When God Changes You

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.040 Through eleven verses I read last week and will focus a little more on this 2 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:25.339 week. First, Corinthians, chapter six, versus nine through eleven. Here 3 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:29.859 the Apostle, the Lord Jesus Christ, rights to the Corinthians and also by 4 00:00:29.899 --> 00:00:34.219 the will of God, he also writes to us. He intends for us 5 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:39.450 to hear and to treasure these words. So let's hear them now with ears 6 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:45.450 of faith. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the 7 00:00:45.570 --> 00:00:51.759 Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor 8 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:59.039 idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor 9 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:04.109 the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the 10 00:01:04.230 --> 00:01:10.909 Kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, 11 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:15.750 you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus 12 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:23.260 Christ and by the spirit of our God. Praise God. Now, men, 13 00:01:23.659 --> 00:01:42.609 you may be seated. A pustle. Paul, by the Holy Spirit 14 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:49.159 of God, speaks to us this morning about inheritance, in particularly talks about 15 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:56.560 who or who gets to do the inheriting and what has happened to us that 16 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:00.000 we might inherit. But let's talk a little bit, just first about what 17 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:05.069 we inherit. You know, hopefully, what it means to inherit. For 18 00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:09.949 those who are littler among us, imagine this. Imagine that you have a 19 00:02:10.110 --> 00:02:17.740 very old grandfather who has a collection of tenzerod spoons, a lot of spoons, 20 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:23.099 right, I know, maybe too many spoons, but he has this 21 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:27.900 collection tenzero spoons, and the W he says, when I die, I 22 00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:34.169 wore all my spoons to be divided equally among my ten children and grandchildren. 23 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:39.449 Well, that would mean that your inheritance from your grandfather would be a thousand 24 00:02:39.569 --> 00:02:45.919 spoons. You and all the other grandchildren and children would get a thousand spoons. 25 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.879 Now, I wouldn't because I'm not his grandchild. I'm not his child, 26 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.680 but you would receive that. Now, that wouldn't be a really big 27 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:59.509 deal to me because I don't want a thousand spoons, but perhaps it would 28 00:02:59.509 --> 00:03:06.229 be if you told me that each spoon could easily sell for a thousand dollars, 29 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:10.590 if you told me that this collection of a thousand spoons was actually worth 30 00:03:10.629 --> 00:03:15.060 a million bucks. Well, maybe now I'm a little bit interested in grandpos 31 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:19.300 spoon collection. All of a sudden this inheritance, now that I know how 32 00:03:19.419 --> 00:03:24.060 valuable it is, a becomes important to me. But, as you know, 33 00:03:25.139 --> 00:03:30.009 as Nice as a million bucks might sound, there's no guarantee that any 34 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:34.810 amount of money can bring us happiness. We know this from experience and we 35 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:38.810 know this from the scriptures. All the things that you can buy with that 36 00:03:39.129 --> 00:03:44.680 money, whether it's more than that amount or less than that amount, Jesus 37 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.680 tells us it can get lost, it can get stolen, it can get 38 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:57.150 destroyed. Our passage in First Corinthian six talks about a different kind of inheritance, 39 00:03:57.990 --> 00:04:02.509 and inheritance that can never be lost, can never be destroyed and can 40 00:04:02.590 --> 00:04:10.219 never be stolen. Also, it's an inheritance that is of inestimable value. 