This morning I want to speak
to you on the subject of sanctification. I've been laying off to do it
for some time and I feel that this is the time and so I'm going
to speak on the subject this morning of sanctification. I
believe that every child of God deserves to know what the Bible
teaches about this most important subject And I believe this morning
that very few people know anything about this doctrine. Now I say
that because for about the first 20 years of my life in Christ,
this doctrine was a mystery to me. I could not understand it
because I was confused by those that I heard speak of it, and
everything I read in commentaries confused me further. because
I was not able, somehow or other, to get straight of the doctrine
of sanctification. Thank God for light. Thank God
that He does give light and that He does lead His people and He's
willing to teach the meek His way. And I'm thankful this morning. I believe that God has given
light on this subject. If I didn't believe that He had,
I certainly wouldn't be here this morning trying to preach
on this subject. Now, if all you know about sanctification
is what you have heard from some fundamentalist preacher, you
don't know anything about sanctification as the Bible teaches it. And
if all you know about is what you read out of some commentary,
and that's about any commentary you can find, you still know
very little about the doctrine of sanctification. I'm not setting
myself up this morning as anybody who is anybody, because I'm nobody
from no place. But I will tell you this, that
if you never heard a grace preacher preach on the subject of sanctification,
and I mean a man who is a grace preacher, and I don't mean somebody
who just says they're a grace preacher, but somebody who you
know and have heard over and over again preach the grace of
God. If you never heard them preach
on the doctrine of sanctification, then you don't know much about
the doctrine of sanctification. I make bold to say that. I believe
it's the truth, and I'll tell you that this morning here at
the very outset of our message. Now, I want you to turn. We're
going to turn to the book of Jude here in a moment, but first
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I want to read two verses
here in this chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And I want to read verse 2, and
then I want to read verse 30. Verse 2 and verse 30. unto the church of God, 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, 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. We find the word sanctified here
in verse 2. It says, to them that are sanctified
in Christ Jesus. And then in verse 30, but of
him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. There again we
find the word sanctification. It tells us that Christ has been
made of God unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now I invite you to turn back
to the letter of Jude between the book of 3rd John and the
book of Revelation, and I'll read the first verse, the first
verse of this letter, Jude. Jude the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Here again we find this word
sanctified and it tells us here that the letter is directed to
them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus
Christ and called. Now, in order to lay the groundwork
or the foundation for this message on the subject of sanctification,
I want to first of all this morning things that I mentioned that
there's a great deal of confusion on this subject and there are
so many that stand, I believe, in a erroneous position, hold an erroneous
position on the subject of sanctification, I want to begin this morning
by giving you three common errors about this subject of sanctification. Three common errors that are
held or believed about this subject of sanctification. Now even those
who are well instructed in the gospel doctrines of election
and redemption, justification, and regeneration, commonly embrace
seriously erroneous views of sanctification. They teach that
salvation is altogether by grace, and they realize that sanctification
is an essential part of salvation, but they insist that salvation
or sanctification is partly a work of God and partly a work of man. Now such mixing of grace and
works in this aspect of salvation leads many to embrace a perverted
doctrine of sanctification. They preach that salvation is
altogether grace. They realize that sanctification
is an essential part of salvation, but they tell us that sanctification
is part the work of God and it's part the work of man. And this
leads them, beloved, off the track and leads them to hold
a perverted doctrine of sanctification. Now the first position that I
want to give you is the position of Pentecostalism. their position
on this subject of sanctification. They teach that sanctification
is a second work of grace. In other words, a man gets converted,
and then there comes a time when he has a second work of grace,
when he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and when he receives
this second work of grace, the believer is made totally free
from sin. and the old nature of sin is
eradicated from his being. Now, such a proud doctrine is
directly contrary to the plain statements of Scripture, and
one of them is found in 1 John 1 and verse 8, where it says
that if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us. Furthermore, this notion that
a man has a second work of grace after conversion and that he
is eradicated, that sin, the old sin nature is completely
eradicated from him and he's left totally free without sin,
This notion of sinless perfection is also contrary to the experience
of every believer because a true believer confesses their sin. They confess that they're still
sinners, that they're still sinners in the flesh. They do not hide
their sin, but with honesty they are compelled to acknowledge
that though we are no longer under the dominion of sin, that
we do have a continual struggle with sin, and that sin is mixed
with everything we think and everything that we do. Now, any
man who says that he is without sin is a liar, and his testimony
is a testimony that is erroneous. It's not true. Now then, the
second statement that I want to make is concerning the self-righteous
legalist. And we have many of these Pharisees
in the world, and this self-righteous legalist, he makes sanctification
