Called Unto Holiness

That was good singing. Praise the Lord.

Let's turn our Bibles to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4.

We're going to read the first 8 verses, reading, of course, from

the King James Bible. The words will come up and

scream for all who are on line. And could I just mention as

you're turning to the place and maybe show some of these at some

stage. But we have some lovely Bibles

that some I found in a box and put them away and forgot all

about them. But we have them available and

if anybody would like a Bible, then we can supply you with

that. I I'll, I'll show them some time

on camera and then you can at least pick or you can decide

what 1 you want. First Thessalonians chapter 4,

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

we're reading from verse one. Let's hear the word of God.

Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by

the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to

walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.

For ye know what commandments we give you by the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that

ye should abstain from fornication, that everyone of

you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and

honour, not in the lust of concopients, Even as the

Gentiles, which know not God, that no man go beyond and

defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is

the adventure of all. Such as we also have forewarned

you and testified. For God have not called us unto

uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth,

despiseth not man, but God, who have also given unto us His Holy

Spirit. Amen.

We know the God and stamp of His own approval and blessing, this

reading of His own precious and infallible word.

In now this morning we are continuing with our series of

expository sermons in the book of First Thessalonians, and my

text today is taken from First Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 3

1 Thessalonians 4:3

right through to the verse 8, and I've entitled the message

today called unto holiness. First Thessalonians four and

three says, For this is the will of God, even your

sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication.

Verse 7 For God have not called us unto uncleanness, but unto

holiness. Now notice how the chapter

opens. It opens with the first word

furthermore than we beseech you. The word furthermore means the

next or next in lane or the next thing.

It indicates a change of subject at the end of chapter 3.

The apostle Paul had been praying that these new converts

at Theftnananka would stand fast in the Lord.

Chapter 3, verse 8. He prayed that their faith would

be strengthened and that their hearts would be established

unblameable in holiness before God.

Verses 11 and 12, the word stablish, remember, means to be

fixed, to set fast, unmovable. And Paul was desirous and

praying that these new converts would be fixed, would be set

fast, would be unmovable in regard to holiness of life

before God. And having stated that, he then

moves on to the next thing from that affirmation about holiness,

he now is desiring to set before them practical instructions for

holy living, because in chapter 4 he develops the theme of

holiness in more detail. Notice in the passage first

1 Thessalonians 4:3

Thessalonians 4, verse 3. For this is the will of God,

even your sanctification, that you should abstain from

fornication. Notice the mention of

sanctification and then in verse four that everyone of you should

know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour.

And then in chapter 4, verse seven, I've already read to you.

I'd read it again. For God hath not called us unto

uncleanness, but unto holiness. And the word holiness is the

same Greek word that's translated sanctification.

So three times this word in the Greek sanctification and

holiness has been mentioned, a threefold usage. 3 is the number

of witnesses, and what we're seeing here in this whole

section is the vital subject of holiness of life.

You see the Church of Jesus Christ, and I use that in a

collective sense, the Church of Jesus Christ, every born again

believer is called unto holiness, called to a life of

sanctification unto the Lord. Now this is a vital subject,

This is a valuable subject, this is a victorious subject.

If I was to ask the question, what is God's will for the

Christian? You see, you would interpret

that more personally. What is God's will for me as a

Christian? Now I'm conscious that that is a

personal, that's also a powerful, it is also a practical

subject, the will of God. But it also can be a problematic

subject because often times we relate it to the narrow topic.

Like, you know, as a young man, I'm a Christian.

Whom should I marry? I don't have a girlfriend, Lord,

but whom should I marry? Or we could ask the question,

Lord, what career should I pursue?

Do you want me to be a joiner or a bricklayer?

Do you want me to be a plumber? Do you want me to be a

barrister? You see, another question comes

to mind. Where should I serve the Lord?

Another question is what are my spiritual gifts?

Another question is in what way can I serve the Lord?

You see the the asking of these questions in our mind and

verbally before the Lord show us that we're in a personal

relationship with the Lord, that we we know God, that we that we

love him, that that we want to honour and serve him.

And yet for many people, despite this being a personal practical

thing, it can also be problematic.

