Sanctification: Law And Gospel - [1 Corinthians 6:9-20]

Law and Gospel in Christian Sanctification

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

A little quiz for you this morning, dear congregation. I�m going to read you some verses and you tell me, and you can say it out loud if you prefer, are these law or are these gospel? Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law?

And he said to them, �You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Law or gospel? Law. Good. You weren�t too sure yourself, but I�ll affirm that. That�s law. Good. Law or gospel? �There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There you go.

Excellent. Law or gospel? �For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, �Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and to do them.

Law. Good. Law or gospel? �Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, �Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. There you go. And one more. �But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Gospel. Very good. Martin Luther would say, �If you know the difference, you should be called a doctor of divinity. So I�m going to make sure after the service, Tom is the loudest, I�m going to call Dr. Bertrand.

Kind of has a nice ring to it. The gospel, as you know, dear congregation, is different than the law. And the law commands, it accuses, it curbs, it convicts, it guides. It tells us that we�re sinful people in front of a thrice holy God.

It talks about our sins and what�s required of us. One man said, �The law is what it is we are and what are not to do, namely obey him perfectly both inwardly and outwardly. He promises eternal life on the condition that I keep the law perfectly my whole life long.

On the other hand, he threatens eternal damnation if I do not keep every provision of the law my whole life long. On the flip side, the gospel, even by definition, right, is good news. The gospel gives, it forgives, it justifies, redeems, saves, encourages, comforts, promises, declares.

And when the law says we�re sinful, the gospel says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The gospel says I have good news for you. This is what God in Christ has done on behalf of you, a sinner.

God doesn�t demand in the gospel, but he offers and he gives. The law says do this and live, the gospel says Jesus did this and lived so that you might live. Jesus obeyed the law for us, that�s gospel good news.

And it�s important to get this right. Many people are confusing the two and it really is important for us when it comes to even sanctification. It�s one thing to show the law to a sinner, to say you need Jesus and now here�s Jesus, but what role does the law have in the Christian�s life?

What role does the gospel have in the Christian�s life? What role does the Lord Jesus have in your life as a Christian? Sinclair Ferguson said, �The ability to focus our gaze, fill our minds, and devote our hearts to Jesus Christ is a basic element in real Christian growth.

He went on to say, �Years ago I had a somewhat painful encounter with a �tell us and we�ll do it� mentality. Halfway through a Christian student�s conference where I was speaking on the assigned theme �Knowing Christ�, I was summoned to meet with a deputation of staff members who seemed to feel duty-bound to confront me with the inadequacies of my first two expositions of Scripture.

Can you imagine you have Sinclair Ferguson come and he�s teaching and two messages in the elders pull him to the side, here�s what they said, �You have addressed us for two hours they complained, �and yet you have not told us one single thing to do.

Impatience to be doing hid impatience with the apostolic principle that it is only in knowing Christ that we can do anything or Sinclair said, �or so it seemed to me at the time. We have to talk more about the Lord Jesus to, let me rephrase that, we have to talk about the Lord Jesus because what is the motivation to obey the Christian life?

The law doesn�t motivate it, it tells us the standard, but it doesn�t give us any power, it gives us no animation. The holy living that�s required of us by the Lord Jesus cannot be derived from law only.

Sexual Purity, Law, and Gospel in 1 Corinthians 6

So, this morning we�re going to do something different. I was gone last week and then will be gone next week, I don�t know why I have to go out of town last week, something just suddenly came up, but I�ll have to be gone.

How do you officiate your daughter�s wedding, that�s what I want to know. I�m going to have Luke stand at the front and he�ll greet everyone and then he�ll say who gives this woman to be married to this man, and so then I�ll stand there and then Luke and I will switch places.

Thinking about law gospel for motivation in the Christian life, what if somebody were to come to you and said, �I�m struggling with a sin they�re Christian people and they�re your friend and confidant and they said, �I�m struggling with anxiety.

