1 Corinthians chapter 1. And I've entitled this message, The
Sanctification, Confirmation, and Preservation of the Church. Sanctification, Confirmation,
and Preservation of the Church. Paul says this, Paul, called
an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes,
our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ
Our Lord, both theirs and ours, grace unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Now Paul here
is writing to the church of Corinth, which God established by him
when he visited that place in Acts chapter 18. And in that chapter, the Lord
gives the apostle courage. He gives him strength concerning
this place of Corinth. He says, be not afraid, for I
have much people, much people in this city. So the apostle
there preached 18 months. 18 months he preached the gospel
of Jesus Christ to them. But after he departed, We don't
know how long that was or how soon or how late that was that
this happened, but after his departure, there were divisions
among the saints of God. There was disputings, strife,
contention among the believers there concerning none other than
preachers of the gospel. They were misusing the Lord's
Supper. Most of them were getting drunk
during the observation of the Lord's Supper. False teachers
had come in preaching that the resurrection had already passed.
And many other false doctrines they were teaching. Therefore,
Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to write this letter to heal
their divisions. That was his purpose. The purpose
of God was their healing of this division and strife that was
among them. It was the intention of the Holy
Spirit to correct their behavior, to denounce their false doctrine
that they had been taught. And now let us see that this
letter is not just intended for that church. This letter is intended
for every church. It was intended for all the churches
of God. All local assemblies are made
up of sinners, aren't they? This local assembly right here
is made up of what? Sinners saved by grace. And we
must understand, according to this letter, we are just as prone
to every vice and every sin that these people have committed.
They are believers just like we are. sinners like we are. We are prone to such sins. And so then I ask this among
the churches, are there any divisions? I tell you there are. There are
divisions among the saints. Are there any churches prone
to error and be duped? Can they be duped by false teachers? Yes, they can. And I tell you,
yes, some are. Some are. And if we're not yet plagued
with these troubles, we should be sober and vigilant so as not
to fall into the same things. That's what this scripture is
for. It's what this book is for. But here in this letter, the
Holy Spirit gives us the remedy for all division, all strife,
all false teaching, all misuse of the ordinances of God. There
is but one remedy. And Paul gives that remedy at
the very beginning of this book. That remedy is preaching the
gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the remedy for everything. This is the whole purpose of
us being called to preach, is to preach the gospel. Look what
he says in 1 Corinthians 1, 17. He says, for Christ sent me not
to baptize, but what? To preach the gospel. Look at
verse 22. For the Jews require sign, the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but what? We preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block.
To the Greeks, foolishness. But unto us, which are called
Jews and Greeks, it is the power of God. Christ, the power of
God and the wisdom of God. Look at chapter 2 and verse 2.
Paul said this, for I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You see that Paul, at the very
beginning here, is laying out the remedy for all their troubles. for all their strife, for all
their division. This is it. The preaching of
the gospel in strife because it humbles the believer. It brings
us down. It teaches us. It prevents all
false doctrine, doesn't it? The preaching of the cross of
Christ does not allow for false doctrine to enter into the church.
The preaching of the gospel teaches us to show reverence to the things
of God, the worship of God. So the remedy that Paul begins
with in this church, it was just a mess. And you can't say anything
else about the church of Corinth but this, it was a mess. And
we should be very careful of ourselves so that we do not fall
into the same things. And what is the remedy? Preaching
the gospel. Attending to the gospel, believing
the gospel is the remedy for all of these things. The message
humbles our hearts, it corrects our conduct, and it establishes
our doctrine. Now this evening, we're going
to look at the first nine verses, and in these nine verses, I want
us to see three things. Three things so that you should
be established, you who are the Church of God. I want this evening,
if the Holy Spirit permit, if the Holy Spirit give us grace,
I want you to be comforted. I want you to take comfort and
assurance of your standing before God. I want to take this word
that the Apostle preaches here and show you, first of all, the
sanctification of the Church. That the Church of God is sanctified
by God in Jesus Christ. Second of all, I want you to
see the confirmation of the Church And this is concerning the testimony
of the Word of God, that the Word of God is confirmed in you. And last, I want you to know
the preservation of the church, that everyone who is sanctified,
everyone who has the Word of God confirmed in their hearts,
shall be preserved unto the end. No exceptions. No exceptions. All the church shall be saved. So let's look at these three
things as they are mentioned in this chapter here. First of
all, the sanctification of the church. Paul begins this letter
and he states, first of all, his authority. He said, Paul
called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul did
not take this office to himself. You remember how the Lord saved
him on the road to Damascus. But his salvation was no different
than ours. May have different experience
of salvation, the outward experience of it, but yet his salvation
was the same as ours. But what's more about Paul is
this. He was called to be an apostle. An apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ, appointed by the will of God. This was not something
he took upon himself. That's one thing about preaching.
