Well, we have a welcome. Cesar and Chelsea Medina are in our midst. Would you guys raise
your hands? These two are from Nicaragua. They are part of a church planting ministry,
and we are so glad you guys are here. Those two, we're going to be meeting with the elders
this coming Tuesday night at our elder meeting, and we're grateful that you two are here.
Please greet them when you see them after the service. If you would open up your Bibles,
we're going to continue talking about this doctrine of sanctification this morning,
but we are going to be out of the book of Titus, and so we're going to be on page 1184 and 1185.
We're not going to get there until a little later into the sermon, but let's jump in.
Do you know what tomorrow is? Labor Day, 1894. It was declared a national holiday,
and so it's a national holiday to honor American workers, and so on Labor Day,
we take a break from our labors. Woo-hoo!
Woo-hoo! But when it comes to the Christian labor of sanctification,
we never take a day off. The work of denying your sin every day and the work of living for Christ
every day is a work that we don't take vacations from this side of seeing Jesus.
I've defined the sanctification as the cooperative process between God and a Christian by which a
Christian becomes less and less ruled by sin and becomes more and more like Christ in holiness,
and there is hard work to this sanctification because we've all got a problem.
All of us. It's called indwelling sin. It's that part of you from which your sexual lust springs.
It's that part of you from which your material greed kind of growls. It's that part of you from
which you gossip, from which you fear what people think about you more than what God thinks about you.
That's your indwelling sin. And even though you've been justified, you still have this indwelling sin
exerting influence, and that's why our Bibles tell us to be killing that sin, bringing to life godliness in its place.
So the thing is, tomorrow, many of us are not working. Indwelling sin isn't taking Labor Day off.
Indwelling sin is not going to take any day off between here and the day you breathe your last.
And that's why we've got to be vigilant. That's why we've got to remain on the clock when it comes to
putting to death our sin and bringing to life godliness. And I'm going to be using language of
denying our sin and living for Christ. So let me just ask a couple questions to make sure we're all on the
same page. Has anybody been tempted to sexual lust recently? You can just nod, maybe say yes. Yes.
And if we're to say, well, how often? That'd be interesting. Have you been tempted to fear what
other people think about you more than what God thinks about you? Yes. And if we're to ask how often?
Well, that would be interesting. Are you tempted towards greed, to amass money or possessions on a
regular basis? If you're tempted to that, I'm guessing you are. So am I. How often? These are
temptations common to man. Are you tempted to gossip, to speak about someone behind their back,
something you wouldn't say to them because you're looking to injure them somehow, or have this choice
morsel that goes down into your inner barks? All of us are tempted to these things. These are temptations
common to man. Our sinful desires are seeking to continually exert itself on us, but we need to say
no to these things. We need to deny these sinful desires and live for God. So there's no taking a day off
from your sanctification. And God be praised. He's got daily grace for us to fight our sin and to live
for Christ. So we're just going to do what we've been doing over the last few Sundays. I'm going to
kind of like doctrine defined, and then we're going to move to doctrine supported. We're going to be in
Titus 2, and then doctrine applied. And in that doctrine applied section, I'm going to take some time to
apply this idea of sanctification to two specific areas, two temptations common to us all. Okay. Now,
I've been debating whether or not I should pull out the whiteboard. I chose to do it again. So this is
the last Sunday you will see this whiteboard for a while. I know. You're so sad. Now here's the moment of
truth. Do you remember what I did last week? Not this week, baby. Oh, I planned ahead. Dun, dun, dun.
All right. So let's do a doctrinal review. All right. So justification. Justification defined is this.
It is the one-time legal act in which God declares an unrighteous sinner righteous in his sight based upon
their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And you might be asking, well, how does that happen?
And that's where 2 Corinthians 5, 21 comes in. It tells workings of that. For our sake, God made
Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God. So the
moment a sinner like you and I believes in the finished work of Jesus, what God does is he considers
your unrighteousness as being placed on Jesus Christ and all of God's wrath is poured out on Christ
back on that first, that good Friday. And then he considers Christ's righteousness as being imputed to
you. And so nothing but his favor resides on you now. So in that one act of your faith in the finished
work of Jesus, God thinks of you now as justified, a legal righteousness. So you are in right legal
standing with God and you can put a big old period on that. You are justified, period. Now,
sanctification is what we call experiential, you got to bear with the handwriting.
