Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1. I want to just read the first verse
again. 2 Corinthians 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, unto the church
of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are
in all Achaia." Now, if there's one thing that characterizes
this generation that we live in now, and especially religious
folks in this day, it's an arrogant, Familiarity with God. A very
arrogant familiarity with God. You have popular preachers who
glory in appealing credentials. They go by titles that appeal
to men. You have so-called churches that
glory in various marketing gimmicks. They call themselves by clever
names to appeal to people. And then you have so-called saints
who glory in making themselves saints by their works and in
making themselves more and more holy by their works. Now is that
the work of God? Is that how God describes His
people and His work in Scriptures? Here you have a true minister
of Christ and he is speaking by the Holy Spirit of God. The
Holy Spirit of God made him, God the Holy Spirit made him
write what he wrote here in this first verse. How does the Holy
Spirit make Paul describe himself? He says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God. And then here's a true church.
Now how does the Spirit of God describe this church? He calls
them the church of God. The church of God. And then here are true believers,
true saints. How does the Spirit characterize
them? He calls them the saints. The saints which are in all of
chaos. Now our subject tonight is the
possession and work of God. The possession and work of God.
And I titled it that because God's preachers and His church
and every saint individually see ourselves, recognize ourselves
to be God's possession and God's work. and therefore we glory
only in the Lord. We see ourselves, by God's grace,
to be God's possession and God's work, His workmanship, and therefore
we glory only in the Lord. We don't have anything to boast
in at all. Now, first of all, by the Spirit
of God, Paul recognizes himself here as all God's true preachers
recognize themselves. He says here, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He's recognizing himself
as the possession and the work of Christ. Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God. Now that's how all God's preachers
recognize themselves, as the work and the possession of God,
the possession and work of God. Now he calls himself Paul. There's
no prefix added. He doesn't say Dr. Paul. He doesn't
say Reverend Paul. He doesn't say Pastor Paul or
Father Paul or even Apostle Paul. Just Paul. Paul. And then as for his office, after
his name, he writes An Apostle. Not The Apostle. An Apostle. One among several. And Paul only
says that, only says that he's an apostle because there were
some at Corinth, as we've seen, who were telling lies and denying
that Paul was an apostle at all. That's the only reason he mentions
it. He does write to Philemon a friendly letter and he doesn't
call himself an apostle. But this was needed when he wrote
this, but that's the only reason he did it. And you think about
this, the apostle is the That's the first office in the church.
Christ gave first apostles. That's the first office in the
church. And yet, Paul doesn't refer to himself as the Apostle
Paul. He refers to himself here as
an apostle. Now, it would be okay if others
wanted to call him the Apostle Paul in respect for what God
had done in making him an apostle. But Paul wasn't going to call
himself that. He said, Paul, an apostle. And then notice the
one to whom he says he belongs. The one whose apostle he is. He says, an apostle of Jesus
Christ. An apostle of Jesus Christ. And he acknowledges by the will
of God. Now the Holy Spirit here, giving
him these words to write, is putting the emphasis on Christ
out on Paul. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. The emphasis is to glorify God.
It's by the will of God. Now why is it important to note
that Paul didn't give himself some title to make himself appeal
to those to whom he wrote? Why didn't he call himself Dr.
Paul or the Apostle Paul or Father Paul or something like that?
There's two reasons. One, God's ministers do not want
self-exalting titles. We want Christ to be exalted
because Christ has made us see ourselves as what we are, nothing. He made his preacher see himself
as nothing. He made us to see that we were
made guilty sinners by Adam's one transgression in the garden
just like every sinner was. And He made us to see that we
have a corrupt nature being born of Adam's corrupt seed just like
every sinner is born into this world the first time. And even
after He's called us and given us a new heart and created in
us a new spirit, He made us to know that in our flesh still
dwells nothing but sin. We still have nothing to glory
in. That's the only way we know this
is because God gave us a new heart and a new spirit. But when
He gives you a new heart and a new spirit, it doesn't make
you want to glory in yourself. It doesn't make you want to look
to yourself. It makes you glorify Christ for
what He's done. Look over at Romans chapter 7.
