Roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus all along.
Roll the clouds away. It's just us to keep me day by day. It's just like-
Standing. As the extras come forward for the offering, please turn your Bibles to 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4, 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4.
Do you mean to now run 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4, and the Bible reads, "Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus,
that as ye have received us, how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
And ye know that commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, and this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication,
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, 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 avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified,
for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness, he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.
But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another, and indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia.
But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more, and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye saw or not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall ride first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.
Let's pray. Dear Lord God, just thank you for this time we have, Lord, to hear the preaching of your word, Lord. Just please bless the service, Lord, and please be with us, Lord, and please be with Pastor, and film with the Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches unto us your word, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Look at verse number 1. He says, "Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."
"For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God.
Even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should
know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor." And the time I'm assuming this evening
is sanctification and honor. Sanctification and honor. We see that in verse number 4.
He says that every believer should know, obviously he's addressing those who are in church,
that they should know how to possess their vessel, meaning how to conduct themselves
in bodily form in sanctification and honor. I want to talk about those particular subjects
from this passage. Go with me if you want to 1 Corinthians chapter number 6. 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. And we're going to come back to 1 Thessalonians 4 later on in the sermon.
Sanctification and honor. Now let me explain a couple things regarding the phrase or the word
sanctification. What are we referring to? What does the Bible mean by sanctification?
Well, like many other terms in the Bible, it really depends on what the context is about.
And there are instances that mostly we're familiar with where the term sanctification means to
cleanse yourself from a particular sin, to separate yourself from people, from the things of this
world. And that's absolutely true. But really one of the first definitions that we see in the Bible
is to be set apart to God through faith in the gospel. It's God setting you apart by salvation
through our faith in Jesus Christ. So the first thing we're going to look at is sanctification,
which is being set apart through our faith. Now this does not require you to sanctify yourself
to be saved. This requires for you to believe on Jesus Christ, thereby sanctifying you,
setting you apart unto God through Jesus Christ. Let's look at an example of that. 1 Corinthians
chapter 6 and verse number 9. He says, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the
kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither 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." Now, obviously verse 9 and 10
is not an exhaustive list of people who are not going to go to heaven, right? It's obviously
giving us a synopsis in general of people who will not go to heaven, who are guilty of these
particular things. And we can compare this to Revelation 21 and verse number 8, which is also
another list that isn't necessarily exhaustive. The point that the Apostle Paul and the Apostle
John are making is that the flesh that commits these things are not going to inherit the kingdom
of God. Now, he's addressing the church at Corinth here, and he's saying that the unrighteous,
the unsaved, the unregenerated will not inherit the kingdom of God. And I want you to notice verse
11, "And such were some of you." So he's essentially saying that the members of the church at Corinth,
some of them were fornicators. Some of them were idolaters, as we saw this morning. Some of them
were adulterers. Some of them, you know, were a little soft because it says effeminate, right?
Meaning that they're a little girly. This doesn't mean that they're a homo, by the way. Okay. And
some of them were abusers of themselves with mankind, which what I believe this is referring
to is just a woman who's going about committing fornication, sleeping around. That's what it's
referring to. Verse number 10. Some of them were thieves. Some of them were covetous. And he goes
through this very long list here, a particular sentence, and he says, "You were some of these
people." But then he goes on to say, "But ye are washed," and I want you to notice this, "But ye
are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
So I want you to notice that justified, sanctified, and washed are all used interchangeably
to describe salvation. Because when we think of the term sanctification or to be sanctified,
we can say that it means to be washed. To sanctify something means to cleanse it,
to wash it. And what it's referring to in the context of salvation is that when we believe
on Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus is placed to our account and washes us from all of our sins.
It washes us from the wages of idolatry, the wages of fornication, the wages of being effeminate,
the wages of being a thief, the wages of being a covetous person or a drunkard. It cleanses us from
all our sins. So we know that the wages of sin is death, meaning that if a person that is not saved
dies in that condition, they will go to hell and pay for those sins in a place called hell
for all of eternity. However, if they choose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they can be
washed from that. They can be cleansed from that. They can be justified. Justified simply means made
righteous, just as if I've never sinned. But let me explain something. Is it just because you're
justified, just because you're washed and just because you're sanctified, doesn't remove the
penalty of your sin on this earth? It removes the penalty of sin for eternal damnation, meaning
you're not going to go to hell. Your spirit is completely cleansed. Your spirit is justified.
Your spirit is sanctified by the spirit of God. However, you can still suffer the consequences
of your actions here on this earth. And this is something that's really important for people to
understand because, you know, you've heard this before. I've heard this when we go out and preach
the gospel and we talk about eternal security. Once saved, always saved. One of the major things
that people struggle with when they hear that is, "Oh, are you saying?" Yes, I'm saying.
Before you even ask the question, I already know what you're going to ask. "Are you saying that I
can just believe and just live however I want?" Well, it really depends on what you mean by that.
Because, yes, you can believe and live however you want, but here's the thing. It doesn't mean
you're not going to be punished for living however you want because you are going to be
punished. Actions have consequences. Living in sin has consequences. So, yeah, God allows you the
free will to live however you want after salvation. However, he does not remove the consequences of
those actions. He simply removes the wages of sin, which is eternal damnation when we get saved.
Okay. And, you know, part of this is understanding that when we get saved, it's just our spirit that's
saved. It's not our flesh, which is why he talks about the unrighteous not inheriting the kingdom
of God. We can compare that to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where it says flesh and blood shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. And what is the part, what is the aspect of our being that is
sinful in the eyes of God? It's our flesh, right? The corruptible flesh that desires to sin. It's
not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. The Bible calls it the carnal mind that is
enmity against God. These are things that are not subject to God. Therefore the spirit that dwells
within us needs to lead the flesh and not the other way around. And by the way, this is the
reason why when people get saved, if they don't get in church, they don't start reading the Bible.
If they don't start practicing sanctification, they're going to just live a carnal life.
And here's another false doctrine that's out there. Well, yeah, but if they don't, you know,
do the right things eventually, or if they don't do any good works eventually, that's just proof
that they're not saved. Book, chapter and verse on that. It's not there. Yeah. Are we his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus into good works, which, you know, which God has ordained that we should
walk in them? Yes, we should walk in them. But hold on a second. If a person does not get themselves
in the church, they don't know what the word of God says. They don't get some hard preaching.