Experiential righteousness. And it springs forth from God's work of justification into us. We're not
seeking to be sanctified in order to be justified. That's a works salvation. No, because we've been
justified, we are now working out our salvation through our sanctification. So our sanctification
is an outworking of God's initial work of grace in us is justification. And this process is like
this. This is, you are becoming righteous, kind of like dot, dot, dot. It's the Dow Jones Industrial
Average. You're making progress, but it can be slow, right? And thanks be to God, we've been justified.
So you've been justified by God's grace. You are being sanctified by God's grace. And now I'm going to
introduce a third-fication. Any guesses? Glorification, right. Glorification. And what this is,
I'm using the phrase, I'm using the phrase, resurrection righteousness.
In 1 Corinthians 15, 50 through 58, Paul shares a mystery with us. He talks about what will happen
the moment that Jesus returns. The moment that Jesus returns, all of the dead in Christ are going to be
raised, and all of God's people are going to be given new resurrected bodies. And what that means is
this. There's no more sinful nature in that resurrection body of yours waiting for you. And so at that point,
you have a full, and we can call it fully realized righteousness. This is yet to happen. This is a dot,
dot, dot, dot, dot, righteousness. We're waiting for this. We're looking forward to this. And so with
justification, you can say, you have been saved, period. Your sanctification is, you can say, you are
being saved, dot, dot, dot. With your glorification, with God's work of grace there, it is dot, dot, dot,
dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot dot, dot, dot, dot, quo, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot dot, dot, dot dot, dot dot,
dot, dot, dot, dot, dot dot, dot, dot dot, dot, dot, dot dot, dot dot dot, dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot
Amen.
And so, this could be said as the already.
And this can be said as the not yet.
And we live right here in the now in between.
Christian, you are living between the first appearing of Jesus,
death and resurrection, the grounds of your justification,
and the second appearing of Jesus,
when he comes back and he glorifies all who believes in him.
It's going to be awesome.
So, both are very important for our present labor of sanctification.
So, the question is going to be, is this true?
Do our Bibles teach that?
And what I want to show you right now is that, yes, our Bibles do teach that.
And so, would you open up your Bible, if you have them, to Titus, Titus 2.
That's the doctrine defined, doctrine reviewed.
Now, let's look at doctrine supported.
Is this idea of an already grace and a future grace and now grace for sanctification,
do we see that in our Bibles?
And that's where I want to bring you to Titus chapter 2.
Titus, just a little background.
The book of Titus is called a pastoral epistle.
And what it is, is the Apostle Paul wrote these letters to these apostolic delegates,
these church planting pastors like Timothy and Titus.
And he's instructing them of how to go about establishing churches.
And so, in Titus 1.5, Paul writes to Titus and he says,
Hey, the reason why I, you know, I left you in Crete was for you to put in order,
you know, what remained.
In other words, get this church established.
Get elders in place.
Start teaching sound doctrine.
And so, in chapter 2, what's very interesting is that the Apostle Paul starts urging Titus
to be teaching the new converts in Crete of how to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel,
how to live holy lives, how to kind of live out the work of grace that God has begun in them.
And so, if you look at chapter 2, in verse 10, he addresses older men.
In verse 3, Paul is telling Titus how to address older women.
In verse 6, it turns to, oh, excuse me, verse 4 and 5 to younger women.
And then verse 6 to younger men.
And then 7 and 8 to Titus himself, this apostolic delegate.
And then in verses 9 and 10, to slaves who were converts to Christ in Crete.
And so, he's saying all of these different people,
hey, they need to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.
They need to pursue holiness.
And so, the question becomes, well, for all these new converts in Crete,
how do they do that?
How do they live self-controlled lives?
And that's what he tells them in verses 11 through 14.
This is how it happens.
Would you read that with me?
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions
and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
the now age.
Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of God,
the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness
and to purify for himself a people who for his own possession,
of his own possession who are zealous for good works.
In these four verses, you're going to see three things.
Verse 11, God's already grace, past grace.
And then in verses 13 and 14, God's not yet grace,
the grace in the future that is yet to happen.
And then verse 12 is God's now grace.
And it's a training grace.
It's a grace that is designed to make you more holy.
So let's walk through these things.
God's already grace, verse 11.
For the grace of God has appeared.
God's grace, of course, is his unmerited, sin-conquering, peace-bringing power.
For the grace of God has appeared.
What is Paul talking about?
