Turn back to Ephesians chapter
5. I've entitled this message, As
Becometh Saints. Look in verse 3 once again. Fornication,
and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints. All sexual sin is under the word
fornication. All uncleanness or impurity,
all covetousness, should not be committed and is unbecoming
and inappropriate for one who is a saint. Amen. John said, these things I write
unto you that you sin not. Sin is not becoming. Sin is not
acceptable to any saint. He groans under the burden of
it every day. But it's not acceptable. There isn't any saint of God
who says salvation's by grace, therefore I'm not worried about
not committing sin. I can sin all I want and more
than I want because everything is covered by grace. Everything is covered by grace.
but no believer has that attitude towards sin. Look in verse four,
neither filthiness, obscenity, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient, which are not appropriate, which are
not becoming. but rather giving of thanks. Now here's what is appropriate
for a believer, the giving of thanks. In everything Paul said
in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, in everything, give thanks. Doesn't matter what
it is. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Whatever happened to you today,
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In everything give thanks. Now he mentions these three sins
again in verse five, for this you know, that no whoremonger,
nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath
any inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ. Now, there's not anybody in this room that does not struggle with sexual
sin. I think that's pointed out right
after the fall when they knew they were naked. They were naked
beforehand, but it wasn't an issue. But now they have fallen
sinful natures. But does that mean you go ahead
and give in a life of debauchery? No, no. If you do, you're not
a believer. Now it is that simple. If you
do, you don't have the spirit of God. Doesn't mean you don't
continually struggle with it. But does that mean you give into
it? Hey, salvation is by grace. I don't need to worry about it.
There's not anybody in this room that doesn't struggle with uncleanness,
and that means impurity, impure thoughts, impure motives. You fight with that every day,
don't you? Fight with it every day, but do you say, well, if
I think it, I might as well do it. Does that make any difference?
No, there is a struggle with sin. Is there anybody in this
room that is free of covetousness? You never think, well, I wish
I had my neighbors fill in the blank. I wish I had more of this. I wish I had more of that. There's
not anybody in this room that is free from covetousness. As
a matter of fact, all I got to do is say, don't covet, and you'll
start coveting. That's all it takes. Don't covet this. What
are you going to do? You're going to covet it. You
see, you've got a fallen, sinful nature. And to deal with this
passage of scripture and not recognize that is not to deal
with this passage of scripture, honestly. Now, everybody constantly deals with
a sinful nature, but it's a believer. An unbeliever doesn't. He doesn't
know what sin is. He is clueless with regard to
what Paul meant in Romans chapter seven, when he said, oh, wretched
man that I am. An unbeliever can't hear any
of this. It's only the believer who can. But a man who, or woman
who gives themselves to the pursuit of these sins. I'm sure you could add other
ones to it as well, but these are the three he mentions, does
not have the spirit of God. They've never been born again.
I hope I can explain that. Look, verse six. Let no man deceive
you with vain words, for because of these things Because of fornication,
because of uncleanness, because of covetousness, those are the
three things he mentions. Let no man deceive you with vain
words, for because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon
the children of disobedience. Now, the wrath of God is a part
of who he is. He's holy. It's not a bad thing. We think of it in that light,
but it's not a bad thing, it's a glorious thing. It's because
of who he is. He's holy, he's just, he's going
to punish sins. Now, Paul says, don't let anybody
deceive you with vain words. Don't think God is indifferent
toward this sexual sin or impurity or covetousness or greediness.
The wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience because
of this, or the children of unbelief. But you know, it won't come on
the children of faith. it just flat out won't come on
the children of faith. While they live with these things
and grown under the burden of them. Oh, wretched man that I am, they
do not live in these things. They live with these things.
You know that so. You live with these things. Oh,
wretched man that I am, what I hate to do, what I want to
do, I don't do. And really, the language of Romans
chapter 7 is the language of a healthy believer. Somebody
talks about this, well, that's Paul before he's saved. You're
not saved if you believe something like that. You don't even know
what sin is. This is Paul expressing himself, the wretchedness of
sin, because he has a holy nature, a new nature. A believer lives
with these things, but he doesn't live in them. Now, what do I
mean by that? You go ahead and say, what's
the use? I'm going to give myself to the pursuit of these things.
