All right, let's turn in our
Bibles to Romans chapter 1. And y'all finally got me with that
crud, whatever that is. This may end abruptly somewhere
in the middle if I go into a coffin fit. Romans chapter 1 verse 7, Paul
says, to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be
saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now this is a very important
verse because it tells us who this letter is written to. And
that's always important when you read any of the epistles
in the scriptures. He begins there with, to all
that be in Rome. And that word all means he's
writing to all kinds of believers. He's writing to the rich and
the poor, the bond and the free, the male and the female, to all. And that word Rome tells us he's
writing primarily to Gentiles. There may have been some Jews
scattered among the Romans in some of the assemblies, but primarily
this was to Gentiles. And he says, he qualifies it,
he says, to all that be in Rome, beloved of God. And to be beloved
of God is to be loved before of God. Before the foundation
of the world, God loved his elect in Christ. This is a way of saying
to the elect, the beloved. And then he qualifies it more,
he says, called saints. All who are beloved of God before
time shall be called of God in time. And they will be made saints
because God predestinated it. 2 Thessalonians 2.13 says, 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.
That means he's going to call them in time. And belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's so of all God's
elect. He will call them all in time,
and when he calls us, he sanctifies us. Now be sure to get this,
brethren, because this is where The Reformed Baptists and a lot
of others miss it. Sanctification is not a co-effort
between God and the sinner. That's the only way that God
gets all the glory, is if God alone does the sanctifying. If
we have a part in it, then God wouldn't get all the glory. And
God said, I will not share my glory with another. Sanctification
is not a co-effort between God and the sinner. God the Father
sanctified his people in divine election. God the Son sanctified
all the elect in redemption, and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies
His elect in regeneration when He calls us to faith in Christ.
To be sanctified is to be created holy, is to be created holy. It's far more than mere outward
morality. That's what most Most denominations
make sanctification to be just mere outward morality. That's
not holiness. In sanctification, God creates
a holy man within his people. Christ is formed in you and creating
in you a new, pure, holy heart that was not there before. You
remember when the scripture, the psalmist said that we're
justified, God will not impute sin unto His blessed are all
those, God will not impute sin, that means we're justified. And
he says, and in whose spirit there is no guile, no hypocrisy
whatsoever. That can only be said of this
new man within every believer that God creates. He's holy without
sin. The old man is still sin, and
all it is is sin, and all it does is sin. That's why sin's
mixed with all we do. But the new man, anything God
creates, is holy and righteous. That's why the scriptures tells
us that, he says, when he called us, we obtained the glory of
Christ. When you obtain the glory of
Christ, what that means is, you're made all that Christ is. And
that's what he does in this new man. He creates a new man after
the image of his son. After his image. And he said,
in righteousness and true holiness. And the reason he said true holiness
is because it's not that feigned holiness, that pretend holiness
that men regard as holiness. This is a true holiness. Because
it's a new man created by God. And when we have Christ as our
sanctifier and our sanctification formed in us, we're as holy as
we'll ever be. You can't get more holy than
Christ. And when you have Christ united with that new man, the
holiness of that new man is Christ. And you can't get more holy than
that. Paul told the Corinthians, ye are sanctified. He didn't say you're becoming
sanctified, or you're in the process of being sanctified.