Romans chapter 7. Our fleshly sin nature is sin. That's all our flesh still is
as believers. As those born again of God, all
our flesh still is is sin. Look here, Romans 7.18. Paul
says, I know. I know. The only way he knew
this was because the Spirit of God had entered into Paul. And
Christ had been formed in Paul. And a new heart, a new spirit,
a new man had been created in Paul. That's the only way he
knew this. I know that in me, and he qualifies it, that is
in my flesh. I'm talking about that part of
me that is of Adam. in my flesh dwelleth right now. He is talking about right now.
Dwelleth. No good thing. The only way He knew that, the
only way you and I will ever know that is by the Spirit of
God putting a new spirit in us. By Christ being formed in us
and dwelling in His child. It is the only way you are going
to know that in your flesh dwells nothing good. Look down at verse
20. He says, He had a will, he said,
to do that which God... to obey God. He had a will to
obey God. He had a will to do, but he couldn't perform it. He
said, verse 20, Now if I do that, I would not. If I do that, I'm
not willing in my new man. I'm not willing to do this. If
I do that, I would not. It's no more I that do it. It's not the new man. And that's
the I he's talking about. It's not my new spirit. It's
not my inward man. that making me sin, but sin that
dwelleth in me." You see that? It's sin that dwells in my old
man. I found then a law that when I would do good, that's
the new man. He's willing to do good. Evil
is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. You see that? There's a new man
there. That man, he wasn't born with
that man the first time. Christ stood before Nicodemus
and He said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that
which is born of the Spirit, capital S, God the Holy Spirit,
that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, small s. It's an inward
man created. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, but I see another law or another principle in my
members. warring, that's the flesh, my
member, warring against the law of my mind. Here he calls the
new man, my mind, as opposed to my members. My members are
my flesh here, my new mind is that new man. I see a principle
then that Let me read it again. I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. What does that mean?
When I would do good, this sin that is with me and my old man
wars against the new man. And if God left me to myself
and allowed the old man and that new man to war against one another,
the old man brings the new man into captivity. So that I don't
do what I would do. I sin rather than obeying God
as I would. Sin is going to be mixed with
everything I do. Because I have an old sinful
man that is still with me. And he says, Oh wretched man
that I am. That is what every God sent preacher
knows about himself. I am a wretched man right now.
I am a wretched sinner. That is what I am. That old man
is not getting better. He hadn't been made better. He
hadn't been touched. God has done something entirely
new. Put a new man in. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Who's going to deliver me from
this old sinful man? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's who. So then, with the
mind in that inward man, I myself serve the law of God. That's
the new man. But the flesh, the old man, I
serve the law of sin. Now that's the two men that are
in a believer. Whether you call it the old nature
and the new nature, or you want to call it the old man and the
new man, that's scriptural, the old man and the new man. That's
always going to be with a believer. So God's minister knows. He doesn't
have any reason to put any self-exalting titles on himself. He doesn't
have any reason to exalt himself before men. Because he's just
a sinner. He is entirely dependent on the
Lord Jesus Christ to deliver him every moment of every day. You know over in Galatians when
Paul said the flesh lusts against the capital S Spirit. And he
said therefore you can't do the things you would. There he is
talking about how the Spirit overrules that old fleshly man
so that you can't run off into sin like you would. He won't
let him have the dominion over you. Here he is saying but left
to myself, that old man brings me into captivity every time.
