There is set before us in the
Scriptures a threefold sanctification of God. We're sanctified by God
the Father in eternal election and in His predestinating purpose
that we come to the adoption of children, that we be conformed
at the last day, 100% into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. And we're sanctified in Jesus
Christ, God's Son, who accomplished that will and purpose of God
in the salvation of sinners, who accomplished that righteousness
demanded by His law, who accomplished that justification that we need
being guilty sinners before God's justice. He's our righteousness
and He's our sin-atoning substitute. And then we're sanctified by
the Holy Spirit of God who brings the light of the Father's will
through the person and work of His Son into our hearts that
we know and understand these first two sanctifications, if
you will. That we understand the purpose
and will of God. And he shows us how God can be
just and justifier of all that believe on his name. He manifests
the love of God who did these things for us while we were yet
sinners. And he reveals to us what's hidden
from this world by the lying deceit of the prince of darkness. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse
4, it says, the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not." It's not just that they refuse
to believe. It's not just that they, although they do, those things
are included in it. But Paul said, if our gospel
be hid, if men be ignorant of what it is we preach, it's hid
to the lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the
minds of them that believe not, lest that light of the glorious
gospel of Christ should shine unto them. And the weapons, the tool, the
means whereby Satan deceives the world is religion. It's religion. It was religious men that put
Christ on the cross. say what you will, it was religious
men who ran out into the crowd and even those who admired him
for his works and admired him for his speaking and admired
him for his life, even though they stirred him up, stirred
him up, and caused them to condemn him and to prefer a murderer
to be released in his stead. It's religion. He said, such
are false apostles. Deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. In 2
Corinthians 11, verse 15, it says this, It is no great thing if his ministers, should I say that again? His
ministers, talking about Satan, are transformed into ministers
of righteousness. For Satan himself does the same
thing. There are powerful forces at
work in this world, all of which we're no match for. I know we
get zealous sometimes and we get in a situation and we step
in and And we begin to argue, and it's like we back somebody
up in the corner, and now you are going to blitz. No. No, they're
not. Not that way. Not that way. There's forces at work of which
we have no power. We're no match for. No match. Carnal weapons are absolutely
no match for our enemies. And I say this sometimes when
I condemn what religion does with their marches and all of
these things, but it's the same thing as backing a man up into
the corner, the same result, the same thing. Numbers and organizations
and marches and protests and legislation and so on. It's ridiculous
to think that you can legislate morality. Man is a sinner. He's immoral. It tells us plainly
in the scripture the carnal mind is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be, but we're going to do it. We're going
to put it on the books, and that way we're going to reform, we're
going to morally reform this country. There's whole political
parties formed in that direction who take upon themselves that
name, call themselves the moral majority, and they're going to
legislate morality in this country. We're going to get the right
man in office, we're going to get the right laws on the books,
and then everybody's going to live right before God. Ain't
going to happen. Our weapons are mighty, the scripture
said, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. Unless God
gets involved, John, my words are nothing. They're going to
go out here a little bit and fall on the floor. Unless God gets
involved, unless God intervenes, unless God accompanies what I
say, I'm saying it for naught. They're mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations. Every
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God
and brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Satan's power must be broken
in the heart and mind because that's where he reigns. That's
what our Lord said. This strong man, he keeps his
palace. The palace don't keep itself,
he keeps it. He keeps it. He rules the roost. He dictates what's going on.
He keeps you in ignorance and darkness and deceit. He's the
one that blinds the minds. If men's minds weren't blinded,
they'd come. And they'd trust Christ. They'd
rest in Christ. They'd bow to Christ. They'd
worship God in Christ. But their minds are blinded.
Who blinds them? The guy who rules the roost.