And it's problematic in this way because so often the very clear,

plain, precise knowledge of God's will that we made clear

and plain in the Scriptures is overlooked and set to the one

side. And we can be focused on whom

we're going to marry and what career we're going to do and

what way the Lord wants me to serve him and exercise his

gifts. And yet the very plea and thing

that jumps out of the page of Holy Scripture can so often be

ignored by us or so often we could be indifferent to that.

So Paul makes it clear, plea precise.

There's no controversy here. Look at verse 3 again.

For this is the will of God. What even your sanctification

that you should abstain from fornication?

There's no one contention here. Every born again believer all

this morning who belong to Jesus Christ in this house and in

every congregation where the Lord's people gather, those

found in saving union with Jesus Christ, who have received him as

Lord and Saviour, who have a testimony to a saving and

keeping power, Every one of them, including us, are called

to obey this call. And this call is to holiness.

All true Christians experience to some degree or not, this

concept of sanctification. You see, we live in a land for

its goodly heritage in Northern Ireland, but 10s of thousands of

our people profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They profess to be Christians, but yet the reality is that in

their life they have no thought of holiness.

They have no heart, desire for holiness.

There's no holiness in their life to any degree.

Their life has never been changed or impacted.

Even though they have the name of Christ on their lips, even

though they say, well, they know God and worship him because

their life has been never changed or never transformed.

We have to say to those people, you don't know God, and if you

profess to know God, you just have an empty outward shell of

profession. You're not in a state of grace

because the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 and in the verse 14, listen to the word of God, it

says follow peace with all men and holiness without which no

man shall see the Lord. So my theme today based on this

passage of Scripture is called unto holiness.

Now three things and I I'll try to be brief. 1 The essence of

the call to holiness. I've already told you three

times in this passage you've got the subject of holiness, verse

3, the word sanctification, the verse 4, the word

sanctification, the word 7 unto holiness.

It's the same Greek word 3 * 3 is the number of witness.

And we're understanding here from a scriptural and

theological point of view that there's 3 phases of what we call

sanctification, or three aspects to sanctification.

And each member of the Triune Godhead is involved in these

three phases or three aspects of sanctification in unique ways.

There's such a thing as positional sanctification.

Positional sanctification occurs the moment you receive Jesus

Christ as Lord and Saviour, the moment you're born again of the

Holy Spirit, the moment you come to Jesus Christ and rest in him

alone and receive him by faith for salvation.

At that precise moment you are positioned in Christ.

That is, you're put into Christ, you're put in a saving union

with Christ, you're placed in him.

And God views us and sees us as holy because of that saving

union with Christ. And that's what we call

theologically positional sanctification.

Then the second thing is what we call progressive sanctification.

This is where the Holy Spirit, and if you look at verse 8, it

mentions the Holy Spirit. He therefore the despiseth,

despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His Holy

Spirit. And you see, the Holy Spirit not

only regenerates the dead centre in the newness of life, but the

Holy Spirit also indwells every true believer.

And the Holy Spirit who resides in your human body seeks to

conform that body, seeks to conform your character into the

likeness of Christ. Yes, the true believer in Christ

is legally declared righteous in the sight of God because he's

found in union with Christ. But remember, he lives out his

life on earth. He lives his life in a sinful

fallen body which still trends towards sin.

Remember we all sin in thought and word and deed.

Remember what John says. He says if we say we have not

sinned, we make him a liar. And his word if not in us he

tells us, My little children, these things write I unto you,

that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we've an

advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

We're called to holiness, and yet in that call to holiness, we

discover corruption of our hearts and our minds.

And it's only by our advocate in heaven that were declared

legally righteous in the sight of God.

But we not only have an advocate in heaven, we have an advocate

in our hearts because the Holy Spirit enables and empowers

every true believer and brings them into your life of power and

victory. Helps us to choose the right

pathway. Helps us to say no to sin.

Helps us to choose this life of holiness.

Puts that desire and thought in our mind.

The motto for our life is holding us unto the Lord despite

being tempted to sin, despite being sinful creatures and

sinning against the Lord and thought word.

Indeed, we're on a progressive pathway, and the pathway is

towards dying unto sin and living unto righteousness.