He said, ye are sanctified, just like you are justified. So we
give thanks to the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. who hath delivered
us, not gonna deliver, hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And
not only are we sanctified, we're also justified. He said, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sin. So God's saints are in the world, but we're not of the world,
just like Christ is not of the world. Paul said in Philippians
3, our conduct, and the word means our citizenship, is in
heaven. We're citizens of heaven. We're
not citizens of the earth. We're citizens of heaven. So
you who are sanctified, I want you to never forget this. Our
single occupation in this world, our one occupation in this world,
is to serve God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ by loving
one another and providing one another with the gospel of Christ
as we send this gospel in all the world. This is our one purpose. This is our one occupation. That's
it. It's not to build a great name
for us and build a great estate and try to hoard up as many riches
as we can. It's to serve God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ in the cause of Christ. That's what
it's for. Doing so, we provide for our
brethren. So Paul's writing here to all kinds of believers, rich,
poor, bond-free, educated, uneducated, but all of them were beloved
of God and called saints. And whatever Paul writes to saints
then, he's writing to saints now. This is true of us now just
like it was of them. Now next he gives his usual salutation. He says there in verse 7, Romans
1-7, at the end, Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. I've preached on this salutation
many times from different letters. Paul almost always begins with
this salutation. It's not just a wish. This is
the prayer and the desire of all God's people for our brethren. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is entirely
by the grace of God and by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's so. All who God saves, they're chosen
by grace, they're redeemed by grace, they're regenerated by
grace, they're called by grace, they're gifted by grace, they're
grown by grace, they're preserved by grace, they're resurrected
by grace, and at last they'll be presented faultless to the
Father by grace. It's grace, grace, grace, beginning
to end. Zerubbabel was a picture of Christ,
and the scripture says Zerubbabel was going to bring the headstone
of the tabernacle, of the temple, The picture of Christ coming
with the last elect child of God. And just like he did the
first one he brought, he's bringing the last one crying, grace, grace,
unto it. It's all of grace. All of grace. And that means salvation is apart
from our works. It's apart from our works. Grace
and works are mutually exclusive. They cannot exist. Where you
find one, you will not find the other. Paul said this, if by
grace, then it's no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. See that, if it's all of grace,
works are not involved, or it ceases to be grace. And he said,
but if it be of works, then it's no more grace, otherwise works
no more work. You can't have both, only one
or the other. We either say by grace, even
in sanctification, or we're saved by works. It's not both. It can't
be a mixture. It's all of grace. So, likewise,
just like salvation's all of grace, peace is all of God our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, grace and peace to you.
Both are from God our Father, from our Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm
29 11 says, the Lord will bless his people with peace. The Lord
gives peace. The peace God our Father gives
His saints is Christ Himself. Remember what His name is? He's
the Prince of Peace. That's who He is, the Prince
of Peace. He promises, peace I leave you, my peace I give
you. He said, these things I've spoken
unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world you
shall have tribulation. That's all you're going to get
from the world. Don't look for peace in the world. Peace is
in Christ. And when He sanctified us, here's
the peace. When He sanctified us, brought
us, called us to faith in Christ through faith, because we were
in Christ and because Christ justified us and made us righteous,
God imputes to us free justification. He imputes to us righteousness. And that's our peace with God.
That's why He said in Romans 5.1, being justified, By faith
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's through
Christ we have peace with God because He justified us. And
this is freely given to us through faith. Through faith. And so
God our Father, when He has brought you to this peace and brought
you to Christ and made you to hold this peace between you and
God the Father, He makes an everlasting covenant with you. And this covenant
goes like this. God said in Isaiah 54.10, The
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed. But my kindness
shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace
be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. That tells
us this covenant is not a two-sided covenant. It doesn't. Some stipulations
God will fulfill and some stipulations we have to fulfill. It's all
of God. So God can tell you, I'll never
take away this covenant of peace. And so throughout our lives,
God says this to us. When you get trouble in this
world, you're going to have trouble in the world. Where's our peace?
So he says to us in Philippians 4, 6, be careful for nothing.
Don't be anxious over anything. Don't get worried and troubled
over anything. He says, but in everything, by
prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto
God. Come to God like a little child
who needs the help of his father. And God says this, in the peace
of God, which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and your
minds through Christ Jesus. This peace is not outward peace.
It doesn't mean He's going to necessarily take away the thing
that's troubling you. He's going to give you peace
in your heart and in your mind and keep you in His peace. So go to Him. He's the peace.
Go to Him. So whatever happens to us, brethren, in this world, whatever situation
we're in, trouble, sorrow, whatever, we can say with the psalmist,
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only
makest me dwell in safety. So you can lay down and sleep
in peace, because our Lord only makes his child dwell in safety. He allowed men to kill His people
before, but they didn't hurt His people. They just removed
the old man of sin and the new man went to be with the Lord.
They can't hurt His people. We dwell in safety. We dwell
in Christ. So if you ever want to ask God
a blessing for me, this is it. This is it. It's just the blessing
all God's people ask for one another. Grace and peace to you
from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is the spirit God gives
in sanctification? He's done all this for His child.
What's the spirit He gives His child in sanctification? Well,
in the Apostle Paul and in the Romans, the Roman saints here,
we see the spirit that God gives in sanctification. And I want
to show you three things about this. First of all, the spirit
God gives those that He sanctifies is a spirit of thankfulness. It's a spirit of thankfulness.
Look at Romans 1 verse 8. First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. Now those that are sanctified
by God, thank God our Father through Jesus Christ for our
brethren. We thank God for brethren. This
is the spirit he gives. It's a thankful spirit. We thank
God for brethren because God alone is to be thanked. That's
what he said. First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for you all. We're thankful for God's great
gift of brethren in Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ.