They're not going to know to cleanse their lives from these things. They're going to live a carnal
life. And folks, if the apostle Paul, who's an apostle, he's starting churches, he's winning
people to Christ, he's serving God. If even he says in Romans chapter seven, I am carnal,
how much more of those who are saved and are not serving God, they're obviously extremely carnal.
Okay. They're fleshly, they're carnal. And quite frankly, all of us to a certain degree are carnal.
You know why? Because we have carnae. The difference is it's not carnae assata because
we're not going to go to hell. Okay. It's just carnae. It's just flesh that encapsulates the
new man. And that's why there's a constant battle. Okay. Now this isn't a sermon on how to verify if
someone's saved or not. Obviously the way we verify that is based upon what they claim to believe.
But I will say that obviously as Christians, one of the things that kind of, you know,
one of the ways that the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God
is that there's this constant struggle between the flesh and the spirit. Right? The things that I
would, I do not. The things I hate that I do. There's always a war between the flesh and the
spirit. Now that's not always the case with every Christian because some Christians are so carnal.
They're not feeding the flesh or excuse me, they're not feeding the spirit. They're constantly
feeding the flesh. And so they're always subject to the flesh. They're allowing sin to reign in
their mortal bodies to obey it in the lust thereof as Roman six puts it. And it is possible that
Christians can become desensitized to sin. They become calloused towards sin. It doesn't bother
them like it used to, right? And of course, at that point, consequences will ensue. They will
be chastised by God according to Hebrews chapter 12 and Hebrews chapter 10 as well. The point that
I'm making here is that what the Bible's teaching us here is that the term sanctification initially
can refer to justification, meaning when you believe on Jesus Christ, you are set apart from
God from everyone else, to God from everyone else, as being a child of God, the people of God,
a saint, okay? Now go to chapter two, go to second Thessalonians chapter two,
second Thessalonians chapter two. I'm going to continue reading in first Corinthians chapter six
and verse 11. I'm going to reread this. It says, "In such were some of you,
the difference being, of course, ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name
of our Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are
not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."
So it's specifically saying that the apostle Paul is addressing the fact that he's not going to
allow himself to be driven by his inhibitions, to be controlled by what his desires are. He says,
"I'm not going to be brought under the power of any." He goes on to say, "Meats for the belly,
belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication,
but for the Lord and the Lord for the body." So if he's talking to people who are involved in
fornication, but then he says you're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified, that doesn't mean
they can't get involved in fornication again. Obviously, it's a possibility. If someone has
opened the door to a particular sin, BC or AD, at the end of the day, you still open that door,
which is why the apostle Paul has to address fornication to begin with. Why? Because of the
fact that he needs to tell the Corinthian church abstain from fornication, you know,
don't commit fornication, flee fornication, even though they've already been washed from fornication.
You understand what I'm saying? So they've been washed from the consequences of fornication,
the eternal consequence. However, he still wants them to be sanctified from fornication as they
live on this earth. See, obviously we've moved on from, you know, getting saved, right? We're
already saved. Many of us got saved years ago. Maybe you just got saved recently and we're not
going to just live our lives trying to sanctify ourselves for the sake of just confirming that
we're saved or something like that. No, obviously the process of sanctification is something
separate from justification and sanctification. The sanctification that has to do with being
justified is just God setting you apart through our faith in Jesus Christ. Okay,
look at 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 13. It goes on to say, "But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Now I want you to notice
that it doesn't say through his selection, right? You're saved, you're not, you're saved, you're not,
you're saved, you're not, you're saved, for sure not saved, for sure not. Oh yeah, you're going to
hell. You know, that's how the Calvinist views election, right? But it specifically says here
that they're chosen to salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. So the way you're elected, the way you receive salvation, the way you become the chosen
is through the sanctification of the Spirit by your belief in the truth, okay? But again, look at
verse 14, "Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ." Go to 1st Peter chapter 1, 1st Peter chapter 1. We're just looking at some verses here
that use a sanctification in the context of being justified, of being saved. We're being set apart
through the Spirit of God by our faith in Jesus Christ. And to a certain degree, we're essentially
washed from our sins. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus, right? Our sins
are cleansed, we're washed. However, there requires a daily cleansing, a daily washing,
not to maintain our salvation, not to confirm our salvation. Salvation has already been done with.
This is so we can live a life pleasing unto the Lord while we're here on this earth. Look at 1st
Peter 1, and verse number 1, it says, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ, grace unto you in peace, be multiplied." Again, we see the sanctification
of the Spirit. And this is essentially the ministry of the Holy Spirit when we get saved.
What role does the Holy Spirit play when we get saved? Well, the Bible tells us in Titus chapter
three and verse number five, "Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost."
It's essentially saying that when you believe on Jesus Christ, the phenomenon that takes place is
that the Holy Spirit comes and He regenerates you. What does it mean to regenerate? He brings you to
life. "You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin." To be quickened means to be
brought back to life. So according to the Bible, before Christ, your spirit was dead, okay? And
obviously, you know, it dies when it realizes that it's sin against God according to Romans chapter
seven. The law slays you, right? This is what we would refer to as the age of accountability when
you realize I've sinned against God. Your spirit is slain, but once you believe on Jesus Christ,
the spirit comes and he quickens your dead spirit, brings it to life, and it says that he washes you.