And then third aspect is perfected sanctification that

happens upon death. Person dies in Christ, their

soul and spirit enters into the presence of the Lord, and

they're numbered even as a disembodied soul among the

justified made perfect. And their soul and spirit is

with Christ, and they await the physical resurrection from the

dead. But in that disembodied state,

the moment they enter into the presence of the Lord, they're

free finally from sin's power and from sin's presence once for

all. Now in First Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 4:3

chapter 4, verses 3 through to 8, the apostle Paul is dealing

with this second aspect of sanctification.

He's not dealing with positional sanctification.

He's not dealing at this stage with perfect sanctification.

He is dealing with progressive sanctification.

And here's the point, brothers and sisters, if you profess to

know and love Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in you and

His ministry, in your heart and life.

His work, His aim, His purpose is to enable you to conform unto

the image of Christ. He's our great helper, and He's

a guest helper to transform us into the likeness of Jesus.

Remember our catechism, What is sanctification?

Sanctification is the work of God's free grace by which we are

renewed in the whole man, in the image of God, and are enabled

more and more to die on the sin and to live on the

righteousness. Now that's the essence of this

called the sanctification. That's what sanctification is.

The second thing I want to say this morning is this, the

exhortation of this call to holiness.

Let's go back to our passage of Scripture.

First Thessalonians 4, verse three.

Look at the book for this is the will of God, even your

sanctification. Now let me make this clear.

Sanctification, holiness of life is the will of God.

Look at verse 7. For God has not called us unto

uncleanness, but unto holiness. The call here has to do with the

effectual call. There's a calling in view here.

It's the Lord's will. For this is the will of God.

Even your sanctification God has revealed as well.

The will of God is clear and plain.

It's a statement of fact. It cannot be misunderstood.

It can't be argued over. I'm sorry to tell you, but there

shouldn't be any controversy here.

Sadly, many make it a controversy.

It is God's will to make us in Christ.

It's God's will to make his people in Christ a holy people

unto himself. God's will is not determined by

the standards of unholy men. It's not determined by the words

and the counsels of unholy men. God's will is not to live

according to the lust of the flesh.

God's will is not for us to do the works of the flesh.

God's will is not to be following the temptations and

the counsel of the devil. God's will is that we in Christ,

that's the key, positionally in him.

But God's will is in Christ. We passionately strive, we

purposefully strive to live a life of holiness under God.

They will never be perfect. You'll never perfectly strive.

There's many areas in thought where indeed where we will feel

day and daily, but in Christ there will be this mindset.

I must purposely and passionately strive to live a

holy life unto God, not in order to be saved.

Let me make that clear because see some people listening to me

and say, but you're preaching salvation by works.

I'm not. Called on the holiness is not

the ground of salvation, but it's the evidence that being

possessioned in Christ, we're called on the holiness and we

progress in this pathway. The motto is Holiness unto the

Lord and we're living for that day when we'll be perfected in

holiness and free from sins presence and it's power in our

lives. I want to tell this morning it's

the Christian's duty, it's the Christian's responsibility to

strive after a holy life. In the Christian life your aim

and goal and purpose is to walk to please Him.

We talked about walking with God last week and in that walk you

will die more and more unto sin. You'll say no to sin, and you'll

live more and more unto righteousness, holiness of heart

and mind. Over there in the book of

Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, it says this

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

according as you have chosen us and Him before the foundation of

the world, that we should be holy and without blame before

Him in love. What is God's ultimate purpose

for you as a Christian? You, you're consumed.

And sometimes I was a young Christian with you know, who

will I marry and what, what job will it do?

And what way does God want me to serve him?

And what what gifts has God-given to me?

But that's not the ultimate purpose.

Our ultimate purpose as a Christian should be holiness

unto the Lord. Remember what we read there in

the book of Ephesians and I was taken up with this this week in

my study, Ephesians 5 and it says there in verse 25,

husbands, love your wives. That's our duty and

responsibility. Husbands, how do we do it even

as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.

Again, the church is used collectively here.

Notice gave himself for it. Well, that's His sinless life

and atoning death in the cross. To what purpose?

Look at verse 26, or listen to the words, that he might

sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.

You see, that's progressional sanctification.