41 00:04:11.259 --> 00:04:18.019 It is impossible to calculate how valuable this inheritance is, because it's not just 42 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:26.449 money or abundance of material possessions. It is that in the Kingdom of God 43 00:04:26.569 --> 00:04:31.689 that we had inherit. We inherit everything you could possibly ever need or want. 44 00:04:33.050 --> 00:04:39.000 But it's more than that. The inheritance that we receive in the Kingdom 45 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:45.439 of God is a place new heavens and a new earth, and that place 46 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:47.639 is a place not just with abundance, but it's a place described in the 47 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:54.310 scriptures as a place of great beauty, as a place of great safety, 48 00:04:54.430 --> 00:05:00.389 or perfect safety, of protection, of joy, of communion and fellowship, 49 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:06.029 both with the fellow citizens and family members of that kingdom and with the ruler 50 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:11.500 and head of that kingdom itself, our God, our try in God. 51 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:15.459 If you want an earthly picture of the Kingdom of God, you could think 52 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:21.129 of the garden of Eden, write this beautiful, abundant, a place of 53 00:05:21.370 --> 00:05:27.930 filled with the presence of God, where a man and woman dwell together and 54 00:05:28.089 --> 00:05:31.129 harmony with one another and with God and the animals and all of that. 55 00:05:32.129 --> 00:05:35.879 or You can think of the Kingdom of Israel as it was called to be, 56 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:41.000 as it was promised to be, blessed of the people obeyed, again, 57 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:45.639 a place of beauty and community, of joy and love and abundance, 58 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:50.709 of safety and protection. These, the scriptures tell us, were in fact 59 00:05:50.870 --> 00:05:58.269 earthly pictures, little shadowy sketches of what the Kingdom of God that we are 60 00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:03.660 looking forward to would indeed be. But, as we know, both Eden 61 00:06:03.819 --> 00:06:13.540 and Israel never really grew up into that perfect kingdom of God because of sin, 62 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:17.689 Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden Right an angel of the Lord 63 00:06:17.930 --> 00:06:25.089 barring the way, keeping them from the tree of life, keeping them from 64 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:30.810 that place of joy and abundance and instead putting them under God's righteous judgment. 65 00:06:30.889 --> 00:06:34.759 He said, if you eat, if you disobey this command, you will 66 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:39.920 surely die, and they were separated from the tree of life and they were 67 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:45.120 put under a state of sin or a state of misery and the curse of 68 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:50.829 death. Similarly, in Israel, they failed to bring about the blessings that 69 00:06:50.949 --> 00:06:56.550 were promised through their obedience, naturally so, because they were people that were 70 00:06:56.589 --> 00:07:00.310 now broken, people that were held in their sin. The Kingdom of God 71 00:07:00.589 --> 00:07:04.139 was never able to become that great thing. There were times, right under 72 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:09.339 David under Solomon, where it looked really good, where there was a lot 73 00:07:09.379 --> 00:07:14.220 of abundance and people came from far away places to marvel at it. But, 74 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:17.649 as we know, even from those beginning, the accounts of those of 75 00:07:17.769 --> 00:07:24.649 the reign of David and Solomon, it wasn't always good. There was a 76 00:07:24.730 --> 00:07:31.319 lot of bloodshed and and political intrigue and usurpations of the throne and all kinds 77 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:39.480 of various trials. The Kingdom of God. However, that Paul is talking 78 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:45.310 about in First Corinthians, the kingdom that these former things pointed forward to but 79 00:07:45.509 --> 00:07:51.310 never realized because of sin. He is talking now about inheriting that perfect kingdom, 80 00:07:54.829 --> 00:07:59.819 and sinners inheriting it. Not unrighteous sinners, people who are still in 81 00:07:59.860 --> 00:08:05.420 their sin, but people who were once these things but now have been washed 82 00:08:05.860 --> 00:08:09.500 and justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit 83 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:18.170 and now have that inheritance. The question then, before us is this glorious 84 00:08:18.170 --> 00:08:22.569 Kingdom of God, that thing to which there are so many, so many 85 00:08:24.449 --> 00:08:31.319 false starts and copy cats in this world, that wonderful, glorious kingdom? 86 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.159 WHO WILL INHERIT IT? Who can belong in it? How can we be 87 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:39.720 there? Or, more particularly, why will the Christians in the Corinthian Church, 88 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:46.230 some of whom were really rotten people? Why will they inherit that kingdom? 