Let's turn back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. I have a rather unusual introduction
for this message. The reason that I'm preaching
from this passage of Scripture is I had a dream about this passage
of Scripture. And I'm not going to be preaching
my dream. Don't anybody worry. I'm not going to be preaching
my dream. I don't remember what the dream was, but I did dream
of this passage of Scripture. And I thought, well, going to
preach from it, so I trust the Lord will bless this to our heart. Paul says in verse 9, Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? You see, only the righteous inherit
the kingdom of God. Now note, the kingdom is not
earned, but inherited. And there are only two kinds
of people in this world, the righteous and the unrighteous. That covers everybody. That seems
to get bigger and bigger in the scriptures, to me, in my understanding. There are the righteous and there
are the unrighteous. Now, the righteous are righteous
by imputation, Christ's righteousness being imputed to them. And they
are righteous by impartation. Now what do I mean by that? What
do I mean by that? Righteous by imputation, righteous
by impartation. Now here's an illustration of
our state by nature. This would illustrate me and
you. I'm like somebody who needs a heart transplant. I'm gonna
die if I don't have one. but I'm also on death row, condemned
to die. Now, I've got double trouble.
If I get that heart transplant, but stay in condemned row, it's
not gonna do me any good. If I am given a pardon for that
condemnation and I'm taken off death row, but I don't get a
new heart, a heart transplant, it doesn't do me any good. I
need both. I need a new heart. And I need
to be pardoned from my condemnation. You see, when Christ saves somebody,
He does something for them and in them. He justifies them. He puts away their sin and makes
them righteous before Him. And He gives them a new heart. That's the work of Christ for
you. That's the work of Christ in you, and you can't have one
without the other. Wherever you have the one, you
have the other. And where you don't have one,
you have neither. I need Christ to do something
for me, and I need Christ to do something in me. Now, when
we're talking about righteousness, there's only one righteousness,
His righteousness. He takes His obedience and imputes
it to me to where it becomes mine. There's my pardon before
the law. I'm taken off death row through
that. And he gives me a new nature. He gives me a new heart. He gives
me the new birth. He does something on my inside. I'm given that new heart transplant,
that new heart. Now that's the work of Christ
for you. That's the work of Christ in
you. And they're both equally essential for salvation. Now,
Paul tells us, know ye not that only the righteous will inherit
the kingdom of heaven. The unrighteous man will not
inherit the kingdom of heaven. Now look what he says, go on
reading. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of heaven. Now don't be deceived. Neither
fornicators, that's talking about sexual sin, nor idolaters, people
who worship a false God, nor adulterers, That's people who
break the marriage covenant. Nor effeminate. Now that word
effeminate, that's not a reference to homosexuality or even so much
acting feminine. It's literally a mollifier, one
who softens, one who softens, one who takes the edge off the
truth. He softens it up to make it more palatable. That's what
an effeminate person is, is someone who softens. Nor abusers of themselves
with mankind. That's talking about homosexuals.
Nor thieves. nor covetous, nor drunkards,
substance abusers, nor revilers, that means verbal abuse, verbal
abuse, nor extortioners, people who rip people off. And there's
so many different ways to do that. But he says, don't be deceived
about any of these people. These people shall not inherit
the kingdom of heaven. Now, if that is the tenor of
my life, the Lord has not done anything for me. We have an evil nature and a
believer can and does commit every single one of these sins
that I just mentioned, that the Bible mentions. I mean, that
is in the heart of everybody in this room right now. So don't say, well, a believer
couldn't do something like that. Yes, he could. And if you know
yourself at all, you ought to know that there's nothing that
you wouldn't do apart from the grace of God. You know yourself,
hope you know yourself better than that. Don't say, I wouldn't
commit any of these sins. Oh, yes, you would. But that
is not the tenor of a believer's life. You see, True, we have
an old nature, but we also have a new nature, a holy nature.
And the scripture says, greater is he that's in you than he that's
in the world. Now this new nature, this whole,
if somebody says, well, what, what do you mean by holy nature?
Because as far as the way I feel, as far as my experience goes,
when I look within, I sure don't see anything holy. I sure don't
feel holy. What do you mean? Well, there was a time, and I
think this is what the holy nature does. The holy nature shows you
that all you are is sin. That's what the holy nature shows
you. You don't so much see holiness, you see nothing but sin. There
was a time when you didn't see that. There was a time when you
thought, I could do it if all the circumstances were right.
If I was not placed in a particular position, and I wasn't tempted,
and I was put in the right place, and I had all my ducks in a row,
maybe I could keep from, and then That's when you were totally
blinded by sin, when you thought that you had the potential to
be something better than that. Now, every believer has this
new nature, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the
world. And this new nature will not let this be the tenor of
your life. The flesh lusts against the spirit,
the spirit lusts against the flesh. These two are contrary
to one to another so that you cannot do the things that you
would. God, the Holy Spirit, will not
let that be the tenor of your life and those things that he
just mentioned. Now I repeat, a believer can
commit any and all of these sins, but that's not the tenor of their
life. They've been saved from their
sins. Matthew 1.21 says, Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Justified. I'm safe from the
condemnation of sin. It has nothing to say to me.