We don't take this upon ourselves. We cannot. No man should take
this upon himself. He must be called God to this
office by the will of God. I know this. I'm here by the
will of God because if it was up to me, I'm sure I would have
ran years ago if it was up to me. But it's not. God calls a
man, he puts him in the ministry, and he gives him a heart for
it, and he keeps him in it. He encourages him in it. He strengthens
him in it. This is what Paul was. He was
an apostle of Jesus Christ. And so this apostle was fulfilling
his responsibility in writing this letter to the church and
preaching the gospel to them. And this is what he says. Look
at verse two. Unto the church of God, which is at Corinth. to them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus. Now, we must be reminded that
the church, who is the church? This letter was not written to
everyone, was it? This letter was written to the
church of God at Corinth, but it was also written to us. Notice
what Paul says down at the bottom of this verse. He says, with
all that are in every place that call upon the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ our Lord and theirs." This letter is to the Church
of God in every generation. The Church of God. Now the Church
of God is made up of what? Sinners. Sinners. Saved by the grace of God. You
ever heard that? Some man is so foolish to say,
well, if I get my life straight, I'll start going to that church.
Why? Why would you do that? This church
is sinners and God came, Christ came to save what? Sinners. The
church is made up of sinners saved by the grace of God. By the grace of God, we are saved.
And these are the ones who are saved. Now, this church at Corinth
was a group of believers that met together to worship God through
the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what this
church here is doing tonight. We are here to worship God through
the preaching of the gospel of His Son, through the singing
of the hymns unto God through prayer. We come and we meet together. Don't you know that we're not
any different than this church? This church of Corinth is the
same as this church here. Why? Because we both believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Lord just as he was
their Lord. And so then, you who are the
church of God, who believe on Jesus Christ, I want you to know
this. For your comfort, for your assurance,
you are sanctified by God in Jesus Christ. Sanctified by God. That's what Paul says, under
the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified
in Christ Jesus. Now consider the word sanctification. I know you understand this and
know this. The two meanings of the word sanctification. One
means to set apart. To set apart. And the other is,
it means holy. Holy. Now consider this, first of all,
that you were set apart. May God the Holy Spirit let that
sink in. You were set apart by God the
Father in sovereign election. You were chosen of the Father, ordained by the will of God to
be holy. God determined to sanctify you,
and that sanctification is not something that the believer can
perform. I know when people hear the word
sanctification, they automatically begin to talk about moral purity. They think that sanctification
has something to do with your moral purity. No, that's not
true. Righteousness has something to
do with your actions, with your deeds. Holiness does not have
anything to do with your deeds so much as it has to do with
your being. Holiness is a state of being. It's not something you do. God is not holy based on what
He does. But what He does manifests His
holy being. He is holy. And so holiness,
sanctification, has to do with that. Holiness. But not by your
conduct. Now, this just means this, that
God sanctified you and set you apart. Now, this was illustrated
by those table, and the table of showbread, and the dish, and
the candlestick, and the old tabernacle. Now, when it says
this, that that table was holy. Now, how can a table be holy? All that meant that it was sanctified,
it was holy, it was set apart for the service of God. And that's what you and I were.