89 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:54.350 Read Verse Nine and ten again with me, Paul says. Or do 90 00:08:54.429 --> 00:09:01.740 you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Need 91 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:05.500 do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoraled, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 92 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:11.289 nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy nor drunkards, 93 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:18.649 nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. The CORINTHIAN church 94 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:26.360 was, it's, full of these people. The CORINTHIAN church had people who 95 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:31.639 were adulterers, people who were greedy, people who were homosexual as, people 96 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:37.200 who were idolaters, people who were swindlers, people who were thieves, and 97 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:43.389 these people were now said to inherit the Kingdom of God. Such were some 98 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:50.750 of you. But then something changed, something happened, something in which the 99 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:54.500 Corinthians should be able to see. Yeah, I see myself in that description 100 00:09:56.419 --> 00:10:05.580 and I'm not that anymore. Why is it that these people, as Paul 101 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:07.730 describes them here, and there are other lists in the New Testament that are 102 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:13.490 similar. Some include other things. Why is it that these people can't inherit 103 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:18.490 the Kingdom of God? Why is it that this, the glorious, Holy, 104 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:22.759 beautiful, joyful Kingdom of God, is barred to people like this? 105 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:31.879 Paul says, don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of 106 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.590 God? Why is it that they know that? Well, is anyone who 107 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:43.350 has ever sinned senses, just as we all know, it's because holy things 108 00:10:43.509 --> 00:10:50.139 and unholy things don't go together. Imagine you had a glass of milk, 109 00:10:50.299 --> 00:10:56.259 delicious, wonderful cold milk, and then someone came along and poured just a 110 00:10:56.419 --> 00:11:03.259 little bit of rotten milk into it, just just a little bit right. 111 00:11:03.299 --> 00:11:07.610 Would you say that your milk is good anymore? Would you say that you 112 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:09.529 would you drink your milk? Or example, now I can't drink this. 113 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:13.529 That's what I would say. I said now I can't drink this, this 114 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:20.559 is bad milk. It has been, it has been ruined by corruption. 115 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:28.480 Similarly, you don't put sinful people in a sinless place. You don't take 116 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:35.629 a perfect, beautiful, glorious, Holy Kingdom of God and then put a 117 00:11:35.789 --> 00:11:43.350 bunch of immoral people into it. It's not a place of lawlessness, it's 118 00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:50.179 a place of righteousness, of love and holiness, is Hebrews twelve fourteen reminds 119 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:56.419 us. Without Holiness, no one will see the Lord and, just as 120 00:11:56.500 --> 00:12:01.929 we know, heaven won't receive people like this. Hell is what they deserve. 121 00:12:03.370 --> 00:12:05.529 Sin Doesn't just bar us from heaven, it sends us from Hell. 122 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:09.970 The Sin of Adam and Eve, for example, didn't just keep them from 123 00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:15.289 the tree of life, it put them into in a state of sin and 124 00:12:15.330 --> 00:12:20.000 misery of Wrath and curse. That's what they deserved. If you eat of 125 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:26.360 this tree, you will surely die. There are penalties, there are consequences 126 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:30.389 for our disobedience, or, as Paul puts it in economic terms, he 127 00:12:30.470 --> 00:12:37.269 says the wages of sin is death. That's what you earn for your sinning. 128 00:12:37.909 --> 00:12:41.389 You don't earn reward, you don't hear you you sin in some great 129 00:12:41.429 --> 00:12:46.179 and terrible way, or even in some small and what you might consider a 130 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:50.500 minor way, and then get a reward of heaven doesn't work like that. 131 00:12:52.620 --> 00:12:56.259 You cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. You cannot have a rightful place as 132 00:12:56.259 --> 00:13:01.730 a citizen, as a part of that family, as a son of God, 133 00:13:01.970 --> 00:13:07.289 and receive that inheritance as somebody who is sexually immoral, the someone who 134 00:13:07.409 --> 00:13:11.450 is a thief, as someone who practices homosexuality, as someone who is greedy 135 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:20.399 or a drunkard or a reviler, and so on. Unrighteous people do not 136 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:26.470 inherit a righteous kingdom ruled by a righteous God. So that's the first thing 137 00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:31.990 that they're supposed to remember. This. Do you not know this obvious truth? 