nothing more than outward legal morality. All he's concerned
about is the outward part. All he's concerned about is looking
good on the outside. All he wants is to put on a fair
show after the flesh and make everybody think that he is religious
and make everybody think that he's a godly person on the outside. Phariseeism. Now, sanctification
means nothing to these people except to affect their outward
morality. He thinks that sanctification
is accomplished by his separation from the world. his obedience
to religious customs and traditions, and his abstinence from and the
use of things that he and his religion considers to be evil. That's what he says sanctification
is. It's his quitting this and his not doing this on this hand. It's his not going here. It's
his not going there. It all has to do with him and
what he doesn't do and what he does do. And what his religion
says is alright. If he does that, then he is sanctified. Well, this of course is contrary
to the word of God. His creed is touch not. His creed
is taste not. His creed is handle not. This is the self-righteous legalist
that I'm talking about. Now the third, and among most
of those whom we recognize as orthodox, Evangelical Christians,
sanctification is thought to be. Now you listen to this because,
beloved, right here is where most people are camped. Here
is where most believers this morning in America are camped
on this subject of sanctification. Among those whom we recognize,
I say, as orthodox evangelical Christians, sanctification is
thought to be a progressive increase of the believer's personal holiness. Now that's exactly where most
people stand. They believe that sanctification
is a progressive increase of the believer's personal holiness. We're told that the children
of God attain to higher degrees of holiness by their own works
in sanctification until at last they are ripe for heaven. until at last they're ready to
be taken home to glory. God saves them, and then they
get to work on this old flesh, and they polish it, and they
wax it, and they work on it, and they stop this and start
that, until at last they're ripe to be taken right into glory. Well, this is not the teaching,
my friend, of the Word of God. And their teaching is that sanctification
buds forth ultimately into glorification. And usually this progressive
sanctification is made to be the basis of the believer's assurance
on earth and the basis of his eternal reward in heaven. Now this is very confusing, I
believe, to a man who is honestly seeking the truth. to be told
that he can't possibly have assurance unless his personal holiness
is getting greater and greater as he lives day by day. And unless
his flesh is getting better, he can have no confidence in
the eternal salvation of our God. And to say that you shall
have no reward in heaven if your personal life and your personal
holiness and your being able to make this old flesh better
is not so that you deserve it, then you won't have any bliss
in eternal glory. To me, that's utter nonsense
and it's an erroneous view of the subject of sanctification.
Now then, in the second place, I want to give you this. What
do the words sanctify and sanctification mean as they're used in the Word
of God? Now in a few moments, I'm going
to show you exactly what sanctification is, but it's necessary for me
to give you the meaning of these words in order that you might
be able to understand how God sanctifies His people. Now, what
does the word sanctify and sanctification mean in the Word of God? Now,
whenever you want to know the meaning of biblical terms, you
must search the Scripture to see how God uses these terms
in His Word. Now, the word sanctify is used
in three distinct ways in the Bible. This word sanctify is
used in three distinct ways in the scriptures. The first and
primary meaning of the word sanctify is to set apart. It's to set apart. That's the
meaning of the word. Now, sanctification is taking
something that is common and ordinary and setting it apart
or separating it for God's service alone. Now the Bible provides
us with many examples of this For an example, let me begin
here in Genesis 3 or 2 it is and verse 3 The seventh day was
set apart for God It tells us that God sanctified the seventh
day or Saturday. He set apart that seventh day
for Himself. Now the day was not changed in
any way at all. God just simply set it apart
for His own rest and for the rest of His people as it was
defined there. Now it was simply set apart from
the other days of the week and it was separated as the Sabbath
day for the service of God alone. Now that's an example of how
God sanctifies a day. He sets it apart. And we just
preached a sermon on the Sabbath just recently and explained and
I believe cleared up maybe a lot of thoughts in your mind about
that. But now in Exodus 13 and 2, it
shows that the firstborn of the families of Israel were sanctified
or set apart unto God just for the service of God alone. And
in Exodus 29 and 44 it shows that the tabernacle and the altar
and the priesthood were sanctified unto the Lord. They were set
apart for His use alone. Now it is in this sense that
our Lord Jesus Christ says that He was sanctified in John 10
and verse 36. He was set apart, He said, from
all other men to do the will of God by God the Father. He was sanctified by God the
Father. Now in this sense, our Savior
sanctified Himself to the work of redemption. He came into this
world, He said, I don't have any meat to eat of except the
will of God. He came into this world, he said,
a body hast thou prepared me, and lo, he says in the volume
of the book it is written, I come to do thy will, O God. I'm set
apart to that. The Father had sanctified him,
set him apart, and commissioned him, and sent him into the world
to do that work of redemption. Now when anything or anyone is
sanctified, set apart for God, it is to be for God's service
alone, and it is under God's protection, because God set it
aside, God sanctified it, and so it's for His service and it's
under His care, continual care and protection. Now then, secondly,
the word sanctify, I'm trying to explain what it means as far
as the Bible is concerned. The first thing we learned is
it means to set apart, and that setting apart is by God. It's not It's not my setting
it apart. It's not your setting it apart.