We were set apart from the rest of Adam's fallen race by God
for this purpose, that you should serve Him, worship Him, praise
Him. That's the church. The church
was set apart for this. We're sanctified for the service
of God. But how can one serve God except
they be holy and without sin? Therefore, God set us apart to
be holy. To be holy. And so then the second meaning
of sanctification is holiness. All the church collectively was
set apart for this purpose to be made holy. And He did this
how? As our text tells us. He sanctified
us in Jesus Christ. He put you, He put you by His
sovereign will into union with His Son. made you one with Him. And so, God set us apart and made
us holy by putting us in union with His Son, and we who believe
on Jesus Christ, we do so because we were set apart. This is where
false doctrine has it all backwards. They believe that somehow your
faith sanctifies you, makes you holy, has something. No, you
believe because you were sanctified, because God set you apart, because
God put you in Christ, is the only reason we believe. It's
because we were sanctified by the Father. Don't you know this? Does it not make you joyful that
the Father was willing to sanctify you? He willingly did that. He was not under no obligation
to do that, except his own sovereign will, his own love and mercy. God purposed that all his church
should be saved, not by their own offerings. He purposed that
none of the church should, by their merit or work, be made
holy. Therefore, the church was sanctified
in Christ before the world began as a divine act of sovereign
love, Jude says that you were sanctified by the Father, preserved
in Christ Jesus. Now you know this scripture,
it is the most clear concerning our sanctification is Ephesians
1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be, what? Holy. And without blame. Before him,
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children,
here's how by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of the will, to his will, the praise, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Now that's a church. The Church
is a chosen people, the Church is a sanctified people by the
Father, set apart to be holy. But you know our salvation election
is not salvation, election is unto salvation, isn't it? No,
salvation comes by this, you are sanctified in Christ Jesus. The work of salvation is accomplished
by the Son of God as we were in Him. In union with Him, as
He was our representative and high priest, He came to accomplish
our salvation, so as to make us holy. So all He did was for
the glory of God in saving us. He, by His own merits, obtained
everlasting righteousness, and by His own blood, He forever
justified us. Go to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter
10. Look at verse 9. This is by the prophecy of our
Lord Jesus Christ speaking, Then he said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. What did Christ come to do? He
come to do the will of God. What was the will of God? That
you should be holy and without blame before Him. that you should
be his sons. This was the will of God. He
came for that purpose. And he take it the way the first
that he might establish the second, talking about the covenant, by
the which will we are sanctified, how? Through the offering of
the body of Christ once for all. This is how you were sanctified.
You were sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all, and every high priest ended daily ministering
and offering, oft times, the same sacrifices which could never
take away sin. But this man, this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down forever at
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are," what? Sanctified. Don't you see how
these two are related? The church was sanctified by
God the Father, purposed to be made holy, then they were sanctified
in Christ, so when Christ came, He actually sanctified them by
His one offering. He had set them apart, He had
made them holy, perfect before God by His one offering. Even
before our birth, even before our first sin, He had already
perfected us. This is the church of God. As
one offering, all of the sins of the church was removed from
them forever. Never to be seen or heard of
again. You know, I often think of that
great day of atonement, and how he sacrificed that blood, and
he took that blood inside of that place. Now, you know that?
They couldn't see that. He went in there by himself.
They couldn't see that. They were outside. And you remember
that other one, he confessed the sins of the head of that
goat, and they took that scapegoat, that strong man, the strongest
man they could find, and they put him on his shoulders and
carried that goat. And as he started going and going
and going, he got smaller and smaller and smaller until we
couldn't see it anymore. You see, both of those things
are now out of our sight. That work that Christ did was
out of our sight. We couldn't see that transaction
that was taking place between God and His Son. And when that
transaction was accomplished, our sin was gone. We couldn't
see that anymore. It's not there. It's gone. And we didn't even know it was
finished until when? Until the priest came out. And
we knew it was finished when Christ came out of the tomb. It was done. The work of sanctification
was accomplished for all of His people. Yet I'll tell you this, we weren't
born sanctified. We weren't born holy. We were
born unholy. We were without God and without
Christ under the justice of God. None of us by nature could merit
the righteousness by the law. We couldn't even believe in Christ.
People think faith in Christ is something so simple, but yet
it's impossible for man to believe in Christ. You know why? He's
dead. Man is dead. He cannot believe in Christ. Some of the old false preachers
used to liken salvation to a man drowning. You ever heard that?