138 00:13:31.549 --> 00:13:35.789 Of course they know it. It's a rhetorical question. But then Paul 139 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:43.139 says this wonderful thing. He says and such were some of you. You 140 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:50.220 used to be characterized by this. This is how people would describe you, 141 00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:54.970 this is how you would describe yourself, but no longer. A great change 142 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:03.250 has happened in your life. Right, we have minor changes like this to 143 00:14:03.330 --> 00:14:07.970 happen on our lives. You know, I might say. Once I was 144 00:14:07.009 --> 00:14:15.799 a public school teacher, right, once I owned this kind of car or 145 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:18.960 had this kind of dog or something like that. But something has changed, 146 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.830 right, something about me has changed, something about my way of life. 147 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:28.870 You were formally known as a thief and a drunkard or whatnot, and now 148 00:14:30.029 --> 00:14:35.269 you're not. Let me deal with one quick question. Why only some of 149 00:14:35.309 --> 00:14:39.580 them? Right? Perhaps you're thinking, well, aren't all of us condemned 150 00:14:39.659 --> 00:14:43.379 under the law? Why were it all of these people under this why does 151 00:14:43.379 --> 00:14:46.980 Paul say in such were some of you? I think there's a possible, 152 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:50.419 a few possible good reasons for this. One is Paul does not intend to 153 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:54.889 be exhaustive in this list. Just because your particular sin might not be listed 154 00:14:56.009 --> 00:15:00.090 here doesn't mean that you get to inherit the Kingdom of God. Perhaps such 155 00:15:00.129 --> 00:15:03.970 were some of you and we can describe other things for others of you. 156 00:15:03.049 --> 00:15:07.919 So that's one possible answer here. Paul's list is not exhaustive of all the 157 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:13.200 things, which borrows from the Kingdom. Is Point is not to condemn every 158 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.799 person under the law, as he does elsewhere and as we are, but 159 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.149 his point here is to talk about the huge change that happens in people's lives 160 00:15:24.309 --> 00:15:28.190 and he makes that point. Another possibility is that perhaps not all of the 161 00:15:28.350 --> 00:15:33.429 believers here we're characterized by this, and this is a great grace of God. 162 00:15:35.389 --> 00:15:39.220 Some of them perhaps, as some of you, have grown up under 163 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:45.659 the Lord's grace and protection, that your life has never been characterized by one 164 00:15:45.740 --> 00:15:48.580 of these things, not that you've never done these things or that you wouldn't 165 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:56.009 be guilty in some way, but that this is not your way of life, 166 00:15:56.690 --> 00:16:00.169 that this will you could not say, yeah, I was this. 167 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:04.440 Perhaps there are some things in this list you can really identify with and say 168 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:08.879 yeah, that was definitely me, totally guilty, that was me, and 169 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:14.360 then other things you would say not me right. So again, Paul's not 170 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.309 trying to be exhaustive in this list and Paul perhaps has in his mind that 171 00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:23.389 there are people that the Lord raises up even from their youth, that are 172 00:16:23.429 --> 00:16:29.870 never characterized by these things, to the praise of his glorious grace. And 173 00:16:29.990 --> 00:16:33.740 we also have to remember that perhaps some people in the church who were hearing 174 00:16:33.820 --> 00:16:38.139 these things were still characterized by these things. Perhaps some of those in the 175 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:44.820 Corinthian church had under undergone that change, but then others had not. Yet 176 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:48.370 that there were people they're sitting and listening to him and the word preach, 177 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:56.250 who were still cass who could still be classified under these things. Perhaps there 178 00:16:56.289 --> 00:16:59.809 are some of you today who, in hearing this list, know that there 179 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:03.200 has not been a change in your life. You know that you are still 180 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:07.519 one of these things. One of them or multiples of them jump out at 181 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.519 you and you say, I still have a problem and I don't have an 182 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:18.430 inheritance to the Kingdom of God, and so we will think about how we 183 00:17:18.509 --> 00:17:22.309 might respond to that. But notice Paul's particular point here. He's saying notice, 184 00:17:22.430 --> 00:17:26.549 though, that some of you here have gone through a great change. 185 00:17:29.869 --> 00:17:33.500 Now why is he mentioned this? Before we talk about the change that happens? 