I stand before the law justified. I've been saved from the power
of sin. That means I've been given a new nature. There was
a time when all where I didn't, you know, really there was a
time when, you know, before you're converted, you don't have that
much problems with sin. You know, I mean, it's when you're converted,
really, that you find out where this battle is. But I've been
saved from the power of sin. Every believer has. And in Christ,
I've actually been saved from the presence of sin. Right now,
it's not something's going to happen. It's something in Christ
I have right now. Now, look in verse 11. And such were some of you. This was your life, but such
were some of you. I love this word, but in the
scriptures, it's a good word, but, but this is what you were,
but God did something for you. That's what grace is. Grace is
a, but God, but such were some of you, but he says, you are
washed. You are sanctified. You are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.
Now there you have the work of Christ for you. You're justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus. And there you have the work of
Christ in you by the spirit of our God. Now this is what you
were, but God saves fornicators, idolaters, Adulterers, effeminate
compromisers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards and revilers
and extortioners. Those are bad people, aren't
they? These sins that we just mentioned, those are bad people
that commit such things. And they ought to be in hell.
They ought to be in hell. God's just. They ought to be
in hell. But thank God, He saves people like this. Aren't you
thankful? Such were some of you. But you're
washed. You're sanctified. You're justified
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our
God. Now, this illustrates the power
of the Gospel. This magnifies the mercy of God
in saving such wretches. This checks our self-righteousness. Nothing to be self-righteous
about. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest another for what you judge him. You do the same things.
This describes me. This describes you. This encourages us to preach
the gospel to every creature, doesn't it? God saves people
like this. And this encourages us to come
to Christ. God saves people like this. And this excites gratitude. He
that hath been forgiven much, loveth much. Now, when God saves
a sinner, something's done for them and something's done in
them. It's like two sides of a coin.
It's always there. You can't have one without the
other. The work of Christ for you is
necessary for salvation. And the work of Christ in you
is necessary for salvation and one is not more important than
the other. Go back to that illustration we began with. What if you were
on death row and you had to have a heart transplant or you would
die, but you also had to have a partner, you'd be put to death
the next day. Why? Which one's more important? One's
not more important than the other, is it? As a matter of fact, if
you only have one, it's not gonna do you any good. You're still
gonna die. You must have both. It's absolutely necessary for
you to have both the work of Christ for you and the work of
Christ in you. Now, one man said that I read
about this passage of scripture. He says, the work of the Trinity
is seen in verse 11. But some are you, but you were
washed. That's the work of God the Holy Spirit. We read of the
washing of regeneration. but you are sanctified. That
means set apart, set apart to be holy. That's what God the
father does in eternal election. He set us apart to be holy, but
you are justified. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us on Calvary street. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. And I can see the work of the
Trinity there. I don't know if that's necessarily the teaching of that
passage of scripture, but it sounds good. Doesn't it? The
work of the father, the work of the son and the work of the
Holy spirit in salvation. You're washed, you're set apart,
you're justified. That's all necessary and all
three are equally essential in salvation. Now, the work of Christ
for us is spoken of by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You're
washed, you're sanctified, you're justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All those things we have in his
name. I, one of the things that gives
me a lot of comfort thinking about in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, I love thinking about this. Aubrey's got a 1998
Volvo, but it's in my name. It's in my name, it's not in
her name, it's in my name. Who bears all the responsibility
for that car? I do. If she wrecks, and hurt
somebody, who's responsible? It's not her. It's me, because
the car is in my name. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
responsible for all things. I'm in his name. Everything God
requires of me, he looks to his son for. Is that glorious? I love it being that way. In
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm in His name. We're washed. We're justified. We're sanctified
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And by the Spirit of
our God refers to His work in us. Now, let's talk about these
three things. You're washed. You're washed. That's the first thing he mentions.
And this is interesting. When he talks about you being
justified and sanctified, it's passive. You're acted on. But here, where he uses this
word wash, it could just as easily be translated, you've washed
yourself. You've washed yourself. Now, how do you go about washing
yourself? Because if you're washed, you'll wash yourself. The evidence
that you've been washed is you wash yourself. Now, how does
one go about washing themselves? I mean, I would just think that,
I mean... I can't make myself clean. How does somebody go about
washing themselves? Because he says, you're washed,
or you've washed yourself. And if you've been justified
and sanctified, you wash yourself. Well, there's only one other
time that this particular word is used in the New Testament.