See how dependent we are on our Lord Jesus Christ to constantly
keep us by His Spirit? That's why we don't exalt ourselves
in any way, not even in a title that we give ourselves. That's
the first reason. Turn over to 1 Timothy 1. I want
you to see how Paul describes himself and how he describes
Christ. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12. He says there, I thank Christ
Jesus our Lord. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord. He is the only one that can be
thanked. He couldn't pat himself on the back. Why did he thank
Him? Who hath enabled me for that
He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Simply
put, that means He made me faithful and put me in the ministry. Who
was before? Now here is what I am now in
my flesh. This is all I was before Christ
came to me, Paul said. A blasphemer and a persecutor
and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly
and unbelieving. In other words, once Christ saved
me and called me, I didn't keep going back to that and run into
that and persecute the church. Now He called me out of it. Before
I was doing it ignorantly and unbelief. Now if He went back
to do it, He wouldn't be doing it ignorantly and unbelief. But
He says here, I thank God, I thank Christ my Lord, He called me
out of that. And look, and the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. He glorifies the grace of the
Lord. He glorifies Him giving Him faith and love in Christ
Jesus. And then He says, And 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. Howbeit for this cause I obtain
mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life
everlasting." He said, the Lord used me as a pattern. You have
loved ones that you love who are in sin and rebelling and
just will not hear the Gospel and will not pay you attention
even though you keep telling them to read the Word and to
listen to the messages and this is how God is going to save you
and they just won't heed your message. Paul said, I was worse
than that. I was trying to kill Christ's
people. And the whole time I was doing
it, I belonged to God. I was His elect. He chose me
in Christ. Christ had shed His blood for
me. And the whole time, God was showing His long suffering to
me. He was being long-suffering toward me to show a pattern.
You ladies know what a pattern is. A pattern, you are going
to make a dress, you have a pattern. He says, here is a pattern of
God's long-suffering. He used me to show a pattern
of His long-suffering. All that time He was long-suffering
toward me. But when He pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb, He revealed Himself to me and called me by His grace.
So there you have a pattern of how God saves. Long-suffering
is always towards God's people. He is not long-suffering towards
those that are on His people. He is long-suffering to those
that are His people. And He said there is a pattern. And He says
now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. So do you see here
now how He speaks honestly about Himself, how He calls Himself
a sinner, had nothing to glory in, and how He gives all the
honor and all the glory to God and what He did by His grace
through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? That's why He didn't want a title.
That's why He didn't want to exalt Himself. He owed everything
to Christ. He wanted Christ to have the
glory. So when He said, I'm an apostle
of Jesus Christ, He wasn't glorifying himself as an apostle, he was
glorifying Christ who made him an apostle by the will of God. He was glorifying the will of
God. Now that's the first reason we don't want a title. The second
reason is found over in Matthew 23. Turn over there, Matthew
23. Christ's ministers don't want
a self-exalting title because Christ told us not to take one.
And when God has given you a heart to obey the Master, you want
to obey your Lord and your Master. And he said, don't seek one.
Look here, Matthew 23, verse 7. He is talking about the Pharisees
here. And he said, they love the uppermost
rooms at feasts, the chief seats in the synagogues. And watch
this, verse 7. And greetings in the markets,
and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, Master, Master. But be not ye called rabbi, for
one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Did you notice how Paul said
Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ and our brother Timothy? That
was a sign of Paul's humility to speak of himself as being
one with Timothy. He wasn't exalting himself over
Timothy, he was saying I'm one with him, he's my brother. And
he says, here, don't be called a master. There's one master,
that's Christ, and you're all brethren of one another. Remember
James? He said, don't be masters over
one another. Don't be mini-masters. Look here
in verse 9. And call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. That doesn't
mean you can't call your dad father. He's talking about in
a religious way. Don't call a man your father,
holy father. There's only one father. He's
in heaven. Your heavenly Father. Neither be ye called masters,
for one is your master, even Christ. But now watch this. Here is the rule of Christ's
kingdom. He that is greatest among you, the man who is the
greatest among you, shall be your servant. That's not how
the world views it, is it? The world doesn't view the greatest
one amongst them to be the one that's doing the serving. But
that's so in God's kingdom. The greatest is the servant.