A man's out there in the middle of the water and he's drowning
and somebody needs to throw him a lifeline, that the gospel is
somehow a lifeline. You throw out the lifeline and
the man, if he just grab a hold to the lifeline, you can pull
him to shore and he'll be saved. If a man just grab a hold to
the gospel and he'll be saved. Well, that analogy is horrible.
It's awful and it's wrong. You see, we're not drowning,
we're drowning. We're not splashing around, we're
dead. Our corpse has fallen to the bottom of the sea of sin
and depravity so that there is no hope for our escape because
we are dead. There is no life in us to escape. You see, what we need is someone
to part the sea. and come and fetch us, and take
our dead corpse and give it life." That's a picture of salvation
right there. That's a picture of what God
does when He calls you. What did He do first? He had
to get to you. He parted the depths of our sin
and the justice of God by His own work. And He came to us and He called
us. Look back at your text. He said
this, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, that is set
apart by God, to be holy, and in Christ we were made holy,
but we must be also called to be holy in experience. And so
the church then must be called, and this is the work of God the
Holy Spirit. It is God the Holy Spirit who
comes in and says by the gospel, let there be light. And there
is light. Remember it was the spirit of
God that moved upon the face of the deep. That's what happens. The Lord's spirit of God moves
upon the face of the depths of your heart. And God says, let
there be life. Let there be light. And there's
light. He gives us life. He calls us
by His power and creates in us a new, holy nature that was not
there before. Now, I want you to get this.
This is what John says about your nature, your new nature.
Not the old one. The old one's still just as vile
and stenchful of sin as he was before. That has nothing to do
with this. This is a new creation that God
puts in the hearts of His people. He sanctifies them through faith. And listen to what John says
about your new nature. He said, Whosoever abideth in
him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. 1 John 5.18 says this, Whosoever...
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. He doubles
down, doesn't he? Same thing, saying it again,
he is born of God, sinneth not. He that is begotten of God keepeth
himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not. Isn't this comforting,
knowing your sanctification is that sure, that not the wicked
one cannot touch it. The old nature cannot condemn
it. The old nature cannot contaminate it. It can't be co-mixed. It's
holy, it's pure, it's something God did when he sanctified you,
set you apart. Now, why are you set apart? Why
not your brothers? Why not your sisters? Why not
your aunts, or uncles, or siblings, or your husbands, or wives? Why
you? But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love, wherewith he hath loved us. That's the
only cause. It's the only cause is grace.
It's the only cause that God sanctified us. Has God sanctified you in election
and redemption? Have you been redeemed? Do you
stand before God perfect? Because that's what it requires
to stand before God, is perfection. There's no half measures here.
You're either holy or you're not. No mixture here. Are you sanctified? How can you know? Look at what
Paul says back in your text. He says, called to be saints,
holy ones, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." What's the evidence? Faith. Do you call on Him? The evidence of our sanctification
and the new creation of the Holy Spirit is repentance and faith
in Jesus Christ. We were without God and without
Christ, we had no need. of Him. When you were walking
alone in your sin, you had no need of Him. You had no desire
for Him. I'm sure we all thought that
we could change that at any moment. Whenever I get ready, I'll change
that situation, all the while not realizing your death. that
you were dead and could not help yourself. But what happened when
God exposed that? When God revealed what you really
were, it was then by the power of God we were moved to call
on the name of Jesus Christ. To call on His name. to believe
on Him. It was an act of the power and
will of God that you should believe on Him. It is no simple matter
to believe on Christ. It is an act of God's will and
power that you believe on Him. Matter of fact, for you to come
to Christ, it took the same amount of power as it did to raise the
Lord Jesus from the dead. It is the power of God by which
you believe. And Paul says this about those
who are sanctified, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Have you by faith turned from all merit and will worship
to receive Christ? Listen, you are sanctified. You,
you believer, are the church of God. And this letter's for
you. All this letter's for you. Sanctified
ones. The second thing is the confirmation
of the church. Look at verses 3 and 4. Grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul says, I thank my God always on your behalf
for the grace of God which was given you by Jesus Christ. This sanctification is by one
means only. Grace. Grace. And Paul says this, that the
grace of God is only upon the church of God. Only upon those
who are sanctified you may say, God has been gracious to me.
