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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
When you turn your Bibles please to 1st Corinthians chapter #6,
we're back in First Corinthians chapter #6.
You know, this time of year you hear people say something like
this, don't you put Christ back in Christmas?
You, you hear that, don't you? Sometimes.
And it is true because it doesn't seem like there's a
whole lot of Christ that deals with Christmas.
The world celebrates Christmas, the world talks about Christmas,
but they don't want to talk about Christ.
In fact, that's a lot of times why they like Xmas, I think
because they just like to X out Jesus and they think it's that
simple to just put an X there to get rid of Jesus.
Well, let me just put it this way, that you can't get rid of
Jesus that quickly. Amen.
He always has been and He always will be.
You can't just replace him with a letter.
I think that's what's going to happen.
But I will. Say that the whole idea of, you
know, putting Christ back in Christmas.
I've heard this other phrase instead, and I think it really
reflects well with what I think we're going to look at here
tonight in First Corinthians chapter 6.
And it's not put Christ back in Christmas, but rather put Christ
back in Christians. How about that?
Not just putting Christ back in Christmas, but why don't we put
Christ back in Christians? In fact, it was just alluded to
just a few moments ago by our sister.
The fact that someone might say that they're a Christian, that
doesn't mean that they know Jesus Christ, that they have a
testimony. And maybe they do call
themselves a Christian, and maybe they are saved, but that
doesn't mean that they. Live like Christ.
Well, tonight we have the Apostle Paul once again as he's
making his appeal to these people, these very worldly
people in the church at Corinth. Remember last week we saw that
they were suing one another. You add that to the list of all
the problems that they had. Now they're taking each other to
civil court. They can't handle problems like
Christians between each other. And so in this text, just a few
short verses that we're going to read tonight, Paul is going to
make an appeal to these people. He's going to talk to them and
he's going to tell them the fact that they need to be able to
have a change within their life, that because they're saved,
there ought to be something different about them.
And tonight, I hope by the time we're done with this text, I
want you to see this, that the ultimate result from salvation
isn't just reform, it ought to be revolution.
And we'll say that one more time, that the result of
salvation in a person's life isn't just simply reform, but
that it's revolution. Meaning this.
You're an old creature, they got turned into a new creature.
You're not just a little bit better because you have Jesus.
It is revolutionary in your life.
Everything changes or everything ought to change over time as we
become more like Christ. So First Corinthians chapter 6
verse #9 that's where we're going to start.
It says this. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Be not deceived either fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of
God. And such were some of you.
But ye are washed, and ye are sanctified.
Ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of of our God. Now you don't have to know a
whole lot about the English language and verse tenses to
know this when it says in verse #11 and such were some of you
that word were as in the past tense meaning this that long
list that rogues gallery of 10 different words that we see are
10 different phrases, 10 different sins that we found
right before it says this such were in the past some of you,
but ye are what is that? That is the present that is now,
but ye are washed, ye are sanctified.
Ye are. We are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
There ought to be a difference in the way that we live once we
get saved. We are often reminded about our
values, both big and small, by who we're associated with.
Now I'm going somewhere with this, so just hold on for just a
moment. But we're often reminded about
our values, both big and small, by who we associate with.
Who we associate with kind of shapes who we are, for instance.
So look at our family. We're Rivera's.
We do things the Rivera way. I'm not even saying it's the
right thing or the wrong thing. It's just the way things are
done. It was so interesting to me.
It was so wonderful to me a few weeks ago when we went to see
Bethany and Carter. They're in Oklahoma City and
they cook Thanksgiving for us. When I say they, it was mostly
Bethany, but Carter, he had a little bit of a contribution
there too. But what I loved about it was it
was a Rivero Thanksgiving. Why?
I mean, she made the Turkey the way we make the Turkey.
We've actually called us before. It said how do we make the
Turkey? Remind me again where the recipe
is? Where can I find it?
You know, there was a day where you'd have a recipe book or, you
know, now you just got to like find the TikTok or whatever it
is to be able to find where the recipe is.
At least that's the way it seems like now.
But you know, where's the recipe?
The stuffing was the way that we make it.
The potatoes were the way we make it, the.