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. And he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted. So there is a great
difference in Christ's preachers and Satan's preachers. Christ's
preachers are not wanting titles. And beware of a man who comes
and wants a great title and wants you to call him some great title. Usually you don't hear those
kinds of men preach the gospel. There have been men who were
doctors John Gill was Dr. Gill, but he didn't go around
calling himself Dr. Gill. He preached the gospel. There have been men who were
doctors of theology who preached the gospel, but most of the time
men that want to be called doctor and reverend and pastor and this
and that, you don't hear any gospel out of them. God's preachers
recognize we owe it all to Christ. We're His possession and we're
His work. So we want him to have the glory. There was an old preacher
named William Huntington, an old faithful preacher named William
Huntington. He always signed his name William Huntington,
S period, S period. It meant sinner saved. William
Huntington, sinner saved. You want a title? That's a good
one right there. Sinner saved. Secondly, now, the same is true
of God's true church. They recognize, we recognize
ourselves to be the possession and the work of Christ. God the
Holy Spirit here calls the church, the church of God. The church
of God. The church that is the possession
of God, that belongs to God. Churches call themselves names
to attract people in our day. Brother, I've told you all this.
Brother Eric saw it here not too long ago. Michelle saw it.
down south that's got on its sign, this is the church where
everybody is somebody. And then there are several churches. There was one in the town we
used to live in where it's actually called the People's Church. The
People's Church. And that's whose church it is.
It's a so-called church. It's not even honoring to call
it a church. It is the People's Church. The
true church is the church of God. It's the church of God. God's elect, His church is His
possession by His purchase. in eternity, whenever God chose
His church, His elect, and He chose them in Christ and blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
When He did that, and God the Son and God the Father entered
into an eternal, everlasting covenant to redeem His people
and do so honoring God the Father. When Christ became our surety,
right then we became the possession His church became the possession
of God in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Turn with me to Psalm 74. Listen to this. This is the psalmist.
Now this is before Christ ever came. Now listen to this. Look at verse 2. thy congregation which thou hast
purchased of old." That's how we became the possession. "...which
you purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance which thou
hast redeemed, this Mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt." And
another place in Psalm 78, it's called, "...this mountain which
his right hand had purchased." That was in Christ, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, God purchased His
church. We became the church of God before as yet He ever
made a grain of sand. Then go with me to Acts 20 now. Acts 20. Then God came to this earth and
He walked this earth and He went to the cross. And there God purchased
His church with His blood. Look at Acts 20 verse 28. Paul is telling the elders at
Ephesus, he says, take heed to yourselves, verse 28, take heed
therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God. How did they become the church
of God? Which He hath purchased with
His own blood. God purchased the church with
His own blood. How could God, who is Spirit,
have blood and shed that blood? You look at Calvary's cross.
There God the Son, who is the God-man, went to the cross and
poured out His own blood and God purchased the church with
His own blood. And then turn with me to Ephesians
1 and look at verse 14. Ephesians 1 verse 14. Because God's church is His possession,
He bought them with His blood, He will not lose any member of
that church, of His church, and so He sends forth the Spirit
of God and gives us faith to believe. and then seals us with
that Holy Spirit of promise. And look here now, verse 14.
That Holy Spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory. What is He talking about? Well,
He is talking about His church. His church is His purchased possession. and he shall come again and redeem
his purchased possession. Redemption, you know, I don't
know how to explain this, but you used to get, they used to
give out S&H green stamps when I was growing up in the South.
Did they have those here, S&H green stamps? And you would go
to a store and you could buy some with S&H green stamps and
you redeemed those stamps. You redeemed them. You bought
it. You bought whatever you could buy with the S&H Green Stamp.
It was called redeeming them. He has bought the church already
with His blood. He is going to come again and
redeem. He is going to take to Himself that which is His purchased
possession. And when he talks about the redemption
here, it's that same redemption he talks about over in Romans
8.28 when he says that we're going to be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. He's saying He's going to take
us out of this world into glory with Him. Why is He going to
do that? Because we're His purchased possession.
Now that, we don't have to call ourselves with any cutesy names
to try to appeal to anybody because the most honorable name you could
ever have is the Church of God. That's who we are. By His grace,
the Church of God. We're God's possession and God's
workmanship. That's what His true church is.