What would you tell them? What if they came to you and said, �I�m struggling with pornography. What would you tell them? �I�m struggling with how to be content. What would you say to them? A friend of mine had a couple of lists of how to deal with sexual sin and avoid it, and here�s list number one for church leaders, don�t say it can�t happen to you, repent of your self-righteousness in this area, put all the needed safeguards in place and keep them there.

Don�t have a plurality in place, have one in practice, be accountable. Make your wife, your partner in purity. When in doubt, err on the side of caution. Never forget that we are in a spiritual battle, would those be good things to do?

There�s certainly some good wisdom found there. The second article is entitled, �Avoiding Slip-Ups, 10 Tips That May Help You Break a Pornography Habit. Here are the tips, plan your week, avoid becoming overconfident and thinking that you�re over the problem, remember you aren�t able to do it by yourself, avoid thinking if she would do this or that or if he would do this or that, avoid thinking I�ve changed, why hasn�t everyone else?

Don�t think you can change overnight, set goals of abstinence, seek out and cultivate good friends, recognize certain times and conditions that cause your temptations to come most strongly. Some good advice there.

Now here�s the fun part, the two lists, who wrote them? The first list was written by an evangelical pastor, and the second list was written by the national Mormon leadership, what�s the difference between the two?

Both were all what? Due, they were all law, nothing to do with the Lord Jesus, helpful hints, helpful advice, but nothing but law. So for this morning, we�re going to take a detour out of 2 Peter, I did hear from one person that told me, we missed you Pastor Mike, but Steve did a great job and it was kind of refreshing not to hear about false teachers this Sunday, it was last week.

So we�ll do one more with that. I�d like you to turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and we�re going to use this as a template so I can remind you that when it comes to sanctification, that God works in you and you respond with holy living, that it�s not just don�t do something or do something, it�s don�t do and do with the addition that this is who the Lord and Savior is.

That is to say when it comes to sanctified holy living, godly living, that there�s both law, due, and gospel. Now of course sometimes if you look at the book of Ephesians, it would be easy, first three chapters, here�s who you are in Christ, chapters 4, 5, and 6, here�s how you should live out the Christian life, with all kinds of good news in the first three chapters, law in the second three chapters.

And it�s kind of easy, Colossians, same thing, chapters 1 and 2 and a few verses in chapter 3, here�s who you are in Jesus, and then in light of who you are, then do these things as children of God do them.

But when it comes to 1 Corinthians, it�s kind of more mixed up a little bit, and so I want you to see for yourself in 1 Corinthians 6 that there�s both law, when it comes to sexual sin and sexual purity, and there�s gospel.

And this paradigm will help you whether it�s anxiety, you�re depressed, you�re not content, you�re not evangelizing enough, whatever issue you have, I don�t love my wife enough, I don�t submit to my husband enough, what is the solution?

And if the solution is simply do more, you�ve forgotten what Christian sanctification is. So we�re going to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 to 20, and when my friend showed me, you see law and gospel both in this section, you�re unable to unsee it.

So I was kind of infected with this sight now, and I can�t unsee it, and so therefore, if it�s convicting me, then of course I have an opportunity then to convict you this morning. So I want you to be able to see in here, law for your guidance and norming and direction is important for you, dear Christian, but also who you are in Christ is important.

So I�m going to read verses 9 through 20, and so I want you to see if you can find the law in here. You don�t shout it out this time, but just see if you can find it, and I will tell you ahead of time, there are three commands, there are three laws when it comes to sexual sin.

We�re not antinomian, we�re not anti-law, we�re not just go do whatever you want and just be crazy and live like pagans. There are rules that norm the Christian life. Can you spot them? There are three.

Or do you not know, 1 Corinthians 6, 9, that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both, one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never.

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality.

Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own, for you are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Well, here's the outline for this morning, dear congregation. We're going to look at the three laws found in this section for Christians designed to help them with their sexual purity, your sexual purity, my sexual purity.

And then we're going to look at nine truths about the gospel found here, nine good news truths so that we are balanced, so we're just not like leadership that tells us the only thing you need is law. You only need to do more.