The scurley that we always have to have on the table, He said,
what on earth is scurley pastor? Well, it's a Scottish dish of
oatmeal that's basically kind of fried.
And listen, you fry anything. It tastes good, you know what
I'm saying? But you beat it into a pulp and
then you fry it and it tastes really good.
I never heard of it before until I married my wife, but I'll tell
you this, she's got a lot of amazing features.
That scurley is probably one of our most amazing features.
It's delicious. It is incredible, let me tell
you. You know what?
We do it because we're Rivero's. That's what we do.
You know what I'm saying? In our nation, we're Americans.
And so we do things a certain way because you know, America,
you know, you know, that's my eagle impression, all right.
But there's certain things that we do that listen, they don't do
in Europe. And you know what?
We're glad they don't do it because we're America and we do
it our way. We have a Constitution, but we
have a Declaration of Independence.
There are things, and I know I'm kind of joking around a little
bit, but we are very unique as a nation.
Now, of course, we've fallen far away from certain things because
of worldliness and falling away from our Christian heritage and
roots. But at the same time, we
understand that as a country that there is this, this shared
value that we have together. Now, listen, as that's true of a
family and that's true for a country.
As believers, our values should be governed by who we associate
with. And who is that Jesus Christ?
The fact that we associate with Him means that we ought to be
more like Him. Just like a Rivero family,
Thanksgiving looks the same as the ones that are associated
with. Just as a country we associate
with one another. There ought to be some things
that are different about us than other nations.
Listen. Even more importantly than any
of those things, listen. As we associate with Jesus
Christ, we ought to be more like Him.
Listen. You cannot take your beliefs and
separate them from your practice.
We'll run that by one more time. You cannot take your beliefs and
separate them from your practices.
Meaning this. You can't say I believe this,
but then I am going to live opposite of what I believe.
Listen, if we associate with Jesus Christ, the more we
associate with him, the more we should be acting like him.
The more we should be talking like him.
The more we should be thinking like him, the more the things of
our life ought to reflect the fact that we've been around
Jesus. But here's a problem.
The people in Corinth, they're acting like the world because
you know what? They associate more with the
world than they do with Jesus. And he tells them this is a
problem, this isn't good. And so he says there's three
different things that he wants them to understand in these 3
short verses. And the first thing he wants
them to understand is this. He wants them to see what they
were, what you were. The very first phrase in verse
#9 is a difficult one to swallow.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of
God? No, you, not the unrighteous
should not inherit the Kingdom of God.
We know this. Why Romans 310 says this?
There is none righteous. No, not one.
We talked about this on Sunday, didn't we?
Our very best, the very best you got and the very best I have is
what filthy rags That there's nothing within us that is able
to save ourselves, That even our best of works can be tainted
before we got saved. We listen.
We're those unrighteous people where where it says in verse #9
know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of
God? Listen, you could replace that
word unrighteous and the unrighteous that that phrase
there could put it this way. Know ye not that Adam Rivero
shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Know ye not that your name there shall not inherit the Kingdom of
God? You say, well, why could I do
that? Well, because you were
unrighteous and I was unrighteous.
There was nothing righteous within us.
In fact, Paul hammers this home in case they have some problem
with this. But as I just mentioned, naming
10 different sins right there between verse #9 and verse #10.
Now, by the way, what I love about Paul here is he had no
problem naming sin. You know, sometimes people say
about pastors, well, you, you ought to just talk generically.
You, you shouldn't really name sin.
Well, you don't really see that a lot in the Bible because the
prophets had no problem naming sin.
The apostles had no problem naming sin.
You find it in 66 books where sin is named.
And here Paul doesn't say, well, you know, you all ought not to
do some naughty things. You know what he says?
I'm going to give you 10 sins that really characterize what
you people in Corinth used to be like.
And the first he says this he says.
You were fornicators. Now that word fornication that
we find there is the same as we found it in chapter #5 It comes
from that Greek word porneia that we talked about before.
And this talks about any type of sexual immorality.
Listen, they were crazed. With it in Corinth, because of
the temple of Aphrodite that was there, that was all their
culture was about, trying to make sure that they felt good in
their flesh and they were constantly looking.
For that next experience, they were constantly looking for that
next activity. That's who they were.
