firstborn became mine. They became mine. Sanctified unto me, God said.
That's what He did when He chose His people in Christ and when
He poured out wrath on His Son in place of His people, God sanctified
all the firstborn to Him. All His people to Him. So the
first thing we see here, sanctification, to be made holy, to be set apart,
to be made perfect before God is to be chosen in Christ That
one who is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world is
to be sanctified by God our Father in his firstborn son, Christ
our Passover. That's first of all what it is. God the Father does it for himself,
sanctifying his people to himself in Christ. Now secondly, we're
made holy by the Son of God. When he talks here and he says
verse 29, Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of the ripe
fruits and the firstborn of thy sons and the firstborn of your
beasts. Christ Jesus is God the Father's
firstborn. He's his firstborn. He's the
firstborn son. He is the first fruit. Christ
is. And just like that lamb, that
Passover lamb was slain in place of the children of Israel, our
Lord Jesus Christ came forth and He fulfilled, God said here,
if you keep this law, you'll be holy men to me. Christ came
forth and took the place of His people as our head so that whatever
He did, that's what His people did and He fulfilled the whole
law of God for His people. He fulfilled everything in this
law for His people and He took our sin, And He died under the
justice of God to pay our sin debt and to make us free from
all sin. This is what Christ did for His
people. And by that, He sanctified His people. He made us holy before
God because He fulfilled God's will for His people. Go to Hebrews
10. He's the firstborn. He's the
first fruit. He's the Lamb. Look at Hebrews
10 and look at verse 7. This is Christ speaking. He said,
well first he said in verses 5 and 6, to tell us that you
were never saved by the law, he says to the father, he says,
sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. They never made satisfaction.
We're looking at the law. Those things that God did in
the law, that never saved a soul. God was teaching us about Christ
in the law. Now look here. Then said I, this
is Christ the Son of God speaking. Lo, I come. In the volume of
the book it's written of me. All that you're looking at in
the law is written about me, Christ said. I came to do Thy
will, O God. I come to do Thy will, O God.
Above, when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and offering for sin, Thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein
which are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do
Thy will, O God. He takes away the first. He takes
away the law. He takes the law completely away.
He takes it out of the way. He's the fulfillment of it. When
it says He's the end of the law for righteousness, it means the
end purpose for which God gave the law was Christ. And when
you've been brought to Christ, you've come to the end of the
law. You've come to the end purpose of the whole law when you've
met Christ and been found in Him. Now look, He takes away
that first and He establishes the second. That is the covenant
of grace. The covenant of works is, if
you keep this whole law, then you'll be holy to me. The covenant
of grace is, my son's kept it and you are. If you know anything about your
depravity, that's a whole lot better than that first covenant. Now look at this. By the witch
will, by Christ fulfilling the will of God, we are sanctified. That's what we're talking about
here. This is how we are made holy men unto God. We are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time. He got it done the first shot.
One time. Look down at verse 14. For by
one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Will worshipers are always accusing
us of confounding sanctification and justification. You know,
they're always acute. Well, you're talking about justification.
We're talking about sanctification. Right here, God says the way
you're sanctified is by Christ my Son justifying you. He came
and He put away all your sin and He made you perfect. He made
you holy. He sanctified you. Think of it
in this terms. Holiness, sanctification is to
be set apart, made holy, made perfect. Every sinner Christ died for
is perfect. Before the all-knowing, all-seeing
eye of God, we're perfect. No sin can be found within or
without His people. Perfect, holy. Now, is that not... Have you not been made different
from the rest of the world? Are you not separate from the
rest of the world? If you're perfect and holy by what Christ
has done, are you not sanctified from the rest of the world. Are
you not holy from the rest of the world? That's what he accomplished
for his people. Christ did this. And this thing
that he accomplished for his people, brethren, it was not
just a legal transaction that occurred. Our Lord Jesus Christ
suffered. When you read Isaiah 53, I want
to, let me point something out to you. Isaiah 53, You turn there with me real quick.