What grace is this?
Look up at verse 10.
In verse 10, he's wrapping up, talking to slaves who've become Christians in Crete,
not pilfering, but showing all good faith,
so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
God our Savior is a reference to Jesus.
He's both God and Savior.
He is the grace of God that appeared in verse 11.
So that grace of God that appeared in verse 11 is a reference to the first coming of Jesus Christ.
His miraculous conception, his miraculous birth, his sinless life, his substitutionary death,
his victorious resurrection over sin, death, and the devil.
That was his first appearing.
It took place in real time and space.
And it was powerful.
It is powerful.
It's the power of God unto salvation.
What's interesting is that Paul is writing Titus in about 65 AD,
maybe 30 years, 35 years after Jesus was crucified and raised.
And so this is grace being brought to these Christians in Crete 30 years afterwards.
We're living almost 2,000 years afterwards, not in Crete.
I'd like to be there today.
We're in Kenosha.
And it has the same power, the same effect, transforming our lives, bringing salvation to all people.
It's Christ's first appearing.
That's what's being talked about here.
So I want you to see appearing.
I want you to see grace.
And the thing what is very important in all this that we're talking about is this.
God is going to change you, Christian.
And he's going to do it this way.
He's already changed who you are.
You've been justified.
You've been united with Christ in his death and resurrection.
And now he's going to change how you live.
He moves from the inside out, from who you are to how you live.
It's a mindset that you're going to need to own yourself.
So this is God's already grace.
It has taken place in the past.
It is available today.
And it's important for all of us to know when it comes to this process of sanctification.
So let's now move on to the not yet grace.
The future grace.
We find that in verses 13 and 14.
Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Did you see the word appearing again?
That's the second time it's appeared.
The first time is in verse 11, talking about the first coming of Jesus.
And the second time, in verse 13, it's talking about the promised return of Jesus Christ.
When he will come back.
It's future grace.
It's something that hasn't happened yet.
It's a not yet.
But will.
Because Jesus himself has promised this.
When he comes back.
He says this in Mark 13.
When Jesus comes back.
He compares it to a thief coming in the night.
Surprise.
And when he comes back.
Not only is he going to hand out resurrected bodies to all who believe.
But he's going to bring judgment.
But not only that.
He's going to recreate the heavens and the earth.
And so for those of us who believe in Christ.
Not only will we have new resurrection bodies without sin in perfect peace with God.
We are going to have new resurrection bodies.
And a new heavens.
And a new earth.
While we're living in a new Jerusalem.
Eyes wide open.
Seeing Jesus.
Hearing him.
Feeling him.
It's going to be a great day.
And that's for eternity.
We know this is a future grace.
Because look at the language in verse 13.
There's waiting for it.
There's hope.
Blessed hope.
Hope is future oriented.
Future looking faith.
It's a trusting in what God said will happen.
And so when we read 1 Corinthians 15.
50 through 58.
This mystery the apostle Paul tells us.
About what will happen when Jesus comes back.
Verse 23.
Upon his return.
There's going to be this transformation.
In a twinkling of an eye.
The sounding of a trumpet.
In which will be swallowed up by life.
The perishable will be consumed.
Overwhelmed by what is imperishable.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
When Jesus comes back.
He's bringing back.
He's going to recreate the heavens.
And the earth.
Mind has not.
What is it?
Eye has not seen.
Nor ear heard.
What God has prepared in advance.
For those who love him.
Something glorious is coming.
And this is the second appearing.
And it starts forming a mindset.
A time frame even.
Now in verse 14.
Did you notice?
Paul is talking about.
The return of Jesus in verse 13.
But he just can't stop talking about.
The first appearing of Jesus.
This return of our coming king.
Verse 14.
He's the one who gave himself for us.
He substituted himself for us.
To redeem us.
To purchase us.
From all lawlessness.
And to purify for himself a people.
For his own possession.
That's holiness talk.
He redeemed us.
He gave himself for us.
To pull us out of sin.
And to bring us into holiness.
For himself.
The first appearing.
Verse 11.
Christ's first coming.
It is already salvation.
The second appearing.
Verse 13.
Christ's second coming.
Not yet salvation.
And there's a mindset here.
In all of this.
This is about our great God and Savior.
Jesus Christ.
Brother and sister.
When you were saved.
When you were rescued.
You went from living for yourself.
Now by God's grace.
To live for Jesus.
God's grace.