What a great gift God's given us. When God sanctifies you,
you're not going to have unity and that bond that you once had
with unregenerate men in this world. You're not going to have
that bond anymore. Recently, I was talking with
a young lady that God has sanctified, and I asked her how school's
going. And she said, she asked me, she said, have you, had God
called you when you were in high school? And I said, no. And she
said, well, you may not understand this then. And she said, but
the greatest difficulty is not having any real bond with my
friends, because they don't believe the gospel. See, God makes his
children strangers and pilgrims in this world. We have to go
to school and we have to work, we have to be friendly with those
people we associate with, but we don't have any spiritual unity
with them. And therefore, we don't have
any real unity at all with them in this world, but between brethren. God gives the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. That's what we have. He works
in you and He makes us like-minded. Having the same love, being of
one accord and of one mind. It's a mind for Christ. It's
a love for Christ. It's a unity in Christ. This
is why Christ said this, By this shall all men know that you're
my disciples. if you have love one to another. He didn't say they're going to
know it because you're so perfect in your doctrine, in what you
know doctrinally. He didn't say that's how men
are going to know you're my disciples. He says they're going to know
it if you love one another. How can that be a certainty that
everybody that he calls and sanctifies are going to have a spirit of
love for one another? How can that be a certainty?
Because John said this, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God. Born of the same Holy Spirit
of God. And everyone that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also
that's begotten of Him. That's not just so in some, that's
so in all His people. When you're born of the same
Spirit, that's when God gives you love in the heart. God-given
love. And you have love for your brethren.
You love those who are begotten of the same Holy Spirit, who
love the same Lord that you love. You know, men can fake doctrine.
Men can learn doctrine, true doctrine, and can fake being
very zealous for doctrine, but they can't fake the love of God
that He gives. They can't fake it. Because true
charity never fails, the scripture said. And those where God's given
love, they can't forsake their brethren. They love them, and
they can't forsake them. They cannot forsake them. They
bear one another's burdens, and that means they bear their shortcomings,
they bear with their errors, they bear with everything about
them. Just like you do your children, or your husband, or your wife,
because you love them. And so they bear with those things.
Why? Because charity never fails. Not the charity God gives in
the heart. The true sanctified child of
God thanks God for brethren. We thank Him for brethren. And
the spirit God gives in His saints is thankful to God for all the
blessings He gives to our brethren. He says there, I thank God through
our Lord Jesus Christ that your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. God teaches us, when He sanctifies
us, that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning, as James 1.17. Everything that you
and I have, we received it freely from God. Everything we are by
grace, right now we are by God's grace. We didn't do anything. Every good gift came from the
Father. And God teaches His saints that. We're sinners. Every good gift
came from Him. So when we see faithfulness in
our brethren, we give thanks where thanks is due. It all came
from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's even by
Him that we thank Him. That's how impotent we are by
nature. It's even by Him that we thank
Him. Hebrews 13.15 says, By Him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that
is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. So first of all, the spirit God
puts in the heart when He sanctifies His child and gives you a new
spirit, it's a spirit of thankfulness to God for brethren and for the
faith He gives to brethren. And then secondly, go back now
to Romans 1.8, The spirit God gives in sanctification
is a spirit of faithfulness. It's a spirit of faithfulness.
He says there in verse 8, your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. God makes those that He sanctifies
faithful to God our Father by making us faithful to our Lord
Jesus Christ. He brings you to be faithful
to Him. That means you cast all your
care on Him. You trust all your completion
is Christ. All your acceptance with God
the Father is Christ. Everything you need to be saved
is Christ. I wish people could get that.
That's what Paul said when he said Christ is all. Everything we need is Christ. That's why you hear us preach
Christ, Christ, Christ. That's why Paul said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Christ is all. He's everything we need. And
when God saves a man and sanctifies that sinner, He's going to give
him faith to be faithful to Christ. To rest in Christ. Not turn back
to His works. He turns away from them. He turns
to Christ. And then secondly, the faithful
do something else. And this is very important. God
also makes His child faithful to represent God our Savior before
men. He makes you faithful to represent
God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ before men, before this
world. Not trying to be seen of men
like the Pharisees do. The self-righteous world goes
around trying to do things just so men will see them. That's
not what I'm talking about. That's not what I'm talking about.
