An Insider's Guide To Christian Sanctification - [1 Corinthians 1:2]

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I think many people at the Church of Corinth would agree with Heinrich Hepp's saying.
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Here's what Heinrich Hepp said, Things are admirably arranged. God likes forgiving sins, and I like committing them.
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Heinrich Hepp, things are admirably arranged. God likes forgiving sins, and I like committing them.
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How arrogant. How besmirching of the holiness of God and His goodness.
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What a low view of God. What a low view of holiness. What a high view of mankind. I think many at the
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Church of Corinth would like this slogan. We are looking for a message from God that would make us happy.
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What they really needed was not happiness, but holiness. God saves people to make them holy, not necessarily happy.
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Makes sense, doesn't it? Since God is holy, doesn't He call His people to be holy?
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Goes without saying. I can just imagine in my mind's eye, Revelation 4 .8,
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the living creatures around God's throne never stop saying, Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord God Almighty. We would expect
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His image bearers. We would expect those who follow Him, who name His name, to be holy as well.
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Holiness means to mark off, or to make it a cut apart, set apart for something special.
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You all will probably get something out of your house very holy in the next couple months. You have regular dishes for when your family eats, and they could be plastic dishes, they could be paper dishes, they could be kind of the kind you get at Ikea, and then you have special ones in that cupboard.
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Marked off for only special times of the year, you have your holy dishes for Thanksgiving and for Christmas, don't you?
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Something special, something different. God is holy, God is set apart, and He has expectations for His people to be the same.
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So much so, did you ever think about it? One whole book of the Bible is talking about holiness, and it's not just Hebrews, even the book of Leviticus.
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The holiness of God just oozes out of Scripture, as it were. You can't suppress it, you can't somehow push it down under water, to the degree that the
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Bible says God's name is holy. Do you believe that? God's unchangeableness is holy,
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His kindness is holy, His wrath is holy, His patience is holy,
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His justice is holy. Holy is the name of the Lord. And in our minds, we like to think of somebody holy, and then we think, well,
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God is just to a greater degree than that person holy. If you think of degrees when it comes to God's holiness, you're not thinking properly about the holiness of God.
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There are no degrees, there are no decimal points, there are no fractions. God is holy.
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There is no room in God's economy to be more holy. God can't get holier.
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Tozer said, we cannot grasp the true meaning of divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure, and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of.
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I love Exodus. The Bible says God is glorious in His holiness.
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Isaiah says that God is high and exalted, He lives forever, and His name is holy.
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God is so holy, things around Him are required to be holy.
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Things that aren't even people. The burning bush, Exodus 3,
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Moses is required to take off his what? Sandals, this is holy ground. Mark off the bottom of the mountain in Exodus 19, because if some kind of cattle or livestock strays upon God's holy mountain, they will be obliterated.
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The holy place in the temple, mark it off, set it apart, cordon it off, so only once a year the high priest walks in because God is holy.
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My question today is, since God is holy, what does He require of you? Is God's main goal for your life for you to be happy, fulfilled, content?
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I think certainly a byproduct of holiness is happiness. But we've got a culture today that says,
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I will do anything to be happy. I will do anything to be relieved of these pressures in my life.
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Family pressures, marriage pressures, financial pressures. And then people run to hear sermons preached by pastors who will somehow give them a how -to list to get those things relieved.
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But the problem is, it doesn't really go away because it doesn't affect the root problem, it only affects the things that grow up.
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It's like just coming to the church and saying, you know what, I've got problems, so give me some Novocaine.
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But the problems are still there. It's like the time, I think I've told the story, I was running across the
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University of Nebraska campus and there was a large door with glass there.
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It was eight foot tall and it was raining so I ran up. I didn't want to get wet and I slipped on the pavement and my legs went straight through that pane of glass and bleeding all over and I didn't know what to do.
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And so I just went back to my room and I thought, well, do I go to the doctor? Am I insured?
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I don't know why I wasn't thinking to just go to the ER. My leg was all bleeding and everything. So my roommate came in and he said,
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I've got a solution to your problem. Great. What's my 18 -year -old roommate know?
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It's a bottle of Jack Daniels. I felt better by the end of the night. My leg didn't hurt at all. But the next morning
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I had a bad leg and a bad headache. No, the goodness of God is
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He shows us His holiness so we respond with holy thinking and holy living and the byproduct is happiness.
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You can't really be happy unless you're holy. And so what we want and what I'm so thankful this church comes to expect is,
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God, tell us the truth. We want to learn about you. We want to know you.