They gave their bodies to it. But then it says they were
idolaters and that that goes in line with what we just saw with
Fornication. Why?
Because they were again, they were these people that had
gotten saved in Corinth. These people that were part of
the church in Corinth had been given of themselves to the
temple of Aphrodite. They were idolaters in every.
Given way now again, let me just remind you, I'll take a brief
time out here for a second that you may not have an idol in your
home. You may not have a statue in
your home. You may not bow down to any of
those types of things but I will remind you that you and I can be
idolaters just as much as those people in Corinth have why?
Because an idol is anything that you have to check with before
doing God's will in your life. I'll say that again too, an idol
is anything you have to check with in your life before you do
God's will in your life. Meaning this.
Well, I know what God wants me to do, but is it going to be OK?
Listen, you can turn anything into an idol.
In fact, we were talking on Sunday, Brother Dave and I would
see Dave C All right, Dave C and I were talking on Sunday about
the Mona Lisa. I'd mentioned the Mona Lisa in
the Sunday morning message and how it's behind glass and they
keep you about 100 feet back to be able to see it.
All of that's true. Maybe not 100 feet, but there's
a pretty big barrier between you and the Mona Lisa.
And he asked me the question, he says, could you even consider
that idolatry? The fact that people would take
that and, and, and almost to worship it?
And I would say this and we had this conversation.
I wouldn't say the painting in and of itself was an idol, but I
would say a lot of people made it into an idol.
I think a lot of people would make anything into an idol.
People turn sports into an idol. People turn their families into
idols. People can take entertainment
and turn it into idols. Listen, anything can be turned
into an idol when it has an elevation above God.
And he says this before you were saved.
Listen, before you knew Jesus Christ, you were idolaters, you
were adulterers. He says it's just, excuse me,
more specific than fornication. It's those who were unfaithful
to their spouses and it says effeminate is next.
Now listen God's unique creation, those.
Created in his image were created listen Genesis 127 male
and female. That, that seems like a very
controversial statement nowadays.
And it's really not a very controversial statement at all.
In fact, it's well, biblical. It wouldn't have been that long
ago that I feel like you say, well, there is men and it's
women and that's it. And men and men, men are men and
women are women. And that wouldn't be
controversial. But believe it or not, that's a
question today. It's not a question to God.
And interestingly enough, about 2000 years before God's already
covered this, God's already talked about this when he uses
that term effeminate there God has roles for men and God has
roles for women. This isn't my message tonight,
but it is named here and I'm not going to skip over it here this
evening. But it's very clear that God
desires for. Men to be men.
And God desires for women to be women.
That's why it says in Deuteronomy 22 verse #5 the
woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither
shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are
an abomination to unto the Lord thy God.
Listen, this is God's creation. This is God's design.
And it's not up to man to be able to change that which God
has done. No, that's not hate speech to be
able to say that. Not in any way, shape, or form.
It's just simply acknowledging that which God has done and it's
mentioned here as one of those things that they were during
that time effeminate. It also says nor abusers of
themselves with mankind. We would put it this way today.
Homosexuality and homosexuality would have run rampant during
that time in Corinth. In fact, William Barclay, the
commentator and historian, wrote, this sin had swept like a
cancer through Greek life and from Greece invaded Rome.
We can scarcely realize how riddled the ancient world was
with it. Even so great a man of Socrates
practice it. Plato's dialogue, called the
Symposium is always said to be one of the greatest works on
love in the world, but it's subject is not natural, but
rather unnatural. Love 14.
Out of the. The 1st 15 Roman emperors
practice this unnatural vice. And so yes, here Paul is saying
to those people, yes, that's who you were.
By the way, can I just stop here for just a moment as a reminder
when maybe some of you might think that someone who is in the
quote LGBT movement will never trust Jesus Christ their savior.
There's effeminate and there's abuser themselves as mankind and
just skipping ahead. What does it say and such?
What were some of you? Do not give up on those who are
part of that movement. Do not give up with those who
believe that they are part of that movement.
Why? Because there are many, a lot
more than you would realize who will come to know Jesus Christ
your Savior as long as you continue to love them with the
gospel and give them the light of the gospel.
And here's proof positive of it right there is that there were
those who are effeminate. There were those of abusers of
themselves, of mankind who got saved and became part of the
church at Corinth. That'll give us hope today.