There is more to the Christian sanctification than due. There's also the motivation that we have because of who the Lord Jesus is. This could be for any category of sanctification, but particularly today we're going to look at sexual purity and sexual sin, and we're going to see that both law is important and good news gospel is important, even for the Christian.

Imperatives, three of them. The first one is found in verse nine. Do not be deceived when it comes to sins of all kinds, and of course, sexual sin as well. You are not to be deceived. And you notice that again in verse nine, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived. It's easy to be deceived. Lots of people are deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, et cetera, will inherit the kingdom of heaven. I also found it interesting how many times do you not know, do you not know, do you not know?

What was that? The Bill Withers song, Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone, right? I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. I used to have a kid, well, I have the same kid, but this particular kid would always say to me, I know, Dad, I know, I know.

And I just kept thinking of that Bill Withers song all the time, I know, I know. They thought they knew everything and they didn't know. They were that kid that kind of before they thought about talking, they'd pop the clutch of their mouth and just said, I know.

No, no, they didn't know. And it was difficult though, I understand that, because part of the Corinthian lifestyle affected by the pagans and the Romans were just, it was just chaotic when it comes to sexual immorality and you'd have the thousand prostitutes priestess up on top of the hill at Corinth.

And they would descend on Friday for worship and it was just normal, seemed like everybody did it. But Paul said, no, you're not to do that. You're not to be deceived. You have to take God's moral laws because they reflect his nature seriously.

This is not something you just go, well, it's no big deal. Don't be deceived. It's easy to be deceived. Our hearts deceive us. We say, well, it's not really that big a deal or we're in love or what two consenting adults do in their own bedroom doesn't bother anyone.

There's a lot on the line when it comes to this, because those that practice this will not go to heaven. Hell is real to lose heaven. What a tremendous, awful loss that would be. A .T. Robertson said, this is a solemn roll call of the damned, even if some of their names are on the church roll in Corinth, whether officers or ordinary members.

And I could ask everyone here, are you deceived when it comes to this? Are you buying into what the culture says? Are you thinking, well, I just say I believe in Jesus, but I can live whatever way I want to live lawless license.

And the tricky part is if we knew we were deceived, we wouldn't be deceived anymore. So you have to be careful. Sin blind, sin is deceiving. So no matter what anybody says, you have to say to yourself, I don't want to be deceived when it comes to this.

The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. The second law found in this section is found down in verse 18. The second law and law is good and holy and right. And it's not just good to preach to unbelievers the law, but it's good to preach to believers because we need guidance as God's children.

Verse 18, flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. He tells you to run and then he tells you why you should run.

The word flee there is where we get the word fugitive and the fugitive runs. The fugitive flees. This is a command. Run for your lives. I think of Joseph. Remember Joseph and Potiphar's wife? And he wasn't saying, you know, I'm bold and courageous and I can withstand this temptation.

Joseph fled. Run for your lives. It's a present tense. There's always sexual sin enticing you. So you've got to keep running. Keep running. It's urgent. And I could say, and I look around the congregation, if you're involved in sexual sin of any kind, you ought to run.

You ought to flee from it. With a person, with some pixels, it doesn't matter, you need to run. If you're sexually sinning, flee. Craig Blomberg said the effects of gluttony are usually reversible by an increase in sweat and a decrease in calories.

Some effects of illicit sex can never be undone, but thankfully they can be forgiven. Memories, emotions, and attachments stay with us for life, although excessive promiscuity can eventually dull or numb our senses in certain ways.

People say, well, you know, Christianity devalues a sexual relationship with a husband and wife. Opposite. On the contrary. Paul, in the first century, elevates this because it's so important. There are things that happen with a man and a woman, combining them together in this intimate way.

Self-commitment. It involves the whole person. The relationship to the body is unique, and therefore sexual sin is simply a gratification of lust at any cost. Thirdly, the third law, law is good. We're not antinomians here.