Isaiah 53. And listen to this. When it says,
Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. That
means brethren, he was bearing all the sin of his people on
himself, in himself. And look at this now. When it
says he was wounded for our transgressions, the margin reads tormented. tormented. He suffered. Our Lord Jesus suffered with
the sin of His people on Him. Not just suffered, He was tormented
by the justice of God, by being separated from Holy God. Yes,
that tormented Him. We read it all through the Psalms.
But also from the shame of the sin, from being looked upon by
the justice of God as one that God couldn't have anything to
do with. Why did God forsake him? Go to Psalm. What Psalm I'm looking for? Psalm
110? No. Ah, escape me right now. You
know where he says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Psalm 22. That's right, Psalm 22. Look
here. Why was it that the father separated
himself from the son? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Look at verse 3. Thou art holy. You want to know was Christ made
sin? You want to end that argument?
Men want to debate that? You want to end it? Did God separate
from him? Did God forsake Him on the cross?
Yeah. Why? Because God is holy and
He can't have anything to do with anybody where sin is found.
That's why He was forsaken. He was bearing the sin of His
people. You may want to reduce that to a legal transaction and,
oh, this was all just purely a legal transaction. You take
your dead letter legal bull with you somewhere else. My Savior
suffered on that cross. He suffered, He was tormented
on that cross because He bore the sin of His people and was
satisfying justice. Listen to Hebrews 12 verse 2. Run this race looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross despising the shame. So that has to do with Him being
stripped naked and the shameful things they did to Him. Man did
some seriously horrible things to our Redeemer on the cross.
But man didn't have a thing to do with justifying His people. Whatever it was we poured out
on Him, that did nothing to satisfy God's justice. What satisfied
God's justice is what God did to Him. And what God did to Him,
He did to Him because He was bearing the sin of His people.
And that's the shame that we're talking about right here. The
shame of being forsaken by the Father He loved. The shame of
the Father looking upon Him as one who's bearing sin so that
He can't have anything to do with Him until that sin is paid
for. And He's died the eternal death and He's satisfied justice.
That's what Christ bore on the cross. And that's how justice
is satisfied. And that's how His people are
made holy. That's how His people are made
holy. Now, we saw this morning, it said that God predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be what?
The firstborn among many brethren. And our text here, He's talking
about you give to me now all the firstborn. They're mine.
I sanctified them to myself. All God's elect. Firstborn children. We're firstborn sons in Christ
the firstborn. God has sanctified us to Himself.
And the first was the best. That's why God said, you give
me the first. And everything, because Christ is the firstborn. Everything the first was, the
first ripe fruits was a foretaste of what the rest of the fruits
are going to taste like. Christ is the firstborn. And because
of His perfection and what He accomplished on Calvary's cross,
all God's elect in Him are firstborn holy sons, just like the firstborn. We're complete in Him. As He
is, so are we in this world. We are what that firstborn son
is. And that's first ripe fruits.
Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits
of them that slept. He's the first fruit. The first
fruit was the first ripe good fruit off the vine. That was the first fruit. Christ
is the first. He's the first fruit. He's God's
first fruit. God looks at him and says this
is the very best of the fruit right here. But all of us that
He chose and set apart in Christ and who Christ sanctified by
His righteousness, brethren, and His blood, we're all firstfruits
in Him. Listen, of His own will begat
He us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of His creatures. We're firstfruits. What Christ
is, what the firstfruit is, all the rest of the fruit is. And
we're firstfruits in Him. And by offering those firstfruits,
why did God say, now you give me the first of your fruits and
the firstborn of your sons and your animals. Why did God tell
them to do that? That was God's version of the
gospel being preached to them. We have the gospel today. We
hear Christ our Passover. We hear Christ the firstborn.