So it's this process that the spirit does once you believe on Jesus Christ where he washes you of
your sins, he regenerates your dead spirit. This is what it means when it talks about the through
the sanctification of the spirit. It's referring to that regeneration. Go to first Corinthians chapter
one, first Corinthians chapter one, first Corinthians chapter one. Now this the word
sanctification is where we get the word saint from okay. Now you know saints that what people
think to be saints is the catholic definition of saints which is oh if a person has done enough
good works they dug enough wells in Africa or whatever you know they they started orphanages
you know they they made the catholic church a lot of money whatever you know just anything
the catholic church deems as being an honorable task they're like oh yeah we're gonna canonize
this person as being a saint that's like a huge deal in the catholic church but it's not in the
bible though but suppose the bible they gave us this you know doesn't fit the same definition
and requirements as what they're claiming because a saint in the bible is someone who's been
sanctified through the spirit someone who's believed on jesus christ so i'm looking at
a bunch of saints right now and you didn't have to be canonized look at first corinthians 1 1 it
says paul called to be an apostle of jesus christ through the will of god and sasthenes our brother
unto the church of god which is at corinth to them that are sanctified in christ jesus called to be
saints with all that in every place call upon the name of jesus christ our lord both theirs and ours
so obviously a person gets saved by calling upon the name of the lord and the bible tells us here
that everyone who calls upon the name of the lord is called to be a saint they are a sanctified one
they are a separated one they are essentially a saint and it doesn't require works you don't have
to wait till like 50 years after you've died for the church or whatever to assess your life to see
if you're worthy to be canonized become a saint you become a saint automatically at you know once
you believe on jesus christ at the rebirth right and thank god for that and look we're saints even
though sometimes we miss the s all right you got it okay good everyone's at the s but that what does
that spell ain't okay even when you ain't now you get it okay and so that word saint derives from
the term sanctification we are sanctified through jesus christ now let me read to you
from first john three verse nine because this is a verse that people take out of context a lot
where it says whosoever is born of god does not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he
cannot sin because he is born of god and this is uh you know in the modern versions it says
you know whosoever is born of god does not practice sin okay but they're misinterpreting
what the verse is referring to period because you know if we were to interpret this as meaning
that you will never sin after you get saved then you have to ignore chapter one that says that if
you claim you have no sin then you're basically lying against the truth you're calling god a
liar because of the fact that we all have sin because of the fact that we're in this corruptible
flesh when it says that whosoever is born of god we have to really ask ourselves what part of our
being is born of god well the part of our being according to john chapter three is the spirit is
born again it's not our flesh and guess what our spirit is sinless it's without sin it's sinless
the seed remaineth in him but hold on a second the flesh on the other hand will continue to
commit sin now go back to first Thessalonians chapter four first Thessalonians chapter four
the point that i'm making is that the subject of sanctification in regards to salvation
is important because of the fact that we know that we're cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ
we're cleansed through the gospel we're cleansed through the spirit of God we are eternally set
apart unto God through the sanctification of the spirit that regeneration of the spirit
but here's the thing is that after salvation there's also sanctification okay now we would
actually describe this as being justification sanctification glorification right justification
is when you get saved sanctification is the life you live on this earth that is seeking to please
God in all things to earn a reward to please God things of that nature glorification is proof that
no matter what happens throughout the sanctification process you're still saved so here's the great
thing justification means you're saved sanctification means you're supposed to be serving God glorification
means no matter what happens throughout the sanctification phase you're still going to be
you're still saved right because he's not going to deny himself he's not a liar he's going to
regenerate your physical body as well one day so that's important but you know we never want to
ignore or negate that middle part right there which is sanctification meaning you know the
responsibility to live a holy life a sanctified life right and you know someone sent me some
preaching regarding this pastor who's like saying stuff like you know oh we shouldn't
tell people that they need to get sanctified in that manner and we shouldn't use fear to try to
get people to serve god and like tell people they need to come to a wednesday night service
i'm like what the heck are you talking about he's like we're already sanctified we've already gotten
saved and you know to that i say yeah yeah we are sanctified we are set apart we are justified
but that does not negate the fact that the bible also commands us to live a sanctified life while
we're here though you know this weird teaching out there that says because i'm already saved
therefore we should not point out these sins in someone's life after salvation because we've
already been forgiven of that okay go ahead and commit murder and let's see how that works out
for you right stupid nonsensical teaching okay now that you're safe go commit fornication then
let's see how that works out for you now look folks obviously if you commit fornication you're
not going to hell if you're saved but you know you will experience hell on earth though if you do
but this this this teaching and i honestly don't know why this pastor would say this i don't know
if he's just delusional or you know god is giving him strong delusions or something but as he's
saying this i'm thinking to myself first Corinthians i mean first Thessalonians four look what first
Thessalonians four says in verse number three for this is the will of god even your sanctification
brother but we're already sanctified oh hold on a second that you should abstain from fornication
paul what are you doing why are you being judgmental like that the Thessalonians have
already been forgiven of fornication he say no god's will for your life is that you don't commit
fornication even though you're already saved and he goes on to say that every one of you should know
how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor not in the lust of concupiscence 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 avenger of all such oh why are you gonna scare people you're not
supposed to scare people and to living a sanctified life well then why did he say that the lord is the
avenger of all such you know why because it strikes fear in the hearts of people when they
realize that actions have consequences look folks we don't come to the house of god to hear a tet
talk and just try to justify your sin excuse your sin my job is to preach against your sin
my job is to preach against the sins of the bible to keep you from doing them and remind you that
actions have consequences and you know what the pastor who refuses to preach against sin does not
love his congregation he has a dissimulated love he has a fake love he has a feigned love he has
swelling words that you know because he wants man's person's admiration but you know the pastor
who actually loves his congregation you know the bible tells us this open rebuke is better than
secret love you know i just think that you know i just think we shouldn't be judging people like
that then you need to sit down and shut up and don't become a pastor because you know what we
do have the uncomfortable responsibility of comparing people with their sin and preaching
against sin and knowing that sometimes people are involved in sin and preach against it anyways
and run the risk of running them out of the church run the risk of offending them but you know what
this is our job and you know what we're doing it not to please men but to please christ live a
sanctified life this is the will of god you know sometimes people view the will of god as this
mystical thing like i just want to know what god's will is well for starters don't commit
fornication that's pretty good i just want to know god's specific will you can't get more
specific than that fornication don't do it you know and this is the way you discover god's
specific will for your life you do god's revealed will first and you know what if you're involved
in adultery fornication if you're a drunkard if you're involved in extortion if you're a railer
you better get that right first before god can reveal his specific will for your life
because this is the will of god in christ jesus that you should abstain from fornication and he
says that you need to learn how to possess your vessel your body in sanctification and honor you
should know these things that's what he's telling them now you know the person who doesn't know
these things is the christian who's not in church right we got to be patient with people like that
some fornicator comes to our church we can't just be like oh he's a fornicator you know this guy is
unclean or something give him some time let him hear some preaching let me yell at him a couple
hours you know throughout the month or whatever he'll get it and then hopefully he'll sanctify
his life clean up his life it's not committing fornication but you know the person who's been
in our church they know that it's wrong and they continue to commit those things you know that
person needs to be thrown out of church if they remain unrepentant he says in verse seven for god
hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness so the the the synonym there for
sanctification is holiness you know god wants us to live a holy sanctified clean life he says in
verse eight he therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but god who hath also given unto us his
holy spirit look at chapter five chapter five if you would and you know what justification is the