Here's the situation. Here's the truth. Sin in any
way is never acceptable. It's never okay to a believer. You're always aware of it. It's
always there with you. You hate it. but you never just
say, it's okay. He says in verse seven, be not
ye therefore partakers with them. What he's saying there is don't
act like an unbeliever. Don't conduct yourself like someone
who doesn't know Christ. First Corinthians 4.7 says, who
maketh thee to differ from another? But the fact of the matter is,
you do differ. If you're a believer, You do
differ. And you know who has made you
to differ. God the Father in eternal election,
God the Son in his redeeming work on the cross, and God the
Holy Spirit in giving you a new nature that was not there before. You do differ. You differ infinitely
from an unbeliever. And you know who made you to
differ. Now let's go back to verse three. For an occasion, I remember one time someone left
13th Street. They were upset and they had
fallen into some kind of, under this branch of sin. And
they were blaming Brother Mahan. They said, he didn't teach us
against this. And I thought, good grief. Everybody in here
knows that's wrong, but we need to be taught to live. Y'all ain't
know how to live. Everybody knows this is wrong. He didn't teach
us against this. No, you did what you wanted to
do. All uncleanness, impurity, or
covetousness, desiring your neighbor's wife, manservant, maidservant,
ox ass, whatever's your neighbor's. I wish I had that. I'm not content. Let it not once be named among
you as becometh saints. Now these actions are completely
inappropriate for those who are saints. And every saint would
agree. The word saint means holy one,
sanctified one, holy one. The word Christian is found three
times in the Bible. The word believer is found two
times. They're both very good words,
aren't they? I mean, anything that's in the Bible is good.
Sometimes I might wanna hesitate to use the word Christian because
of the way it's abused, but it's a good scriptural word. They
were first called Christians by way of derision at Antioch.
You can read about that in Acts chapter 11. It's a good word.
A believer is a good, we believe. We believe the gospel. But do
you know the word saint is found over 100 times? So that gives
you some idea of the importance of this word, saint, holy one. It's a good scriptural word.
And it is the word that is most often used to describe that very
special group, the brethren, the brethren. I'm looking at
some saints of God, some holy ones of God. And this is the
name really that is most appropriate to use with regard to a believer,
a saint. Now, a saint is one who is of the
brethren, of the same father. born of the same spirit. I love
the scripture in Romans chapter eight, for whom he did foreknow
them, he also did predestinate to be the first to be conformed
to his image, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's who these saints are,
they're the brethren. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, by your love to the brethren, your love to one
another. Now, every believer is a saint. I know that the Catholic church
has made it, a saint is somebody who has excess surplus good works
and they're just so good and they've become so holy that they
can even share some of their good works with you because they're
already over the top and have excess. Now, that's foolishness,
you know that. Every believer is a saint. Turn
with me to Hebrews chapter two. Verse 11, for both he that sanctifyeth,
now that could be speaking of the Father, that could be speaking
of the Spirit, and it would be accurate, but it's speaking of
the Son. We're gonna see how all three persons of the Godhead
are in this thing of sanctifying the believer. For both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. Now, if you're sanctified, you
know what that means? That means you're one with the Lord Jesus
Christ. That means you can't be separated
from Him. It doesn't mean you're close. It means you're one. And the Lord gives the best illustration
of this as the vine and the branches. The same stem that's going through
the vine goes through the branches, and there's no connecting point.
Now, do I understand that? Of course not. Do I believe it?
With all my heart. Every believer is vitally, eternally
united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Always have been, always will
be. Never a time when this began
to be. I've never been separated from Jesus Christ. Now, the Father sanctified me
in eternal election. The Spirit sanctified me in regeneration. The Son sanctified me on the
cross. Now, in this thing of Christ dying on the cross, It
says, by one offering, by his death, he hath perfected forever
them that are, what? Sanctified. Sanctified, that's
the word that most comprehensively describes God's salvation, sanctification. You know, religion always uses,
They talk about, well, justification is your legal standing before
God, and sanctification is how holy you are. That's a complete...