And then verse 27, here's the perfection of sanctification,

that He might present it to Himself, a glorious church, not

having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should

be holy and without blemish. The entire company of all of

true believers are in view. Christ loved the church and gave

Himself for it. And here's the consequence of

that, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of

water by the Word. And the ultimate purpose that He

might present it to himself. A glorious church, not only spot

or wrinkle or any such thing, but that should be holy and

without blame does not tie in the 1st Thessalonians 5 and 23

and the very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray

God your Holy Spirit and soul and body, we preserve blameless

unto the coming of our Lord Jesus. 3 aspects all connected

to this call. A call to positional,

progressive and perfect sanctification.

We could say loads in this, could write a book in this, but

sanctification is God's clear, precise, plain, revealed will

for every child of God. Now this one text, this passage

calls and deals a death blow to those who say that the Christian

doesn't need to pursue and live out a life of holiness unto the

Lord. He or she can live as they like.

We live in a day like the judges.

Every man did that which is right in his own eyes.

But the Bible says if any man be in Christ as a new creature, old

things have passed away and all things have become new and all

things are of God. And how many today in Northern

Ireland say, But I believe in Jesus.

I've asked Jesus into my heart. I've asked him into my life.

Well, has your life changed and transformed?

You see, many are gambling, many are drunkers, many are

adulterers, many are fornicators.

There's many wife beaters and drug addicts and liars and

cheats. And there's many of their heart

filled with rage and violence and, and there's a lot of

domestic violence at this time of the year.

And at other times others can become full of jealousy and

pride and envy. I may have to say to them, but

if you profess the name of Christ, if any man be in Christ,

he's what? He's a new creature.

All things have passed away, all things have become you, all

things are of God. I remember Paul wrote to Timothy

and said the Lord knoweth them that are his, but let him that

names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Is the life changed and transformed?

Is there evidence that there's a name and purpose in that life to

persevere and make progress in a life of holiness, a life of

godliness before the Lord? Again, it's not the ground it's

but the evidence. It's but the fruit.

Remember Paul says there in first Peter and in first Peter

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. I read this in verse 15.

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all

manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I

am holy. This is the will of God.

And I asked you to ask yourself, what's God's will for me?

It's clear, it's plain. And what's the one reason the

God you profess to love and serve is a holy God.

And because God is holy, he wants his children to be holy.

He wants his church to be a holy church.

And this is important, not just for me as the minister, not just

for the elders, not just for the deacons, not just for those who

are in positions of leadership and, and, and the most prominent

person, Well, he better be holy. No, it's for all in Christ.

We're all in the same level, we're all in the same boat.

It's not being selective. The entire company of God's

people is in view. You see the tendency among

someone? I'm labouring the point.

Well, it doesn't apply to me. It does.

Everyone in Christ, from those who are children upwards, are

called to live out a sanctified life before the Lord.

Sal invasion, sanctification is an ongoing matter in the

Christian life. And if you take the illustration

of the children of Israel, remember they crossed the

Jordan, they come into the land of promised inheritance.

And in that land, well, they had to engage in battles.

There was territory to take and the new defeats and the new

setbacks. In fact, they didn't even take

it all. And that's a picture of the

Christian life, though the, the, the, the battles in the promised

land is a picture here of the battles and struggles of the

Christian against sin and Satan and against wickedness.

Now that's the first two points. The second point is this not

just the essence of what it is, not just the exhortation, but I

want you to think of this, the experience of this call to

holiness. Now ask yourself this question,

what's the reason? Why did Paul put this into the

Bible at this stage and writing this letter to this church in

Thessalonica? Notice the words here in verse 3

that you should abstain from fornication.

Here's a specific sin that's mentioned, and it's mentioned in

the context of sanctification and the will of God for the

Christian is to abstain from fornication, to say no.

He says in verse 7, for God has not called us unto uncleanness.

What's that got to do with it? You see, sometimes we think of

uncleanness. We think of being physically

dirty. Well, I need to get a bath.

I need to have a shower. Well, it's young people.

It's not a reference to physical uncleanness.

OK, so let's put that away. It's a reference to moral

uncleanness. It's a reference to living a

life of iniquity and a life of immorality.