But it wasn't just that. Or also thieves as well.
The Greek word for that is kleptos, where we get
kleptomaniac today. They were thieves.
They were covetous. This is someone who is grasping,
someone who wants more, someone who is eager for more,
especially for that which belongs to someone else.
They were drunkards that they were full of wine.
Could I just give you a suggestion tonight?
The best way to not become a drunkard is this.
Don't drink. It's easy enough to be able to
not become a drunkard. You just don't need to drink.
It's amazing to me that the world is catching up to where
the Bible is with that today. There's such a dry movement
that's actually become rather popular today.
To be able to understand, you know, people will say, do you?
Realize how bad alcohol can be for you.
And I want to say no really. Tell me more, because it seems
like we've been preaching that and teaching that for a long
time. Because the Bible says wine is a
mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise. It's just easier and it's
simpler and it's godlier to stay away from the stuff it says.
Some of them were drunkards before, some of them were
revilers. Those were those who were quick
to destroy with their tongues, extortioners.
These are those who grasped they were violently greedy.
They were robbers, they were swindlers.
They used force or violence in the way that they stole ten
different things that are named right there.
Listen, these are pretty serious things.
And that's who made-up the Church of Corinth.
Now let's dwell on this for just a moment.
First of all, praise the Lord that the gospel can touch
anyone's life and change anyone's life.
Thank the Lord for that. That there were those who were
drunkards who got saved and their lives were changed.
There were those who were effeminate, who got saved, their
lives changed. There were those who were
adulterers who got saved and their lives changed.
And on and on and on it. Goes you say, Pastor, is this a
complete list? Listen, do you think there's
just 10 sins in the world? This is a very incomplete list.
I'm not saying that the word of God is incomplete.
I'm saying that Paul doesn't need to name check every sin
that ever took place on the face of the earth.
But I will say this, your sin may be named there in chapter,
chapter 6, verse #9 and 10. By the way, I want to say sin.
You understand you had more than one sin, Amen.
But you understand what I'm saying.
But your sin or sins of choice might be named there.
They may not be named there. But I will say this.
You were just as sinful as those people at Corinth were before
you got saved. You needed Jesus Christ just as
much as they did at Corinth before they got saved.
This is who you were. This isn't just who Corinth was.
This is who you were. This is who?
Adam Rivera was before he got saved.
You know, I may not have been the things that were named there
in totality, but I do know this. I do know I had a problem with
my mouth. I do know I had a problem with
my attitude. I do know I had a problem with
lust. I do know I had a problem with
authority. I do know that if God hadn't
saved me and changed my life, I wouldn't be here tonight.
I wouldn't be talking to you. I might be talking to you
through bars in the county lockup.
You say, well, that's a little bit of an exaggeration.
Listen, when you don't have Jesus Christ as your Savior,
there is no barrier to that which you could slide down into.
That's right. And so, no, I'm not saying that
I was gunning for that. I'm not trying to talk like a
tough guy this evening. I'm just saying this.
I wasn't really too interested in doing right and I don't know
if that had compounded. Over the years where I would
have ended up because I really wasn't against anything.
I was really just for having a good time, whatever that was
defined by me. And then I found Jesus Christ
and all of a sudden everything is different.
And so what's Paul saying this? He says such were some of you
meaning this were it's in the past.
The good old days weren't as good as you.
Think. Don't go back.
To those good old. Days don't go back living that
way because those people had been changed.
But here's the problem. There had been some reforms, but
they weren't revolutionized in the sense that some of them were
going back to that behavior. You say going back to that
behavior chapter #5 he mentions the fornication, the adultery,
that the loose living of which they had it.
We're going to continue through there.
And some of them had dropped old sins, but it picked up new sins.
Well, I'm not going to deal with that anymore.
But I found this over here because of someone that I was
with in the church. No, this is not what we're
supposed to be doing, swapping sins like their baseball cards
with one another. No, no, what are we supposed to
be doing? We're supposed to be radically
revolutionized by the gospel. That's what Jesus Christ wants
to do with your life. The day you got saved.
Listen, your past was changed. Your, your, your eternity was
changed. Your future was changed.