We hear Christ the firstfruit preached. But both of us, then
and now, When they would offer up those
first fruits and those first born animals and those first
born son, they were reminded, continually reminded, I'm God's. He set me apart. He sanctified
me and that lamb that night and I'm His. Why do we come here,
this gospel priest? We need to constantly be reminded
of the same thing. I've been sanctified in Christ. He made me perfect. I'm severed
from the rest of this world in Him by what He's done. And look, when it says, redeem
to me all the firstborn animals and all your firstborn sons,
of course God wasn't telling them to kill their firstborn
sons and give them to Him. What were they to do? They were
to take a spotless lamb and they were to slay that spotless lamb
in place of their firstborn son. That's how they offered their
firstborn son to God. Go back to Exodus 13. We saw
this earlier. But all of this is to point to
Christ. Look at Exodus 13, 13. It says, Every firstling of an
ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb. An ass was an unclean animal.
God said that's an unclean animal. He's got to be sanctified. He's
got to be made perfect. I won't receive him. So how are
you going to do that? You're going to redeem him with
a lamb. You're going to provide a spotless lamb and kill that
spotless lamb in place of that unclean ass. That's what you're
going to do. Look, and if thou will not redeem it, then you
break his neck then. I'm not going to receive this
unclean beast. If you won't let a spotless lamb
die in its place, break his neck then. Justice says he's got to
die one way or the other, either in a lamb or himself. And look
at this, same went for the children. And all the firstborn of man
among thy children thou shalt redeem. He means with a lamb.
So when they were redeeming them with a lamb, they were slaying
this lamb in place of these unclean animals and in place of their
unclean firstborn sons. And by the blood of that lamb,
ceremonially, they were sanctified and made holy. So that God would
receive this unclean animal and these sinful sons through the
blood of that Lamb. Isn't that a beautiful picture?
You see Christ in that? He's just showing us a picture
of Christ. That's what He was showing them.
My Son's going to come and He's going to be that spotless Lamb.
He's going to die in the place of my unclean beast that I've
chosen, that I've severed for myself. And He's going to make
them holy and perfect so that I'll receive them. So I'll receive
them. Peter got this. I read it to
you this morning. He said, As he which hath called
you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conduct, because
it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And he says, and remember
this, You were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver
and gold from your vain conversation, tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ, of a lamb without spot,
without blemish. That's how you were made holy.
That's what he's telling them. That's how you were made holy.
Don't forget that. So we're sanctified, we're made
holy by God our Father choosing us in Christ, setting us apart
in Christ, making us accepted in the Beloved before He ever
made anything in this world. And then we're sanctified, made
holy by Christ who came forth and He's that spotless Lamb,
He's that firstborn Son, He's the first fruit who gave Himself
and died in place of His people and made us perfect and holy
and clean and pure before God. Well, There's something else
that's got to be done. Now you see, all of that took
place outside of us, didn't it? The only part that takes place
in us is when the Spirit of God comes forth and creates a new
man in us, righteous and holy, so that we can hear this message
and enter into the fact that it's God who sanctifies us and
not we ourselves. So that's the last thing, it's
about the Holy Spirit of God and regeneration. Now look here
in Exodus 22 and look at verse 31. God said, And you shall be holy
men unto me, neither shall you eat any flesh that is torn of
beasts in the field, you shall cast it to the dogs. Now in the
law of Sinai, be turning to Leviticus 11, don't you see this? In the
Law of Sinai, God often connected holiness with clean and unclean
animals. And the purpose of the clean
and unclean animals was to show us something about how we're
sanctified. Alright, look here, Leviticus
11, look at verse 1. And the only reason these animals
were clean or unclean, one reason, God said they were. That's it.
There wasn't anything different between any of these animals.
You and I eat the same animals now and it don't matter. But
then God said this one's clean, that one's not. Watch. Leviticus
11, the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying unto them,
Speaking of the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts
which you shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.
Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth
the cud among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless, these
shall you not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that
divide the hoof, as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but
divideth not the hoof. He is unclean to you. And the
coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof,
he's unclean to you. And the hare, because he cheweth
the cud, but he divideth not the hoof, he's unclean to you.
