It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for, Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I'm reading from 2 Corinthians
chapter 7, verse 1. Paul says, Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear
of God. I've entitled this message, Cleansing
Ourselves. Some years ago, I was listening
to a man preach, and he was trying to describe the Christian life. And he made this description.
The Christian life is like a man walking on a tightrope. with
a balance beam. And in order to stay on the tightrope,
you have to have a proper balance between your own righteousness
and Christ's righteousness. And that will keep you on the
tightrope. And I remember I thought that
is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. That man who claimed to be a
preacher of the gospel was preaching another gospel. David said in
Psalm 71, 16, I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine
only. A proper balance between your
righteousness, which is filthy rags, and Christ's righteousness,
your obedience and Christ's obedience, such teaching is blasphemous. And then I heard him say in ridicule
about people who believe in salvation by grace, He said, I'd like to
hear one of these preachers preach from 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. Well, I'm going to preach from
that. Cleansing ourselves. And notice he says, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness. of the flesh and spirit. Filthiness. What an apt description
of the defiling nature of sin. It soils. It besmears. It befouls. You feel dirty. You feel unclean. You feel filthy. The filthiness, he says, of the
flesh. the sinful cravings of a fallen
human nature. The first thing I think of when
I think of the filthiness of the flesh, I think of sexual
sin. Now, God made sex for a man and
his wife, and it's beautiful. But how have fallen men degraded
it and made it a filthy thing? I think of things such as substance
abuse, drunkenness, gluttony, debauchery, profligacy, riotous
living, a thirst for sin, the filthiness of the flesh. And
then he speaks of the filthiness of the spirit, pride, self-righteousness,
haughtiness, arrogance, envy and jealousy, gossip, murdering
somebody's character, slander, That suspicious attitude toward
others, you know, as a man is so he thinks others to be malice
and ill will, bitterness and complaining, the filth of the
spirit. Now, the fact that he says, let
us cleanse ourselves. from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit presupposes a need to be cleansed from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit. When you hear of the filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, do you think of somebody else that needs
to be cleaned or do you think of yourself? Now, to speak of
this presupposes a need to be cleaned. You know, the fact that
Paul says, Let us cleanse ourselves. He places himself in the group
that needs to be cleansed. Let's cleanse ourselves, he says.
We have more than enough with our own self to deal with. We
don't need to worry about cleaning up somebody else. Let us cleanse
ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. Now,
in cleansing ourselves, he says, we're said to be perfecting holiness. in the fear of God. Now, what
in the world does that mean? How do you go about perfecting
holiness? Well, he means we're bringing
holiness to its predestinated end. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says,
According as he hath chosen us in him, that we should be holy
and without blame before him. In Philippians chapter 1, the
word is used like this, perfecting. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it. will complete it, will carry
it out. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it into the day of Jesus Christ. He will
complete it, bring holiness to its completion. In Philippians
2, verses 12 and 13, Paul said to the Philippians, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling, For it is God
that worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. Now, if I do not cleanse myself,
I will not be cleansed. John said in 1 John 3, 3, Every
man, no exceptions, every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself. even as He is pure. Now, we're called upon to cleanse
ourselves and we're also told that He is the one who cleanses
us. And I've got to be honest, unless
I saw what the Bible said about Him cleansing me, I would be
utterly discouraged about this thing of cleansing myself. Now,
how is it that God cleanses a sinner? Let me give you three things.
First, God cleanses a sinner by willing him to be clean. It takes the sovereign will of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there was a leper who came
to Christ, full of leprosy, full of filthiness. And he came to
Christ and worshipped Him, saying, Lord. He acknowledged His Lordship. He said, if you will. Notice he didn't say, I will
that you make me clean, or I've decided to let you make me clean,
or I've accepted you so you can now make me clean. That kind
of language is offensive, isn't it? That's not the language of
Scripture. He says, if you will, you can
make me clean. Now this man knew he was filthy,
he knew he couldn't make himself clean, and he knew the Lord could.
So he says, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And you
know how the Lord replied? Scripture says he was moved with
compassion and said, I will. Be thou clean. Man is made clean when Christ
wills him to be clean. Such is the supremacy of his
will that if he wills it, it is. Secondly, a sinner is made
clean by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 5, 7 says,
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us, washes us,
makes us pure. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. We read in 1 John 3, verse 5,
He was manifested to take away our sins. That's exactly what
he did, and in him is no sin. In Titus 2.14, we read that his
purpose of giving himself for us is that he might purify, cleanse
into himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Now, the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses everybody he died for
from all sin. Now, I need to make this clear.
When Jesus Christ died, he didn't cleanse everybody. Because there
are people in hell. There are people who do not believe.
He cleansed those who believe. He cleansed those he died for.