most important thing right it's the most important thing we've literally centered our lives in our
lives as a church around helping others to become justified in the eyes of god right and you know
glorification is really important but probably i would say the most important aspect of this
entire life is our sanctification because we're already saved so we can't keep focusing on like
oh man let's just keep focusing on salvation we need to move on from that let us go on into
perfection the bible says and we need to focus our lives around being a sanctified people a holy
people look at chapter five and verse number 16 some some good uh nuggets of instructions here
he says rejoice ever more pray without ceasing and everything give thanks for this is the will
of god in christ jesus concerning you so in chapter four he says the will of god is for you to abstain
from fornication and chapter five says the will of god is for you to be thankful pretty extreme
instructions there but they're both the will of god he says quench not the spirit despise not
prophesying prove all things hold fast out which is good and i want you to notice verse 22 abstain
from all appearance of evil so you know part of sanctification is not just sanctifying your body
from the sins of this world it's also not looking like you're committing those sins either meaning
that your body should not be in certain environments that are deemed sinful even if you're not
committing those sins in that particular environment in other words nobody in here should be going to a
stinking bar well i don't drink alcohol then don't go there yeah but i'm having a coke zero have it
somewhere else why because you you should abstain from all appearance of evil so the bible not only
commands us to stay away from evil the bible even commands us to abstain from the even looking like
you're committing evil this would include bars raves concerts right you know and i don't really
know much about concerts anyways like i don't know what's popular you know popular concert there is
right now who knows let's see who's not sanctified right now i'm just kidding a taylor swift concert
now i don't know what that broad talks about in her songs i don't really care but let me just put
the standard here no dude should be attending a taylor swift concert see first corinthian six
nine for that effeminate command right there okay abstain not just from fornication abstain from the
appearance of committing fornication and look this is not a rule in the bible that i'm about to say
but i think it's a good rule is that that's why if you're not married you shouldn't be alone in the
car with the opposite sex at 12 midnight in a dark alley in a parking lot you say well yeah but we
both love the lord we're not going to do anything abstain from the from the appearance of looking
like you're going to do something bad well we respect each other we're not going to do anything
i'm just kind of helping her out i'm just trying to counsel her it looks evil though so stop it you
know step into the light we try to have as much lights as here as possible you shouldn't be
fellowshipping in the darkest corner right don't look like you're doing evil and that's why when
my kids are playing around i always tell my kids i want you to be where i can see you i want them
going into different rooms where there's no adult supervision why do we want to abstain from all
appearance of evil and not that our kids are going to do anything evil but you know we don't want
to tempt them to do something evil we don't want to place them in a position where they might do
something dumb but you know this applies more so for adults though abstain from the appearance of
evil and you know what no christian should be attending some stupid rave where people are drunk
they're drug induced and they dress like whores and no christian should be there dressed like a
whore either because that's that's not just the appearance of evil that's just evil you're not
you're not just looking like a whore you are whore when the bible says to you know know how
to possess your vessel and sanctification and honor it means you should know what is acceptable
in the sight of god not perfection you know look can we all admit that we all do dumb things
sometimes we all say stupid things we all do dumb things but that shouldn't be our track record
right that shouldn't be something that we're characterized by and you know what when someone
slips up and does something dumb every once in a while we cut them slack if they're not characterized
by that right if someone slips up and maybe does something dumb or you know they they post
something stupid you know they put someone on their stories it's kind of dumb we just kind of
write off like that was dumb but whatever you know they generally don't do those things but when all
your stories are stupid when all your stories are wicked you should know how to possess your
vessel in sanctification and honor you know your vessel includes your social media too he says
abstain from all appearance evil now why should we abstain from appearance of evil well because
first of all the bible commands it but secondly you don't want to cause others to think or wonder
that you're doing something evil and you don't want to cause others to think or wonder that
you're doing something evil thereby justifying them if they want to do something evil because
they're like oh if they're doing this that means i can do this folks it's not right and this is what
look at verse 23 and the very god of peace sanctify you holy i pray god your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our lord jesus christ faithful to
see the call to you will also do it so look our spirit will be blameless until the coming of
jesus christ because we're already saved but you know the goal for every christian should be that
our bodies would remain blameless too that we would not be ashamed of the coming of our lord
jesus christ because we live just a fleshly carnal life that's not pleasing unto the lord
he wants us to be sanctified holy not just in spirit that's the most important thing
and let's just be honest the the vast majority of christians are only going to be sanctified in
spirit because the vast majority of christians not necessarily serving god the goal should be
that we're sanctified in spirit soul and body and you know that that takes a little work what
kind of work does it take the sanctifying work okay go with me if you would to uh let's see
go to second timothy chapter 2 second timothy chapter 2 you know this is why the bible tells
us let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the luster of
neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto
god what does that talk about you know know how to possess your vessel in sanctification and honor
know how to live a sanctified life not a perfect life doesn't mean you're not going to slip up
doesn't mean you're not going to sin but you know what you should strive and endeavor to
live a life that's clean though we're not preaching sinless but you know what the longer you're
christian the longer you're in church the more you read the bible the more hard preaching you get
you should sin less though and the unfortunate thing about living this side of eternity is that
even though we sin less we'll never become sinless but should we just throw in the towel and be like
ah forget it i'm just gonna go ahead and just drink smoke run with those to do because it's
just a losing battle it's not a losing battle because our effort and our desire us endeavoring
to live a sanctified life pleases god and when we please god we fulfill the will of god
folks our our goal as christians no matter how short we fall should be that we want to please god
oh that's a losing battle so i'm just gonna throw my hands please god not only that but folks just
like we talked about last week there are rewards for serving christ and you know what the rewards
that you receive does not require for you to be sinless but it does require for you to repent of
your sin so you can be a vessel and to honor me for the master's use and so you know at first
works baptist church we need to make sure that we're endeavoring to not allow sin to reign in our
mortal bodies and that takes work that means after the sermon you kind of you kind of take some
you know inventory of your life you say you know i need to get right with god in this area
i need to make sure i repent of this area i gotta throw out whatever this i gotta get away from
this particular person i need to sanctify myself set myself apart from the world apart from these
people apart from these actions and separate myself unto god and you know what you might not do it
perfectly this week but you should still do it though you may not fulfill it completely this
week but at least try though why because god is worth it we need to walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith we are called ephesians chapter 4 now what's one way that god or we can set ourselves
apart we could be sanctified well the most obvious answer is to the bible so it's important for you
to read the word of god every single day okay and let me read to you from john chapter 17
which is interesting because the same pastor read from john chapter 17 and just completely
ripped it out of context it says in verse 16 they are not of this world even as i am not of the
world this is jesus praying for his disciples sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth
and he said you know that's see that's how you get cleansed and it's because we got saved and
we're cleansed through the word which i agree with that but this passage is not teaching that
and i'm explaining to you why i'm going to continue reading here it says as thou has sent
me into the world even so also excuse me even so have i also sent them into the world and for
their sakes i sanctify myself so if the sanctification here means to be sanctified
by salvation how would that make sense if jesus christ is saying that he's sanctifying himself
he doesn't need salvation he is salvation when he says for their sakes i sanctify myself he's
referring to the fact that he set himself apart and you know what the word of god sets us apart
you know what would keep you from going to that stupid bar is the bible you know what would keep
you from going to that stupid rave the bible you know what would keep you from going to a taylor
Swift concert? Being a man, and the Bible, not being gay, and the Bible, okay? The Word of God
sets us apart, it sanctifies us, and look folks, this is why we're called Bible-believing Christians,
because we determine our lives, we set the course of our lives based upon what does the Bible say?
Not what does the Church Fathers say, not what does tradition say, not what my inhibitions say,
not what do I desire, what does the Bible say? And once you begin to live a life that
makes decisions based off of the Word of God, at that point you are being sanctified through the
truth, that word is truth. Because now you're like, well what does the Bible say about that?
So the Bible sanctifies us, preaching sanctifies us as well, and you know what? It's important
for pastors to get up and preach hard against sin. It's important. Why? Because of the fact that
that's what people respond to, but even if people didn't respond to, God still commands us to do it.
"Oh, we shouldn't judge from the pulpit. We shouldn't judge people to live a sanctified life."
Poppycock. The Bible says to judge. "Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Cry aloud and spare not.
Show my people their transgression." The Bible says. "Reprove, rebuke, exalt with all long
suffering and doctrine." That's what the Bible says. And this is what this man said. He said,
"We shouldn't scare people into obeying God. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."
Hebrews chapter 10 says, "That a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fire and indignation
which shall devour the adversaries." It goes on to say, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God." Raise your hand if fearing God has caused you to depart from evil,
right here. Why wouldn't it? If fearing God doesn't make you depart from evil,
then you weren't spanked as a child. You know, if, by the way, it's the same thing with,
you know what keeps us as being law-abiding citizens? We fear the law. The breaking of
the law, the consequences of breaking the law causes us to fear. It's like, "I don't want to
go to jail. I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to, I don't want to get a ticket for that."
So we become law-abiding citizens because of that. You shouldn't cause people to
serve God out of fear. That's not what the Bible says. It seems you're doing your church a disservice.
It seems as though you are a weakling of a pastor that doesn't want to offend its congregants.
And look, I don't have this innate desire to just want to offend people in my church.
I love the people in my church. And you know, I don't like when I offend people in my church,
but at the end of the day, you know what? I don't want to offend God. And at the end of the day,
I truly love you. And if I truly love you, I'm going to say you look like a whore. So stop
dressing like that. And let me just say this, okay? Ladies, modesty. Can I just get on this for a
little bit? Folks, if we're coming to the house of God, come to the house of God looking like a saint.
You know, what you do behind closed doors is your business and you should be dressed modestly behind
closed doors as well, because God is still there. But if you're going to come to the house of God,
can you not come as though you just painted your dress on or something? As though, you know,
someone had to paint your dress on with latex or something like that. This is the house of God.
We got kids in this church. Ladies, can you do us a favor? And I'm not saying this is something
that's prevalent in our church, but lest it should become prevalent in our church. Can you make sure
that you look in the mirror and say, is the Lord Jesus Christ pleased with the way I'm dressed
right now? Go into church. Or, you know, maybe you might be like, here's a better question.
Do I look like a whore in this church? In this dress. And in this church, of course. Do I look
like a whore? Be honest with yourself. I think it's inappropriate that you're saying that. Well,
you know what? You don't have, you don't, must not have five kids. I got boys in the church.
There's men in this church. This is the house of God. You know what? We don't need to look at your
rear end to see what shape it is. We don't need to look, we don't need to see the parts of your body.
Save that for some, save that for your husband. I know this is a hard saying, but this is learn
how to possess your vessel and sanctification and honor. You know what? Men are the only ones who are,
who are offended at this. Women are offended at that too. Women who actually dress modestly,
who actually esteem modesty, the esteem being sanctified. You know, women, they're offended at
that. And you know what? We should be offended when people come into our church like that,
who know better, because this is the house of God. And every once in a while, we got to preach on
this because I'm just telling you, you know, it's just weird to have someone come into our church
and you kind of have to look the other way. Why in the house of God? Grocery store? Yeah.
Restaurants? Yeah. But in God's house, look at second Timothy two, I kind of, you know, I,
that was my other point, but I just couldn't help myself. Oh, you shouldn't talk to women
like that because then they're going to leave church. Well, maybe they do need to leave church.
Maybe they do. And look, I'm not trying to scare people away. I want people to be in our church.
I want to grow our church. I want us to continue to grow in numbers. Absolutely.
I want more laborers for the harvest. I want more saints in the house of God. But you know,
I'm not going to compromise on this though. And I'm not going to turn a blind eye to it either.
Okay. And you know what? Luckily, the older I get, the more honoree I get,
the more stubborn I become, the more bold I get because I become sick and tired of this stuff.
Okay. And so please, ladies, you know, with the, with the, with the freaking cherry on top,
before you walk out the door, ask your husband, is this pleasing unto you? And is it pleasing
unto the Lord and husbands, you know, have some, have some, some, some, I got to be careful,
have some gall, have some, some boldness to actually tell your wife that she's not
dressed appropriately. If that's the case. Oh, you don't know, it's going to cause a fight
between me and my wife, then you know what? You need to learn some leadership then. Amen?
But you know what? If you're not married, then ask your father. And if you don't have a father,
you're coming here without, you know, an authority, then just ask the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look in the mirror and say, is this pleasing unto the Lord or is this the attire of a harlot?
And be honest with yourself. And look, if you truly believe that that's pleasing unto the Lord,
you need to say, Lord Jesus Christ, you're pleased with this attire. And you know that will,
that will not resonate with your soul. You know, it won't. I'm sick of it. Men in our church are
sick of it. And you know what? Ladies in our church are sick of it as well. And you know,
I think we have a very diplomatic church. I think our church is very kind. The meanest guy here is
me behind the pulpit. I think everyone in our church is kind. I think they're gracious. You know,
I think Southern Californians are normal. I think we're just normal. You know, we're just, we're
just down to earth people. We have, we try to practice discretion and we try our best. And so,
you know, but don't take our discretion as an excuse or as validation for how you dress and act.
Look at 2nd Timothy 2 19. You shouldn't scare people unto serving God. Well, nevertheless,
verse 19, the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are
his and let everyone that name it the name of Christ depart from iniquity. If you name the
name of Christ, depart from, what does that talk about? Sanctification. He says, but in a great
house, there's, there's not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth and
some to honor, some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel
unto honor, sanctified, meet for the master's use, prepared unto every good work, the Bible says.
So according to the Bible, for you to even be used of God, you got to be living in a sanctified life
or at least endeavoring to be sanctified. Very important. Go back to first Thessalonians chapter
four, first Thessalonians chapter four. So what's the title of the sermon? Sanctification and honor.
Sanctification meaning, you know, you're set apart through the gospel. Sanctification also
meaning that you're cleansing your life on a daily basis. But then, you know, the Bible also says
that we should be living or possessing our vessel in honor. We always, we kind of forget that last
part because it says that you should know how to possess your vessel. Look at, let's read it verse
three or verse four, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification
and honor. That's important because he's saying you should know how to live a sanctified life,
but it also says honor. Now what is honor? Dignity. You know what God is saying? Have
some dignity. Be a dignified person. Have some self-respect. Value yourself just a little bit.
Treat yourself every once in a while. Value yourself every once in a while. Value yourself
in the presence of other people. This isn't talking about pride. This isn't talking about
arrogance. It's talking about dignity. Be a dignified person. This is what the Bible means
by honor. So we should learn how to possess our vessels in sanctification, meaning in cleansing,
sanctifying ourselves, but also carry ourselves with dignity. Have some dignity. Have some
self-respect. Carry yourself like a child of God. Act like a Christian. Not with pride,
not with arrogance, but with self-respect because you have Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Now go to Proverbs chapter 5. Proverbs chapter 26 verse 1 says that snow and summer and rain
and harvest show honor or dignity is not seemly for a fool. Stupid people don't have dignity.
They don't know how to behave themselves before others. Right? A fool is stupid. That's what
it's referring to. And it says foolish people, stupid people, don't have dignity. They don't
have self-respect. That's why they make themselves a fool before everyone else.
Now, what's the opposite of dignity? Well, we can say it's someone without discretion.
And what is discretion? It's the ability to discern what is appropriate at its given time.
Right? Look at Proverbs chapter 5 and verse number 1. My son,
attend unto my words, and bow thine ear to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion,
and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as in honeycomb,
and her mouth is smoother than oil. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life,
her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them. Hear me now therefore, ye children,
not from the words of my mouth, remove thy way far from her and come not nigh to the door of her
house. Lest thou give thine honor unto others and thy years unto the cruel. What is the Bible telling
us here? It's telling us that young men, you should not be driven away with whores and women
without discretion. Don't just give over your dignity to some floozy. You know, young Christian
men in our church have some dignity, you know, and don't take this too far, okay, and be like,
you know, and then you create some unrealistic expectation what you want in a wife or something.
You know, you want this Barbie or whatever that just doesn't exist. You know, we need to be
realistic about our goals here, okay. You know, I can't just expect to go into the gym tomorrow
and squat 500. It's just not going to happen, you know, and there's no such thing as a power
positive thing that'll get me that. So you know what I have to do? I have to lower my expectation
a little bit. I got to say, you know what? I would like a 500, but quite frankly, I can't even get a
400. And during this cut, I can't even hit three something. I must be realistic and stick to my
high 200s until I reach the number desirable. But quite frankly, it's possible that I may never hit
500. You know what it's called? It's called being realistic. Okay. And you know what? Let me just,
as an elder of the church, let me just encourage the young men in our church, be realistic with
your goals as far as like who you're trying to marry. You know, maybe you need to turn off
social media because it's giving you such unrealistic expectations. And maybe you just,
I don't want to say settle because that just sounds horrible, but you know, be realistic.
That's the nicest way I can say it. Point that I'm making here is that we need to make sure that
even the young men, you know, stay away from the horse woman who lacks discretion, who's seeking to
rob you of your dignity. Have some self-respect. This is why, you know, we're against the sipping
culture. Dudes who just fall over themselves from some chick on IG or something or whatever.
I mean, it's ridiculous. You have no self-respect. You have no self-worth. You have no dignity.
And you know what? I'm not for this culture either that five guys are trying to go for this one girl
and let's just see who wins. Forget that. I'm not for that. Hello? I got dignity. You know,
my dignity says like, you know, I don't want to be plan B, C or D. And I don't want to be the one
that says, well, if this doesn't work out with this one, then I'm next in line. Forget that.
You say, oh, you're just prideful. No, no, no, no. I got dignity. I have self-worth. I have
self-respect. And you know what? My mother would not be pleased with knowing that her son is
behaving in such a manner that I'm just simping over someone and I'm just the one next in line.
My mama didn't raise no simp. You're like, yeah, but you're not that good looking. But you don't
have to be good looking to have dignity though. I'm not talking about pride. I'm talking about
self-respect. And you know what? Some of us can't change the way we look, obviously. We can improve
it a little bit. But maybe you might not be able to change how you look. But you know, you can
change how you act and how you think. Okay? And you know what? Sometimes there's people out there
who look good. They're very handsome or beautiful. But they have no dignity. So they're ugly as hell
anyways. Because they lack discretion. What am I saying? I'm saying that, you know, we should
learn how to possess our vessels in sanctification and honor. Not in pride. But have some self-respect
for yourself. Okay? Have some dignity about yourself. Don't just constantly talk down on
yourself, by the way. You know what? This is not a culture that we want in our church where we
just like, we just like despise ourselves or something. Folks, the Bible says no man ever
yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it. And let's be honest, some of
us nourish and cherish it a little too much. You know, I went through a season where I just
nourished this thing to no end and just that was my life verse. I'm nourishing this body, you know?
The point that I'm making is that naturally we should esteem ourselves to a certain degree
and not despise ourselves, not hate ourselves, because you are removing from the God-given
dignity that the Lord has given to you. Have some dignity. And look, I'm not saying that, again,
you should be prideful or arrogant or puffed up or boastful, but hold on a second. You do have
Christ in you, the hope of glory, though. Hold on a second. You are a child of God. Hold on a second.