And the swine, though he divideth the hoof and be clothed and footed,
yet he cheweth not the cud, he's unclean to you. No more Memphis
barbecue. Not if you lived under the law.
Thankful for redemption. Look here. He says, Of their
flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses shall you not
touch. They are unclean to you. You
can't eat them. You can't touch them. They're
unclean to you. This law is to teach us sanctification
is of the Lord. How come they were unclean and
how come some were clean? God said they were. It speaks
to holy and unholy. Look at verse 43. You shall not
make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth,
neither shall you make yourselves unclean with them that you should
be defiled thereby. For I am the Lord your God. You
shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I
am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves
with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,
for I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt
to be your God. You shall therefore be holy,
for I am holy. This is the law of the beast
and of the fowl and of every living creature that moves in
the waters and of every creature that creeps on the earth to make
a difference between the unclean and the clean and between the
beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.
Now, we know that scripture says God alone makes the difference.
He said there this is to make a difference between the unclean
and the clean. Scripture says who maketh thee
to differ? The only one that makes the difference, that's
God. God alone. Go to Acts 10. I'm going to show
you why God gave the law of the clean and unclean animals. He
gave it for this purpose right here. This is what it declares. Peter was on a rooftop and the
Lord came and showed him a vision. And look at what He showed him.
Acts 10 and 11. And I saw heaven open. and a certain vessel descending
unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners
and let down to the earth. Wherein were all manner of four-footed
beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things,
and fowls of the air." All these things that God said in the law,
they're unclean, don't you eat these things. And there came
a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said,
Not so, Lord. I've never eaten anything that's
common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time. Here's the point of that whole
law right here. What God hath cleansed, what
God hath sanctified and made holy, that call not thou common. Don't you call this common. And
this was done three times. And the vessel was received up
again into heaven. And you know what happened within
minutes? Peter, we're Gentiles. The Lord told us to come and
you're going to preach the gospel to us. Unclean Gentile dogs. Unsanctified Gentile dogs. And
they're at the door now, and they're saying, Peter, we're
supposed to come to you because God said you're going to preach the
gospel to us? These animals were all unclean according to the
law. You know what all God's elect are according to the law?
Because of our fall, we're all unclean. But all these animals
were in a certain vessel. The sheep that was let down from
heaven, this certain vessel, they were all in that vessel.
And all God's elect were put in Christ before the world was
made. Christ who came down from above. There were all kinds of
beasts in this certain vessel. God's got to elect people from
every kindred, tribe, and tongue under heaven. All kinds of people
he set apart for himself. And when Peter called these animals
common and unclean, God said, I've cleansed these. Don't you
call them common. Don't you call them unclean.
I've sanctified them. I've made them holy. And that's
what God has done for His people. He's made His people holy. And
He alone did it. Now look at Acts 10, 28. Peter
goes down there to where these Gentiles are and he said unto
them, You know how that it's an unlawful thing for a man that's
a Jew to keep company or to come unto one of another nation? You
Gentiles are unclean. We're not supposed to have anything
to do with you. But God has showed me that I should not call any
man common or unclean. That is who God has made clean. He is saying I am not to call
any man common or unclean that God has sanctified. That's the
whole purpose. The whole purpose of this law
between the clean and the unclean animals was to show us God alone
sanctifies and makes His people clean. Go to Acts 15 and the
reason I included this under the Holy Spirit is because that's
who Peter attributed this to. Acts 15.7, you know some men
came down, here comes these, let me read this because you
need to see this. Verse 5, there rose up certain of the sect of
the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to
circumcise those Gentiles and command them to keep the law
of Moses. Now here's God who said, I've already sanctified
them, they're holy. And here comes these Pharisees
saying, well, now that can't be completed till you're brought
back under the law and by your works keeping the law, then you'll
be sanctified. God said, don't you call that
common that I've cleansed. And look what Peter did. Verse
7, when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, said unto them,
men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made
a choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did
unto us. And He put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith, just like He
did ours. Purifying their hearts, that's
holiness. That's holiness. He said God
did this. Now therefore why tempt ye God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they."