We're not against the law. We want law. We need to be told by our father, because he loves us, here's how you should live. Don't be deceived. Flee sexual immorality. And thirdly, did you spot it when I read the verses earlier?

Verse 20, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. That's the third command. And I don't know if Paul is kind of thinking, you know what, speaking of paying prostitutes there at Corinth, at the mountain there with the priestess.

You have been paid for by someone, but it's the Lord God for holy purposes. Not self-indulgence, not sex outside of marriage. Glorify God in your body. He does not say, well, you might catch a disease.

He doesn't say you might get someone pregnant, you might be the laughingstock of the congregation. He says, no, there's a different reason, a primary reason, and that is you want to glorify God. Whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, you glorify God with your body.

And he'll go on in chapter seven to say, the way you do it in marriage is one giving to another. And even there, it'll say withholding is even sinful. Everything we do, we're supposed to give honor to the Lord.

And I could ask you the question, dear congregation, are you glorifying God with your bodies? Imperatives are good, important. Anyone that says Christians don't need law, they're wrong. We need to be guided.

We need to be normed. Our father knows what's best for us. But is that all Paul does is just say, here's a list, right? If somebody called me or came into my office and they said, I'm struggling with this issue, I'm struggling with pornography.

If I'm not careful, if you're not careful, this will be my advice only. You need to have accountability. You need to get an X-stop kind of, you know, protector on your screen. You need to exercise more.

You need to love your wife more. You need to, the list could go on and on and on. None of those are wrong to give unless those are the only thing I give. If it's only law, law guides, that's it. Law tells me.

Law is GPS. Stay on target. Stay on target. Or like mine, turn around when you can, right? It'll tell me I'm doing the right thing or the wrong thing, but there's no engine to get me to where I need to go.

And the engine has to be. There's a God in eternity past that loved you and gave his son for you. And in light of that, don't you want to say, I want to do the right thing for his pleasure, for his glory.

Not to get myself saved, not to keep myself saved, but because I'm saved. I like to operate out of gratitude for who God is. And so Christians need good news. Most of the time when I go to evangelical churches, I sit there and I get a list of all these extra things to do and five more takeaways and timeless truths.

And they just give me not only the Bible law, which I like Bible law, but I don't like Bible law devoid of the gospel. And I just get eight more things to do and it is crushing. And if Martin Luther sat in those congregations, he would be thinking, I'm in a Roman Catholic church without smells and bells.

This is Rome. Rome is just law. Rome is just do. This is evangelicalism. You sit there and you just hear more, more, more. They say, you know what? We believe the gospel of Jesus. It's in our statement of faith.

It's theoretical, but operational in the life of a Christian church. It's gone. And 39 minutes of preaching law cannot be rescued by a one minute little thing by saying, and by the way, Jesus died for you, rose from the dead and he's coming back.

That is inadequate. That is insufficient. So what Paul does here, he gives you more, but I'm going to give you nine. I'm going to give you, if I can make it through, nine great truths about who God is and what he's done for you, dear Christian.

Of course, if you're not a Christian, you need the law to tell you that you're a sinner and you need the Savior. But for Christians, we're going to see lots of good news sprinkled throughout this passage so that you can see it in Ephesians 1 to 3 are the great triumphant indicatives of what God has done.

4 to 6, here's what we do. Corinthians is a little different. So you see them mixed together. And if you say to me, you know what? 9 to 3, I know math a little bit. That's three times as many gospel truths as law.

This is not a prescription, but it's just a good description. I think that'd be fair to say for every time you say to somebody, you should be accountable. You should pray more. You should do this. You should do that.

You should read the Bible. You should memorize the scriptures. I think you need to make sure you're saying, but that's not it. Alone. That's not all. Somebody came to me once and they were sinning in a sexual way and they were caught.

And I remember kind of the old Mike style would be just give them law. And then at the very end, I said, I would say, you know, I love you and hug the man. Well, when you go through this passage like this, it's the other way around.

