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, I'm 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, and 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 going
to 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 going to 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, read. 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 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. It's 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, if somebody
says, well, 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 it. 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 in 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 121 says, Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Justified. I'm saved 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's 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 that'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. This is what you were,
but God saves fornicators. Idolaters, adulterers, effeminate
compromisers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards and revilers
and extortioners. Now 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
judges another for what you judge him. You do the same things.
This describes me. This describes you. You know, this encourages us
to preach the gospel to every creature, doesn't it? God saves
people like this. 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 going to do you any good, you're still
going to 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 as 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 fences
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's
force 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. One of the things that It 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 you wreck 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 this is 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'm just thinking of
that. 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 help, be helpful. Verse one. 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 said, 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 at all the estate
of the elders, from 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 unto Damascus about noon,
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto 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 unto 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 ye have 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? You
know better than that. But he told him to arise and
be baptized, washing away thy sins, calling upon the name of
the Lord. And 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, 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. 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 which 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
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
shall they thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto 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
blood, 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 and everything
in your salvation. You know, there's a there's a
phrase in Romans chapter five verse or Romans chapter three,
verse twenty four. Being just let's go there, I'm
not Romans chapter three. 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 Saint Todd. 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. Heirs are 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. As a matter of fact, go on reading
verse 7. by the 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 had 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 count. 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 let 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.