He makes us faithful before men because we know that this world
is looking for something in you so they can reproach Christ,
reproach our gospel, and reproach our brethren. Be sure to understand
this because this is of utmost importance. It matters how believers
live in this world. Our conduct in this world is
of utmost importance. It matters in the church before
our unbelieving family and friends. It matters in the church before
young believers. And it matters in this world
before men. Go with me to Titus 2. I think that there are Young
people often don't understand this and they think that when
they hear that we're saved by grace apart from our works that
it just doesn't matter then how you live. I've even heard some
people that profess to believe God that make this horrible statement,
knowing they're about to sin in this outward rebellion, say,
well, that's why Christ died for us. No, it's not. He didn't
die for us. Shall we sin that grace may abound?
God forbid. Look here, Titus 2, 2. He says
that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in
charity, in patience. He says, at the age women likewise,
that they be in behavior as becometh holiness. Not false accusers,
not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may
teach the young women. Here's for the young women to
be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be
discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their
own husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed. This is our motive right here,
that the Word of God be not blaspheming. Young men, likewise exhort to
be sober-minded in all things, showing thyself a pattern of
good works, in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary
part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort
servants. This applies to us working at
our jobs. If you're employed and you're
working for somebody, listen to what he says. Be obedient
unto their own masters and please them well in all things. Not
answering again, not talking back, not purloining, not finding
a dark place somewhere and wasting time and hiding and not doing
anything. stealing the boss's time, but
showing all good fidelity. Here's why. This is so of all,
everything we've been reading here, that they may adorn the
doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of
God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and that He might purify unto
Himself a peculiar people, a chosen people, zealous of good works. See that? That's why Christ died. He didn't redeem us from all
iniquity just so we can... live and bring reproach on his
name. He did it so we'll honor his
name and adorn his name. There's a bulletin article in
today's bulletin by Pastor Henry Mahan titled, Believers Represent
the Lord. I want to read this to you. This
illustrates what we just read in Titus. He said, several years
ago, I applied for a home improvement loan at a local bank. And I did
not deal with the president of the bank or an officer of the
bank, but with one of the employees. And this particular employee
was quite rude and unkind to me, causing me to cancel my account
at that bank and move to another. The only contact I had with the
bank was with this very poor representative, but it was enough
to discourage me from going there again. You and I represent our
Lord, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the church
of the firstborn. The only contact some people
have with the church and kingdom of God is through us. What kind
of impression do we leave on them? What idea of Christianity
do we convey to them? I wonder if they do not sometimes
walk away offended, disappointed, and resolve not to inquire any
further into our faith or listen to our message. I realize that
we're all frail creatures subject to all of the limitations of
the flesh, but we need to set a watch on our lips, control
our tempers, and put forth a special effort to adorn the gospel of
His grace. If we endure persecution for
the gospel's sake, well and good, but not if we bring it on ourselves
by our own faults." That's what Paul is saying in Titus. That
illustrates the point. So God gives His saints a spirit
of faithfulness to Christ, trusting Christ alone. And He gives us
a faithfulness to represent Christ in this world to men. Now lastly,
the spirit God gives those that He sanctifies is a spirit to
serve. It's a spirit to serve. We see
this in Paul. Paul was an apostle. But this
applies to all God's people. This is the spirit He gives all
His people. even his pastors. God gave Paul a spirit to serve
Him by carrying forth the gospel of Christ. He said in verse 9,
he says there in verse 9, he just said something about God
and he says, he says, Whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel
of His Son. Whom I serve. First and foremost,
the spirit God gives is to serve Him, is to serve Him. Whatever you do, Scripture says,
do it as unto the Lord, serving Him. After Christ spoke to Paul
on one occasion, He said this in Acts 27, 23. He said, There
stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom
I serve. He served our Lord Jesus. It's
this new spirit that God gives His child, in the new spirit
that we have this willingness and this desire to serve Him.
He said there in verse 9, whom I serve with my spirit. That's that new spirit God gives.
Our old sinful man has no desire to serve God whatsoever and only
hinders us. We have to war against Him constantly.
It's in the new spirit God gives wherein we desire to serve God. Acts 19.21 says, Paul purposed
in the spirit. He purposed in the spirit. The
little s spirit, that spirit God gave him. He purposed in
the spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia
to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I've been there I must also see
Rome. That's what's bringing him there.