Look at verse four, that everyone of you should know how

to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour.

I believe that's a reference to the body.

His vessel is really a reference to his body.

Some take it to be the man's wife, but it could be, it could

be both. I, I don't know that, but I, I,

I, I, I take it to be that the man's body in view, because

remember, it's with our bodies, and then that body we can live

out a life where we manifest only the works of the flesh.

But all kinds of sensual impurity and all kinds of

immorality. Many live with a moral

looseness, no sense of decency, no sense of morality, no sense

of integrity, a life of beers, sensual pleasure.

And the apostle Paul is saying that life of sensual pleasure,

the child of God is to abstain from.

Why? Because the will of God is a

sanctification. I have to be very careful here,

and you understand why. Notice this word fornication.

Here's the elephant in the room. What is fornication?

The Greek word is purnia. It's used 25 times in the New

Testament, and I don't want to get descriptive, and I'm not,

but it refers to a young man or woman not married, living

together in an intimate relationship.

It's used of intimate encounters outside of marriage.

It's used of adultery. Married man leaves his wife,

goes off with another man's wife.

Used of incest, used of rape, used of homosexuality, it's used

of pornography. We could include lesbianism and

transgenderism. It's used of every kind of

sensual sexual impurity. It's used of a sensual, immoral

lifestyle. It's depicting all that's vile

and unclean. Now, why mention this?

Why the emphasis on this sin, Paul?

We're, we're scratching our heads here, Paul.

Here's the reason. It's one of the marks of the

Pagan world, the Roman Empire, the 1st century world.

These Thessalonians, before they converted, they lived a life not

only of gross idolatry, chapter one, verse 9, but along with

that life of idolatry, they lived a life that was described

by gross immorality. They were pagans.

They did not know God, they didn't love Him, they didn't

serve Him. They were in spiritual darkness.

Look what he says here. Not in the lust of Concupians,

even as the Gentiles which know not God.

The Gentiles which knew not God in the 1st century world lived a

life of gross idolatry. Go to Athens and see the

idolatry there. It was only a specimen example

of major towns and cities all throughout the Roman Empire.

But not only with a life of gross idolatry.

It was a life of gross immorality because along with

that idolatry was all kinds of sensual impurity under the

umbrella term of pernia, or as we put it in the English

fornication. And Paul is saying, now you're

saved, now you're in Christ. That old life has to be

abandoned. And maybe there were some having

trouble in this area, and maybe they were questioning in their

mind about the will of God. Well, he makes it abundantly

clear as he talked about holiness and his prayer for

them, He made it clear in the his detailed description, The

will of God is you're called unto holiness.

Can you think of that Pagan society?

Think for example of the city of Ephesus, the great goddess

Diana. They had Pagan worship in that

temple. They practised idolatry.

They worshipped her statue. But in that Pagan practise, as

part of their worship, they practise immorality.

And then that temple, there were certain women, we'd call them

temple prostitutes and they were there for the pleasure of men

and men used them for their pleasure.

At that time. This was the pre Christian world

and that was allowed in that day wasn't the mind and well of God,

but because men knew not God. These men that would have been

involved with these women, they also would have had probably a

few other mistresses, few girlfriends, they maybe even had

a wife or two at home. Looked upon the wife as there to

bring children into the world and look after the family home.

She in the Pagan world. This was their mindset in the

Pagan world. They knew not God.

They didn't know that God was holy.

They didn't know that God hated sin.

And Paul is saying to these Thessalonians, the God whom you

now serve, the God whom you now know, that God is holy, not God

hates sin, and that God calls you to abstain from fornication.

He has called us in Christ. Here's the reason to a life of

holiness. Can I go back to Peter again,

just for a minute? Bear with me in first Peter

chapter one we read again. But as he which had called you

is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.

The word conversation means lifestyle because it it is

written, be ye holy, for I am holy.

A holy life, a holy people unto God is a demonstration and a

witness that the God we worship and serve and love, that that

God is holy. Now, let me tell you this, and

my time has really gone, but I just want to emphasise this

point. We live in a day of gross

wickedness and immorality. Again, what's happened in

Britain, our United Kingdom has changed.

Up to the 1950s, we could say it was Christianized.