This will teach us what it means to wash yourself. The evidence
that you've been justified and sanctified is that you wash yourself. You've been washed and you wash
yourself. Now turn with me to Acts chapter 22. Let me show
you where this word is used. Acts chapter 22. Now, I can get a hold of this. This
kind of washing. Because when I think of washing
away my sins, I think I can't. I can't. They're still there.
I can't wash away my sins. There's nothing I can do to wash
away my sins. But look at this passage of Scripture. I think
this will be helpful. Verse 1, Men, brethren and fathers,
hear ye my defense which I now make unto you, And when they
heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the
more silence, and he saith, I barely am a man which am a Jew, born
in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and yet brought up in this city
at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect
manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God as
you are this day. And I persecuted this way unto
death. binding and delivering into prisons
both men and women. I was so zealous about what I
believed that I was going to persecute anybody that believed
differently. And remember, he believed in
the scriptures. He believed the Bible was the word of God. And
also the high priest does bear me witness and all the estate
of the elders for whom also I received letters unto the brethren and
went to Tabascus to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem
for to be punished. And it came to pass that as I
made my journey and was come nigh into Damascus about noon,
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell into the ground and
heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And I answered, who art thou
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice
of him that spake to me. And I said, what shall I do Lord?
And the Lord said unto me, arise and go into Damascus and there
it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for
thee to do. And when I could not see for
the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that
were with me, I came unto Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man
according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews
which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me,
brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked upon
him and he said, Here Paul hears his first gospel message. The
God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know
his will, and see that just one, and shouldst hear the voice of
his mouth, for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what
you've seen and heard. And now, why tarriest thou? What are you waiting on? We always
wait for something to happen. We wait for a feeling. We wait
for an experience. We wait to feel different. He
says, what are you waiting on? Arise and be baptized and wash
away thy sins. There's the word. Wash away thy
sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Now, how does one go
about washing away their sins? Is it by being baptized? better
than that. But he told him to arise and
be baptized, washing away thy sins, calling upon the name of
the Lord. Now, here's what somebody does
when they wash away their sins. Here's exactly what they do.
They call upon the name of the Lord. Now, the name of the Lord
is who he is. It's His holiness. It's His justice. It's His sovereignty.
It's His power. When I call upon the name of
the Lord, I'm calling on who He is to save me. Lord, save
me by an act of Your will. Will my salvation. Give commandment
to save me. I'm doing that right now. Lord,
save me. Save me, I'm calling upon Your name. Save me by Your
sovereignty. Save me by Your justice. Put
away my sin. Save me by Your grace. Save me
by Your mercy. Save me by Your love. Save me
by Your kindness. Save me by Your gospel. I'm calling
on the name of the Lord. Now, His name, that's who He
is. That's the important thing, the name of the Lord. It's not
just knowing the right name. It's the person behind the name,
the only way I can be saved. is if he is pleased to reach
down and do something for me. And I'm calling upon him to do
it. Lord, save me. You know, I didn't just pray
that prayer once when I was first saved. I don't even know when
I was first saved. I prayed that prayer every day. Lord, save
me. I'm calling upon his name. He said, Arise and be baptized,
washing away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. You see, it's If you call upon the name of
the Lord to wash away your sins, it's because you've been washed.
It's because he washed you in his blood. Now, how can I be
clean before God? Turn with me to Revelation chapter
7. Revelation chapter 7. Verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? Now this
white robe is the wedding garment. This is the royal robe of His
righteousness. It's the perfect righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth in the throne
should dwell among them. They shall hunger no more. Neither
shall they thirst anymore. Neither shall the sunlight on
them nor any heat for the lamb, which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them and shall lead them under living fountains
of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Now, they wash their robes white
in the blood of the Lamb. Now, how do you go about doing
that? I mean, it's not like I can take my robe and stick it down
in His blood. I can't do that. How do you wash your robes white
in the blood of the Lamb? By looking to who He is and His
precious blood as the only way you can be clean before God.
Do you do that? That's what it is to wash your
robes in the blood of the Lamb. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. You've been washed. You've been
washed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's His work
for you. He washed us from our sins in
His own blood and made us kings and priests unto God. You've
been washed in the blood of the Lamb. That's the work of Christ
for you and God the Holy Spirit. You're washed by the Spirit of
God. The Spirit of God, the washing of regeneration. The Spirit of
God enables you to look to the blood of Christ as everything
in your salvation. You know, there's a phrase in
Romans chapter 3 verse 24. Let's go there. Romans chapter
3. Verse 24, being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth, whom God foreordained to be a propitiation. That word
is an appeasement. It means the reason for God's
anger is taken away. It's taken away. He doesn't have
a reason to be mad. He doesn't see anything in a believer that
would make him mad because their sins have been propitiated. To
be a propitiation, now look at this next phrase, through faith,
through reliance in His blood. I like that. Faith in His blood. Do you have faith in His blood?