He keeps his palace and all his goods at peace. Man's at peace. Listen to this scripture. Out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witnesses, blasphemies. All these things come forth from
the heart and defile the man. That's what defiles him. His
mind, the scripture said, is enmity against God. It's hostile. It's opposed to, rebellious toward,
any and all truth. Most everybody here this morning
believes this country we live in is the best country this world
has to offer. And any of you that's visited
abroad will be even more convinced when you get back. We believe
we have a good system of justice. We believe we have a good system
of government. And overall, the quality of life
here is pretty good compared with all these other countries
that surround us. And most anybody here this morning
would be willing to fight for these things. And if someone
would stand up and start tearing it down this morning, I think
four or five of us might stand up and say, hey, bud, you need
to go somewhere else. But suppose this whole idea of
government and law and life were just a smokescreen. Suppose that there were forces
at work in our government. pulling the wool over our eyes,
convincing us that all these things were so good, when all
the while, all the while they were sinister, all the while
they were evil. Just a big lie used for some
sinister purpose, just to cover up for something evil and ungodly. And that's exactly what goes
on in the minds and hearts of men. They're blinded by the God of
this world. They're convinced by the God
of this world that this is the best there is. This is good. This has potential. This can please God. This can come before God and
worship God. This is worthy of God's attention
and worthy of God's thought. He blinds the minds to the truth. And when somebody stands up and
starts carrying those things down, we say, hey bud, you need
to go somewhere else. Why? Because you're tearing down
what we love. That's why. Men don't believe
themselves to be evil. You won't find anybody that's
not going to tell you that they have faults. But I dare you to
find somebody that says I'm evil. I'm evil. I'm an evil man. Huh? Only God can convince him
of that. They do not believe themselves
to be rebels against God. They do not believe that Satan
rules in them and sin reigns in them unto death. They love
themselves. And they love their so-called
free will. And they love the quality of
life they enjoy. They're satisfied with themselves
because it's all they've ever known and experienced. And when
somebody stands up and tells them what they are and tells
them who the living God is, they get upset. They get mad. Now listen to what our Lord said.
I've said this to you many times, but in the light of what I just
told you, listen to this verse of Scripture. This is condemnation. That light has come into the
world and men love darkness. That's what they are. That's
what they do. That's what they say. That's
what they think. They love darkness rather than
light. They love it. That's why they defend it. They love to pray. That's what
our Lord said to those Pharisees. You love to pray standing up
in the synagogue. and on the street corners to
be seen of men. You love that. You love it. They love, he said, you love
the uppermost rooms at the feasts and at the synagogues. You love
the chief seats. You know, lots of our churches
have, they did when I was a kid, they used to have a little half
pew up front. They'd have all the full pews
and then up front they had a little half pew on this side and a half
on this side. That was deacon's row. All you
deacons sit up here, all you office holders. He said, our
Lord said, you love, you love that, don't you? You love to
sit in that seat. You love that honor. You love
to put on those, he said, you love those long garments, that
long clothing that you wear out in the marketplace, with those
broad phylacteries, with all them scriptures, and all them
little dewy buttons you got on here for things that you've done,
look like a boy scout. You love that. You love it. They love to make long prayers
for a pretense. You love to be greeted with names
like reverend and doctor and rabbi and father. They love their
own. That's what our Lord said. You
love your own. Don't love anybody else. And He said this of Demas. Demas
hath forsaken me having loved this present world. He loved
this present world. They loved darkness. That's what he said. They loved
darkness. To be sanctified by the Holy
Spirit of God in regeneration and conversion is to be filled
with light. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth and the truth shall set you free. It's the truth
that sets man free from his love of darkness. It's to see yourself
as God sees you. It's to see the lying ways of
Satan revealed in all of its self-righteousness and self-glory
and self-gratitude. It's to see that outside of and
apart from Christ, we're nothing. And if I am anything, if I have
anything, if I've ever said anything, it's all by the grace of God.
That's what Paul told those Corinthians. They were bragging on who saved
them and who they heard and who was the best preacher and all
these things. Paul said, what have you gotten that you haven't
received? And if you received it, why do you glory like you
didn't? What I'm laboring to point out
to you this morning is that sanctification of the spirit is a psychological
work. It's a work on the mind and heart.
It's a work on the mind and heart. You cannot live and walk any
kind of a sanctified life before God apart from knowing and understanding. You can't do it. And if you do
attempt to do it, you'll change. You'll just change. You'll be
blown about by every wind and doctor. You'll start out doing
this and then you'll change and start to do this and then you'll
start to dress this way and then you'll cut your hair another
way. It just depends on where you go. Geography dictates changes
in people. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Sanctification is not just trying
to do better. Trying to quit things. trying
to do things, trying to change things, trying to be different
from what I am. All these things are accomplished
and more, but not in the power of the flesh. To walk the walk
of faith and sanctification by the Spirit of God, I must be
convinced first and foremost that God is pleased with me and
He accepts me. He accepts me as I am. Now brothers, until you're convinced
of that, you're not going to do anything before God. You're
not going to do anything before God. To the man who has been
enlightened as to what he is by nature, by choice, and by
practice, this requires a divine work of the Spirit of God. He
already knows he can't do it. He cannot make God satisfied
with him. He knows that. God will teach
you if you don't know it now and you're one of His, He's going
to teach you what kind of a rebel you really are. Oh yes, He will. You're going to experience it
right down to your toes. You'd be ashamed to mention your
own name before God. But brethren, the God who made
us This is what I want you to see. Who become one with us knows
how to answer our deepest psychological needs. He knows how to do that.