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And we want to be holy more than we want to be happy. It is not always a good thing to walk out of a service saying,
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I really feel good. That made me feel nice. And as you know if you're a regular attender here or a member,
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I'm probably better at afflicting the comfortable than I am comforting the afflicted.
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The Church of Corinth, which one do you think they needed more? Comforting or afflicting?
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At the end of the day, we know inside of our hearts what kind of sin factory we have inside of even our redeemed hearts.
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And we want to come to the text, at least I do, and say, God, do damage to my system that is full of sin.
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Excise, cut. The first time I was ever in an operating room and I was standing there and trying to keep my hands behind my back since I'm not supposed to get up to the sterile field and the doctor said to the nurse, scalpel.
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And I just thought, here we go. You know, you see somebody getting a shot on TV, you turn. Forget the shot.
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Scalpel, somebody's abdomen's right here, ready to go. And the doctor put down that scalpel and began to what?
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Apply a little bit of pressure and then pull back. I thought,
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I'm going to pass out. Was it loving to do? I just looked at that doctor and I thought, you're the most unloving person
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I've ever met in my life. No, it was for the person's good.
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And don't we love that as a church? Haven't we been taught of God? And as your pastor, I love it that you want to be taught the truth.
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We say, we have a hard heart. God, use your word to excise that hardness out.
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I want to have a soft heart. I want to have a Christ -honoring heart. I want to have a heart that runs so far away from the problems that Corinth has.
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Help my heart sick, desperately sick. You know my heart and so now
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God, it's not like we give him permission, but it's nice to affirm with God. God, just take your word and just take it like a battering ram and just destroy that calcified heart that I have.
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Isn't that what we want? Isn't that how God uses his word to do that? By the way, that's what God uses, not some kind of two -bit drama thing up here.
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You go, well, I really like the drama. Of course you like the drama because it wasn't doing this. I can just think of those goats.
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You ever see male goats? They just back up and it's one after another. Why am I doing this? Turn your
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Bibles to 1 Corinthians. What am I thinking? This is what the word does. And it's not because I hate you and I want to be ornery and I'm scolding you.
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As I said last week, this isn't the church of Corinth. Hallelujah. But we can learn from this book so we don't become like Corinth.
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When it comes to God's holiness, there's two aspects of holiness as you're turning to 1 Corinthians 1.
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One is a conceptual aspect. That is, conceptually, God is distinct from all his creation.
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He is different. He is not like us. He is above us. 1 Samuel 2, there is no one holy like the
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Lord. God in his infinite greatness is exalted, and we're not on the same plane level.
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It's like apples and oranges, if you will. God is conceptually holy. But more than that,
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God is ethically holy. God has separated himself from iniquity, from sin, from that which is unholy.
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Habakkuk 1 says you are of pure eyes to look upon evil.
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You cannot look upon evil. And so when we come to this passage, if you were the pastor, if you were the
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Apostle Paul, and you wanted to deal with the sins at Corinth, what would you tell the people at Corinth?
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And if you're like me, you'd do the exact opposite of what Paul did. If you're like most of Christianity, you would do the exact opposite.
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Friends, we are a how -to people. We are a can -do people, but we are a how -to people.
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And in our immaturity sometimes, and me as well as you, we want a sermon that just says, give me the five steps, and I can take care of it.
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I want to have a better marriage, just tell me something to do. Just tell me what to do, and how to write that love letter, and how to buy that teddy bear, and put it in the freezer, and all these other things.
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Just tell me what to do. My finances are a wreck. Could you please just give me a list?
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I'm having a hard time at work. I'm not a very good evangelist. Please give me the formula.
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And if you have a conference speaker that says, let me give you six easy steps to help your marriage, that place is packed out.
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So when Paul writes to the church of Corinth, does he give them a to -do list first?
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Now, for granted, granted. He tells them a lot of things to do. He gives them lots of imperatives.
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He says, I've heard from Chloe's household, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 10, you've got a lot of issues. You've got issues of divisiveness.
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You've got issues of suing each other. You've got issues of sexual immorality in the church. You've got issues of no church discipline.
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And he says, stop it. Repent. But does he say that first? He says,
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I've gotten a letter from you, and I want to address some of the things in the letter. Chapter 7, verse 1, now concerning.
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He deals with it. And he says in chapter 11, now concerning. He says in chapter 15, now concerning.