How many times you get something lost in this world, they get
something and they say, well, God's really blessed me. I found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. I got a new job. I got a new
car. I got a new bed. God's grace
is, no, God's grace is only on the church. He may show kindness. He may
show mercy in healing bodies and making people well and all
sorts of things. But the grace of God is reserved
only for the church of God. Only for those who are sanctified
in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace be unto you and
no one else but to you. Why? Because that grace and that
peace was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ for you. I like
this hymn, it says, By grace none dare lay claim to merit. Our works and conduct have no
worth. God in his love sent our Redeemer,
Christ Jesus, to this sinful earth. His death did for our
sins atone, and we are saved by grace alone. Grace alone. Is there anything else you desire
but grace and peace from God? As a believer in Christ, what
else do you have need of besides the grace and peace of God? And Paul thanks God for giving
them this grace. I thank God He has given you
this grace. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, we should be
most thankful. We should be the most thankful
people on the planet. We have been given such grace.
We should be thankful. And we should be thankful when
we see others who believe in Christ. I told you of the lady
that calls me every month. When I hear her voice, I am elated. We have such wonderful conversations. I am so thankful that God has
given her grace. I'm so thankful. And listen, here's the cause
of our thankfulness. Paul says that in, look at verse
five, that in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance
and in all knowledge, even the testimony of Christ, which was
confirmed in you. Now, what is this testimony of
Christ? Well, that's the gospel. That's the gospel of Christ.
It is a testimony of God concerning his son. The apostle reminds
us who have been called by the grace and power of God through
the spirit to believe on Christ that the means of our calling
is this, the testimony of the gospel. How is it that you've
come to believe? You are sanctified. What means
did God use by which to draw you to himself? It was only the
preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This was the means. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God." Plainly. Paul says that it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Do
you not see then why this is the sole purpose of the church
in this world, is to preach the gospel? We preach the gospel
because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believeth. And therefore, Paul says, I determine not to know
anything among you except this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
We preach Christ and Him crucified. That's our message because that's
a message that is vital to every believer. Now, why is this message
so important to you and not to everyone else? Why is it that you need to hear
this? It is because this gospel is
confirmed in you. When you heard this gospel for
the first time, your heart said, this is true. When God called you vile, your
heart said, true. When God called on you and told
you of your depravity, you said, truth, truth, Lord, truth, Lord. When God confirmed the message
of His Son and said, look on Him and all that look shall live,
you said, what? Truth, Lord. I believe. Help thou mine belief. This Word
became real. This Word became vital. This
Word became living in you. I thank God, by the grace of
God, that this Word was confirmed in you. It was confirmed in you. How many profess to be called, and yet they affirm that there
are many, gospel? There are many ways to God. That a man may be saved by works
or grace. Some people are going around
saying this, that the gospel of a freewill works religion
is just a lesser gospel. It's not as high as Calvinism. No, it's not what God's Word
says. That's not what the Spirit of
God confirms in my heart. The Spirit of God confirms the
same thing that Paul said in Galatians. He said, I marvel
that you are so soon removed from Him that called you by His
grace of Christ to another gospel, which is not another. You know
what's confirmed in me? That there is only one gospel.
There's not many gospels. Not many ways to God. There's
one way to God. The way is a person. The gospel
is a person. It's not a system of theology.
It's a person. It's a person. Now, we only know
this person by doctrine, by the Word of God. That's necessary
that we have doctrine so as we can tell who we're talking about.
Anybody says, I can believe in Jesus Christ without doctrine
is a fool. Well, you can't know Christ without doctrine. But
listen, doctrine is not salvation, it's Christ. Christ is the Savior. How do you know that? He said
this, all wisdom, He said all utterance. Verse 5, that in everything you
are enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge. What does
this mean? That when this gospel is confirmed
in you, it's going to get out on you. That's what it means.
How do I know you believe the gospel except you confess? Except
you say, yes, that's it. When I preach Christ, you say,
in your heart? Yes, that's Him. How do I know
you believe this gospel? Because every time I preach it,
you're here. You see, it gets out on you, what you believe.