And he does that in this work of sanctification. Now the dilemma
is that when we would do good, evil's present. That's the problem.
And because I'm still in the world of sin, surrounded by sin,
and still have a nature of sin in me, I can't find anything
in my past, in my present, or expect to find in my future state,
anything based on my own performance, anything to keep me in the fellowship
with God or to win God's approval. I can't find, it's not in me.
If you're looking in there, you're going to be despondent all the
time. Because you're looking at an empty box. But God's pleased with his son.
That's what he said. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. I'm pleased with him. And he's
my representative. He's my substitute. He is my
reason to be accepted of God. It says we are accepted in the
Beloved. Ain't that what the Scripture
said? The flesh bases all of its acceptance to God and God's
favor toward them upon their own ability, their own merit,
their own willingness, their own determination. Faith or the
spiritual man bases all these things on the person and work
of Christ to substitute. That's the difference. Now watch
this here in Romans chapter 8. Look here at verse 5. For they that are in the flesh,
that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh.
But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. You can't beat it into submission. You can't threaten it into submission.
You can't scare it into submission. You can't will it into submission.
It is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. Verse 8, are you listening? So then, so then, based on that,
so then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. You're working for an end that's
never going to be accomplished. You can't do it. You can't do
it. You can't go enough, pray enough,
give enough, serve enough. Know enough to please God. Listen to this, Ephesians chapter
1 verse 4. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace," now watch this, "...wherein He hath made us accepted in the
blood, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein," in those
things, In this predestination of God, in this eternal election
of God, in the accomplishments of Jesus Christ, His Son, by
whom we're elected, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all
wisdom and prudence. And that word prudence means
intellectual insight. That's what it means. The ability
to perceive what took place. the ability to understand and
resolve the matter. Verse 15, Wherefore I also, after
that I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto
all the saints, Paul said, I cease not to give thanks for you, making
mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of him, the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints." Now listen to me for just a minute.
The people of God are the Lord's portion. When the Scripture talks
about His portion, that's what He's talking about. We are His
portion. The glory of His inheritance in the saints is that image of
His dear Son unto which we've been predestinated. That is the
adoption. And in which by faith we have
the earnest, the firstfruits by the Spirit of the living God.
This is the earnest. It's the light. It's the knowledge.
It's those glorious promises written upon your heart and in
your mind. You've got the earnest of this
thing now. It's a hope. And that hope is
the person. It's the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the image I want to be.
And that's the image God has predestinated me to be. Believers
brought to see, to rejoice in, to hope in, rest on, and commit
His eternal welfare wholly and completely into the hands of
Christ. And the evidence, now listen to me, the evidence of
this commitment of faith and understanding of the Spirit is
his love and gratitude to God. The Lord said to Simon, you remember
he went into Simon's house, went in there to eat. And this common
street walker, woman of ill repute, came in. and started weeping over the
feet of Christ in this Pharisee's house. And then she took her hair and
she washed his feet and dried them with her hair and her tears. And then she began to kiss his
feet. And then she took out, no doubt,
was everything she had in the world. The most precious thing
she had in the world was this ointment. And she took that ointment
out and anointed his feet. And those Pharisees said, if
he knew who she was, he wouldn't let her do that. And our Lord
said, Simon. He said, when I come into your
house. Now this is the Lord of glory we're talking about. Came
into his house. He said, you didn't call for
any water to wash my feet. And you didn't give me a kiss
of affection." And he said, and you didn't anoint
my head. But this woman from the time
I walked in this place has not ceased to weep and wash my feet
and dry them with her hair and anoint me with precious ointment.
And here's what he told that old Pharisee. He said, He that
hath been forgiven much loveth much. Now, there's the key to
sanctification. We're all great sinners. We're
all gone out of the way, it says in Romans chapter 3. I'd like
for you when you go home this afternoon to read through that
chapter again, Romans chapter 3. where Paul said, I before
proved that both Jews and Gentiles, they're all under sin. Then he
goes through verse after verse after verse and tells you what
kind of sin you're under. Jews and Gentiles practicing
false religious people and heathens. You're all under sin. All gone
out of the way. All together become unprofitable. He said, your throats are as
an open sepulcher. You've got deceitful tongues.