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He tells us those things, but what does Paul do first? You want to know what my purpose is today for preaching this passage?
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Here's my purpose. When it comes to your own sanctification as a Christian, don't put your life into how -to gear before you recognize that you have to think about who you are in Christ first.
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Now let's analyze ourselves for a minute. Could it be that the problem with lots of people, as they want to be holy, they begin to do the how -tos before they understand the whys?
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I want you to be after why I'm to do what I'm supposed to do, and who am
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I in Christ before you get to the how -tos. But what do we do? I remember I was teaching Maddie the other day, we were in the car or whatever, and she's like, or maybe it was
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Gracie, D, what's that? Drive. R, what's that?
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Run over people. No, she didn't say that. Reverse, P, park.
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And then I said, because some of them are, you know, reverse, oh, that's the name of it, you go backwards.
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Drive, that's the name of it, you go backwards. Neutral, how do you explain neutral? Well, neutral, you just don't do anything. It just kind of stays there.
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You give it gas, and it's neutral. I'm a better preacher than I am a car mechanic, obviously.
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We're too quick to get in the car and jam it into drive, and off we go.
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I just need the list to be more holy. And Paul says it's not how -to first, it's who you are and why you need to do these things.
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So let's take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We're not going to get very far, but my goal today is that if you'd like to live a holy life unto
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God, and I think for the most part people here want to, if you want to respond to the
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Holy One of Israel, if you'd like to be a worshiper who doesn't bring defective animals for worship, you want your life to be without blemish and without spot, and you say,
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I want to run from the problems of Corinth, and I would like to be a better wife, a better husband, a better child, a better student, a better worker, a better church member, then it's not just, here's your list, get at it.
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We're a can -do people. Sweat, toil, work, check things off. There's nothing wrong with the checklist as long as we figure out the who and the why before we get to the how.
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Got it? You said you just said that. I know, I'm going to repeat that over and over and over. The key to your sanctification, if you're a
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Christian, is not how well you do the how -to list, it's if you do the how -to list in light of the who list.
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The who list and the why list come before the how -to list. And that's what we'll learn in 1
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Corinthians. God does want a holy church. God does want a holy home. God does want a holy person at work, whether you wake up at work as a mom or you go into the office.
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But it's a counterintuitive kind of thing. How do you correct behavior?
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Well, you don't just start off and say, by the way, begin to do this, Church of Corinth. There's an introduction.
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And that introduction is not to be read with speed and alacrity. It's to be thought about, why did
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Paul put this here? Did you know every word in the Bible is there for a reason? Paul doesn't say this to start.
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How could you? After all the time I've spent there, 18 months, you did that? He doesn't guilt trip them.
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He doesn't shame them. He doesn't say, try harder. He doesn't say, well,
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I'm kind of like a senile grandfather, and just, you know, whatever you do, fine. I helped birth you, and just go do whatever.
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He doesn't say, just really be good. He doesn't say, it's good to be good, and it's nice to be nice. Just keep getting gooder and keep getting nicer.
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I said that on purpose, by the way. He doesn't say, you know what you could do? Just get lots of things that you like, incense.
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Get all kinds of smells and bells and do all kinds of things, and then you kind of forget about real internal holiness.
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You just do external superstitious things. He doesn't say that, does he? When you study the
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Bible, ask yourself this question. What does he say? And then ask yourself the question, what does he not say?
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And basically, here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 1 through 9.
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Before you begin to do these holy things, church, remember God has called you as holy people.
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You are holy. You are holy. Can you imagine? Let's take a look.
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Paul, chapter 1, verse 1 of 1 Corinthians. Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ, the
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Savior, who is Israel's Messiah, by the will of God. And Sothenes, he's in agreement, our brother.
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To the church of God, this is God's church, which is at Corinth. To those who have been, can you believe this is said of Corinth?
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To those who have been, past, present, or future tense. To those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, sinners by action.
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Is that what the text says? Saints by what? Calling.
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If I met the church of Corinth, what would I call them? A bunch of sinners. If I used kind of Midwestern or Nebraska language from the 50s,
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I would say, you're a bunch of spiritual louses, is what you are. That's your name. I've got a name for you, and you're spiritual louses.
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Paul says what? To those who have been sanctified, past tense, in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.
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Do you want to please the Lord in your holiness? Then the first thing you need to remember every single day of your life is who you are in Christ Jesus.
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You want to motivate people for ministry? You motivate them by telling them who they are in Christ Jesus before you give them the list of things to do.