186 00:17:34.539 --> 00:17:38.660 Paul mentions this because we've been saying because the Printhians, Corinthians had a 187 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:45.369 something of a pride problem. They were boasters. They weren't people who thought 188 00:17:45.410 --> 00:17:49.930 very much of themselves and here they were in the new church and they were 189 00:17:49.970 --> 00:17:53.529 happy for the things that were going on and they were boasting in Paul or 190 00:17:53.529 --> 00:17:57.529 a Paulas and various others, and they had become part of the society in 191 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:02.880 this new community. And unfortunately, many of them, instead of seeing the 192 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.359 distinctiveness of the church and the ways, the new ways in which the Kingdom 193 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:14.430 of God operated different from the world, instead they were bringing all those worldly 194 00:18:14.549 --> 00:18:18.109 things into this life and they were priding themselves on them, priding themselves to 195 00:18:18.269 --> 00:18:26.579 be there. But there's no room for pride here. Paul says, yes, 196 00:18:26.779 --> 00:18:30.980 you have inherited the Kingdom of God. Nothing better could happen to a 197 00:18:32.099 --> 00:18:36.859 person, nothing that you could imagine would be better than this. But remember 198 00:18:36.940 --> 00:18:44.009 how you got here. You were these things and you were washed and sanctified 199 00:18:44.049 --> 00:18:48.529 and justified. That's how you're here. You're not here because of your own 200 00:18:48.569 --> 00:18:52.089 strength, you're not here because you're super eloquent, you're not here because you're 201 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:55.329 super rich, you're not here because you have a bunch of fancy friends. 202 00:18:56.039 --> 00:19:00.559 You are here and you remain here only because of the grace of God. 203 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.200 Such were some of you. Let's just take a moment and remember that as 204 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:12.750 you deal with your relationships with other people, as you think about being boastful, 205 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:17.710 as you think about putting other people down, as you think about ignoring 206 00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:25.579 newcomers and visitors, as you think about keeping things for yourself and not willing 207 00:19:25.660 --> 00:19:30.819 to be hurt or defrauded, or those things that we've considered before, just 208 00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:37.299 take a moment and remember where you came from. Christian Macarthur was preaching her 209 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:41.089 recently about the prodigal son. You know, this is like saying to the 210 00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:45.250 Prodigal son, you know who. Let imagine what's continue the story and imagine 211 00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:48.609 that he came into the father's house and then he starts boasting to all the 212 00:19:48.730 --> 00:19:53.319 guests about well, yeah, I am a pretty awesome guy. My father 213 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:59.119 goes to this. Let me just remind you for a moment that moments before 214 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:06.960 you were in a pig pen eating pig food. This is who you are, 215 00:20:07.190 --> 00:20:11.910 this is who you were. Rather enjoy the party. My son be 216 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:17.750 here. Enjoy these things, but remember how you got here, through the 217 00:20:17.869 --> 00:20:25.740 love of God and the Work of God. Don't post don't be proud, 218 00:20:25.859 --> 00:20:30.220 but instead give all clothe, all praise and honor to him. And so, 219 00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:33.660 those of you who perhaps aren't changed, Paul says to the Corinthians implicitly, 220 00:20:33.819 --> 00:20:38.569 and the word the wholely spirit says to you today as well. Here 221 00:20:38.730 --> 00:20:45.089 is promise, here is hope for those of you who feel like you are 222 00:20:45.130 --> 00:20:48.609 still entrapped and bound by your sins, those of you who are still characterized 223 00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:53.279 by these habitual things going on in your life, know that there is freedom 224 00:20:53.400 --> 00:21:00.319 for you, a change in life, a new way, and that's what 225 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:06.029 Paul describes next, and that's what we'll finish with. What happened to these 226 00:21:06.069 --> 00:21:11.549 people? What is the equivalent of that father pulling up his his clothes and 227 00:21:11.750 --> 00:21:18.619 running to his son out of love for him and receiving him into his household? 228 00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:26.940 Well, here it's described in different terms. Paul says, and such 229 00:21:26.980 --> 00:21:30.980 were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you 230 00:21:32.019 --> 00:21:36.210 were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of 231 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:40.049 God. Let's look at the first word, the word you were washed. 