Now it's when someone comes, we rehearse repentance and forgiveness and then who God is and everything else. And then I hug at the very end and then I put this finger to the sternum of the man and I say, and don't you ever do this again?

But instead of 50 minutes law and a little bit of love, now it's a lot of love, but still the sternum law. You got it? You guys are giving me the intense looks this morning. The whole point is in the life of a Christian, you say, I'd like to love my wife more.

I'd like to honor my parents more. I'd like to submit to my husband more. Maybe you've been on the treadmill of law. Maybe that's all you've been doing. Do more, do more, do more, do more. By the way, we're having the Lord's Supper today and here's one thing that it shouts against.

Do more for right standing with God. That's not what it shouts. It shouts, it's all been done for you. And so three laws, nine gospel truths in verses 6 to 9. And I'm going to go outside of 6 to 9 because there's an intro.

And so great gospel truth, indicative number one, you're saints. Go back to chapter one if you would, please. You can find probably nine in this section, but going back to chapter one, I want to make sure you see the intro of this great book, 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. Look for the word saints there. You are saints. God made you a saint. To the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. Saints by calling.

With all who are in every place, call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. So once again, if you're struggling with, I want to sue somebody, their sexual immorality, there's division in the church.

Yes, law is good, but there are other factors. You're a saint. That's your name. And that's supposed to get you, of course, to think, you know what? I might have been a filthy sinner and vile in a sexual way or any other way, but now I'm called a saint.

And by the way, I didn't make myself a saint. God made me a saint. And it wasn't the church that said, if you've done enough miracles over 50 years, you're a saint. God calls every Christian what? A saint.

That's amazing. And if you have a name in scripture, that talks about the person himself. I say the name of the Lord God, we're talking about his character and his nature. You Christian who struggle with sin, I know I struggle with sin, need regularly to remind yourself that God made you a saint.

Paul needed to remind the Corinthians that they were saints so that they might live out who they are. Yes, this is the name that God has given me, not on my achievement, not on what I've done. God set me apart and gave me the name saint.

He doesn't start off by saying, do more, try harder. Living lives in relationship to sexual purity, you are a saint. It's be who you are, not try harder. You don't become a saint by your actions, God did it.

Based on the work of the Lord Jesus, you're a saint. Not only that, number two, God is faithful. Verses 8 and 9, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. You think about all the unfaithfulness that the Corinthians had, including in the sexual realm.

Is there anybody faithful these days? Here's a good reminder for people who are less than faithful, even as Christians. God's faithful, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 9, God is faithful, by whom you were called in the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. I mean, this society is so gross, so rotten, so sinful, so hyper-sexual. Will I make it out until the end?

And I haven't been faithful the whole time, and I've sinned, and I've struggled, and been tempted, and fallen to temptation. Will I make it out? God says to these saints at Corinth, he will confirm you to the end, blameless.

You're going to make it. Well, that makes me want to be motivated to live in a pure way. Say, well, Satan accuses me, blameless. Based on the work of Jesus, blameless. My conscience, it accuses me, blameless.

You're positionally blameless in God's eyes, because Jesus has paid it all. And God is faithful. He's not going to say, well, you know what, I paid for your past sins, my son did that. Your current sins and future sins, no.

I paid for your sins when you were an ungodly unbeliever, but now as a Christian when you sin in this area, no. God is faithful. Whom you were called in the fellowship of the Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And when you study the original language, faithful has an emphasis to it. Faithful is God. You begin to think not of just yourself now, you begin to think of who God is, and how He's true, and constant, and reliable, and steadfast.

He perfects. He finishes. God's faithful. I think that's interesting advice. Somebody comes, I'm struggling with pornography. This is not what we might normally do, but it's what we should do. Gospel truth number three.

Wash. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 6. And what a great truth for those who have been impure in this area. As dirty as you might feel, as filthy as it might be, as many showers as you've taken to try to wash off the guilt of your conscience, what does the Bible say about Christians?