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On my best days of parenting, I've said this story many times, but on my best days of parenting,
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I would be different than my worst days, obviously. My worst days, you parent like this.
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I mean, I could just hear myself say it. Pick up your room. Didn't I already tell you that?
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Clean the windows. Clean your bathroom. Pick up the trash. Finish your homework. And the list of how -tos and what -tos is a mile long.
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And what have I forgotten? If this is the way saints are to be encouraged, I think the way our homes should be run would be the same thing.
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Shouldn't we say, Daughter, you know, Daddy loves you. Daddy's provided for you.
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Daddy protects you. Daddy's given you everything that you own in this room. Daddy's done all these things for you along with Mom, and we pray for you.
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And in light of who you are, then what do you think you should do when it comes to fighting with your sister? What's the answer?
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Excel still more. No, that's not the answer. The answer is, I shouldn't. You don't even have to answer the question for the kid, because they will answer it.
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Here's who we are. Here's what God has told us about what He has done. And in light of who you are, then do these things.
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Conduct befitting an officer. Be who you are. You want to know Christian sanctification in a slogan?
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Be who you are. Act like who you are. You can imagine a father saying to his son,
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Son, you're a chip off the old block. You need to make me proud. You need to act in such a way that when you act this way, people will say of the last name
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Abendroth, Yes, that's right. In a much greater way, Paul, before he gets to this list of things to do, says remember not how to, but remember who you are.
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That's the key. That's the key. When we say to ourselves, I don't want doctrine.
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I don't want a bunch of theological words. I don't need to know about things like mystical union with Christ.
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I just want to do some things. Friends, you're betraying the whole idea of sanctification because the way to flesh out your sanctification is to remember doctrine.
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It's to remember all these things. And we're going to look at that today. The reason why I'm going to just park right here and just wait right here is before we get our life in action and going, we have to remember who we are in Christ, Jesus.
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And it's important, J .C. Ryle said, the subject before us is of such deep and vast importance that it requires fencing, guarding, clearing up, and marking out on every side.
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I agree with that. I agree with that. While I want to get to the next section, I want to just park here and remind us that the issue for sanctification is never primarily how to.
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It is who you are in Christ, Jesus. Now, look at our focus here today. Take a look at how
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Paul reminds them, and let's dig through this a little bit, to those who have been sanctified in Christ, Jesus.
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Let's look at that phrase first. And then secondly, let's look at saints by calling phrase. So first, those who have been sanctified in Christ, Jesus, chapter 1, verse 2.
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There's different kinds of sanctification. There's a sanctification where I say no to sin and yes to righteousness.
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But there's a sanctification that happens already. There's a sanctification that progresses over time, is ongoing.
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And there's a sanctification that's good as done in God's eyes, it's definite, it happens right away. Which one do you think this one is?
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Certainly chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 have mostly progressive sanctification.
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Do this. Do this. Ongoing. Stop that. But chapter 1, verse 2 is what?
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Definitive sanctification. This is a done fact. It's in the past. And you can easily read that. Turn with me, if you would, to chapter 6, verse 11.
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You see the same kind of information. And if anything's in you saying, yeah, but I just want to get on with the series.
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Friends, I don't want you to just get on with the series because you miss the whole thing if you don't remember that it's a who before a how -to.
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Chapter 6, verse 11. Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were what?
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Sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God. Is that an ongoing progressive sanctification?
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Our definitive act of God in the past? Well, you know the answer. It happened in the past and Paul reminds them of the fact that this is an accomplished event.
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You are sanctified. You are, to use Romans 6 language, you are free from the power of sin.
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Do you know, as an unbeliever, you aren't free from the power of sin. If you're an unbeliever today, you can't say, today
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I'll say no to sin and yes to righteousness. But do you know if you're a Christian and you are sanctified definitively, positionally, by a work of Christ Jesus through the
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Spirit's power, you're set apart for sin, do you know you can say no to sin? Corinth, you can say no to sin.
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You just can't go, well, I'm only human, I can't do it, I lose my temper, I'm from an
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Italian heritage, and all these kind of excuses we have. Paul says, you're sanctified by God, you can say no to sin.
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Paul could have said, do you know why you sin? It's not because you have to, it's because you what? Want to.
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We are sanctified definitively in Christ Jesus. When God saves us, we are called sanctified.
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We are enabled to live the new life, the Christian life. We are new creatures in Christ.
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And I'll say it once again. I think the problem with life is we have a to -do list in the morning and we forget about who we are in Christ Jesus.