232 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:47.440 I'm this could perhaps be translated a little better, because it doesn't just describe 233 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:52.039 washing, but it describes the washing away of something, which is kind of 234 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.279 the same thing. But Paul uses a particular word here that has that meat, 235 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:02.470 that has the focus of putting things away, of not just getting in 236 00:22:02.910 --> 00:22:08.190 water but taking things away by by means of that water. Um. The 237 00:22:08.349 --> 00:22:15.140 second thing that is interesting about this word is it's not entirely passive in the 238 00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:21.140 way that the following words come. So what I mean is this that you 239 00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:25.339 notice this parallel in verse eleven. You were washed, were sanctified, were 240 00:22:25.500 --> 00:22:30.250 justified. In the Greek it's a little different. Washed is different than sanctified 241 00:22:30.329 --> 00:22:36.289 and justified wash. It has what's called of the middle voice, which usually 242 00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:41.329 focuses on the activity or the interest of the person involved. So it's not 243 00:22:41.609 --> 00:22:47.519 entirely passive. There's the sense in which he's like saying you went and got 244 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:52.359 baptized, be something similar to this. You went and washed yourselves, or 245 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:56.839 you went and washed so that you could be changed, so that you could 246 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:03.710 be cleansed. The focus is not so much on someone else doing it, 247 00:23:03.910 --> 00:23:07.069 but one's personal interest in it. And you can imagine why Paul would say 248 00:23:07.109 --> 00:23:11.230 this. He says a change happened, you are involved in this, this 249 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:15.619 is similar to the way acts. Two thousand, two hundred and sixteen speaks. 250 00:23:17.700 --> 00:23:19.819 We read. And now, why do you wait? Rise, be 251 00:23:21.019 --> 00:23:26.900 baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name, make the change, 252 00:23:26.170 --> 00:23:30.289 take the action. Don't stay in this place any longer. That's the 253 00:23:30.410 --> 00:23:34.970 call, and acts twenty too, and that's the the respe way that the 254 00:23:36.089 --> 00:23:41.119 Corinthians responded, and Paul's calling attention to that. You washed away your sins. 255 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:48.240 You're no longer this former thing. So, as Paul reminds them of 256 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.319 what has happened in this cleansing that they've undergone, he also reminds them of 257 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:59.109 what undergirds that, why that happened, how that happened. In here we 258 00:23:59.269 --> 00:24:04.150 get into the more what is called a passive tense of these verbs. He 259 00:24:04.269 --> 00:24:11.900 says you were sanctified and you were justified. Yes, they might have gone 260 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:15.539 and gotten washed, yes, they might have gone and gotten baptized. In 261 00:24:15.619 --> 00:24:21.019 these things were removed. But how did that happen? It happened because of 262 00:24:21.059 --> 00:24:27.930 the work of God in them. The first word sanctified, it refers to 263 00:24:29.369 --> 00:24:37.970 being made holy in Effesians chapter five. Let's turn there actually and read what 264 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:48.400 what Paul writes there. In Effesians, Chapter Five, Verse Twenty Five, 265 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:56.869 we read Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her that he might 266 00:24:56.950 --> 00:25:02.630 sanctify her, having cleansed her by the wash of water with the word, 267 00:25:03.109 --> 00:25:07.109 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or 268 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:11.420 wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 269 00:25:12.579 --> 00:25:15.619 He what he's saying then, as you are who you are because of what 270 00:25:17.180 --> 00:25:22.930 Christ is done, this washing that you have, have, have interest in, 271 00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:26.650 this washing that you have, have gone through, that was because of 272 00:25:26.769 --> 00:25:32.930 what Christ has done for you. Indeed, he washed you, he purified 273 00:25:33.049 --> 00:25:37.960 you, he sanctified you, he made you holy. In the Old Testament, 274 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:45.559 the priests were called not only to offer pure and holy sacrifices, but 275 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:51.829 be pure themselves. Similarly, God, when he changes our hearts, when 276 00:25:51.829 --> 00:25:56.990 he washes US and makes us clean, he not only wants us to produce 277 00:25:56.190 --> 00:26:02.269 the works of holiness, but produce them from a holy place. Well, 278 00:26:02.309 --> 00:26:07.700 how does that happen? It happens because of what Christ has done for us. 279 00:26:11.259 --> 00:26:17.539 There's this amazing thing that happens in our being holy, fied or sanctified, 280 00:26:18.059 --> 00:26:22.730 are being set apart from God. He takes sinners who are condemned to 281 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:26.849 death, who are under the curse of God, and he says now you're 282 00:26:26.930 --> 00:26:32.849 mine, now you belong to me, now you are set apart for a 283 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:37.759 different purpose and to a different end. And he god does that in some 284 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:42.759 different ways and he focuses on two specific things here. He says at the 