But he also wants to change you in the here and now as well, so
that you can live in the light of the gospel.
So you can live. Free from the power of sin in
your life on a daily basis. Now let's be clear.
That just because someone is dealing with those things that
are in verses 9 and 10 after they get saved, doesn't mean
they're not saved. Want to be careful about this
tonight because let's be honest, there are people in Corinth that
were in this list doing it wrong and they were obviously still
saved. You say, how do you know that?
Well, in verse #8 it uses the word brethren.
There were people who are being defrauded.
They were brethren. But I will say this, that when
you were saved, that doesn't mean that you'll never sin
again. Hello, First, John 18 deals with
this. If we say that we have no sin,
it what? Rather, if we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
There it is. I was trying to start to go into
the next verse, but I will say this.
When you were saved, truly save your life ought not to be
defined by any of these anymore. It ought not to be defined by
these anymore. And if you are in those parts,
in those things in your life anymore, listen, the Holy Spirit
ought to be really rattling your cage while you're in there.
We had a gentleman who came here a few years ago and he was very
good at discerning who was saved and who wasn't.
There's a little bit of sarcasm there because you, you know, we,
we can't know that. But he would just look at
something that was going on in their life and find it wanting.
And decide that they weren't safe.
Now obviously this type of personality usually does not
check out their own life to see how they were.
And how they are because you know the whole, you know the
take the, you know the, the beam out of your own eye before you
take the Moat out of the other. There was none of that.
But I had to make mention to this gentleman multiple times.
I would say to him, listen, part of being changed doesn't always
mean you're changed on the outside, because things on the
outside should be different, but they're not.
But one of the changes that does happen is on the inside that you
used to be able to do those things before you got saved and
you had fun. And now that you're saved, the
Holy Spirit really won't let you have fun the way that you did
before. That's a change.
Now listen, outwardly people can't see that, but on the
inside, that's a real thing. Listen, if you are still engaged
in these things and you are saved, the Holy Spirit ought to
be making your life pretty miserable while you're in it.
And I will say this, if the Holy Spirit isn't making your life
miserable while you're in sin, you go to Hebrews chapter 12 and
you check yourself whether you're part of the family or
not. No, I'm not trying to get you to
deny your salvation here tonight, not even close to that.
But what I am saying is this, if there is no, and I've said this
before, if there is no a reality of sin being, realizing that,
that you are a Sinner even engaged in it and there's no
conviction of that, that's a problem.
That's a big problem. Those who claim the name of
Christ, give their life to these sinful pursuits with no remorse
and no chastening of God, have a very questionable profession.
So what do we see? This is This is who?
They were, and this is who we were.
Whether your name is in there or not, whether your sin rather is
in there or not, this is who you were.
But #2 I want to see this. This is what you are.
Praise be to God that He didn't just bring some simple reforms
in your life. He ushered.
A revolution into your life. John 844 says this year of your
father the devil and the lust of your father, ye will do.
Listen, you were of your father the devil.
But once you got saved, listen, you got a different father, you
got a different heavenly Father. Listen, that's not a simple
reform. That's revolutionary.
You understand that tonight that's not just, well, I'm a
little bit better than I used to be.
You know, everything changed. You put off the old man and you
put on the Lord Jesus Christ. You became a new creature.
Everything in your life has changed.
It's like night has turned into day.
It's like the the sun has come out, never to retreat again.
No. This is who you are, you know,
in a revolution. The old way is swept out by a
new way. That's what happens.
We had an American Revolution around this parts. 1776.
And you know what? There were cannons and muskets
and most importantly ideas pushed out a monarchy.
And this country has been different for now almost 250
years. Well, what does that mean?
Well, when you got saved, the old things were supposed to get
pushed out and the new they're supposed to come in and that
we're not supposed to be saved and then just go back to the old
stuff. But now we have Jesus.
That's not God's intention for us at all.
Well, I have the old things, but I have heaven now.
That's not what God intended for you.
And that's kind of how the way the people of Corinth were
living. He said such were some of you,
but he wanted to remind them this is who you are.
And just like a revolution has items, if you will, the means to
make revolution happen, whether it was an idea or whether it was
weaponry or whatever it was. Listen, our revolution, our.