It will. Why? Because that gospel is confirmed
in you, and you say this, let God be true, and every man a
liar. I believe this gospel. I believe
this book. And this whole book speaks of
one man, Jesus Christ, and His work, Him crucified. That's what
God the Holy Spirit confirms in every true believer. And lastly,
the preservation of the church. Look at this in verse 7. He says,
"...so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the
end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ, God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship
of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord." As I've preached the gospel now
for some years, I've seen this happen. I've seen men make a
profession of faith. I've seen them come and long
to be baptized. And I have baptized some of them.
And they stuck with us. They endured with us for a while.
They seem to have everything a believer has. They seem to
really love this gospel. They seem to have this gospel
confirmed in them. But by and by, they have gone. They've left. They've went back
to the world. They've left the gospel, they
have no need of it, no desire to hear it. These that once uttered the gospel
now seem to have no such knowledge or skill. They once had knowledge
and skill to preach it, but now have made shipwreck of the faith.
Seeing that many who have professed to believe in Christ the gospel
have become apostate, how then can we preach the preservation
of the saints, or perseverance of the saints. How can we preach
that, seeing that many have gone away? Simple. Because the Word
of God preaches that. That's how easy that's settled.
Jesus said, I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not, what? Perish, but
have everlasting life. John chapter 11 and verse 26
says, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Revelation 20 and verse 6, blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on
such the second death hath no power. You see why I preach the
perseverance and preservation of the saints? Because the Bible
preaches that. The Bible testifies to that.
So then why do men go away? Simple. They were never true
believers to begin with. They made a profession but had
no possession of grace. John tells us plainly, little
children, it's the last time. Don't you know it's the last
time? And as you have heard, that Antichrist
shall come, even now there are many Antichrists. Hereby we know
that it is last time. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out for
this purpose, that they might be made manifest that they are
not all of us. I want you to know this, you
who are sanctified, you who have this gospel confirmed in you,
and you who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, know this. He will
confirm you to the end. In other words, that gospel that
you believed, you'll continually believe until the end. That's
what he's saying. He shall confirm you to the end
and present you before Jesus Christ, before God blameless
in Jesus Christ. Jesus said this, "'He that endures
to the end, the same shall be saved.'" So what's the evidence
of true faith? Faith is the evidence of sanctification
and redemption. Faith is the evidence the gospel
is confirmed in you. But what is the evidence of true
faith? It is continual faith. True faith always believes. How do I know that? Because he
shall confirm you to the end. Look at verse nine. God is faithful. What is the most fearful thing
in the believer's mind? What is the most dreaded thing
that you can think of? It's to be without Christ. There
is no greater fear that the believer has, especially when he falls
in his sin, when he is convicted in his conscience. There is nothing
that hurts and causes more pain than to think we are deceived. So you pay attention. You will
be confirmed to the end not because you were faithful. Since when
have you ever been truly faithful? When can you mark a day that
you have believed with all your heart? God tells us you don't look within
yourself to find any strength to finish this race. There's
none in you. Here's your hope. God is faithful. It was God who sanctified you.
in Christ. It was Christ that died and is
risen again. It's the Spirit of God who gave
you this life and faith and it is the Spirit of God who will
keep you. How long? Until the end. Until
you don't need any more faith. Now listen, I've stepped off
into the abyss because I don't know what it's like to live without
Faith. I need faith. I must believe
on Christ. And I must continue to believe.
But there's coming a day when faith will be lost in sight.
And until that day comes, God says this, I'm faithful. Trust
me. Don't look to yourselves. Trust
me. I sanctified you. You're my church. I've set you apart. I've confirmed
this gospel in your heart by the Holy Spirit, and I have given
you life and faith. I have forgiven your sins. I
have washed you in my blood. I have clothed you in my righteousness.
Who then shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus? No, you're preserved. You're kept. Peter said, you
are kept by the power of God until the day of salvation, ready
to be revealed. You know it's ready? It's just
ready to happen any moment. I was reading Spurgeon, and Spurgeon
said, you could be in the presence of the Father in ten minutes.
Can you imagine that? I want everybody to come back. Just come back and We'd all be
gone. In the presence of the Father,
worshiping in fullness of joy. This is the Church of God, sanctified,
confirmed, and preserved. I pray God will bless this to
you. Let's stand, be dismissed, and pray.