285 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:47.549 end of this verse, in the this you were sanctified, and will get 286 00:26:47.549 --> 00:26:51.349 to justification in a moment. He says you were sanctified in the name of 287 00:26:51.430 --> 00:26:56.509 the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit of our God, as one 288 00:26:56.549 --> 00:26:59.630 of the church father says, these are the two hands by which the father 289 00:27:00.670 --> 00:27:04.339 works. To be just or to be sanctified in the name of the Lord 290 00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:11.539 Jesus Christ means that because of the work of Christ on the cross, because 291 00:27:11.619 --> 00:27:15.970 of his blood sprinkled on us, we now have a new state, a 292 00:27:17.970 --> 00:27:21.529 state that we might call sanctification, a say, a state that we might 293 00:27:21.690 --> 00:27:27.250 call holiness. Paul addresses the church, he addresses US sometimes as saints, 294 00:27:29.609 --> 00:27:33.920 Holy People. This doesn't mean that we are entirely perfected, but it means 295 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:38.720 that God sees us in a new way. He doesn't see us as UNRIGHTEOUS, 296 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:44.910 unholy people. He sees us as new creatures, people who have been 297 00:27:45.269 --> 00:27:48.789 washed, people who have been made new, who are, using the image 298 00:27:48.789 --> 00:27:55.589 from Ephesians five, cleansed and pure and spotless. This happens because of the 299 00:27:55.630 --> 00:28:00.500 work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. But this relationship that we have with 300 00:28:00.660 --> 00:28:07.660 Jesus is not just a longdistance relationship, because our Lord and save here sends 301 00:28:07.819 --> 00:28:14.250 his Holy Spirit to do in our hearts what he did on the cross, 302 00:28:15.490 --> 00:28:22.809 to personally apply in our own lives and in our own person's body and soul 303 00:28:23.609 --> 00:28:30.039 the work of Jesus Christ. So he we are cleansed by the blood of 304 00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:37.640 Christ on the cross, which happened twozero years ago, and then here in 305 00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:41.910 your life, sometime over the last from all of you are less than a 306 00:28:41.910 --> 00:28:48.470 hundred years old, sometime in the last hundred years, the Holy Spirit applied 307 00:28:48.750 --> 00:28:56.339 that work of Christ to your life. He applied that holiness in such a 308 00:28:56.500 --> 00:29:02.700 way that he changed your heart. He gave you, in your life, 309 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:08.940 during your lifespan, somewhere a new heart, a new life, a new 310 00:29:10.089 --> 00:29:15.690 principle out of which holy things come. Now we all know that the flesh 311 00:29:15.809 --> 00:29:18.970 remains in us, there's still corruption, but guess who's in you as well, 312 00:29:19.890 --> 00:29:25.160 the Holy Spirit of God, working and applying that redemption in your lives, 313 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:30.279 change things out, bringing things out in such a way that your works, 314 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:36.000 your holy works that you do, will be presented before God and you 315 00:29:36.119 --> 00:29:41.670 will be amazed at what they look like, because all the dross and all 316 00:29:41.710 --> 00:29:45.829 the filth and all the garbage that's currently attached to them will be removed and 317 00:29:47.029 --> 00:29:51.829 what God has produced in you, which is good, will be shown before 318 00:29:51.869 --> 00:29:57.019 him and you will be amazed. I produced that. That work came from 319 00:29:57.140 --> 00:30:02.339 me. Yes, it did, because of the work of the Holy Spirit 320 00:30:02.420 --> 00:30:08.170 in you, holifiling you, sanctifying you, producing good works, to works 321 00:30:08.450 --> 00:30:14.650 that are acceptable and pleasing to God. God is at work in you and 322 00:30:14.930 --> 00:30:19.529 through you, producing a creature of his own workmanship that he is proud of. 323 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.240 He does that through the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, objectively 324 00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:30.599 accomplished in time and space and then applied in your own lives, in your 325 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:37.230 own hearts, by the spirit of our God. This is really amazing. 326 00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:45.670 Sometimes we wonder as reformed Christians, what do I have to do with the 327 00:30:45.710 --> 00:30:51.259 spirit of God? Will here's one of those things. As he works in 328 00:30:51.380 --> 00:30:55.700 you, as he changes you. We have commune in with him, and 329 00:30:55.859 --> 00:30:57.299 one of the things that we do as a result of that, as we 330 00:30:57.460 --> 00:31:03.930 worship him, we give praise and honor and glory to the spirit, to 331 00:31:04.089 --> 00:31:08.849 God the spirit, and to God the son, and also to God the 332 00:31:08.930 --> 00:31:12.329 father. Are Try you and God, who is at work in us that 333 00:31:12.490 --> 00:31:18.960 which is pleasing to his sight. He makes us holy. He also justifies 334 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:23.759 us. This is amazing. He takes unrighteous people who are barred from heaven 335 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:30.599 and he gives to them his own righteousness. If I could go back to 336 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:36.069 the him we saying earlier, the verse five says this. Now my conscience 337 00:31:36.269 --> 00:31:44.349 is at peace. Why? Why would anybody's conscience be at peace, especially 338 00:31:44.630 --> 00:31:52.339 people who could be who were formerly described as sexually a moral idolaters, thieves 339 00:31:52.460 --> 00:31:56.779 and so on. How can a person who has done those things or things 340 00:31:56.940 --> 00:32:01.210 like them, how can their conscience be at the hymn continues. Now my 341 00:32:01.369 --> 00:32:08.369 conscience is at peace. From the law, I stand acquitted again. How 342 00:32:08.410 --> 00:32:15.319 could that be? How could a person so guilty of those things stand acquitted? 