Wake up on my head
When life sings first hand
to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus all along the way.
It's just like Jesus, that keep me day by day It's just like Jesus, all along the way
It's just like His free love
As the ashes come forth for the offering, please turn your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
Good evening tonight we're in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and the Bible reads furthermore
than we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus and as you have received
us how you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more and more.
And you know that commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, and this is the will of
God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of
you should know how to possess his vessel and 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.
He you and testified for God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness
He therefore the despiseth despiseth not man, but God who has also given us 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 ye to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye saw are 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 him
Them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord
Wherefore come for one another with these words
Let's pray that your 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 1st 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 you have received of us, how you ought to walk and to please God,
so you would abound more and more.
For you 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,
should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.
And the time I'm serving this evening is sanctification and honor.
Sanctification and honor.
We see that in verse number four.
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.
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 okay. 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 first Corinthians chapter six
and verse number nine.
He says,
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 eight, 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 gonna 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 he feminine, 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 in 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 sense 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, okay?
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, right?
Because when we think of the term sanctification
or to be sanctified,
we can say that it means to be washed, right?
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 that 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.
Okay, 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 gonna 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.
One saved, always saved.
One of the major things that people have struggles,
they 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 gonna 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't believe and live however you want,
but here's the thing, it doesn't mean you're not gonna be
punished for living however you want.
Because you are going to be punished.
There's, actions have consequences.
Living in sin has consequences.
So yeah, God, it 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 is 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 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, the 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,
if 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 had 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 gonna know to cleanse their lives
from these things.
They're gonna 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 7,
I am carnal.
How much more of those who are saved than are not serving God?
They're obviously extremely carnal.
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 asada because we're not going to go to hell.
It's just carne, it's just flesh that encapsulates the new man and that's why there's a constant
battle.
Now this isn't a sermon on how to verify if someone is 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 ways that the Spirit bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God is that there's this constant struggle
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 luster of as Roman 6 puts it
And it is possible the Christians can become
desensitized to sin
They become callous towards it.
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 12
and Hebrews 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 2 go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
I'm gonna continue reading in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 11. I'm gonna reread this it says in such were some of you
The difference being, of course, year washed, year sanctified, year 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 in 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,
B.C. or A.D., 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 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 brother and beloved of the Lord
because God has 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 safe for sure not. Oh, yeah, you're going to hell. You're 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, or look at verse 14 where until 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
I'm just we're just looking at some verses here
They 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.
To the stranger scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and 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.
when we get saved.
Well, the Bible tells us this is 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.
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 have to be quickened who were dead and trespasses in sin to be quick. It 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 7 the law slays you, right?
This is what we would have referred 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
the Spirit's referring to that regeneration go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 1st Corinthians chapter 1
1st Corinthians chapter 1
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 started orphanages,
you know, they made the Catholic Church a lot of money,
whatever, you know, just,
anything that 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.
The supposed Bible they gave us,
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 1 Corinthians 1 1 it says Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and
Sassanese our brother unto the church of God, which is that 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 to 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 and become a saint,
you become a saint automatically
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 like the S, but that, what is 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 1 John 3 verse nine
because this is a verse that people take out
of context a lot where it says,
who serve us born of God that does not commit sin?
For his seed remained within him and he cannot sin
because he is born of God.
And this is, you know, in the modern versions it says,
you know, who serve us born of God does not practice sin.
Okay, but they are misinterpreting what the verse is referring to period because you know if we were to interpret
This is 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 who serve as 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 3, 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 remained within him.
But hold on a second.
The flesh, on the other hand, will continue to commit sin.
Now go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
The point that I'm making is that the subject of sanctification in regards to salvation
It's 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 gonna be you're still saved
Right because he's not gonna deny himself. He's not a liar. He's gonna 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 someone sent me some preaching regarding this pastor
who's saying stuff like,
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 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
Stupid nonsensical teaching.
Okay, now that you're saved, go commit fornication
and 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 will experience hell on earth though, if you do.
But this teaching, and I honestly don't know
why this pastor would say this.
I don't know if he's just delusional
or God is giving him strong delusions or something.
But as he's saying, 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 have
stained 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 this vessel in sanctification and honor
Not in the lust of cuckoo piscins 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
Paul why are you gonna scare people?
You're not supposed to scare people
into 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 Ted 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 confronting 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.