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The resources we have, the Spirit of God who dwells within us, the power we have now because of Christ to say no to sin and yes to righteousness.
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Do you know what we do? We forget to preach the gospel to ourselves every day. Jerry Bridges says that's a good thing.
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And Paul doesn't do it like the other letters because he's been there for 18 months. He knows that when he says in chapter 1, verse 2 of 1
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Corinthians, you're sanctified, what floods through their mind. Can you imagine having Paul at your church for 18 months teaching you?
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I mean, our church is revolutionized by Steve Lawson coming in for five messages and preaching. 18 months the
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Apostle Paul. And you think when he said to them, you're sanctified, they all thought. I wonder what that means.
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No, they knew it. You're set apart by nature, by calling, by God's design.
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You are not paper plates anymore for just normal everyday things. You are set aside.
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You're like China set apart for special uses, for God's use. They knew all that.
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One of the best things you could do if you say, I want to be a better spouse, then you need to know who you are in Christ Jesus.
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And then what does he do? He doesn't just call them sanctified positionally that they're holy in Christ.
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He says something else. Called saints. They're called saints.
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He's trying to instruct them to be holy, remember that you're called holy. That's his point.
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It's not you're going to be a saint when 800 years after you die, they dig you up and declare you, you're now a saint.
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Friends, as my pastor always used to say, my original pastor, Preah John MacArthur, you're either a saint or you're an ain't.
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You're either a saint or sinner. And now by nature, by declaration, we are saints.
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And Paul says, then Corinth, live up to your calling. Live up to your name. Act like an
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Abendroth. Act like a Christian. You call yourself a Christian? Live in a what? Christ -like manner.
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Oh no, I've got to get to the do list. I've got to get to the yes list. If your life is wrong side up, and you're a really good worker, and you have a lot of sweat and toil and labor, and you love the checklist, but things still aren't right, well, there could be lots of explanations.
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But could one possibly be you've forgotten who you are in Christ Jesus? Show me one epistle in the
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New Testament that says, you know what, just get on going to work. Why did they start with all this doctrine?
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You know the reason. You know the reason. Live up to your name.
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Of course by the Spirit's power. But you have a name? Live up to it. You are holy, therefore act holy.
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One man said, it constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a deep sense of gratitude for redemption.
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It makes him feel that he can never do too much for him that died for him.
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If you're a Christian, Jesus died for you. Should you be begged by the elders to serve?
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Should you not on the flip side say, I will beg anybody so that I may serve?
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It's that kind of thinking. We are moralists if we're not careful because we were saved out of moralism.
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We just want to do more, do it harder, try harder, and we're in debt to God and therefore we just kind of really need to work things out.
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Paul says, you need to think who you are before you do anything. I think some of you have heard me use this illustration before, so let me now ask you to think along the same lines.
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What's the most important part of the Ten Commandments? They're taking down Ten Commandments out of the courts now, and they're taking them out of the schools, and they're the
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Ten Commandments. When you look at the Ten Commandments, what's the most important part of the Ten Commandments? Commandment 1,
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Commandment 10. What's the most important part of the Ten Commandments? And if you don't get it, you don't get 1
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Corinthians. And if you don't get it, you don't get sanctification. If you don't get it, you're stuck in the how -tos instead of the who's, instead of the what's, instead of the why's.
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Well, let's turn there. Keep your finger on 1 Corinthians. Just to show you this is the paradigm. The paradigm in Christianity is not do things,
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God loves you more. The paradigm is God loves you and He's shown you that at Calvary, therefore respond in light of that.
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That is sanctification. Of course you're responsible. Of course you use Scripture as a means. Of course you use prayer.
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Of course you want to make sure you do that. But you don't come close to sanctification unless you understand who
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God is and in light of who He is and what He's done for you personally, you won't get it. You say, Pastor, I already understand this.
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You've been preaching this for 13 years. Hallelujah. Teach it to other people. But there are some people sitting here today that don't know it.
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Some people listening on the radio that don't know it. And I bet you if you look at your life like I've looked at mine this week, we know it intellectually but we don't do what we know, right?
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That's a good reminder. Too often we remember what we're supposed to forget and forget what we're supposed to remember. That's my job to remind you.
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Exodus 20, you can find the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20. What's the most important part of the
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Ten Commandments? It's not found in verse 3.
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You shall have no other gods before me. Is that a good commandment? Is that the top of the list commandment?