So that's the already.
That's the not yet.
In Titus chapter 2.
But how about the now?
Look at verse 12.
Training us.
Now.
To renounce.
Ungodliness.
And worldly passions.
And to live self-controlled.
Upright.
In godly lives.
In this present age.
You know what's interesting.
About.
Paul teaching.
On sanctification.
Right here.
Is that he frames it.
In verse 11.
Between the first coming of Jesus.
And verse 13.
The second coming of Jesus.
We.
We are living.
In between the appearings.
Of Jesus Christ.
And because of that.
We are living.
For.
Jesus.
In between.
His.
Appearings.
Have you ever heard of Zulu time?
Zulu time.
Is a reference to time.
In Greenwich.
England.
British Navy ships.
Ships of the line.
Would have a chronometer.
On board.
This is like.
18th century.
And these chronometers.
Were all set.
You might want to fact check me.
But they were all set.
To Zulu time.
Greenwich time.
Greenwich.
England.
And so.
No matter where.
A royal ship of the line.
Was around the world.
No matter what.
They were facing.
They were all.
Operating out of.
Zulu time.
Still is.
Thank you brother.
Submariner over there.
And what that affords.
Is a couple things.
It's unifying.
So.
Every ship.
At the same time.
You're.
A bell of a watch.
When it was rang.
Everybody's doing it.
At the same time.
Around the world.
But it also helped.
With navigation.
You always knew.
Where you were.
It was.
Zulu time.
Here's what Paul's doing here.
He's getting us on.
Christian Zulu time.
He's.
He's framing our life right now.
To be on.
I'm calling.
G.
S.
T.
Grace.
Standard time.
And during grace.
Standard time.
In between the appearings.
We are experiencing.
A training.
By grace.
Grace.
Standard time.
Is grace.
Training time.
It's a time to be.
Putting away sin.
And bringing.
To life.
Christ.
Likeness.
If you see that first word.
In verse 12.
Training.
Us.
God's grace.
Is training us.
His sin conquering.
Peace bringing.
Power.
That's undeserved.
Is he wants to train us.
Right now.
Brothers and sisters.
To become more and more.
Experientially.
Holy.
To have cravings like Christ.
To have a character like Christ.
To have.
Conduct like Christ.
Now when you think of training.
You might think of parents.
Training their children.
Some money.
When you.
You may think about.
Teachers.
Training their students.
Right on.
You may think about.
Coaches.
Training athletes.
Great.
You should be thinking about.
Jesus.
Training.
His disciples.
We.
Are 21st century disciples of Jesus.
Being trained.
By his grace.
To be like him.
To live for him.
To live for what matters.
Most.
And.
And so.
There is a skill set.
That we see in verse 12.
There's two sides of it.
There's the.
Renounce.
God's grace is training us to renounce.
What does it say?
Ungodliness.
And worldly passions.
And.
The other side of this.
Is.
Helping us to live self-controlled.
Upright.
In godly lives.
In this present age.
So.
To renounce.
Means to deny.
It's the same word that shows up.
In Luke 9.
23.
Jesus says.
If anyone would come after me.
He must.
Deny himself.
She must deny herself.
Renounce herself.
Strong language.
It's definitively.
Putting behind you.
Anything.
That is not pleasing to God.
Ungodliness.
And worldly passions.
We are to renounce this ongoingly.
We are to deny.
Our sin.
That which does not please God.
God's grace is training us in this.
We're in Zulu time.
Grace standard time.
And in grace standard time.
We are.
Becoming more like Jesus.
And so we are to renounce sin.
And we are to live.
Bring to life.
Things like self-control.
Uprightness.
Godliness.
Self-control.
In this context.
That word means.
To be governed by.
Your thinking.
And it's a renewed mind.
Renewed on the truth of God's word.
Righteousness.
Uprightness.
Is simply talking about.
What is right in God's eyes.
Godliness.
A godly life.
Is a God pleasing life.
And so the skill set.
That we're being shown here.
Is that there is.
A renouncing that we must be doing.
This is what grace is training us in.
And a godliness.
Which we must be living out.
And so the mindset.
Is our great God.
Has put us on grace standard time.
The skill set.
Is that in that time.
We're to be putting something off.
And putting something on.
That's what Titus 2 is teaching us.
Let's apply it.
I was going to apply this to four areas.
But I ran out of time.
I was going to apply it to.
Our sexuality.
I was going to apply it to.
What I will apply it to.
Is fear of man.
Greed.
I was going to apply it to gossip as well.
But we just don't have time.
So for our purposes.
Let's do this doctrine applied piece.
To applying this.
Kind of Titus 2 mindset.
And skill set.
This grace training.
To the fear of man.
And to greed.
All right.
Let's do it.
We're all surrounded by people.
Aren't we?
And we're all surrounded by people.
That we oftentimes want to impress.
We want people to think well of us.
The temptation that I'm talking about here.
This fear of man.
Is when.
When you fear people.
More than you fear God.
When what people think.
Matters more to you.
Than what God thinks.
This is the stuff of people pleasing.
This is the stuff of peer pressure.
So if you're in middle school.
Or high school.
You should probably listen up.
Because you are uniquely tempted.
To this right now.
You're coming.
Online.
You're becoming an adult.
And it is a wonderful time to live.
And you realize.
You've got a set of relationships.
In your friends.
That are very special.
In addition to your family.
This is good.
But if you're in middle school.
In high school.
One of the things.
That you'll be regularly tempted to.
Is to compromise.
In your relationship with God.
In order to be well thought of.
By your friends.
It's.
What matters most to you.
Is your reputation.
With your friends.
And so what you're doing there.
Is you're saying.
Hey God is not as important.
As what my friends think.
So I'm willing to compromise.
On what God has said.
It's a dangerous place to be.
Well let's just be honest.
It's not just.
Adolescents.
Who are overly concerned.
About their reputations.
All of us are.
All of us can make an idol.
Out of our reputation.
What we're thought of.
So much so.
We can.
We can go to great lengths.
To control.
What people think about our reputations.
So much so.
We're no longer serving God.
We're serving something else.
So here's the mindset.
Let me just ask.
Anybody tempted to the fear of man?
That's great.
I'm glad no one is.
Just me.
Here's the mindset.
We need to adopt.
There's that.
There's one word.
In verse 13.
That is rescue.
Our great.
God and Savior.
Jesus Christ.
Great.
God is great.
God is greater than you.
God is greater than anyone you know on the planet.
God is the greatest of all.
If you struggle with the fear of man.
It's most likely because you have a diminished view of God.
Not because you think of him too highly.
You don't think of him highly enough.
And when you don't think of God highly enough.
Chances are you're going to think of others more highly than him.
Do you see the exchange?
It's very subtle.
It's very sophisticated.
And it's built into most of our networks outside of the church.
The mindset we must cultivate.
It's very important.
Cultivate.
Is beholding our great God.
In a regular.
Frequent manner.
Your quiet times.
Reading your Bible.
Communing with God.
It becomes about a moment every day.
Where you are saying.
Oh God show me your glory.
Help me to see you for who you are.
So that I can live in light of who you are.
So that I can fear you.
Not man.
This is the mindset.
And so when God purchased you with the blood of Jesus.
He purchased you for his greatness.
For his reputation.
For his glory.
That's the mindset.
You're not your own anymore.
You're not to live for your reputation above God's.
So here's the skill set.
You're going to need to deny your fear of man.
And your desire for your own reputation.
And you're going to need to live for Christ.
And for his reputation.
And when you deny your sin.
You're going to need to load your sin first.
You need to see how sinful your fear of man is in God's sight.
So here are three passages.
Proverbs 29.25.
That's the classic.
The fear of man proves to be a snare.
But the one who trusts in the Lord will be safe.
It's a great verse.
Another verse for those who fear man.
Fear man.
Galatians 1.10.
But the most lethal verse that I've come across lately.
Is actually Mark 8.38.
And in Mark 8.38.
Jesus himself says this.
If there's anyone ashamed of me before man.
When I come back.
I will be ashamed of them before my father.
That shame language is fear of man language.
I do not want to be ashamed of Jesus.
So you need to learn how to deny your sin.
This thing in you.
Which you are eager to protect your reputation.
At all costs.
That's got to die.
In order for you to live for Christ.
Christ.
It's recognizing that when you fear man above God.
You are diminishing God.
Elevating another human above God status.
Two gods?
No.
For me what it means is confessing my fear of man.
Not trying to avoid it.
Going straight at it.
And confessing it to my great God.
And for those of us.
This will mean too.
Is confessing your shame about Jesus.
Confessing those times that you are well aware of.
That you intentionally keep your lip buttoned.