And then let me show you this last thing now. Each individual
child of God recognizes that we are the possession and work
of God. He calls, back in 2 Corinthians
1.1, He calls each individual believer, this is what He calls
us, He calls us saints, the saints. Now that is a misunderstood term. And that is, you know, that's
one of those exalting titles that the Church of Rome gives. Everybody is a saint, somebody.
And then you have, you've probably heard people that, you know,
hear you talking about what God's done for you and chose you and
called you and redeemed you. And they'll say something like
derogatory. They'll say, oh, you must think
you're a saint. Well, God's people are. Because
those He has called are saints. You've got to be a saint. to
enter into God's presence in glory. You cannot enter unless
you are a saint. Now what is that, to be a saint?
To be a saint is to be sanctified, is to be made holy. It's nothing
like the religious world speaks of it. Will works religion may
give God all the glory in every other work that has to be done.
They may give God all the glory in every other work that must
be done. But when it comes to sanctification,
They make it a co-effort between God and the sinner. This is why
we don't call ourselves, I don't call myself reformed because
what you hear in most reformed preaching is when it comes to
sanctification, you got to do your part to be sanctified, to
sanctify yourself. They speak of it as getting holy,
making yourself holy and making yourself more and more holy.
Now listen to me carefully. Salvation, that's a big word. Salvation. That means being saved
from sin into God's presence in glory. Fully, finally, forever. Salvation is of the Lord. That means beginning to end it
is the work of God. Beginning to end. That includes
sanctification. When God says that Christ of
God, are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, He follows it
up with this, that, here's the reason, that he that glories,
let him glory only in the Lord. Nowhere else. Because it's all
of the Lord. Now let me show you, go with
me to Jude 1. Jude chapter 1. God the Father sanctified His
people in eternity when He sovereignly chose His people by grace in
Christ. He sanctified us. To be sanctified
is to be chosen, to be set apart from the rest, and to be consecrated
to God for His holy use. It's to be separated. is to be
holy. It's not to be with the common
lot. It's to be holy, separated out, and to be consecrated for
one purpose, for God's purpose, for God's use. God the Father,
first person in the Godhead, God the Father gets all the glory
in this work because He sanctified His people in divine election
when He sovereignly chose whom He would in eternity in Christ. Look here at Jude 1.1. Or Jude
verse 1. Jude is writing, to them that
are sanctified by God the Father, and by God the Father they were
preserved in Christ Jesus, and by God the Father they were called. You see that? That's when He
chose us in Christ and set us apart in Christ and consecrated
us to Himself in Christ. He sanctified us and He preserved
us in Christ and He called us in Christ. That is the work of
God the Father. You remember the vessels in the
tabernacle? When we look, you know, we've looked different
times at those vessels. They had all different kinds
of these little vessels that were used in the worship of God
in the tabernacle in the wilderness. Well, all of those vessels were
sanctified by God. He chose them, which ones He
would use. He set them apart and He consecrated
them to Himself. He told Moses, these are the
vessels I've chosen, set these apart and they'll be consecrated
to me. Those vessels were to be used
for no other reason but God's use, to worship God. That's all
they were used for. They were holy vessels. They
were sanctified vessels. They were consecrated vessels.
That's an illustration of sanctification of God's people. He sets you
apart. He separates you out. And He consecrates you for His
holy use. And that He did when He chose
us in Christ in eternity. And then go with me now to Hebrews
10. My favorite verse. You know I can't get the message
without quoting this. Hebrews 10. We are sanctified by the Son
of God. By God the Son, the God-man mediator. Hebrews 10 verse 10. We just
saw this the other day. In verse 9, Christ said, ìLo,
I come to do thy will, O God.î And then in verse 10 it says,
ìAnd by the which will?î By His will, by the will of our Lord
Jesus Christ fulfilling the will of God, we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. Verse 14, For by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Perfected
means to be made complete. To be made complete. And the
scripture says you are complete in Christ which is the head of
all principality and power. So now get the picture here.