God gave that whole law of clean and unclean to teach us this
lesson right here. You should be holy unto me for
I the Lord am holy and I have severed you from other people
that you should be mine. That's Leviticus 20, 26. That's
holiness. God has severed you from other
people by God the Father's election, by Christ's blood, and by the
Holy Spirit regeneration, creating in you a new man in righteousness
and true holiness. God said, I've severed you from
other people that you should be mine. And you're mine. And
that's holiness. And this grace is not affected
by anything we do. Sanctification, holiness, we
don't make it happen and we don't do anything to change it. When
God's done this work, we're holy. We're sanctified. And God says,
any man that says now that you have to do something to make
yourself be holy, God says, you're treading under your foot the
blood of Christ and you're counting his blood to be a common unholy
thing. That's a serious offense. That's
why Peter said, don't tempt God. Don't try to bring these men
back under the law. You're tempting God when you do that. Paul said,
I don't frustrate the grace of God. If righteousness comes by
the law and you put holiness there, because that's what he's
talking about, then Christ is dead vain. The very next word
is, how were you called? How did you receive the Spirit?
Did you do it by hearing the gospel of Christ or did you do
it by hearing of works? It was by hearing the gospel
of the faithfulness of Christ. He said, well, if you began that
way, how do you think now you're going to be made perfect by hearing
about your works and being told you need to do A, B, and C or
you can't be holy? That's what the whole world's
preaching. God said they're calling Christ's blood common and unholy. They're frustrating the grace
of God. They're saying Christ died in vain. That's serious,
isn't it? You know how you know you've
been sanctified by God? when you don't want a part of
that anymore. You've been severed from that and you don't want
to be a part of that anymore. You trust God who does the sanctifying
and God alone. Let me see here. Alright, go
with me now over to 1 Peter and I'm going to show you one last
thing in closing. And as you turn there, listen to this. I
read to you Exodus 19.5. We saw it. God said, if you keep
this law, He said, You keep my covenant of works, you'll be
a peculiar treasure to me. He said, you'll be a kingdom
of priests and you'll be a holy nation. Now here's how we know
that this work of sanctification is completed. When God the Father
has chosen you, when the Son has redeemed you, when the Spirit
has regenerated you, you're sanctified. You're holy. It's done. It's finished. There's no getting
more so than it is. You're holy when He's done this
work. And here's how you know. Because
all those things God said they would be if they kept the law,
listen to what God says to us. 1 Peter 2.9, You're a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar treasure,
that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's sanctification. To be called out of darkness
into light. And God says, now that that work's
complete, you're all these things I told my people they would be.
I told them they'd be holy men if they kept that law. He said,
you're a royal priesthood, you're a chosen generation, you're a
holy nation, you're everything God said they would be if they
could keep that law. We're this because Christ kept that law
for us. Aren't you glad that it's God who does the sanctifying
and not us? What do we do now? They offered
their firstborn and their firstfruits. What do we offer? I beseech you,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." We're the first fruits. We're the firstborn. God says,
you just give yourself to me. Lock, stock, and barrel. You're
lively stoned, you built up a spiritual house, you're a priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices that are accepted from God by
Jesus Christ." And Isaiah, he said, that's the calves of your
lips. He don't want calves. He don't
want you to go home and sacrifice a cow. He's saying, give me the
calves of your lips. Praise me. Thank me for what
I've done for you. And Paul said, your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you. which you have of
God, and you're not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore,
instead of lifting up the, giving the firstfruits or giving your
firstborn, he says, therefore, glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's. That's what he's talking about.
And when you've been severed and you know you've been sanctified
by God and you see Christ the Lord high and lifted up, the
love of Christ constrains you to live for him. You don't need
the law. You live to Him because He sanctified
you, made you holy. All right, we're going to observe
the Lord's table now.