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Do we want to make sure we do that in our lives? Of course. But that's not the most important part of the Ten Commandments.
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If you just wake up in the morning and say, I'm Israel or I'm a church today and I'm under this law or however you want to work it, any command in the
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Bible, I just need to do this. Friends, let's even make it, let's push the envelope a little bit.
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I know I never do it but indulge me today. If the top of your list is get up in the morning and read the
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Bible. I've got to read the Bible today. They used to teach a word like no devos, no breakfast.
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I'm like, what is a devo? I'm in some kind of band in the 70s but no devos, no breakfast.
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What is that? No devotions, no breakfast. Is it good to read the Bible? Is it good to have no gods before you?
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Is it good to have no division in the church, Corinthians? Of course. But it's good when it comes from not just a list but when we understand who the one is who's made the list and what
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He's done for us, then the list becomes joyful. The list becomes logical.
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And so what's the most important part of the Ten Commandments? It's not number one. If you're a Sabbatarian, it's not number four.
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It's not any of those. It's what? Where is the how -to list found?
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Verses three and following. Where's the who? Where's what has God done for us? In light of what God has done, we'd love to do that.
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In light of your love for me, Dad, your prayers for me, Mom, all the protection that you've given us, all that stuff, in light of what you've done for me,
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I think you're right. I probably should share more of my toys. Somebody laughed.
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I guess that hit home. The Avendroth kids. Toys? We don't give our kids toys. You make your own toys if you want a toy.
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Get a stick and a rock and some sand. Be creative. The most important part of the
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Ten Commandments. You're like, it's killing me. What is it? You know the answer. It's not the how -to's.
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It's the who. Verse one and verse two. Then God spoke all these words, saying. Not a how -to found in verse two.
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There's not a how -to found in verse three. I am Yahweh, your personal covenant -keeping
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God. This is my name, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
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I said there's not a how -to in verse three. I meant verse two. What's the paradigm for sanctification for the
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Christian? Answer, here's who God is. Therefore, I respond in light of who he is.
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When your sanctification is messed up, I believe you work backwards and say to yourself, I've become a moralist,
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I've become a legalist, I've become a person who just has a bunch of rules, and I forget that I'm a saint by calling, and God has called me sanctified.
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The most important part of the Ten Commandments has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. I still like them up in courthouses, but I wish we had that umbrella statement, that umbrella statement that said, this is the author of this treaty, this is what
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I've done for you, and this is what I expect in response. That's why, mark this well, in Christianity and in Old Testament Judaism, revelation response was always the paradigm.
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You want to understand what we do here, even on Sunday morning? There's revelation from God. Why do we sing a hymn at the end of the service?
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Some people say, well, we don't want to sing at the end of the service because when the sermon's done, we should just have a say -la moment and just stop and let that sink in.
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We'll walk out of the church quietly, we'll contemplate what's going on. It's good. There's nothing wrong with that.
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Except I believe this is the divine paradigm. There's revelation from God, from the Scriptures.
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Here's the sermon. And what does the heart want to do when you hear from God? What does the heart want to do when you look outside and see natural revelation?
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Wow! There's a response. God reveals Himself in nature or through the Word. We respond.
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We get done preaching a sermon. What should we feel like doing? I've got to say something to somebody.
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Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. Let me sing. Let us corporately sing. So there's revelation from God.
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I took you out of Egypt. Okay. Then I respond with the how -tos.
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Christians struggle with sanctification because they forget who they are in Christ Jesus.
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The most important part of the Ten Commandments, the most important part of sanctification, is what God has done and who
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He is. Let's turn to chapter 12 of Romans just for a moment. I'm going to just talk about this a little bit more.
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We're obviously in no rush. Romans chapter 12. This is very, very important.
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Friends, when you counsel someone, when you disciple someone, can you give them a list of things to do?
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Obviously. But you need to remind them who they are in Christ. It's a lot easier,
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I think, to maybe just do some things. But doing them for no reason doesn't help us. Theology comes before methodology.
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True or false? The answer is true. Romans. I mean, let's talk about chapter 1 through 11.
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Why bother? We don't really need all that stuff anyway. There's some larger words there, some polysyllabic words.
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There's some of these verses that are kind of hard to understand. Chapter 3 with discipleship. We were looking at this with the men today.
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Some saved through grace. Some saved by grace. There's all these nuances. I mean,
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I just want to do some stuff. I want to do. I want a list. I want to cry about it.