Those that God the Father sanctified by divine election and separated
them and consecrated them to Himself in Christ, Christ came
forth to fulfill the will of God, to purge their sin and make
them perfect before God, make them complete before God. And
so Christ said, I came to do Thy will, O God. And the Scripture
tells us here, by His will we are sanctified. Now think about
how separate we are by God's grace, by what Christ has done. Everybody that Christ died for,
all God's elect, are complete in Christ. How separate is that
from those that He didn't represent? That's holy from those He did
not represent. They're perfect. They're complete
in Christ. They're separated by Christ. by His blood. They are perfected
forever by His blood. They are holy, they are set apart,
they are consecrated for His holy use. But then in ourselves,
we come into this world and we are not sanctified. In ourselves,
in our experience of this work, we are not sanctified. We are
just as common as everybody else in this world. We are right there
with everybody else in this world. We seem like we are children
of wrath even as others. That is all we are. All we had
was that old wrathful nature we got from Adam. That is all
we were, was an old fleshly man. So we have got to be sanctified
by God the Holy Spirit. And He sanctifies His people.
in the new birth. And again, this is illustrated
by those vessels in the tabernacle. They were sanctified when God
chose them. And then they took and they slew
a lamb. And they were sanctified in the
slaying of that lamb. And then though they took the
blood of that lamb and they went and they sprinkled those vessels
with the blood of that lamb. Now go over to Hebrews 9. Hebrews
9. And look here at verse 18. Whereupon neither the first testament
was dedicated without blood. He is talking about that first
covenant, that covenant of works. He is talking about in that tabernacle
and everything in it, the people, the vessels, the tabernacle,
the book, everything. He said it was not dedicated
without blood. Now look at that word dedicated.
And if you have a marginal reading there, mine says that word dedicated
means purified. Purified. And if you look the
word up, dedicated, the Greek word means renewed. It means
consecrated. So here you got three words telling
us what this word dedicated means. It means renewed, consecrated,
purified. Now that was only ceremonially,
that was only a type and a picture. But let's read it now. Look here,
read the rest of it. Neither the first covenant was
dedicated without blood, for when Moses had spoken every precept
to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of
calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and
sprinkled both the book and all the people saying, ìThis is the
blood of the Testament which God hath enjoined unto you.î
Moreover, He sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the
vessels of the ministry. Weíve been using those vessels
as an illustration. He sprinkled all those vessels.
God chose those vessels. Here you got one bowl here and
outwardly it donít look much different than this other bowl.
But that bowl had blood sprinkled on it. God chose that bowl and
set it apart, sanctified it and said this bowl is consecrated
for my use. That made it holy. And then a
lamb was slain for that bowl. And then that blood of that lamb
was sprinkled on that bowl. And that made that bowl holy
and sanctified from the other bowl. That other bowl is just
common. It wasn't to be used in God's
house. It wasn't separated by God and consecrated to be used
in God's house. It wasn't holy. That bowl was
holy because God chose it and a lamb was slain for it and blood
was sprinkled on it. You get the picture? That blood
being applied is the picture of the Holy Spirit doing the
work in the heart. And He says there, almost all
things are by the law purged with blood, purified, dedicated,
sanctified, made pure, made holy. He is consecrated by blood and
without shedding of blood there is no remission, no forgiveness
of sin. He is showing us there that it
was necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves were
better sacrifices than these. Christ is not entered into the
holy place made with hands, neither with the blood of... but He is
entered into heaven itself. Nor yet that He should offer
Himself often as they did every year over and over and over.