denial of what sanctification is. Sanctification is the whole
work of God in salvation. Sanctified by the Father to be
holy in election, sanctified by the Son on the cross in redemption,
sanctified by God the Holy Spirit, given a new nature, a holy nature
in regeneration or in the new birth. Now, sanctification means
to take something common and ordinary and set it apart. for holy purposes. Isn't that
what happened to you? The first time the word's used
is with reference to the seventh day. The six days that God created
the universe, the seventh day he set apart. Now the seventh
day wasn't any more special than the first six days, but because
God set it apart, it was. You see, when God does something,
he does it. And it's the day of rest. The day of rest. Salvation is
resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture from
Jeremiah chapter one, verse five. Before, and this is true of every
believer. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. Before thou camest out of the
womb, I sanctified thee. Every believer, now this thing
of saints, we gotta understand this before we can understand
what Paul is saying, this thing of being a saint. Every saint
was chosen by God before time began to be holy. According as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before God. Every believer was sanctified
by the Lord Jesus Christ when he died for them on Calvary's
tree and God declared them to be holy. Declared holy. Declared by God holy. Not me,
I'm holy now. No, this is God's declaration
by virtue of what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Every believer, because
of the blood of his cross, every believer is holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight. Made holy by the Spirit of God.
Turn with me to John chapter 1. I'm going to read several scriptures
there. This holiness that a believer has, it's because they've been
birthed of God. Can God give birth to something
that's sinful? He's holy. How could He give
birth to something that can sin? Okay, John chapter 1, verse 12. As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born, which were birthed, not of blood. You're not saved because your
mom and dad are, nor of the will of the flesh. Not because a bunch
of men got together and said, we're gonna pray for you till
you're saved. Nor the will of man, there's no such thing as
free will, but of God. Look in John chapter three. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night. and said unto him, Rabbi, we
know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, born above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. He said, Nicodemus, you don't know anything. You don't
know anything. You say, we know that a man,
no, you don't know anything. except a man be born from above,
birthed by the Spirit of God. He can't enter the kingdom of
God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he's
old? Can he enter into the second time into his mother's womb and
be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto you, except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit. Now that's not talking
about water baptism. You're not born again because
you dumped into the water and come back out. Paul speaks in
Ephesians five, the washing of water by the word. You see, there's
no new birth apart from the word of God. You don't just, I've
been born again. No, you hear the word and we're
gonna see that a little bit more in just a minute, but let me
go on reading. That, verse six, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. That which is born of the flesh
can never rise above the flesh. It can never be anything but
sinful. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you,
you must be born again. The wind blows where it listeth.
Thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh. And whether it goeth, so is everyone that is born of
the spirit. James 1.18, let me just quote
this to you. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. I want you to look at these in
Peter. Turn to 1 Peter. Chapter one, verse two. Or verse three. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Look in the same
chapter, verse 22, seeing you purified your souls and obeying
the truth of the Spirit unto unfamed love of the brethren,
See that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And here
is that incorruptible seed. It's in this message. All flesh
is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower
thereof falls away, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Look in chapter three, verse
four. But let it be the hidden man
of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament
of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great
price. Did you notice that not corruptible? Not even subject
to corruption. Look in first John chapter three. Whosoever is born of God doth,
verse nine, 1 John chapter three, verse nine. Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and
he cannot sin because he's born of God. Now what's that a reference
to? That's the new nature. Somebody says, well, that means
a child of God can't practice sin. Do you practice sin? Sure you do. Do you do it more
than once? That's the practice of it, isn't it? This is talking
about the new nature that, and the scripture, he says, it doth
not commit sin for his seed. The seed of God remains in him.
He cannot sin. He lacks the ability to sin because
he's born of God. This is what this is a reference
to. Look in 1 John 5, verse 18. We know That whosoever is born of God
sinneth not, but he that's begotten of God keepeth himself, and the
wicked one toucheth him not. Now, do you know with regard
to your new nature, Satan doesn't have anything to work with. Now
he's got plenty to work with in the old nature. but he can't
touch your new nature. Remember the way the Lord says
the prince of this world has come and found nothing in me?
Well, that's true with regard to everyone that's a partaker
of the divine nature. Now, so we see what a saint is. A saint is someone who God elected
before time began to be holy. He set them apart for that purpose.
A saint is someone who Christ declared to be holy by His work
on the cross, by putting away their sins. So you don't have
any sin. You stand without fault, without
blame before God. And you've been given a holy
nature. It's called the sanctification of the Spirit in the new birth,
where you've been given a new birth. And that's what believes.