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Why chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11? Now, Paul didn't spend 18 months in Romans, so now he has to tell them 1 through 11 in Romans, before you hardly do anything, here's the way you think.
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It balls after your mind. He was at Corinth for 18 months, so he can just say a word. Saint, they know.
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Church of Rome, they need this all detailed out. And so, 11 chapters before they're basically having to do anything.
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Oh, there's an imperative here or there. But here's what happens. Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Why 1 through 11?
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Here's the hinge. And you know this. I've taught you this, but it's good to be reminded.
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I was glad to be reminded in my study the last week. Paul says in Romans chapter 12,
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Therefore. Therefore. It's one of the three great therefores in the book of Romans.
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Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
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Therefore, after all God has done for you, how must I now live?
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John McKay, who was the president of Princeton Seminary when it was good, said, Commitment without reflection is fanaticism in action.
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Commitment without reflection is fanaticism in action. This is the whole Mary Martha deal.
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Somebody's running around doing all kinds of serving when they should have been sitting at Jesus' feet and then served. Heidelberg Catechism question.
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How many things are necessary for you to know that you in this comfort may live and die happily?
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Three. One, how great my sins and miseries are. Two, how
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I am delivered from all my sins and misery. You want to know how you summarize life?
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I was a great sinner. I have a great deliverer. And what do you think the third component of Heidelberg Catechism's response would be?
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Third component, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance. How am
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I to be thankful to God for such deliverance? Paul says this.
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When you look at chapter 12, verse 1, by the mercies of God, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. By the way, he didn't say
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I command you. Just with logic, just with thinking. Paul says this. Close your eyes and recall the mercies of God.
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Mercies of God is a summary for chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Just close your eyes and rehearse, if you will.
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Chapter 1, about your sin. And chapter 2, about how you can't be moral enough for God. And chapter 3, everybody falls short.
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Later in chapter 3, how God has declared you righteous based on the work of another. He gave His Son as an offering for you.
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He poured out His wrath on Jesus. Raised Him from the dead. Here in chapter 4 is this example of Abraham.
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Chapter 5, you have access to God. And you go through the entire list. And you just think and think and think and think and think.
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And then you go, now it's time to do. I've got the right motive. I've got the right encouragement. I've got the right action. And I'm not just going to be some kind of moralist or legalist.
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By the mercies of God, chapters 1 through 11. Think about those, he says. When you think about that, your dedication goes up.
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Look at what the text says. To present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. Friends, it is way easier to give time than give yourself.
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It's way easier to write a check than to give you. Charity for others is easy compared to saying, what
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I want from you is you. Jesus didn't die for your money. He didn't die for your time.
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He didn't die for your possessions. He didn't die for your relationship skills. He died for you. And He wants you, all of you.
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And you think, well, the way this is set up, Mike, it sounds like this is more than Christianity.
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It's a Sunday only deal. It is. And if you think you're going to come and throw some bone to God on Sunday for an hour and a half.
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By the way, I'm glad you're here. If you're one of those people, I'm glad you're at least here. But if you think that is the right response to the revelation found in Romans chapter 1 through 11, then you need to go back to chapter 1 and redo
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Romans 1 through 11. Right? Our actions should tell us when things are wrong, something's broken.
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Something's broken. The way I'm thinking about things, I only serve at the church nursery because I have to.
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Nobody else will do it. I get stuck back there every week. Friends, we may have things like that going on that need to be fixed.
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But my solution to the nursery worker who is grumpy and complaining and all that is to back up and say, is there anything you wouldn't do with joy for the
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Lord who saves you? And you deserve to be cast into hell yesterday. And now He's rescued you. He's called you
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His child. He's adopted you. He's sanctifying you. You're a saint. You're His child. Is there anything you wouldn't do with the right attitude?
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Paul said, God wants you. As Jesus' parents presented Him to the
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Lord in the temple, He says, present yourself. This is marriage language.
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How many people here are married? Quite a few. Okay. Most people here, I guess we don't need to raise our hands.
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You've seen marriages. Will you take this man to have and to hold from this day forward for better or worse till death do you part?
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Or something like that. Then the woman, then the man when he's addressed, he says what?
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She says what? Sunday morning is for an hour and a half.
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He's lucky. Till things get really bad.
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Till we've got a sick child or maybe have to bury a child. Or till I'm not getting my needs met and you don't make me happy.
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You stand in front of God, in front of all these people, and you say for better or for worse till death do us part as God is my witness.
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That's exactly what we expect. That's exactly what God expects. This is marriage language.