Jude says here, to them that are sanctified by God the Father
and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. We're sanctified
by God the Father. This is His doing. We've been
set apart for that. Now the second meaning of this
word, as it's used in the Scripture, it means to regard. It means
to treat. And it means to declare a person
or a thing as holy. Now get that. It means to regard,
to treat, or to declare a person or a thing as holy. For an example, God himself is
frequently said to be sanctified by his people. Now, in sanctifying
God, we do not make God more holy than what he is. We do not
separate God unto himself, but what we do is we regard him as
being holy. We treat him as one who is Christ. holy, and we declare that he
is holy. We sanctify God. That's the meaning of the word.
Now this is what God requires of us as His people, both the
preacher and the people. This is a serious, serious thing. For men and women to be told
that they're to sanctify the Lord in their hearts. To treat
Him, I mean to regard Him and to declare Him to be holy. Now, this is very important.
In Isaiah 8 and 13, it says, "...sanctify the Lord of hosts
Himself, and let Him be your dread, and let Him be your fear."
Now, a Nadab and a Bayou in the Old Testament were consumed by
the Lord when they offered strange fire because they did not reverence
God's holiness. God said, I will be sanctified
in them that come nigh me. Them that come nigh me, I will
be sanctified in them. Leviticus 10 and verse 3. And Moses, you know, his sin
in smiting the rock the second time was just this. In Numbers
20 and verse 12, here was Moses saying, as God described it,
You believe me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children
of Israel? You believe me not to sanctify
me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Now we have, I believe,
also a more familiar illustration in what we call the Lord's Prayer.
Our Savior taught us to pray, Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. That's Matthew 6 and 9. Now the
word hallowed is simply another word for sanctified. The word hallowed is another
word for sanctified. Our Lord is teaching us that
the object of our prayers must be the glory of God. When we
pray, this must be our desire. Father, let thy name be reverenced
and adored throughout the whole earth. Let all men regard thy
name. as a holy and sacred thing. Hallowed be thy name. The name
of God is holy and sacred and the people of God should treat
it as such. They should declare it to be
so. They should regard God's name to be a holy name. Now by this second usage of the
word sanctify, we see that when a person is sanctified by God,
he is regarded by God as to be one who is holy, He is declared
to be holy, and he's treated as one who is holy. James says, to them that are
sanctified by God the Father, to them who are treated as one
who is holy, declared to be holy, and one who is regarded to be
holy. That's exactly what that means.
aspect of sanctification, this actual making of one holy. Now, when God was about to come
down and give the Lord's sign, He required the children of Israel
to make themselves holy. In Exodus 19, in verses 10 and
11, and it says that they laundered their clothes, or that some of
the commentators say that they just took a bath. They took a
bath, and they washed their clothes. God said, you sanctify, you get
sanctified, as it were. And so, they got busy and washed
their clothes, and as I said, some of the commentators say
that in the Hebrew, that it refers to them taking a bath. They just
got cleaned up. You've heard the old people say
on Saturday night, just take a bath. You don't take a bath
any other time during the week. They just took a bath, and got
ready because God was going to visit. and give them the law
at Sinai. Now then, when Israel was about
to cross the Jordan, God first required them to be purified.
Joshua said, sanctify yourselves today. Now until they were purified,
they could not enter into the land of promise. Joshua was going
to lead them over. And this ceremonial cleansing
pictured this actual cleansing and making of a thing holy by
God in sanctification. Now then, we see the meanings
of the word sanctify and sanctification as they're used in the Bible.