In a sense, the impact of Christian influence was felt in

the throne room, felt in government, felt in the

workplace, felt in home, felt in school.

But then something happened in the 1960s.

There was a sea change. It was an explosion of what I'm

calling immoral destruction. I know some people call it the

sexual revolution, but it's not. It's the explosion of immoral

destruction. And you come on from the 1960s

to 2025 and think of the impact on our TV screens, films

produced by Hollywood, TV shows, Internet sites, a lot of it even

adverts in the television. It's very graphic.

It's a lot of sensual, open, immoral stuff that's poured into

our eyes and into our minds. You take the fashion industry,

the books and the magazines. We're living in a day of open

iniquity, open immorality. Every kind of sensual pleasure

is being promoted. You don't know what has

happened. The dam has burst.

You see, in the 1950s it was beginning to crack and beginning

to leak. What was holding back that wall

of iniquity and immorality? I'll tell you two things, the

sacredness of Christian marriage that God instituted in Eden and

the sacredness of Christian morality based in the Bible,

based in the Lord's Prayer, the 10 commandments, the Beatitudes

were well known, taught in every home, society was ordered,

relationships were respectful, there was decent Christianized

values. I'm not saying that everyone was

born again. I'm not saying everyone was

professing Christ. But even amongst those born

again, they knew there was a call to holiness and amongst

those who were not born again, they knew that that there was a

God and God was to be feared. Now the time is burst and we're

living in a day when every kind of sensual pleasure is being

promoted. I, I want to read 1 passage

before I wrap up. I, I, I must read this here to

you. In Romans chapter 118 we read,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all

ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth and

unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God has

manifest in them, for God have showed it unto them.

For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world

are clearly seen, being understood by the things that

are made, even His eternal power in Godhead, so that they are

without excuse and listen. Because not when they knew God,

they glorified Him not as God. Neither were thankful, but

became vain in their imagination, and their foolish

heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be

wise, they became fools, Change the glory of the uncorruptible

God into an image made like the corruptible man, and to birds

and four footed beasts and creeping things.

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust

of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies

between themselves. Society had changed because the

dam had burst. They attacked Christian marriage

and they have attacked Christian morality.

And we today are headed back to the 1st century.

We're headed back to a Pagan world.

We're headed back to a pre Christian era.

We now have an age of gross, sensual immorality.

And I finish with this, God's will for us is sanctification.

And God works in US sanctification.

We can't do it ourselves. He works in us by His Spirit and

by His word. The Spirit, remember,

regenerates the Spirit and dwells us.

The Spirit sanctifies us. Without the Spirit, remember,

we're none of his. He resides in our bodies.

He quickens and He motivates. He convicts us remember, He's

the Holy Spirit, verse 8, And the Holy Spirit is holy, and the

Holy Spirit lives in me. And if you have no holiness, you

have no Holy Spirit living within you.

The Holy Spirit, see, it's impossible to be dwelt by the

Spirit and not no one experiences sanctifying

influence in your heart and in your life.

And the moment you trust Christ and the more you receive in him

as Lord and Saviour, your life has changed.

And then you begin to have a purpose.

You begin to have a new life and a new love and, and, and the

Spirit brings the fruit of the Spirit into your heart.

And you have a desire to pray and you have a desire to read

and study the scriptures and you want to live a life to please

Him. And, and you realise God is at

work in my heart. Remember, Jesus prayed.

Sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth.

Paul was taken up, the Son of God who loved me and gave

himself for me. It's Christ and me, the hope of

glory, the word of Christ, a life of pleasing him.

It's all founded upon Christ, His cross work, the victory of

his cross, growing intimate relationship with him, reading

the Bible and the word of God, meditating upon it, offering

prayer, having fellowship, and you take action when you do sin

and, and, and we can even fall into LAX sin and we can fall

into the gross sin again, but we've got to confess it.

Ask the Lord for forgiveness, Say no by the power of the

Spirit. May the Lord take these few

thoughts this morning that's been on my heart.

I've ate and slept this for a week of almost didn't want to

preach it but I felt that I had to be faithful to the text of

scripture and I trust and pray that will be received in the

spirit in which I have tried to preach it this morning.