Because you don't want to say the name of Jesus.
Because you're embarrassed about him.
He's got to die.
You deny your sin.
And then you live for Christ.
And by living for Christ.
What you're saying is.
I am not my own.
My reputation is no longer mine.
Now I live for Christ's reputation.
So when Paul talks about in Galatians 6.14.
Hey I'm not going to boast in anything but the cross of Christ.
This is what he's talking about.
Here's what's going to happen.
As you're living for Christ more and more in this particular area.
As you're seeking to behold the glory of God.
You're saying show me your glory.
Will you just wow me God with who you are.
That's going to crowd out the fear of man in you.
And then you're going to find yourself saying things like this.
You know what?
What other people think about me matters little to me.
What God thinks.
That's what matters most.
Don't you want to live there?
There is joy there.
There's freedom there.
There is goodness there.
Fear of man proves to be a snare.
But the one who trusts in the Lord.
Will be safe.
That's the fear of man.
If you're in middle school and high school.
Now's the time.
To start getting a big picture of your God.
And not be ruled by what other people think about you.
Well we could talk about greed.
Greed.
Greed is when you make money your God.
The mindset is simply saying.
No.
When Jesus delivered me.
And I was united to Christ in his death and resurrection.
I'm no longer a slave to sin.
I'm no longer a slave to money.
I'm no longer a slave to greed.
I'm no longer a slave to materialism.
I'm no longer a slave to Facebook marketplace.
I'm not a slave to that anymore.
I'm a slave to God.
And therefore all that I am.
And all of my resources.
All that God has entrusted to me.
I am now his steward.
To steward those things wisely.
For the glory of his name.
That's the mindset.
You're not your own.
Not even with your own money.
Ultimately it comes from God.
And so the skill set.
Is learning how to deny your greed.
And to bring to life generosity.
That's the opposite of greed.
It's not taking.
It's giving.
There's great joy in Christian generosity.
In God.
Second Corinthians.
Chapter 8.
He loves a cheerful giver.
It's an area of sanctification.
Brothers and sisters.
Not just fear of man.
Money.
Greed.
If you're not giving.
It's time to take a step.
You got to say.
In the morning.
You're like.
Oh God.
Show me your glory.
Man.
You are bigger than the dollar.
You're bigger than a hundred dollar bill.
You're bigger than my retirement account.
It's all about you.
You're bigger than my retirement account.
Be freed.
Brothers.
Be freed.
Sister.
You can talk about speech.
Same thing.
There's a mindset.
Your tongue is not your own.
It's God's.
Use it.
Not to tear down.
But to build up.
Sexuality.
Same thing.
Mindset.
You're not your own.
Your sexual desires.
And thoughts.
And body parts.
They're not yours anymore.
They're God's.
Use them as instruments.
Of righteousness for him.
You're not your own.
That means you're going to have to say no.
To using your body and your mind.
For things that grieve God.
And start saying yes.
To using your mind and your body.
For what pleases God.
I'm just going to.
I'm just going to drill down one.
One point right here.
If you're not married.
Whether.
You haven't been married yet.
Or you've already been married.
Maybe you've been divorced.
Or you've been widowed.
If you're not married.
God's call on your life.
To sexual faithfulness.
Is chastity.
It's chastity.
That's what it looks like.
To obey your God.
And if you're married.
Then God says.
Enjoy this gift I've given.
Exclusively with your spouse.
Exclusively.
This is the thing.
This is where we live.
These are four temptations.
Common to man.
We must be faithful.
God's grace has justified us.
God's grace is sanctifying us.
Oh God.
Would you sanctify us all the more.
We just talked about four.
And God's grace.
Will one day glorify us.
We're one day closer to seeing him.
We live in between the appearings of Christ.
Christ.
We are now on grace standard time.
So we no longer live for ourselves.
We live for him.
And so long as we await the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus.
We can't take a day off.
From denying our sin.
And living for Christ.
We're not our own.
We've been bought at a price.
So glorify God with everything.
All that you are.
Let's pray.
God in heaven.
God would you pour out your grace upon us your people.
So that we would say no to sin.
And that we would say yes to Christ likeness.
God would you rescue us.
Would you deliver us.
Would you give us the power to once again say no.
To renounce.
God for anyone here.
A brother or sister who just feels like they're in the headlock of sin.
God would you.
Would you release them.
Would you show them the way out.
Pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.