Let me give them to you quickly again so you'll have them fixed
in your mind. Number one is to set apart. Number two, to regard,
to treat, to declare as holy. And number three, to purify and
actually make holy. And beloved, this is the way
that God has sanctified His people. The Lord has set us apart and
separated us to Himself in eternal election. That's when God set
us apart unto himself. It wasn't when you said, I'm
going to let my hair grow a little longer. And it wasn't when you
said, I'm going to quit using makeup. It wasn't when you said,
I'm not going to tend the movie house anymore. It was back in
eternal election that God set his elect apart unto himself. And also through the redemptive
work of Christ that was accomplished at Calvary, God regards us as
a holy, and declares that we are a holy people, and he treats
us as holy people in absolute justification. Now that, my friend,
is the way that God justifies his people. Now in the new birth,
the Holy Spirit actually imparts a holy nature to the Lord's people. He actually gives them a divine
nature, 2 Peter 1 and 4. He gives them a nature that is
God's own nature and He purifies us and He makes us holy in divine
regeneration. God's people are a holy people
made actually so by the implantation of God's very nature into their
souls. Now then, how are the people
of God sanctified? How are the people of God sanctified? Now, I want you to listen carefully
to what I'm saying here. I've touched this briefly, but
you must listen if you're going to understand how God's people
are sanctified. You've got to get this into your
thinking, into your heart. If you're going to be able to
stay on Christ as you ought to stay on Him, You've got to understand
this doctrine. Sanctification, let me say, is
an essential part of salvation. You cannot go to heaven without
being sanctified. You can't get into heaven without
being set apart by God. He must set you apart. He must
treat you, regard you, and declare you to be holy, or you cannot
enter into heaven. And you must be made actually
holy by the implantation of this nature I'm talking about, or
you can't go to heaven. Now, give it up! You cannot enter
in unless you're sanctified. Nobody is going to heaven that
is not sanctified by God the Father. You must be sanctified. And so, listen carefully. All
believers, all true believers, all children of grace, All those
who are members of the living family of God are sanctified. They're not becoming sanctified. They are sanctified. They're
sanctified by God the Father. Now, sanctification is not something
we do for ourselves. You can mark that down. It's
not something that you do for yourself. Sanctified by God the
Father. Let me just give you that clearly.
And we're sanctified in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus has been
made of God unto us. Sanctification. And this is not
something we do for ourselves. It's something that God does
for us and in us by his free, sovereign, effectual grace. God does it in us. Anyone who
recognizes that sanctification is an essential aspect of salvation
without which no one can be saved must surely see that sanctification
is altogether the work of grace. Otherwise, he will be forced
to say that salvation is at least in part the result of human works
and such blasphemy we cannot endure as God's people. We cannot endure that. That will
not stand the test of the Word of God. It will not stand the
test of the experience of God's people. Now then, briefly, our
sanctification is threefold. And you get this. I'll give it
to you, and it's as clear as I know how to make it. But yet
the preacher just does the preaching, and if you ever understand it,
God will have to give you the understanding of it. But I'm
going to tell you this, there ain't nobody going to heaven
unless they're sanctified just like I'm telling you this morning.
That's the only way you're going to get there. Now I hope this
morning that God will give you hearing ears. I would to God
that somebody, back when I was a young believer, when I was
just early in the faith, if I could have heard somebody get up and
tell me these things that I'm telling you this morning. Because
I worked on this thing. I polished this old vessel. I
mean, I took all the rubbing compound that I could find and
polish this thing and tried to get it right. But I'm telling
you this morning that there ain't but one way to have it right.
And that's to know what God says about it and believe what God
says about it. And for you to believe something
that's wrong about it is not going to make the thing right.
And I'm telling you that unsound doctrine will always make unsound
worship. You cannot worship right unless
you know the truth. And if you know the truth, you
can worship God and until you know it, you can't do it. You'll
still be hanging on to a little something that clouds the issue
and you'll not be able to see Him as you ought to and you won't
be able to lay down before Him and stretch yourself before Him
and give Him the glory and the praise and the honor because
you just don't know what's going on. Now you listen to me now
and hear me out. First, And this, if it sounds
repetitious, so be it. You've got to understand this.
All believers were sanctified by God the Father in eternal
election. They were set apart for God and
separated unto Him by His sovereign decree before the world began.
Now this is the way it happens. We were secretly set apart for
God in His eternal decree of election. He's the one that knew
who He was going to save. He's the one, by His wisdom and
His love, it was His choice of those that would be separated,
sanctified unto Himself. We were legally and judiciously
set apart for God by the purchase of Christ's blood at Calvary,
it was at Calvary where God legally purchased his people which he
had separated unto himself, sanctified unto himself in old eternity. And we've been manifestly, visibly
sent apart unto the Lord in time by the effectual call of the
Holy Spirit in regeneration or at the time of the new birth. This is when we were, like I
say, manifestly, visibly set apart. That's when God put a
difference between you and the man in the world. That's when
God put a difference between you and your sister, you and
your brother in the flesh. That's when God made a difference.
is when He sets you apart by the effectual call by His Spirit
whenever He brought you out of spiritual death and He resurrected
your soul and made you alive in Christ. Now that's the actual
setting you apart. That's what makes you different. That's what makes you tick. This
is it. I'm talking about God's sanctification.
That's what makes you different. Say, well, preacher, I think
I'll make the difference. Well, if what you do makes the
difference, then let me tell you something, my friend. You've
lost the meaning of the word sanctification. You don't know
anything about it. This is God's work. I'm sorry you can't infringe
on it, but you cannot infringe on it. This is God's work. Now,
the word of God is too clear to be disputed by any who will
reverence The Word of God. If you reverence God's Word,
then it's too clear. Every believer has been, has
been, not now working on it, but has been eternally sanctified,
completely set apart for God forever. That's a wonderful thing. Furthermore, that which God has
set apart for Himself, He will have. He will have. I make no, I make no, listen,
I make no apology for this. If God in the decree of election
set apart a people for himself, he will have. He set them apart. He sanctified them and said they're
going to be mine. And everything I've got to do
to get them here, I'm going to do it. And I will do it. And
they will be here. Because I guarantee it. This
is my work. Now then, the practical force
of the doctrine of sanctification is this, that which is set apart
for God ought never to be used for common or ordinary purposes
again. 1 Corinthians 6 and 20, for you
are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and
in your spirit which are God's. We belong to God. Let us, therefore,
serve Him in all things, because we've been set apart for God.
Lay hands off! This is God's body. This is God's
soul. This belongs to God. Romans 12,
verse 1 and 2, I beseech you, Paul said, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. I'm talking about the practical
force of the fact that God sanctified you from before the foundation
of the world. Is that you belong to Him. And
you should never look at yourself again and say, well, I don't
have any talent. You should never look at yourself and say again,
my education, I don't have no education. And you should never
look at yourself and say, well, look who I am. I mean, I come
from the other side of the tracks. I don't amount to anything. Look
at me. I made all these mistakes and
all these blunders and look at me. I mean, what should I try
to do? Why should I try to do right
anymore? Why should I try to live right? Listen, listen to
me. If God sets you apart, If God in old eternity in the doctrine
of election set you apart unto himself, then my friend, you
belong to him and you deserve him with all of your might and
all of your power and never look upon yourself again as being
common or ordinary. God set you apart and you belong
to him. All right, now notice. All the
gods elect were perfectly sanctified by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he accomplished Eternal redemption for us Hebrews 10
and 10 and then in verse 14 He said I come to do thy will by
which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all and then verse 14 of Hebrews
10 for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified 1 Corinthians 1.30, we've mentioned that verse. That's
a verse you ought to memorize. And 1 Corinthians 1 and verse
2 that we read earlier, you ought to memorize those verses and
you ought to study them. Now the force of all of this,
in Christ all believers are regarded by God then as being holy. Not one believer regarded as
being more holy than another, but all are declared to be holy,
regarded to be holy, and there's more to it than that. They're
all treated. You say, well, I don't know how
God treats me. Listen, if you're sanctified by God, he treats
you like you were holy. That's the meaning of the word.