He says, these people won't inherit the kingdom of God who live in this way. And then he says, in verse 11, 1 Corinthians 6, and such were some of you. That's what you used to be. You're not that anymore.

But you were washed. By the way, number four is going to be sanctified, and number five is going to be justified. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God, washed, sanctified, justified.

By the way, every time you read the Wall Street Journal, if you do, or look on the domain name, WSJ, that's what I want you to start thinking about. Washed, sanctified, justified. Not Wall Street Journal.

Not White Single Jew. Nothing like that. Is that even a thing? Must be. White Single Jew. You're washed. You were washed. And here's what Paul is trying to say. If God washed you and He regenerated you, you didn't wash yourself.

This is not like self-baptism, self-cleansing. No, no. He washed you. Then why would you run back to the filth? Why would you go back and do the things that made you dirty, that made you need a wash?

What great language here. This is a passive. You've been washed. God made you born again. He saved you. Not on the basis of deeds you've done in righteousness. He washed you. What wisdom of God. What kindness of God.

Dead in trespasses and sins. Clean? No. Dirty. But then He washed us. I mean, the man came to Jesus at night and he didn't know the first thing about truths that were eternal. And Jesus said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. God washes. That's language right from Ezekiel 20, 36. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

This is not washing with hands, washing your body. This is internal washing. Cleanse. You're cleansed. Why go back to the old way of filth and shame? Why disgrace yourself with the old defilement? You're washed.

Not only that, number four, you're sanctified. Similar to being called saints. But here, you're set apart for God. This is not progressive sanctification. This is not growing in grace. This is not holy living.

This is a one-time act that we might say justification, but it is called sanctified here because it means you're special. Of course, if you come over to our home for Christmas time or Thanksgiving, we will make sure to give you Tupperware plates and paper cups because you're special.

Of course, we're trying to get out the best what? The best China. But that China we don't use every day. It's special. It's set apart. Something for a special, holy, sanctified purpose. That is Thanksgiving and Christmas, right?

And so, if you've been taken out of the muck and the mire of sin, sexual sin and every other kind of sin, and now God says, you're my special possession, I'm your God and you're my people, and I'm going to put you over here over here.

Yes, you're living in the world, but you're my special person. You're sanctified. And it took my son's life to sanctify you. It took him bearing the burden of my wrath to sanctify you. And so, you don't want to live this way anymore.

You're special and you're for me and you're sanctified and set apart. That's the idea. Christians that struggle with sexual sin need to be told, you're sanctified. You're sanctified. So, don't run off into sexual sin.

You've been set apart. Not only that, but the J-W-S-J, you've been justified. First Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 11, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.

And you're like, how can he be saying that to these people at Corinth? Well, some that were listening certainly weren't saved because they lived that kind of lifestyle, but some were struggling with this, some were sinning in this area, and he does say it to them.

You were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Sinless perfectionism doesn't exist in the life of a Christian. I've met several people in my life that have told me, as Christians, they don't sin anymore.

I thought, well A, that's just a sin that you just said that, and B, I'd like to talk to their wife just for a second. Justification. You say, you know what? No wonder this is the hinge that the church stands or falls on.

This is the issue, justification. So, the Lord Jesus, think about it. Did the Lord Jesus ever sin in any way, shape or form, including sexually? The answer is, God, no. May it never be. Forbid it. He never did.

He was perfect. He was perfectly man, truly man, tempted in all kinds of ways, as Hebrews would say, but he never sinned. And do you know what justification? It is a declaration that God says, I see you now, sinful, sexually sinful person, with a track record and a history and even struggle now, I see you as as clean as Jesus was clean in this area and every other area.

You stand before God and you're sexually pure and clean as a spotless, sinless lamb was. Because Jesus gets all of our sexual sins and every other sins, past, present, future, and he pays for them and he intercepts the wrath of God as it were for us as an advocate because the Father sent him to do that very thing because the Father loves sinners, the Son loves sinners and did that and then the Spirit of God applies that death and life to our lives because he loves us.