Do you believe that His blood is all that's needed to make
you perfectly clean before God? Now that's the work of the Spirit
of God in you. We're washed in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're washed by the Spirit of
God. Second thing. He says you're washed. He says
you're sanctified. You're sanctified. Now, every
believer, I was noticing in that passage of Scripture, Brother
Bob was reading there at the end. He called those people holy
brethren. Holy brethren. Every believer
is holy. That's what sanctification is.
Sanctified, set apart to be holy, declared by God to be holy, made
holy. Every believer is sanctified
in Christ Jesus. Now, like I said, as far as my
experience goes, as far as the way I feel, I don't feel holy. I feel very evil. Because that's
what I am. That's what I am. As far as my
experience goes, It's the holy nature that sees that. I wouldn't
see that if it wasn't for the fact that God had done something
for me. He gave me Now, I'm made holy,
declared. God says I'm holy. Holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, God says I'm holy. If God says
I'm holy, I'm holy. I believe that. I believe what
God says. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
If God says to reckon yourself that way, reckon yourself that
way. That's a commandment. That's something to be believed,
something to be received. I am holy by virtue of what Christ
has done for me. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10 says,
By the witch will, we are sanctified once for all. That's not a progressive
sanctification. That's not something that can
become added to. It's complete and perfect. By
the witch will, we are sanctified once for all through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ. Through His bloody death, I am
made sanctified. I'm declared by God. God says
regarding me, He's sanctified. I'm sanctified. I'm holy in Christ. That's what He did. He sanctified
me. I'm sanctified in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, His name, His name
is holy. Holy and reverend is Thy name. His holiness is my holiness before
God. He's made into me sanctification. Here's how I'm sanctified in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Turn to Titus chapter 3 for a
moment. Titus chapter 3. Verse 4. But after that, the
kindness and love. Well, let's start with verse
3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving slaves to diverse lusts and pleasure, living in
malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But, there's
one of those buts. But, after that, The kindness
and love of God of our Savior toward man appeared not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy
He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Ghost. You see, the Holy Spirit washes
us, sanctifies us, justifies us. And as a matter of fact,
go on reading in verse 7. Five, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. Now, I'm sanctified by the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's my sanctification, but I'm
also sanctified by the Spirit of God, aren't I? What's that
mean? Second Thessalonians 2.13 says,
We're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The sanctification of the Spirit
is the new birth. And what's the evidence of it? Belief of
the truth. You can't have sanctification of the Spirit without the belief
of the truth. They always go together. So you're sanctified
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you really are holy.
And you're sanctified by the Spirit of our God. And then he
says you're justified. He says you're washed. You wash
yourself because you've been washed. And you wash yourself
by calling upon the name of the Lord. You're sanctified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And you
are justified. in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. Now, this is true of every believer. I'm justified. Justification, I'm not guilty. That's what it
means. I stand before God without sin. I stand before God perfect before
His holy law. The righteousness of Christ charged
to my account, it's mine. It's mine. His righteousness
is my righteousness before God. So I stand justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus. Just like that car illustration.
He bears all my responsibility. He's my surety. And everything
God requires of me, He looks to His Son for. And is Christ
justified before God? Does He stand without guilt before
God? Then I do too. I'm justified in the name of
God and I'm justified by the Spirit of our God. Now, what
I'm saying, you think about this. This thing of justification is
amazing, isn't it? I mean, it's glorious. Do you mean to say that you really
believe that you stand before God just, without sin, perfectly
righteous? Do you really believe? Are you
crazy enough to believe something like that? Do you really believe
that you're justified by somebody else's righteousness and the
righteousness of God really is yours? Do you really believe
that? Yes, I do. And why do I believe that? Because
the Spirit of our God, He's the one who causes me to look to
Christ. He's the one who causes me to
find my all in Him. We are justified in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. So, here we have the work of
Christ for you and the work of Christ in you. And they're both
equally necessary, aren't they? Can you see that? They're both
equally necessary. And you know, one of Satan's
objectives, and may the Lord help us and deliver us, because
one of Satan's objectives is to cause somebody to, maybe a
preacher, to deal with the one to the exclusion of the other.
to emphasize one aspect to the diminishing of the other. And
that's never right. If I diminish one, I have neither.
They're both equally necessary. Let me tell you what's necessary
for my salvation. First, it's necessary for God to elect me.
Isn't that necessary for you? The only way you can be saved
is if God chooses you to be saved. And it's necessary for Christ
to die for me. It's necessary to pay for my
sins. And it's necessary for God the
Holy Spirit to give me a new nature. All those things are
necessary. They're necessary for me to be
saved, and they're necessary for me to preach, and they're
necessary for me to hear. They surely are. Well, I dreamed
I was supposed to preach on that passage of Scripture, and I did.
I hope it was a blessing. Let's pray together.