343 00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:27.559 The him continues. Christ has purchased my release and every sin remitted or 344 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:37.509 forgiven not nothing remains my soul to grieve. Jesus sinners doth receive. If 345 00:32:37.710 --> 00:32:45.859 you have, let's say, an unpaid ticket and someone pays the ticket, 346 00:32:47.099 --> 00:32:51.420 the government can't come to you and say you need to pay us the ticket. 347 00:32:52.819 --> 00:32:57.700 Why it's been paid. You can't pay something that's already been paid. 348 00:32:58.380 --> 00:33:02.329 It's a similar way. The law can't be brought against us because the law 349 00:33:02.410 --> 00:33:07.970 and all of its demands has been fulfilled. Colossians describes it as being nailed 350 00:33:08.049 --> 00:33:13.880 to the cross. All of the things that God demanded, all of the 351 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:22.839 sins which you have committed have been nailed to the cross. God isn't when 352 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:27.710 God considers your sins, he doesn't stand there and say, HMM, I 353 00:33:27.789 --> 00:33:32.869 don't know, he says I know and they're right over there, paid for 354 00:33:34.430 --> 00:33:38.069 completely. So then the question the hymn brings up or points out as I 355 00:33:38.230 --> 00:33:46.660 have nothing to grieve about nothing. My sins have been forgiven. My soul 356 00:33:46.859 --> 00:33:51.579 is at rest. Now, why does that happen? Because is Christ has 357 00:33:51.619 --> 00:33:54.769 forgiven them on the cross and because the spirit confirms that in our hearts. 358 00:33:57.809 --> 00:34:02.329 And so because of that, because Jesus sinners doth receive, we are saved. 359 00:34:05.089 --> 00:34:07.570 Because Jesus dies on a cross to forgive us our sins. Because the 360 00:34:07.650 --> 00:34:13.559 Holy Spirit applies that work in our lives, we are saved. We can 361 00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:17.320 say, Yep, that was me, and not anymore. Not only have 362 00:34:17.480 --> 00:34:23.590 I been justified, not only have I been sanctified, but this new principle 363 00:34:23.750 --> 00:34:29.869 of life has been brought about in me by the very work of God, 364 00:34:30.829 --> 00:34:36.110 in such that these things which habitually used to characterize me, that's no longer 365 00:34:36.309 --> 00:34:40.460 true. Now I have a principle of grace that is in me, a 366 00:34:40.579 --> 00:34:47.059 principle of life and godliness. Instead of constantly desiring and running after these things 367 00:34:47.139 --> 00:34:52.730 which only led me to destruction, now I love the things of the Lord. 368 00:34:54.969 --> 00:34:59.090 Of course, this isn't perfect in our lives and won't be until the 369 00:34:59.170 --> 00:35:04.130 end, but guess who is doing that work in you? The Holy Spirit 370 00:35:04.170 --> 00:35:07.960 of God. Guess who is sanctifying you and guess who is accomplished all of 371 00:35:08.039 --> 00:35:14.639 these things perfectly for you so that you know they will be completed? Of 372 00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:22.670 course, Jesus himself. Because of what God has done through the son and 373 00:35:22.829 --> 00:35:28.510 through the spirit, we can look back at our lives and we can say, 374 00:35:30.110 --> 00:35:34.949 once I was lost, but now I'm found. Once I was blind, 375 00:35:35.860 --> 00:35:39.260 but now I see. Once I was enslaved, but now I have 376 00:35:39.500 --> 00:35:46.860 freedom, and on and on and on. I, as a son, 377 00:35:47.340 --> 00:35:52.969 as a daughter, am a rightful heir because of the work of Jesus Christ, 378 00:35:53.489 --> 00:36:00.650 by the power of the Holy Spirit and in inheritor and air of the 379 00:36:00.690 --> 00:36:05.360 Kingdom of God. So, as we look around us and enjoy the benefits 380 00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:08.440 of this party, the benefits of this rejoicing, is the benefits of this 381 00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:13.039 family, of the benefits of this kingdom. Brother Sisters, let's not be 382 00:36:13.239 --> 00:36:17.000 proud, let's not be both full people in ourselves. Let's not push each 383 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:21.670 other out of the way, elbow one another on the way to the kingdom. 384 00:36:22.750 --> 00:36:30.389 Instead, let's hold hands, come arm in arm and call out to 385 00:36:30.550 --> 00:36:34.420 those who do not yet know the Lord. And if you do not know 386 00:36:34.539 --> 00:36:38.619 that the no do not yet know the Lord, receive him as he has 387 00:36:38.659 --> 00:36:44.500 offered you in the Gospel. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we pray 388 00:36:44.579 --> 00:36:46.250 to you and we asked that you would continue to impress the