God calls us to serve Him. to serve Him, to serve Him in
that new spirit, and to serve Him in the furtherance of the
gospel of Christ. Look at verse 9. Whom I serve
with my spirit in the gospel of His Son. This is where our
service is. God calls some to preach Christ. That's our service. My service
is to preach Christ. But He calls others to do things,
to serve in ways that helps me to preach Christ and to go forth
and preach Christ. And it takes every kind of form. It may be everything from cleaning
the church building, to taking care of the finances, to being
a traveling companion, to financially supporting the gospel. There's
all different ways. but everybody's fitly framed
together for this one purpose, to serve Him in the furtherance
of the gospel of His Son. And this is what we're doing.
This is our purpose. And secondly, God makes His child
faithful to serve our brethren. That's how we serve our God.
We serve Him, our Father preaching His Son. And then secondly, we do so serving
our brethren. Look here. Listen to this spirit. This is the spirit of a servant
toward his brethren. Verse 11, Romans 1-11. Paul said,
I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual
gift. He's saying that I might be the
instrument God uses to preach the gospel, whereby God gives
you a spiritual gift. He says, to the end that you
may be established. See what his longing was? He
wanted them to be established through the preaching of the
gospel. He says, that is, that I may be comforted together with
you by the mutual faith both of you and me. So that's a longing
for brethren to be established through the gospel. And He gives
us a spirit to serve whomever God sends us to serve. Look here in verse 14. I'm a
debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the
wise and to the unwise. God is not a respecter of persons.
He doesn't respect a person whether they're rich or poor, educated
or uneducated. And the spirit He gives His servants
doesn't either. We're not looking on men's persons. We're ready to preach. We're
a debtor to preach this gospel to any kind of man. That's why
He said, to all that be in wrong. Any kind of sinner. To the wise
and to the unwise. And He also gives us a spirit
to serve Him wherever God puts us. Look here in verse 15. So
as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that
are at Rome also. Paul knew this was the seat of
Satan. This was going right into the
lion's den. He knew that afflictions awaited
him for going there and preaching at Rome. And they did. He was
in prison at Rome. He went to Rome a prisoner. And so, but the point here is,
whomever and wherever God puts us to serve, that's where His
servant is glad to serve. When Brother Eric, I asked him,
did he have an interest to preach and he said he did. The first
thing I asked him, I said, you go home and you talk to Michelle
and you tell her, are you willing to go anywhere anywhere, be it
Alaska, San Diego, Australia, wherever. If I go forth preaching
and God calls me to pastor a church, are you willing to go wherever?"
And she said, yes. And I said, okay, I'll recommend
you. If she had said no, I'd have said, well, you can go and
preach for folks, but you can't, I won't tell them you're open
to be called to be a pastor. Because you've got to be willing
to go wherever God puts you. And that's so right here in this
local assembly. Whatever He's given us to do, we're pleased
to do it. We're pleased to do it. I had
a man at Franklin ask me. I had been preaching the first
service. I would teach a Bible lesson
to the whole congregation. And we got a bunch of children
and Chris asked me to go, Pastor Cunningham asked me to go in
the back and teach those little children. Here I was, I've been
traveling all this time, preaching for all these churches, I've
been preaching to all these adults this whole time, and now I'm
going to go back there out of sight and preach to little kids. And somebody came to me and they
said, I don't think that's right, he's putting you back there preaching
to little kids. I said, you should serve God wherever God puts you. Those are souls. They're just
as important as the older folks. It doesn't matter. You go where
God puts you. So if it's cleaning out the gutters He's given me
to do, I'm going to clean out the gutters as unto the Lord,
serving Him, knowing I'm doing this for the fervor of the gospel.
Or if it's preaching, I'm going to do it the same way. That's
the spirit He gives, a spirit of thankfulness to God for our
brethren and for all their blessings, a spirit of faithfulness to Christ
and to represent Christ before men, and a spirit to serve, to
serve God and to serve our brethren. That right there, my friends,
that's the Spirit God gives in sanctification. Do I have that
Spirit? Now listen, God doesn't make
you a full-grown believer when He calls you at first. We don't
get more holy, but we do grow in grace. And we grow through
the knowledge of Christ. So, this is our prayer. Grace
to you. and peace from God our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ. And as He gives you grace and
peace, He'll grow you in these graces. I pray that for you. I pray it for me. I pray it for
God's people everywhere. Let's stand together. Father, thank You for Your Word.
We ask You to bless it to our hearts now. Help us to come back
and worship You. Forgive us our sins, Lord. In
Christ's name, Amen.