Your old nature never believes. I love what that man cried out
in Mark chapter nine. He said, Lord, I believe. Help
thou mine unbelief. Your old nature never believes. Your new nature always believes. Partakers of the divine nature. Now, how inappropriate How unbecoming,
how ugly is sin in a saint of God. It's ugly, isn't it? Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, a saint and still painfully aware of
being a sinner. Every saint and only the saints
are painfully aware of being a sinner, a Romans 7 sinner. Now let's turn over there for
just a moment. Romans chapter 7. Paul is speaking as a believer
here, for he says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but
I'm carnal, sold under sin. Sold as a slave to sin is what
that means. Somebody says, he couldn't have been saved to make
a statement like that. No, when he wasn't saved, he
said, touch him in the righteousness, which is in law, I'm blameless.
But now that the Lord has saved him and revealed himself to him,
he speaks differently, doesn't he? For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. I don't approve of that. I don't
say that's acceptable. For what I would, be perfectly
obedient, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent to the law that it's good. Now there's no more
I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me, that old man.
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. You know that. For to will is
present with me. But how to perform that which
is good, sometimes I mess up. That's all I say, is it? He said,
I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that
which I would not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I find in a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members, oh, wretched man
that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now, 1 John 2. My little children, verse one. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And this
is very important. He's no corrupt lawyer. He's Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Everything about his gospel is altogether righteous. And Him
forgiving you of your sin, it's a righteous thing for Him to
do because your sin was put away and it is no more. And you stand
before God without guilt. This is the lawyer who makes
you plead guilty and causes you to be utterly justified. There's no lawyer like this lawyer,
is there? He's Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, sin is never
becoming or acceptable or okay in any saint. And it's actually
worse in a believer than it is in an unbeliever, isn't it? We've
sinned against love, against light. Lord, give me grace to not sin
against you. Lord, give me grace to see that
all that I do is sin. Lord, give me the grace to see
that in thy son I have no sin. And those are three things I
want to see. I don't want to sin against him. I want to know
that all I do is sin, and I want to know that I have no sin. You know, an unbeliever would
listen and say, you're crazy. So what? So what? I guess, you know. I want to
close with Romans chapter five. Verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. If you ever see God's holy law
and see anything but sin in yourself, you've never seen the law. You don't really know what it
means. If you see God's holy law, the 10 commandments, if
you see it, you're gonna be a place where
sin abounds, where it overflows, where it erupts, and that's all
there is. If you ever see the law, and
if you can look at God's law and think, well, I've been measured
up there, you just never saved it. You just never saved it. But where sin abounded, Everywhere sin abounded. Grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death. Now what's that mean? How much
choice do you have in this thing of not dying? What can you do to prevent death? I don't care how healthy you
live. I don't care how clean you live. You're gonna die pretty
soon. You know why? Because you're a sinner. And
there's nothing you can do to prevent that. That's the reign
of sin unto death. Because you're a sinner, you've
got no choice in this thing. You are going to die. That as sin hath reigned to death,
even so might grace reign. You see, if God gives you his
grace, it reigns in that you're gonna be saved, and there's nothing
you can do to match that up. Isn't that wonderful? There's
nothing you can do to prevent God's salvation. You can't send
it away. You can't prevent it from happening.
Just as you can't prevent death, if God gives you his grace, you
can't prevent his salvation. But look at this word next, even
so might His grace reign through righteousness. It's righteous
grace. It's a grace that honors the
righteousness of God. There's nothing corrupt. There's
nothing unclean about it. It's holy and glorious. Unto eternal life by Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Now, I read a passage of scripture
like that, and let not that once be named
among you as become a saint. And I'm aware of me being all
three of those things. That does not in any way give
us a reason to go ahead and say, well, might as well do it. Might
as well go ahead and live a debauched life. What difference does it
make? If I think it, I might as well do it. No, no, no. No sin ought to be even once
named among me and you, as becometh saints. But thank God, when you
do, when you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. And he's the propitiation. He's
the sin-removing sacrifice for our sins, not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world, Jew and Gentile,
black and white, bond and free. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for making
us saints. We confess our sin. We pray for
forgiveness and cleansing. And Lord, we ask that you would
Cause your word to be hid in our heart that we might not sin
against thee. We ask that you would cause us
to know that we're nothing but sin, and we can look to nowhere
but Christ. And Lord, cause us to understand
that in thy Son we have no sin, that we're holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in your sight. Lord, thank you for making us
saints. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Matt, come listen.