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Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. God, you've saved me. You've rescued me.
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I don't deserve any of this. I've got all kinds of problems in my life, but this is the problem I don't have. Paying for my own sins when
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I die. And regarding that, I stand before you and I say in light of chapter 1 through 11,
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I do. And if you say that, no matter what comes down the line for how -tos, you will gladly accept.
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It might not always be fun. It might not always be exciting. But you will say, I'm a man under authority.
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I'm a woman under authority. This great authority, a benevolent authority, the loving authority, God himself.
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And if we can obey masters, if we can obey sergeants, if we can obey husbands, then here comes this message from God.
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He wants you. So you can just hear this echo when Paul says to Corinth, you are saints by calling.
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You stood before God and said, I do. Live out who you are, he says.
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We live in a world that loves to say, promote self. Look at the text in Romans 12 again.
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Your body is a living and holy what? Sacrifice. A living and holy indulgence.
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You just got to indulge yourself. Do what you want, when you want. By the way, you've got forgiveness of sins.
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You're not going to hell, so live as you please. Forget this lordship stuff. You're in. He wants you to present your body as a living and holy indulgence.
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You indulge yourself. That's the world speaking. Where are the days when
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Jesus would say, deny self. Die to self. Sacrifice.
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And by the way, what does the text say? Is this illogical? Is this not, you know, somehow pertinent?
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No, what does the text say? Which is your spiritual, or you know what another translation is? Logical, you know what another translation is?
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Reasonable. This isn't irrational. This isn't loony. This isn't howling at the moon.
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This is, God did this for me. I'm a saint by calling. I've been set apart. Dishes for the master's use, as it were.
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This is sin, salvation. Oh, I should serve. This is guilt, grace. I should have gratitude.
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This is Jim Elliott saying, before he was martyred. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
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And if your response has not been, God, with wholehearted dedication, I commit my life to serve you.
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In light of what you've done, in light of what your Savior has done, this would be a good time to do it.
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This would be a good time to do it. And the world won't help you do this.
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Look at verse 2. Do not be conformed to this world. The world wants to sell the opposite.
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The world's not going to help you make this kind of dedicated decision. It's going to take your mind to be transformed by the word, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
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The world tries to conform you into this. You just throw religion out. You just be spiritual a little bit.
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You're just good to go on Sundays. And God says, that's not the way I think. I want it all.
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Did you know with Christianity, it is all or nothing? There's no halfway Christians. You know, sometimes these seeker -sensitive churches,
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I've even been criticized before. Don't call them unbelievers. Call them pre -Christians.
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Well, I guess I just throw my lot in with Paul or Jesus when I call them unbelievers.
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If you prefer other biblical language like liars and thieves and hypocrites and swindlers,
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I guess I could use those as well too, but I'm just trying to say they don't believe. God requires faith.
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They don't believe. I could say they're ungodly. Godliness imitates God. Ungodliness doesn't imitate
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God. A liberal theologian said it, but he knew what he was talking about.
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When God has done this for you, there should be something that happens in your life called the great disturbance.
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The power of God through the Spirit of God quickening you, saving you, regenerating you, calling you holy will change your life.
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You will not be able to walk the same way with the same people with the same thoughts. You will be different. And if you're not different, then there's been no great disturbance.
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You're not a Christian. The missing link in Christian sanctification is who
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I am comes before what I am to do. So for Paul with the church of Corinth, he didn't need to say
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Romans 1 -11 first. He dove in in chapter 1 and said, here's who
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I am. I've got apostolic authority. Here's who you are. I've taught you that. I've been here 18 months. I'm not too far away.
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Live up to who you are. Be who you are. If he would have known
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Isaac Watts, he could have said with him, with the song When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
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And that's exactly what Corinth wasn't doing. So Paul's prescription for sanctification was remember who you are, then we'll get to the list.
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And it's no different for you. Let's pray. Father, I thank you today that truth matters, that theology affects methodology, that we have a foundation for what we do and we're just not running around trying to appease some
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God we don't know or hasn't made himself known. You've told us. Lord, I rejoice that even though we are sinful people, even still short of glory, you call us saints.
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You call us your children. You call us set apart for special uses. And I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church. I pray for all those that would listen on the radio or on the
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Internet and podcasting. Lord, would you just do a work. Would you just do a work in our hearts.
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And if it messes up our happiness before we get to the holiness, Lord, just do whatever.
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We would like to be crisp and clean and pure. And we would like to live up to our name, holy ones.