It's got to be so. and he treats you like you were
holy. Now then, we're treated this way because the righteousness
of Christ has been imputed unto us, and by the imputation of
Christ's righteousness, we who believe are both justified from
all things and declared to be holy, sanctified in the sight
of God. In the sight of God. Now, with
his spotless garments on, the poet said, where's holy? The
holy one it is the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ Which we
must have without which no man shall see the Lord Hebrews 12
and verse 14 Now lastly and I close with this God's elect are actually
and I want to just go over this with you God's elect are actually
made holy by the Spirit of God in regeneration and I'm just
showing you now how this is. Now listen to this. The Holy
Spirit effectually applies the blood of Christ to the hearts
of God's elect, purifying our hearts and implanting a new holy
nature within us. This is the new creation described
by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17 when he said, If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed
away. Behold, all things Become new
now. This is regeneration This is
our sanctification by the spirit that Paul talked about in second
second Thessalonians 2 and verse 13 and 14 where he said beloved
We're bound to give thanks to God always for you because God
is from the beginning Chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and the belief of the truth the sanctification
of the spirit the regenerating call the effectual call of God's
Spirit And then every believer is a man with two natures. Every believer is a man with
two natures. One that is holy and seeks after
righteousness and one that is corrupt and seeks after sin. There are two natures and these
two natures are not equal in power. The divine nature rules
and it reigns in the life of the believer, but the evil nature
will not bow and it will not serve. Now you must remember
that. The old nature that is within
you will not bow to the new nature, and it will not serve God. It cannot, it's not subject to
the law of God, neither the Bible says can be. And so long as we
live in this world, we must continue to live with this old sinful
nature. It is flesh, and it will never
do anything, it will never be anything, I should say, but flesh. That's all it'll ever be. This
old nature, yet there's a new man created in us by the Spirit
of God in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a holy nature
that cannot sin. The old man sins, he can do nothing
else, but the new man cannot sin. The new nature cannot sin. There is no sin in Christ. He can only do that which is
righteous. Listen to what Paul said in Romans 7 and 20. He says,
now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. The old man will never cease
to be or do evil. That's all. It will not get any
better. I wish I could report to you this morning and say it's
going to get better. It's going to get better. Your
old flesh will eventually succumb to the divine nature and it'll
bow and it'll be submissive. It won't do it. It won't do it. It'll never do it. Sin will not
be gradually eradicated from you. It won't. You'll find that
when you're 80 years old, that as long as you live, you'll have
to beat down these old sinful passions of the flesh. as long
as you live. I mean, it won't get no better.
I wish I could tell you it would, but it won't. I'm not gonna lie
to you. Some people say, oh, these people
getting better all the time. They're nobody getting better,
friend, not after the flesh. Not after the flesh. And the
divine nature's as good as it's ever gonna be. The divine nature
doesn't improve. God's nature doesn't improve.
God don't have to improve. There is no such thing as getting
better after the flesh. Now then, so long as we live,
we'll have to beat down the sinful passions of the flesh. But a
better day is coming. Soon this old man of flesh and
sin will die. Then we shall be free. Sin shall
be eradicated from us when we are eradicated from this body
of flesh. When I come out of this body
of flesh, then sin will be eradicated from me. Because I won't be in
this old body any longer. And it'll be gone. Now then,
at the last day, Christ will come, and he will raise these
bodies from their graves, and he'll change corruptible flesh
into incorruptible flesh in eternal glorification. And this, my friend,
is for everyone whom God purposely set apart in old eternity. This is for the covenant people.
This is for God's people. This is for those that God laid
hold of and said, these are mine. These are mine. These belong
to me. I own them. I bought them at
Calvary. My son Jesus died for them. And
the Holy Spirit came and made them holy by putting a nature
in them that couldn't do anything else but love righteousness and
wanted to do right. A nature that just keeps on,
keeps on in a state of dominion and ruling in the life of the
child of God, enabling him to overcome, to overcome, to overcome. May God bless you this morning
and give you the ability to receive this message. Now you'll have
to study this, think about it, study it, maybe hear it preached
on again a few times. And we'll have a tape around
here, maybe sometime this summer when I'm not around, well, maybe
you can play it again, listen to it again. Maybe God will be
pleased to give you some light on the subject because, like
I say, brother, you're living in a world where there's so much
confusion that you'll never get to the truth unless God takes
you to it. And if He ever takes you to it,
you won't get off of it because that's the only thing that is
right. This is right. What I'm telling
you is right this morning. I'm not getting up here trying
to tell you to do something so you can be sanctified. I'm not
going to do that. Because there isn't any such
thing as anybody sanctifying themselves. God sanctifies his
people. And the only sanctification there
is is in him, in Christ. And he is our sanctification. May God bless you this morning.