And 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
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's 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 7 for God has not called us unto uncleanness
But unto holiness to so the the synonym there for sanctification is holiness
You know, God wants us to live a holy, sanctified, clean life.
He says in verse 8, he therefore, that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also
given unto us his Holy Spirit.
Look at chapter 5, chapter 5 if you would.
And you know what?
Justification is the most important thing, right?
It's the most important thing.
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 5 and verse number 16 some some good nuggets of instructions here
He says rejoice ever evermore pray without ceasing and everything gift. Thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
Concerning you so in chapter 4 he says the will of God is for you to abstain from fornication and chapter 5 says the will
Of God is for you to be thankful pretty extreme extra instructions there, but they're both the will of God
He says, quench not the spirit, despise not prophesies.
Prove all things, hold fast that, 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 deem 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 haven't somewhere else
Why because you should abstain from all appearance of evil
So the Bible not only commands us to stay away from evil
By we even commands us to abstain from the even looking like you're committing evil
This would include bars
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 1st Corinthians 6-9 for that effeminate command right there, okay?
Upstain not just from fornication
Upstain 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 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.
Step into the light.
We try to have as much light as here as possible.
You shouldn't be fellowshiping in the darkest corner.
Right, don't look like you're doing evil
And that's why when my kids are playing around 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 could we want to abstain from all appearance of evil and not that our kids are gonna 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 some dumb
But you know what this applies more so for adults though
Upstain 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.
Cause that's not just the appearance of evil,
that's just evil.
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 thing
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 they post something stupid,
they put something on their stories that's kind of dumb,
we just kind of run it off and be like, that was dumb,
but whatever, 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 of you who 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 have remained blameless too.
That we would not be ashamed at 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 what? That takes a little work. What kind of work does it take the sanctifying work?
Okay
Go with me if you would to the scene
Go to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 2nd 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 and to sin
But yield yourselves unto God. What does that talk about?
You know know how to possess your vessel and 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, I 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 goal as Christians,
no matter how short we fall should be,
then we wanna 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 repent of this area. I got to throw out whatever this I got to 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. We're with 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 answers to the Bible
So that'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 how you get cleansed
and it's because we get saved
and we're cleansed through the word,
which I agree with that,
but this passage is not teaching that.
And I'm gonna explain to you why.
I'm gonna 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 will keep you from going to that stupid bar?
Is the Bible.
You don't 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 what 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 father say?
Not what does tradition say? No, not what my inhibitions say now. 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
Poppy cock the Bible says to judge lift up thy voice like a trumpet cry a lot of spare not show my people their transgression
It's the Bible says
Reprove or buke is go exhort with all-long suffering in 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 firing indignation which I've devoured 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 all 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 is 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.
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 gonna 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 gonna 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 is prevalent in our church
But let's this should become prevalent in our church
Can you make sure that you look in the mirror and say it is the Lord Jesus Christ, please 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.
Like, I think it's inappropriate that you're saying that.
Well, you know what, you must not have five kids.
I got boys in this 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 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 offended at this.
Women are offended at that too.
Women who actually dress modestly,
who actually esteem modesty,
they 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 a preach on this
Because I'm just telling you, you know, I it's it's just weird
Dad's I'm coming to 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 2 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 gonna 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 what?
I'm not gonna compromise on this though.
And I'm not gonna turn a blind eye to it either, okay?
And you know what?
Luckily, the older I get, the more honorary 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 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, I gotta be careful, have some gall.
Have 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 gonna cause a fight
between me and my wife.
Then you know what, you need to learn some leadership then.
Amen?
But you know 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 not resonate with your soul.
You know what, whoa, 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,
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 down-to-earth people.
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 on to serving God
Well, nevertheless verse 19 the foundation of God's then it's sure having this seal the Lord know with them that are his and let
Everyone that name it the name of Christ's depart from iniquity
If you name the name of Christ depart from what's 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 should be a vessel unto honor
Sanctified meet for the masters used 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 a sanctified life
Or at least endeavoring to be sanctified
Very important. Go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4
1 Thessalonians chapter 4
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 you say you should know how to live a sanctified life
But it also says honor now. What is honor dignity?