You are a vessel, sanctified meat for the Master's use. Hold on a second. The Lord Jesus Christ knows
who you are. You're a servant of God. You attend First Works Baptist Church. You win souls to
Christ. You read the Bible. You have God's hand upon you. This merits an attitude of dignity.
And say, you know what? And look, memorize Ecclesiastes is all you want. I'm all for it.
But walk away from Ecclesiastes just recognizing all is vain. So therefore, I look forward to
heaven. All is vanity, but I look forward to heaven. But don't become so enthralled with
Ecclesiastes that you become stoic and self-hating or something. And let me just address my fellow
Mexicans in the church. Don't hate being Mexican. I'm not Mexican. You're as brown as the day is
long. Get out of here. You're so Mexican. If I was racist, I'd call ice on you right now.
Don't hate the fact that you're Mexican. Don't hate the fact that you're dark, that you're light,
that you're medium shade, that you can tan, that you can't. You're fearfully and wonderfully made.
Women fear you. I'm just kidding. Thank God for what, how he's made you. Have some dignity about
yourself. Oh man, I just, I just can't stand that. Maybe I wish I was white. It's the stupidest thing
ever. And look, we've had Mexicans come to our church who like were as dark as Marcos back there
about a little brother, Maury, brother Maury. Okay. All right. All right. You're in close proximity.
You know, okay. You know, and you know what? They, they hated being Mexican. They're like, well,
I'm actually white. I'm telling you the truth. They want to be white. They hate being Mexican.
And they're like, no, my baby picture says that. Like, if you look at my baby, I was super white.
You look at the pictures like still brown, you know? And so, you know, have some dignity about
who you are. It doesn't matter if you're ginger, if you got freckles on your face,
if you are, you know, big boned, if you're thin, whatever part of your body that you hate,
you should not hate it because that's how God made you. You know, this is the way God selected
for you to be. And you know what? Part of the self-hate comes from social media. Really where
it comes from. You know, it just comes from like watching too many Nazis on Instagram. Really,
at the end of the day, what it is. Oh man, I just wish I was like that, you know, Austrian painter,
you know. No, I'm thankful to be what I am. I'm thankful that God made me as I am. And you know
what? I can't change anything but my attitude towards my dignity. And you know what? We as
Christians don't live in that economy. We live in the biblical economy. This is, we live according
to biblical principles. Don't bring that crap and that nonsense into our church of being self-hating,
self-deprecating. We need to make sure that we have dignity and honor, okay? And again,
let me just get on this again. You know, part of, and that's the men. Now the women, and I'm going
to say it again, you know, retain your honor by dressing modestly when you come to church.
Retain your honor. Don't dress like a whore. That's a good standard. Pretty simple. We like
to keep things simple here. Just don't look like a whore. And we all know what a whore looks like.
And you know what? I'm going to say this until I'm blue in the face because I got kids in this
church. My kids go to this church. My boys go to this church. My boys are going to grow up in this
church. And I don't need my boys just, you know, viewing harlots come to our church. Have some
respect for the house of God. Have some respect for other families in our church. Bible says,
"A gracious woman," Proverbs 11 verse 16, "A gracious woman retaineth honor, and strong men
retain riches." Proverbs 11 22 says, "As a jewel of gold and a swine's snout, so as a fair woman,
which is without discretion." So God views a beautiful woman who lacks no, who has no
discretion, lacks dignity, like a swine, a pig, obviously a swine, you know, whatever, a swine
pig, who has a gold jewel piercing in their snout. That's how God views that person. So,
and it's context is referring to a fact that a woman who doesn't have discretion, meaning she
just kind of dresses like whatever, she's a loud mouth, she just flies off the handle, that's a
woman without discretion. Basically, it's a woman without dignity. You know, and let me just say
another thing. You know, don't publicly shame your husband. In church, online, in the comments
section, with your family, it's never appropriate to shame your husband in public ever. Never
appropriate to do that. You lack dignity. You have no discretion. You're like a swine with a
gold ring in the snout. If you are openly shaming your husband, shame on you. It's not right to do.
Yeah, but what I'm saying is true. Well, let's talk about all the true things about you. How about
that? Respect your husband. Even if you feel like though he doesn't merit respect, hold on a second,
then do it as unto the Lord then. No wife should ever cuss out their husband. No wife should ever,
you know, disrespect her husband to, you know, family, friends, online, you know, treat him like
Homer Simpson or something. Shouldn't be done. And you know what? We've all seen people online do
this stuff too. And let's just be honest, we've seen people from the new IFB do stuff like this.
And I am a new IFB pastor. This is a new IFB church. And I'm just telling you right now,
I've seen new IFB women do this. And shame on them. You know, I preach a sermon called
Repulsive Women, and I don't take anything back. Because it is repulsive in the eyes of God, you
know. We don't need women in 2025 being keyboard warriors. We need you to be a kitchen warrior.
How about that? Get in your kitchen and make a sandwich for your husband. If he doesn't like
that sandwich, make him another one. Different. We need kitchen warriors, not keyboard warriors.
We don't need you to wax eloquent online. We need you to wax the floors and clean the house.
Have some dignity. Be a dignified person. You see how important honor and dignity is in the Bible?
It's basically meaning that you have discretion. And let me just say this because, you know,
people online might be like, "Man, those ladies that first worked so much are horrible." Actually,
they're not. I am very thankful. And, you know, for lack of a better word, I'm very... I take a
lot of pride in the women in our church. I think we have wonderful women in our church. I think
many of our women, if not all of them, have dignity. And, you know what? I commend you ladies
for not mouthing off online. That's very commendable. And, you know what? I think
you please the Lord Jesus Christ. You are not a reproach unto your husband. And, in fact,
because of that, you're a crown unto your husband. We honor your husband for having such a wonderful
wife. And I'm thankful that the ladies in our church are not drama. I mean, while they're here,
I'm saying, you know, I don't know how you are at home, you know, just don't bring your drama here.
But as far as I know, you know, you're not drama. You know, I love that about the ladies in our
church. I think that's awesome. And you know what, this is not to say that women in our church can't
have an opinion, which is a stupid argument that people bring up, because obviously women in our
church have opinions. But you know, they have opinions, but they also have dignity. They have
opinions, but they have discretion. A woman with an opinion with no discretion is a repulsive woman.