Salvation Listen has these means as well in our life, and Paul
names three of them. The first thing he says is ye
are washed, Letter A, you are washed.
And now may I remind you here tonight, especially for those of
us that come from a Catholic or a Lutheran or some sort of
Protestant background, when it's talking about being washed, it's
not talking about being washed by the baptism.
It's not talking about going through and having a priest put
the sign of the cross on your head with water.
It's not talking about like I had a pastor who sprinkled water
on top of your head three times for the Father and the Son and
the Holy. Ghost when I was about a year
old. It's not talking about those
things. Listen, water cannot cleanse you
from sin, no matter how quote UN quote holy it is.
But I will say this Titus 3 verses 3 through 5 says for we
ourselves also were sometimes listen to this, were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and
pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, hating one
another. But after that the kindness and
love of God, our Savior towards man appeared.
Listen not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy.
He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of
the Holy Ghost. So we are washed, we're washed
by regeneration. But what does that mean?
Let's drill down a little more. Ephesians 213 and 14 But now in
Christ Jesus, He who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by
the blood of Jesus Christ. For he is our peace, who have
made both one and broken down the middle wall partition
between us. No, you weren't washed by water,
you were washed by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.
That's what we were washed by. Revelation 1/5 And from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten
of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth, unto him
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Hebrews 914. How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who, though the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? We are washed.
What's one of those means of this revolution, if you will,
this great change that took place in our life?
It is the blood of Jesus Christ, but it's also in verse #11 it's
this. We are sanctified.
We're sanctified. Sanctification is a word that's
used. Much in the Old Testament.
But it has great application to the New Testament as well.
What do we see that was sanctified in the Old Testament
is often the vessels of the temple, wasn't it?
I've talked about this before here at liberty, that when
someone was to sanctify, or rather the the temple vessels
were sanctified, you didn't just take those and use them for some
other use. They did not take those dishes.
They did not take those forks and, and different types of
knives and things that had been dedicated, that had been
sanctified. And they didn't use them for
personal use. They didn't take the table of
Showbread and say, you know what, we could use this for a
desk in one of our offices. You say that that's a little bit
extreme, is it? No, but what I'm saying is this
is that they had been sanctified.
They had been set. Apart for a very particular use
and you could not go around and just do whatever you wanted with
them. That's why there were certain
kings, especially the divided Kingdom.
Obviously when Judah had good kings and bad kings that
sometimes they'd go into the temple and they'd say this.
Hey, you know what? Why?
Don't we do some renovations? And they were never blessed for
doing that. It was always the opposite.
Why? Because they were messing with
those things that God had sanctified.
And every time after there was a good king that would come
through, like Hezekiah for instance, and would do what?
They would cleanse the temple, they would sanctify the temple.
They say this temple is for the Lord, and it's for the Lord
alone. This is what it's for.
Sanctification means something is selected, it's set apart and
it's spotless. That's what sanctification is.
It's literal meaning is holiness or a separation.
John 17 verses 16 and 17. Jesus said they are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.
We're sanctified. How are we sanctified?
One of the ways we are is through the Word of God.
The more we read the Word of God, the more we hear the
preaching of the Word of God. It ought to be.
The closer we get to God, the more sanctified we are, the more
set apart we are. No, no, I didn't say
sanctimonious. That's something completely
different. I'm talking about that we are
set apart for the masters use, not set apart for our own use,
not set apart for our own flesh, for own lust, for own desires.
God, everything I have belongs to you.
However you use wish to use me, I am willing to be used.
We can only know sanctification by knowing the truth.
For how can we be spotless when we're spotted by the error?
So we need to know the truth of the Word of God.
When we're spotted by error, then we can't be sanctified the
way that God desires us to be. So it says that we are washed,
that we are sanctified, but then also that we're justified.
Let her see there in verse #11 we are justified.
God carried out this action of justification when we believed
we were declared righteous, placed into a new right,
standing before God, in which now and forever we are clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. To be justified means it's just
as if I never sinned. That's amazing to me to think
about that, but it's a legal term.
It's been pronounced for us by the righteous judge, Romans 325
and 26, whom God has sent forth to be His propitiation through
faith. Listen in His blood.