The venom of the old serpent lies under your lips. Your feet
are swift to shed blood, destruction and miseries in your ways, and
no fear of God before your eyes. And He brought you, if you're
under that law and under that conviction of the Holy Spirit,
He's going to bring you to the place where He shut your mouth
about what good things that you've done and what good potential
there is in you. You're not going to say anything.
You're just going to sit there with your mouth shut, ashamed,
guilty. Guilty, He said, before God.
When you do, You're going to know something about that free
justification of grace. All our righteousnesses, the
old prophet said, are as filthy rags. David said, man in his
best state is altogether vanity. When God the Holy Spirit convinces
us of our sins, He will then freely justify us by His grace
in Christ. You'll reconcile us to God, and
when He does, we'll love much because we've been forgiven much.
He that loveth not, John said, knoweth not God. I'm telling
you, you say, well, boy, that convicts me. It convicts me too.
He that loveth not, I don't care what you say. It doesn't matter
what we say. There are no clauses in this
thing. John, under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God, said, He that loveth not knoweth not
God. That is, he has no redemptive
knowledge of God. If he did, he'd love. You can't
receive that grace and receive that mercy and receive that love
and not love. You can't do it. It's an utter
impossibility. Are you beginning to see what
I'm saying? This thing of sanctification ain't in your ability to do.
It takes an act of God's grace showing you His love and showing
you His mercy and experientially understanding that in your heart.
And when you do, you'll love. And you'll be gracious. You won't
have a problem being gracious. Somebody won't have to come over
and say, well, man, ain't you going to shake their hand? No,
you'll shake their hand. Somebody comes in and says, damn,
we get up and go to the back. I don't even want to be seen
with it. Huh? You don't know God. That's your
problem. That's right. You can't know God and not love. You can't know God and not be
gracious. It's an utter impossibility. Hereby, perceive we the love
of God, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this
world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up the
bowels of his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him? Huh? I didn't say that. The apostle
said that. That's in 1 John chapter 3. That
whole chapter is about the love of God and that love in the believer.
You cannot love your enemies until you first experienced in
your heart how God loved you while you were an enemy. We say, we just can't see that.
It's not something you can do. A man can't go home and read
a book and say, oh, I'm an enemy of God. No. He hasn't experienced
that yet. But God will show it to you.
He'll show you every event, every offering of grace, every time
that He's appeared to you in words of grace, every time His
providence smiled on you, you turned your back on Him and jerked
the shoulders, what the prophet said, jerked the shoulder from
Him. Every time He touched you. You pull your shoulder like a
rebellious child when you go to straighten them out and jerk
that shoulder around. Huh? You can't love your enemies until
you've been loved as an enemy. Then you won't have any problem
anymore. You can't show compassion on the ignorant until you experience
the compassion of God on your own ignorance. You can't begin
to know how to give until you experience the free gift of God's
grace. Freely. Freely, he said. Justified
freely by His grace. Oh, you sitting there, John,
before the law condemned. Guilty before God. And He's pressed
on you all the things described in Romans chapter 3. All that
venom under your tongue. Now you know it in your heart.
Them eyes. Them eyes that have no compassion.
that voice that has no grace, that mind that's not subject
to the law of God, and you sit there and you guilt, but he said
being justified freely by his grace. You won't have any problem
giving after that. I'm going to have to stand up
here and say, okay, now, this much you got to live on, here's
what you have to bring to the church. I won't have to tell
you that. I've never mentioned that since I come here. And this
church gives as good and bountifully as any. I put it up percentage,
people percentage wise, I put it up against any church in this
country. It gives. Why? Because they've been given
to. And they know it. Colossians chapter 2. Listen
to this. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Rooted, built up in
Him, established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. And beware, beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men and after the fundamental reasoning and principles of the
world, not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him which is
the head of all principality and power. in whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in the putting
off," now listen to this, "...in the putting off of the body of
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." That's sanctification.
How's he going to do it? In Christ. In Christ. Verse 14, blotting out all that
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which were contrary
to us. and took them out of the way,
nailing them to the cross. Nailed them to the cross. There's
a wonderful story our Lord told about a man who had two sons.