For then He would have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now once in the end of the world He appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him
shall they appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Go to Titus 3 real quick. One more place I want to show
you. Just back a few pages. Titus 3. I said that that word
dedicated means to be renewed. Now watch this. Titus 3.3, we
are talking about Him applying the blood of Christ to us by
the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Titus 3.3 says, We ourselves
also were some time. For some time we were foolish,
we were disobedient, we were deceived, we served different
lusts and pleasures, we lived in malice and envy, hateful and
hating one another. We were just common. We were just like everybody else,
weren't we? We were just like looking at
those two bowls. They didn't look like either
one of them was any different than the other. But then look
what happened. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we done, It is not by our keeping the
law that this work was done, but according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. He dedicated us. He sanctified
us. He consecrated us. He purified
us by sprinkling that blood in the washing and renewing of the
Holy Spirit and regeneration. and He did it through Jesus Christ
our Savior. That being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Now, go to Romans 6. I do want to show you this. You've
got to see this. So now that we've been sanctified by our
triune God, now that we've been sanctified, we're saints. Now we serve God in newness of
spirit in that new man with that new heart And we do it not to
become sanctified, not to become more holy, more sanctified. We
do it because we are. Look here, Romans 6, 22. Now,
being made free from sin. See, that's past tense. It's
done. Being made free from sin and
become servants to God. You have your fruit. unto holiness and the end everlasting
life. You have that. You are not trying
to produce fruit. You have fruit. It is produced
by Christ. Look at Romans 7. And look at verse 4. Wherefore, my
brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ. that you should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we, by Christ
our husband, by Christ our sanctification, should bring forth fruit unto
God. That is how this fruit comes forth, because Christ now dwells
in you. And then look at verse 6. Now
we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
held, that we, and the word should is shall, that we shall serve
in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of letter. That is
not a possibility that we should. He goes on to say in Romans 8,
you are not in the flesh anymore, you are in the spirit if Christ
dwells in you. If you have been sanctified,
you are in the spirit and everything you are doing now is in newness
of spirit. Now go to Colossians 1 and I
am going to end with this. Who do we praise for this work?
Is there more to be done in this thing of sanctification to make
us to be able to enter into God's presence? You couldn't have communion with
God right now in Christ if this work wasn't already, if you weren't
fit to enter into God's presence. Because God can't have anything
to do with anybody unless you're holy. But look, am I fit to enter
into God's presence? Am I holy to enter into God's
presence? Have I been sanctified so I can enter into God's presence
right now? By this sanctifying work? Yes. And it's by God. We give Him
the glory. Look at this. Colossians 1.12.
Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet. He has made us fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. That means if I died
right now, I can go right to glory with God's saints that
are already there because I'm holy. and so are you that have
been sanctified by God, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, it's done, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son, we're in it if we're sanctified, in whom
we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of
sin. So do you see that? Sanctification
is all of God. Now here's my point. By the grace
of God, doing all this work for us, God's preachers and God's
church and God's saints individually. We give God all the glory and
we praise Him and we don't want to be exalted not by titles,
not by some clever name and not by saying we got a work to do
to sanctify ourselves. We want Him to have all the glory
because we are His possession and His workmanship to the praise
of the glory of God's grace. Do you see that? I pray God will
make us understand that fully. Amen. Let's stand together and we'll
go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you that you've
not left us to ourselves. This work of salvation wasn't
left in any aspect to us. Lord, we would have polluted
it, we would have defiled it, just like we've defiled everything
else we've ever touched. We thank You, Father, that it's
all of Your grace, all of Your mercy. Father, we ask that You
would keep Your people, keep us looking to Christ, keep us
realizing that everything You've done is of You, whether You've
done it for us at the cross or in us, in regeneration and quickening,
or whether You did it in eternity. and that we don't want to lessen
any aspect of this work in order to try to glorify another aspect
of this work. It's all of you. Keep us exalting
you in everything you've done for your people, praising you
in every work you do for your people, and never, ever exalting
ourselves, Lord. Forgive us of our sins. We pray,
Lord, for our brother Todd Nyberg, We pray, Lord, for him. We pray
for the saints there. You keep them. And we pray for
our brethren that are sick and in need of your grace everywhere.
You know who they are. You know what they need. We pray
for them, Lord. Forgive us our sins. We ask in
Christ's name. Amen.