There it is again to declare His righteousness for the remissions
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to
declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be
just and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus.
So what do these verses say? Jesus Christ was just, and as He
was just, then He can make us the justifier.
If Jesus Christ was not just, we couldn't be justified.
Let me give you an example. If you were to go to court and
there was a crooked judge who was there and the crooked judge
had declared you to be guilty, well, if it came to be found out
that that judge was crooked, well, they would declare A
mistrial. They would say that anything
that he had said basically would be null and void.
Why? Because that judge wasn't just.
Now I know that's the way it should be.
Whether that's the way it actually happens, I don't know
if that's the case, but that's the way it should be in our
legal system. And so Jesus Christ, the just
one, the sinless one, only He would be able to say that we are
just because He is the just judge.
He is not an unjust judge. He is just in how He executes
justice and He is just in how He lived His life on the 33 years
that He was here for His earthly ministry.
So we are justified because He is just.
So what are we? We're washed, we're sanctified,
we are justified. This is who we are in Christ.
And it's important that they they all lead up to this
salvation. These are the elements of
salvation. Now, we could use a lot of other
elements for salvation as well, but these are the three which
Paul invokes, and we look at them kind of like looking at a
diamond. It's 1 diamond.
And as you turn a diamond, as I used to sell them, you turn them
and you see the light from different facets, but still 1
diamond. And as we look at salvation,
it's one salvation, but one facet is being justified, 1
facet is being sanctified, 1 facet is being washed in the
blood of Christ. But it all leads up to this,
that you and I are saved. This is who we were, but this is
who we are. We're washed.
We're sanctified, we're justified.
How could you not be different because of what he's done in
your life? So we look at these things and
but I also wanted to see this number three, whose you are.
So what you were, what you are, but whose you are?
Is the last, and that's at the end of verse #11 but you're
justified in what The name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. The end of verse 11 brings us to
remembrance of whose we are in the name of the Lord Jesus and
by the Spirit of our God. If you're willing to accept
these gifts, to be washed, to be sanctified, to be justified, if
you're willing to accept these gifts from Him, then you must
also accept the reality that you belong to Him.
Look at verse #20 we'll look at this more later, but it says for
year, bought with a price. Therefore what?
Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are mine.
Hold on. I got one of these new
translations to make sure you're paying attention.
Your body, your spirit, which are gods.
You were bought with a price, Ronald Reagan famously said
about the Panama Canal. He said we bought it, we paid
for it, we built it, and we intend to keep it.
Now that didn't end up happening that way, but that was his
desire. But there was a thought process
that he had which this a very fundamental principle of life,
that he encapsulated one sentence, someone who bought
something, someone who purchased something.
Well, it belongs to them. That's pretty basic, isn't it?
And think about this, Jesus Christ bought us, so how'd he
buy me? You were washed, you were
sanctified, You were justified. And because of that, listen, you
belong to him. It's a fundamental change in the
way that you live. It ought to be a fundamental
way, a fundamental change in the way you handle sin in your life.
By looking at this, This is who I was, this is who I am, and
this is who I belong to. And because I belong to Him, I
should be looking at sin differently than I did before.
I'll give you an example, someone who and you say, well,
this is kind of like a mental game.
These are mental tricks to know. It's a lot more than that.
If someone is trying to quit smoking, if that person, someone
offered you a cigarette and you'd say, oh, you know, I'm
trying to quit, you could do that.
Or if someone hands you a cigarette, you say this, oh, I
don't smoke. Say what's the difference
between the two? Well, the second one says this,
this is who I am. I'm not a smoker.
The first one says, well, I'm trying my best, right?
Hopefully, you know, hopefully I can make it and I'll hold on to
see if I can make it. And listen, you say, is this the
pastor, is the power of positive thinking that you're talking
about? No, no, not at all.
What I'm talking about is exactly what the Scripture is
talking about here, understanding our identity in
Christ. When we deal with sin, we should
associate ourselves with our new identity.
Listen, what, what Hey, do you want to do this?
Well, I'm a child of God. Not just, oh, I, I try not to do
that anymore. I don't know how I feel about
that. Oh, I, I go to church now.
Those aren't the best way to answer.
The best way to answer even in your own heart, your own life,
is this. Listen, I don't do that because
I'm a child of God. That's my identity.