He cleansed those that he chose. That's who he cleansed and they're
cleansed. And thirdly, we're said to be
cleansed by his word. John chapter 15 verse 3 says
now are you clean through the word that I've spoken to you. You know there's nothing as cleansing
as hearing the word. Ephesians 5 26 says husbands
love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but it should be holy. You know, when the Lord washed
his disciples feet, remember how he said, you're clean, but
you still need your feet washed. You know, as the believer walks
through this world, He gets his feet dirty. You can't walk through
this world and not get your feet dirty. But oh, he washes our
feet. And that is the preaching of
the gospel that continually washes our feet. Now, Paul loved these
people he was writing to. He says, having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh. and of the Spirit perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. Now these same people that he's
writing to were always questioning his apostleship, they were always
being suspicious of him, they were trying to make divisions
between him and other preachers and so on, yet he calls them
dearly beloved. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, by the love you have one to another. How Paul
loved these people, And he says, having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved. And you're not going to be able
to cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and the
spirit unless you have these promises. Having therefore, possessing
therefore, dearly beloved, these promises. Now, he does not say
we will have these promises if we cleanse ourselves. He doesn't
say anything like that, does he? He says, having therefore,
possessing therefore, these promises, dearly beloved. Now, let's see
what Paul meant by promises. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, at
the opening of this epistle, he writes, verse 17, When I therefore
was thus minded, did I use likeness? Or the things that I purpose,
do I purpose according to the flesh? that with me there should
be yea, yea, and nay, nay. But as God is true, our word
toward you was not yea and nay, saying yes and no to the same
thing. But the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among
you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and
nay, but in Him was yea for all. The promises of God in him are
yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now, what is meant by yea and
nay? What does Paul mean by that?
Somebody says, yes, the blood of Christ is sufficient to wash
away your sins. He has washed away your sins
when He died, but no, you may not be saved. You may be in hell
anyway if you don't do your part to make what He did for you work. Yes, all you need is the blood
of Christ, but no, you may go to hell anyway even though He
died for you if you don't do your part. That's yea and nay
preaching. Yes, salvation is all of grace
from the beginning to the end. Salvation is by grace. Yes, it
is. But no, you can lose your salvation
if you don't do the right things to maintain your salvation. Yes,
we're completing it. We don't need anything else.
We're completely saved in him. But no, you may lose rewards
and you may lose a position in glory if you're not living right. And you won't have it as good
as you would have if you would have done something to make it
better. Now, Paul says all the promises of God in him are yay
and amen. If Christ paid for your sins,
You must be saved, period. Since salvation is all of grace,
it really is, you can never lose your salvation. Your good works
don't recommend you and your bad works don't disqualify you.
Salvation is by grace. You're complete in Christ. Yay! Nothing can be added to that.
Nothing can be taken from it. You're complete in Him. Colossians
2.10 says you are complete in Him. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says
of Him are you in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. All the promises
of God in Him are yay! And in him, amen. Now, in the
context of this passage of scripture, back to 2 Corinthians chapter
6, right before he said, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God. In the context, he's talking
about covenant promises. Look what he says in verse 18.
He says, I will be a father unto you. And you shall be my sons
and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Now this is an I will
and you shall. This is a covenant promise. Now a covenant promise is not
subject to being unfulfilled if I don't do my part. God says
I will and because I will, you shall. David is dying. David, the man after God's own
heart. And he's giving us his last words. Now, when he's dying,
what's on his mind? Did he think about Bathsheba
and Uriah the Hittite, how he murdered him and tried to cover
up it all with and implicate others in his sin? Did he do
that? Is that what he thought about? Did he think about the
70,000 people that died because he numbered Israel? I mean, he
could have thought of things like that, but he didn't. Or,
he could have thought about how God used him to defeat Goliath,
and how God used him to defeat the Philistines, and how he was
used of God to write the Psalms. He was the sweet psalmist of
Israel. He could have been thinking of the bad things, he could have
been thinking of the good things, but what does he say? In 2 Samuel
23, verse 5, and this is a covenant promise, he said, although my
house be not so with God, and his house was a mess, his family
was torn apart, He could have even been talking about his own
person, although my house be not so with God, yet hath he
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure,
and this is all my salvation. and all my desire, though He
makes it not to grow. He said all my salvation and
all my desire is found in that everlasting covenant that He
made with me before time began when Christ agreed to be my surety
and Christ guaranteed that He would save me. That's all my
salvation. It was accomplished before I
was even born. Covenant promises. In this we
have the Promise of adoption. I'll be to them a father. They
will be to me sons and daughters. We have the promise of indwelling. He says in verse 16, I will dwell
in them and I'll walk in them. We have the promise of communion.
I'll be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. What
a promise. He says, wherefore, come out
from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing and I'll receive you. Come out of religion. Come
out of religion. Don't try to reform it. Don't
try to straighten it up. Don't touch the unclean thing.
Somebody says, what's the unclean thing? Well, the Scripture says
our righteousnesses are as an unclean thing. Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. We're all as an unclean thing.
Don't touch that thinking that has something to do with your
standing before God. Come out. Be separate. Don't be identified
with the religion of this world. And I'll receive you. And I'll
be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord God Almighty." Now, having therefore these promises,
what promises they are, and we possess them. God's my God. That means God's for me. I'm
His Son. He's my Father. He dwells in
me. He walks with me and communes
with me. He is my salvation. All the promises
of God in him are yea and amen. Covenant promises. Not dependent
upon me for their fulfillment, but dependent upon God's sovereign
will. Covenant promises. Having, therefore,
these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. Now, how do I cleanse myself? Can I cleanse myself with soap
and water? Can I wash away and cleanse myself by being baptized?
How do I cleanse myself? What a question. How do I cleanse
myself? Well, the Bible gives an answer
to that. And I'm going to give you five
things, all of which are one thing. It's not five different
things. But one thing that does these five things, if you want
to understand about cleansing, if you want to cleanse yourself,
here is how you do it. First, First John, chapter one,
verse nine says, if we confess our sins. If we confess our sins. To who? To the priest? No. To
some other man? No. To God. It won't do you any
good to confess them to somebody else. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If you confess your sins, does
that mean name them all? No, that's impossible to name
them all for one reason, because you don't know what they all
are. Most of the sins you've committed, you're ignorant of.
You don't even know you committed them. And secondly, there's not enough
time in the day to name them all. It's to take sides with
God against yourself. It's to agree with what God says
regarding you. You confess your sins. You take sides with God against
yourself. Now, when I do this, when I truly
confess my sin before Him, I don't mean just saying I confess my
sins, but I mean from the depths of my heart agreeing with God
taking side with God against myself. It says he is faithful
and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. So the first way I'm cleansed
is by confessing my sin. Secondly, Hebrews 9 14 says purge,
and that's the same word as cleanse, purge or cleanse your conscience
from dead works. Now, what are dead works? Dead
works are any works that I do that I think have something to
do with my life. Any works that I do that I think
God accepts these and gives me something because of these things
that I've done. I don't care what it is. If I think there's
something that I do that God responds to and gives me something
because of what I've done, that is a dead work. Purge your conscience
from those filthy dead works. They're no good. Don't think
God accepts those. Don't think you can make it better
with you and God by these dead works. Cleanse your conscience
from that and look to Christ alone. Purge your conscience
from those dead works to serve the living God. Thirdly, when
I cleanse myself, I humble myself under His mighty hand. Yes, I
confess my sin. Yes, I repent of dead works and
I humble myself under his mighty hand. In James chapter 4, we
read in verse 8, draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and
weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to
heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." Remember, God resists
the proud, and He gives grace to the humble. You humble yourself
under... I'm not talking about being humiliated.
I'm talking about humbling yourself before Him. And if you do that,
you will be given grace. So, how do I cleanse myself?
I confess my sin. I repent of my dead works. I
humble myself before God. Fourth, I believe the gospel. Peter spoke in Acts chapter 15,
verse 9, of our hearts being purified, being cleansed by faith. He said, we believe that through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they.
If you believe the gospel, If you rely on Jesus Christ as your
righteousness before God, if you rely on His shed blood as
your sin payment, if you rely on His intercession as the reason
you continue in the faith, if you're relying on Him to answer
for you on judgment day so that all God requires of you, He looks
to His Son for, and you're relying on the Lord Jesus Christ for
that, That purifies the heart. It cleanses the heart. And last, we cleanse ourselves
by presenting ourselves to the Lord. Not making a resolve. Well, I'm going to not sin that
sin anymore. I'm going to clean up my act. I'm going to straighten
up and fly right. I'm going to be different. I'm
going to be changed. A religion based upon personal resolve is
doomed for failure. You can just write that down.
It won't last. That's not the way. In Romans
chapter 6, I think this will explain it. In Romans chapter
6, verse 11, Paul said, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that you should obey it, the lust thereof. Neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but
yield, or present yourselves." That's what the word means. Present
yourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. I present
myself to God. Lord, here am I. I can't do anything,
but I'm presenting myself to you to save me, to keep me, to
preserve me, to cleanse me from all filthiness of the flesh and
of the spirit. Now, as I confess my sin, purge
my conscience of dead works, humble myself, believe the gospel
and present myself to the Lord, I'm cleansed and I'm being cleansed. Now, we have this message on
DVD, CD. If you write the church, Call
or email and we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Knott, praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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