Now the one son, he never was separated from the father. Never
was. He just started, at a young age,
he was trained to go out in the fields and he went out in the
fields and he knew he was a son And he assumed himself to be
the rightful heir. And he worked every day of his
life. He didn't go to the father. He
didn't start demanding inheritance money. He was a faithful son. He did the best he could do.
The best he could do, he did. And he did it every day. He did
it every day. But the younger of the two, he
came to the father in pride and arrogance. And he said, I'm an
heir and I want what's coming to me. And the father in wisdom
said, here you go. And he packed up his stuff and
he left home and he went down to a far country and he wasted
all that he had in righteous living until he found himself in a hog
pen. in the mire, hungry. And he looked over at
them hogs, and even the husk of the corn that the hogs were
gnawing on John looked good to him. He said, I think I would
have eaten the husk of the hog. And down in that hog pen, watering
in that mire, God impressed on his heart something about his
father. And he got to thinking. He said,
Ben, even the servants in my father's
house eat better than this. My father's so good that even
his servants are treated better than I'm treated. They've got
it better than I've got it out here. I'll tell you what I'm
going to do. I'm going to go back to my father. And I'm almost going to tell
him, I don't deserve to be a son. I don't deserve these things.
I'm not here because of that. If you'll just let me take up
a position out there with the servants, I'll just sleep out
there. You don't have to tell anybody. You can call me by a
different name. Nobody has to know that I was at one time your
son. Just put me out there with the
servants. But before he could get his little spiel out, The father saw him coming and
he ran out to him. And he smothered him with kisses. He took him to himself. And he said, go get the ring.
Put it on his finger. This is my son. He was lost,
but now he's found. And he called for a celebration.
He had a calf. He knew he was coming back. He had a calf pinned up. He said,
you go get that calf out there in the stall. We're going to
have a celebration for my son. And the boy that stayed home,
that worked all of his days and did the best he could do, he
said, well, I'm not going to that. This boy's went down there
and he's done all of these things, and you're going to have a celebration
for him, and I've done all these things, and you're not going
to do anything for me. That's how self-righteous men
look at the salvation of God. I've done all these things. You're
going to judge me? I've done wonderful works in
thy name. Don't you know? What about me? I stayed here. I didn't demand
anything. I did the best I could do. Not
good enough. Now let me tell you the difference
between self-righteous sanctification and this sanctification that
altogether looks to the justification of God. Here's the psychological
difference, right here. The son that stayed home, he
bare his service on his back. The prodigal son served his father
from the heart. That's the difference. The only
way you can know that, the only way you can have that applied
to your heart is to be redeemed from your sin. and experiential
knowledge of Christ. That's what Peter is talking
about over here in 1 Peter 2. If we look at sanctification
from a psychological point of view, how does it work in the
minds and hearts? It tastes that the Lord is gracious. And once you've tasted that the
Lord is gracious, you won't have any problem with serving Him.
That woman, They took a woman in adultery. Couldn't deny it. Took her in the very act. Brought
her up. The Lord knew why they brought
her. Threw her down in the dirt at his feet. Trembling, this
young girl. The Lord stooped down and started
writing in the sand. And one by one, All those Pharisees
being convicted in their own conscience left. One by one they
left. Finally, he stood up and he looked
at her and he said, Where's these people that condemned you? Where
are thine accusers? Who doth condemn you? She looked
around and she said, No man, Lord. He said, Neither do I. But listen, with that in her
heart, He said, now go and sin no more. You see how the sanctification
works? It's established in the heart
by love. We're not trying to win God's
approval. We see ourselves accepted into beloved. And out of gratitude
and thanksgiving and love, we serve Him. We serve Him. And
we serve Him with the knowledge that everything that we give
is nothing apart from His sanctification. That little dab I give, or that
little dab I serve, or that little dab... That's nothing. It's not even acceptable. It's
just filthy rags. But He takes it and sanctifies
it. And He takes the best I can do
and makes it acceptable. Acceptable. He said, receiving
a kingdom. This is over in Hebrews. He said,
receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved. That's in Christ. Can't be changed. Can't be moved.
Let us serve God acceptably. And that's the only way you can
serve Him, in Christ. Our Father, I give Thee thanks
and praise. What a wonderful God is our God. I pray that you send your Spirit,
take these few words that I've said this morning, lie it to
the hearts of those who gathered here this morning. And as you
did in that day, cause your goodness to lead us to repentance, to
turn us from ourselves and turn us to thee. I ask you for Christ's
sake. Amen. You're dismissed.