Now listen, that thing that I'm tempted to do, Jesus got nailed
the cross for that. I don't need to do that.
It's a radically different way of thinking.
And so that's why Paul invokes not just that they were washed,
they were sanctified, they were justified.
They also reminds them who they belong to.
That was through the Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit of God.
He said, understand this, you belong to him, so your life
ought to be different. What am I saying?
It's not just reform, it's revolution.
It's a complete different way of living and that's who we are to
be as believers. Listen, your old life was a
mess. And listen, you got saved when
you were young. Praise the Lord, maybe it wasn't
a mess. God saved you from a mess.
And listen, we still make plenty of messes once we get saved.
I'm not saying that we don't, but we go into those eyes wide
open, don't we? Because the Holy Spirit's
telling us not to do it and we just go right through anyway.
And that's why we need talks like this where we're reminded,
hey, remember who you are, Remember who you came from,
remember who you belong to. It ought to change the way you
think. I have a really bad habit of
overflowing baptistries. I've overflowed 2 in my life.
The first one was in Holden, MO. I worked with a man named Steve
Smith. And I won't give you all the
details, but all I know is he told me to fill the baptistry.
I thought it was pretty close to the top and I want to make sure
that the water was off. So I took the hose that was in
there and I pulled the hose up. The water was off.
I turned it back down. Well, I didn't realize I didn't
turn the water off. And when I pulled the hose up, I
just kinked the hose. So when I put it back down, I
went back to the Parsonage for lunch.
About an hour later, I heard the sound of water and I followed
the sound of the water into the basement where water was going
through the light fixtures and I walked into the water.
Rubber sole shoes. Thank the Lord and realize this
is a mess. I had to carry all that water.
I had to wet back and carry it all the way up the stairs from
the basement out the door. That was a day of work right
there. Then at Westgate Baptist Church,
a building that seat about 1600 people, the pastor, not knowing
my previous history, said I need you to fill the baptistry.
I left it on all night. There was no overflow valve and
it covered multiple, I believe four different classrooms and a
hallway. There was water.
I looked out that morning and it was like a sea of glass.
There was so much water. It was everywhere.
Now you know why we have a horse through here at Liberty Baptist
Church? Because that's all I can handle.
All right, I can't do any more than that.
But you know what's amazing to me?
The destructive power of water. Water is one of the most
powerful elements you will find on this earth.
How do you stop it? You really just kind of contain
it the best you can, don't you? But think about the power of
water, water rising up, people throwing out sandbags, trying in
vain to stop it from flooding. Think about here in New England,
the textile mills of the seventeen 1800s, water harnessed
powered mills before there was even electricity like we used
today. Incredible.
The Niagara. Ever seen the Niagara the power?
Of the Niagara, absolutely incredible.
I seem to believe in Genesis chapter 6 and beyond, there was
a great flood that changed the topography of the whole world.
You say where's that Grand Canyon come from?
I'd say about 40 days. Did the work right there.
The power of water is incredible.
OK, pastor, I'm following you, but this has nothing to do with
the rest of your sermon. So probably we should pack it up
now because this doesn't make any sense.
Jesus standing up in the midst of a feast, said the following
in John 7 verses 37 to 39. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him
should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Jesus said this when? You come to taste of that water,
that the water will flow out of you with such power that it will
be noticeable. The Spirit within you, That's
what it said, that those this talking of the Spirit, that it
will be fundamentally a change agent in your life.
And we act like the Holy Spirit doesn't have enough power to
light up a light bulb. And He has enough power to not
just save us from the penalty of sin, from all eternity and the
presence of sin for all eternity, but from the power of
the sin of sin right now, such were some of you.
Listen, don't go back to that. Who are you?
You're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified.
Whose are you? You belong to Jesus Christ.
Well, why should I say no to sin?
Because you belong to Jesus Christ.
Well, why shouldn't I give into this temptation?
Nobody will know. Well, you belong to Jesus Christ
and you'll know. But why shouldn't I do that?
Because it's not your choice to make.
You don't even belong to yourself, nor do I belong to
myself. We belong to Jesus.
Allow that great life changing power to change your life and to
keep you changed. To live in the light of the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.