But the women in our church, even if they, let's say some lady in our church right now
just does not like me using the term whore waxing the floor, making a sandwich in the kitchen or
whatever. We're probably not going to hear about it because even if they disagree, they have
discretion and they know what good would it be for me to vocalize that as the pastor's opinion.
That's what he's saying behind the pulpit. He's leading the church. I can see where he's coming
from. I may not agree a hundred percent, but there's no reason to even combat that.
And so let's not be like the online women out there. I'm going to be with this pastor real quick.
Let me just, let me give him a piece of my mind real quick. Oh, please don't give me a piece of
your mind because we don't want to take the last piece. First Timothy two nine says in like manner
also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame facingness and sobriety.
What am I saying? You know, the Bible obviously exalts the importance of having honor. So when
the Bible says, you know, that we should possess our vessels in sanctification and honor, God is
saying live a clean life, live a life pleasing unto the Lord, endeavor to please God in all things,
serve God with your life, but also have honor, be an honorable person, be a person of dignity,
be a person who's respectable, be a person whose presence in life demands respect, not because
you're vocalizing that you're demanding respect, but because your life in general demands respect,
right? And this is for men and women. And this also includes just having a good reputation as well,
like a good name. You know, the Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than a great
riches. You know, be a person who has a good reputation in and out of church. Now,
don't go to the haters of the Lord to find out what our reputation is. Not a good litmus test
of what a reputation is, because then they're going to tell you all kinds. I'm talking about
just in general, we should be law-abiding citizens, amicable people with our neighbors
at your job, you know, just a lovely people, right? To have a good reputation. You know,
it's you might have someone at your job that doesn't agree with your beliefs, but you know,
let's just be honest. They might say, yeah, he has some weird beliefs, but he's a good worker,
though. Yeah, he's got some weird beliefs, but you know what? I'll be honest with you. He's a
really good guy. You know, she's a really good person or, you know, they know how to, they're
just seem like normal people. They just have some weird beliefs or whatever. We'll take it.
I got other verses, but I'm not going to go over these. At the end of the day, you know,
the point that I'm making here is that we have to reject this dumb doctrine that we should not
motivate people to live a sanctified life. I'm going to keep motivating you to live a sanctified
life. I'm going to keep motivating you to be better, be a better Christian, get sin out of
your life. And I'm talking to a group of people that for sure, as far as I know, don't drink,
don't smoke, don't run with those that do. So now I got to hit on other sins, right? We got to talk
about bitterness, resentment, pride, you know, things of that nature, because here's the thing.
Yeah, when compared to a drunkard, we may look good, but hold on a second, there's still things
that we got to work on though, right? There's still things I got to work on. Folks, that's what I
was doing this morning. It's just me trying to improve myself as a preacher and a student of
the Bible. I'm not just going to cap out and say, well, I already learned everything that I need to
learn. No, I want to keep growing as a pastor. I want to keep living a sanctified life. And you
know what? Part of that is preaching extremely hard on sins to cleanse you so you can succeed
for the Lord, please God, win souls to Christ, and at the same time live a dignified life.
And the main reason I wanted to preach this sermon is to make sure people don't dress like
whores in our church. I always do this when I have this idea and then I just kind of build
a sermon around that idea because it kind of evolves from that particular thought. And you
may think to yourself, well, that's a little too much. Yeah, but I guarantee you the vast majority
in our people will not dress like whores anymore. I mean, not that they do already. I'm just saying,
you know, that's on our minds. And I just want to publicly say this to let you know that I don't
approve of that, right? I can't throw people out for dressing immodestly in our church. I just could
rip face from the pulpit and hope to God that this person ends up getting right with God in that area.
And also, you know, don't post sinful, stupid nonsense and crap on social media. Don't post
witchcraft. Don't post, you know, faggity stuff. Don't post worldly things that go against the
word of God. Look, memes, good. Memes on Jews, let's do it. Memes against homos, come on. What
you got? Memes against pedos. Sinful, wicked, abominable memes. You know that meme where the
guy's just like, "No, thank you." Have discretion. Blow my top off here. Have some discretion.
And again, if you decide to go to a rave, I'm going to assume that you're becoming a drunkard
and a whore at that rave, because that's what happens at those raves. Whoredom, drinking whoredom,
drug abuse, and you know what? That's what I'm assuming you're doing when you go there.
That's what you're making me assume because you're not abstaining from all appearance of evil.
Especially if you're dressing like a whore while you're there. I'm going to assume you're
probably involved in the most debauchery atmosphere ever. And it may not be true,
but you know that's what you're making us think. And you know what? Let me just remind you,
be sure your sin will find you out. And I know Instagram, you can hide your story,
you can do this, that, and the other. Somebody eventually will find it. It always happens.
You know why? Because God wants people to know about it because he wants you to live a sanctified
life. That's why. Women should not be dressed in fishnets. Dudes should definitely not be
dressed in fishnets. You faggot, take that fishnet off. If you don't want to be called a faggot,
then don't wear a fishnet. Gusting. But for the sake of modesty, women should not be dressed
with that either. Especially if you're a Christian. You name the name of Christ apart from iniquity.
Have some discretion. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Lord,
help us as your people to live a sanctified life, Lord. I'm not perfect. No one is.
We all struggle, but Lord, may we struggle. May we struggle against the flesh. May we not just
give in to the inhibitions of the carnal mind. Lord, help us each day to get right with you,
to confess our sins, to ask to be filled with the Spirit, to live a sanctified life.
Lord, we're not of this world. We should not be participating in the activities of this world.
We should not be participating in the recreations, the sinful, abominable recreations
of this world. Lord, we're to come out from among them and be separate, save the Lord.
Help us as your people to keep that in mind. No one's offended tonight, but if they are, Lord,
I pray that you'd help them to get right with God. I pray that they would confess their sins
immediately and step it up as a Christian. Level up as a Christian and get right with the Lord.
Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Obviously, I'm not the enemy here, Lord.
The enemy is the devil. The enemy is the world who's seeking to make lukewarm Christians,
to try to excuse Christians and give them a reason to be worldly and to be carnal and to be sinful.
Lord, help us as your people to be sanctified and to possess our vessels in sanctification
and honor, dignity, Lord. We love you. We thank you. We pray this thing in Jesus name. Amen.
Psalm number 125, the solid rock. Psalm number 125, on that first verse, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, my holy name.
Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace.
I, Norma Gale, Christ the solid rock I stand. King Sam is standing in the garden of Smith.