You know God is saying have some dignity
Be a dignified person have some self respect have some you know value yourself just a little bit
Treat yourself every once in a while
Value yourself or once in a value yourself in the presence of other people
This isn't talking about pride. This isn't talking about arrogance. He is 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 so honor or dignity is not seemly for a fool
Stupid people don't have dignity
Then you know how to behave to themselves before others
Right a fool is stupid. So 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 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 1 verse excuse me Proverbs chapter 5 and verse number 1
My son attended to my words and bowed thine ear to my understanding that thou mays 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 shudest ponder the
path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them.
Hear me now, therefore, ye children, depart 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 flusy.
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 of 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.
OK?
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 thing. I can say
The point that I'm making here is that we need to make sure
that even the young men, you know, stay away
from the harsh 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 it may, 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 CRD
And I don't want to be the one who says well if this doesn't work out with this one then I'm next in line forget that
You said 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
She my mama didn't raise no simp
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 and 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 nourish it then cherish 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 me 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 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 don't become so enthralled with Ecclesiastes. Do 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. They're your medium shade that you can tan that you can't
You're fearfully and wonderfully made
Women fear
Thank God for what, how he's made you.
Have some dignity about yourself.
Oh man, I just can't stand that.
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?
Brother Mori, brother Mori, okay, all right.
All right, you're close proximity, you know what I'm,
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 I like yeah
But if you look at my baby, I was super white. You look at the pictures like still brown
And so, you know, have some dignity about who you are.
It doesn't matter if you're a 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.
It's 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, and just, no I'm thankful to be what I am,
I'm thankful to God made me as I am, and you know what, I can't change anything but my
attitude towards my dignity though, and you know what, we as Christians don't live in
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 gonna 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
Right 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 gonna say this till 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 gonna 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 has 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 swine pig who has a gold jewel piercing in their snout
That's all God views that person
So and if what it's for in its context referring to a fact that a woman who doesn't have discretion meaning
She just kind of dresses like whatever. She's a loudmouth
So you 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 common 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 are like a swine with the gold ring and 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 them 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 IFP pastor.
This is a new IFP church, and I'm just telling you right now,
I've seen new IFP women do this.
And shame on them.
You know, I preach the term and call 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 at first worse. I'm gonna be 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 I commend you ladies
For now mouthing off online
That's very commendable
You know what? I think you please the Lord Jesus Christ you are not a reproach into 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 to 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 woman 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 gonna 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 there's there's no reason to even come back that
And so let's not be like the online women out there
We're gonna beat 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.
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 to be very rich.
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,
because then they're gonna 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 because you know it's you might have someone at your job
That doesn't agree with your beliefs
But you know what 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 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 gonna go over these.
At the end of the day, 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 gonna keep motivating you to live a sanctified life.
I'm gonna keep motivating you to be better.
Be a better Christian.
Gets in and 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 to do.
So now I gotta hit on other sins, right?
We gotta 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 gotta work on though, right?
There's still things that I gotta work on.
Folks, that's what I was doing this morning,
is just me trying to improve myself
as a preacher and a student of the Bible.
I'm not just gonna cap out and say,
well, I already learned everything that I need to learn.
No, I wanna keep growing as a pastor.
I wanna 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 of 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 wanna publicly say this
to let you know that I don't approve of that, right?
I can't throw people out
for addressing them modestly 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 faggoty stuff
Don't post worldly things
They 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 petals
sinful wicked abominable memes
You know that meme where the guy is just like no, thank you
Have discre-
Have discretion
Blow my top off here
Have some discretion
And again if you decide to go to a rave
I'm gonna assume that you're becoming a drunkard in a whore at that rave because that's what happens at those raves
Hordom
Drink and 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 gonna 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.
Dude 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.
Disgusting but for the sake of modesty women should not be dressed as 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, but 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 the sinful abominable recreations of this world
Lord we're to come out from among them and be separate say 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 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
Get right with the Lord
Have I become your enemy because they 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 for this things in Jesus name. Amen
So number 125 a solid rock
So 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
By holiness on Jesus' name
On Christ's solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness veils his lovely face
Thy rest on his unchanging grace
I am Stormy Gale, my anchor holds within the veil
On priceless solid rock I stand
All other ground
sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His hope is coven and his
blood. The well-meaned flood went all around. My soul gives way. He that is all my hope and
It's sound, oh, may I bend it and be found
Dressed in its righteousness alone
Long as to stand before the throne
On price of solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand