1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24.
Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you completely.
And may your whole spirit and soul and body
be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful.
He will surely do it.
Amen.
I want to open this morning with a question.
If you're a Christian,
do you think when you wake up tomorrow morning,
you'll still be a Christian?
Think about it.
Meditate on that for just a second.
If you're a Christian today,
do you think that tomorrow you still will be?
Now I don't want to make too many assumptions in that question.
I recognize that not everyone here may be a Christian.
I suspect that most of you at least understand yourselves to be.
Why do you believe you will be one tomorrow?
Why do you expect that despite significant doubts,
that I would imagine at least some of you probably wrestle with,
I wonder why you would expect that with significant doubts that you'll still believe tomorrow.
Why do you suppose that the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of sin will not choke out your desire to believe and obey Christ?
And the truth is maybe you don't have much confidence about that.
You're just trying to hang on as tightly as you can.
And I have been there certain points in my life and in my faith
where I didn't know if the next day I actually would wake up and still believe or still want this.
You're just trying to hang on as tightly as I can.
And maybe you're at a place now or maybe you at least can relate to something like that.
There's been a time in your life where you just thought,
I'm just trying to hang on and hope for the best and hope that I can still hang on tomorrow.
But I suspect that if you think yourself a Christian now,
you'll probably go to sleep tonight expecting to wake up tomorrow still being one.
But the question is, why do you think that?
Why would that even happen when there seems to be so much that's working against us?
So much working against us even maybe that's within us?
We even think about Galatians 5 that we just read a moment ago.
We're at war all the time?
Essentially is what Paul is saying there.
There's really only one true answer to the question.
There's only one reason why you'll wake up tomorrow and still be a Christian.
It's not because you have the willpower to keep going when others fall away.
Remember that's what Peter said?
Then Jesus, right before he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane,
he tells the disciples, he says, you're all going to forsake me.
And Peter says, no, Lord.
And he acknowledges the other 11.
He says, those guys may do it.
I'll never do it.
He thought he had the willpower.
He thought that he had all that it took to persevere in and of himself.
And Jesus says, no, actually, you're going to deny me three times before even the alarm clock goes off tomorrow.
Three times.
And, of course, we read our Bibles.
We know that's exactly what happened, isn't it?
It won't be because you've got the willpower to just make it through when other people fall away.
It won't be because you've personally reached a point of no return.
It won't be because you're so spiritually mature that you're so in love with Jesus that you're beyond any temptation to turn back from him.
It won't be for any of those reasons.
If you're a Christian, there's only one reason you'll still be one tomorrow.
And it's because God is faithful to keep you to the very end.
Jesus said it plainly in John 6.
That's actually his mission.
This is the will of him who sent me, Jesus said.
That I should lose nothing of all he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father, Jesus said.
That everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him, that they should have eternal life.
And I will raise him up on the last day.
That's Jesus' mission.
Sent here by the Father to secure salvation for his people.
And he will lose none of them.
But like us, the Thessalonians, if we've studied this letter, they had all kinds of struggles that could have resulted in abandoning the faith.
In fact, there's even a time in the letter, you'll remember back in chapters 2 and 3,
where Paul was concerned that maybe the persecution and the cares of this world they were facing
might have caused them to abandon the faith that they had once professed.
So he sent Timothy, remember, Timothy sent to check on them and secure the gospel witness in the church.
You remember.
Some of them had doubts about the return of Christ, which caused incredible grief and confusion.
Some of them battled with the attractiveness of serious sins that might have easily consumed them.
We read about that in chapter 4.
The cares of this life, the persecution of the Jews and their neighbors
had the potential of shipwrecking a faith that they had at least professed to have.
And yet, despite all of those things, when we get to chapter 5 and we understand the letter as a whole,
they continued to endure.
They were even growing.
They were gaining maturity.
They were gaining faithfulness.
Yeah, they had some sins, but they were progressing through it.
Why?
How?
Paul was convinced that God would secure and sanctify them until Christ's return.
A magnificent, glorious, encouraging truth that he underscores here at the end of the letter.
And it's through this amazing benediction here at the end that I want to just present you once again
with the faithful God who promises to preserve and to purify his people to the very end.
First, I want you to see a prayer of blessing.
A prayer of blessing.
Look with me at verse 23.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely
and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the last of two major benedictions in the letter.
The first one was in chapter 3, if you just look at it.
Chapter 3, verses 11 to 13.
There's similarities between the two.
Now may our God and Father himself, our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you,
so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
That sounds very similar to this last one, isn't it?
In the first one, Paul prays for God to establish their hearts blameless in holiness at the coming of the Lord.
And that blessing, it closed a section that was focused on the Thessalonians' persevering faith.
So using similar language here in the second and final benediction in the letter,
Paul prays for their progress in sanctification,
their progress in holy living.
And again, the prayer is for God to purify and to preserve his people until Christ returns.
And it's a fitting conclusion to this section.
But it's also, I think, the climax of the whole letter.
Everything beginning at chapter 1 all the way to this point,
everything has been pushing forward to this idea here at the end.
It contains the final note of certainty that Jesus will return,
which now we can understand to be by far the most prominent theme of the whole letter.
Jesus is coming back.
He's coming back soon.
They were living as if it could be any moment.
As should we.
Listen, all of creation, it is headed toward the climactic moment of Jesus' coming
when he will complete his saving work in his people
and he will bring final judgment on everyone else.
And the issue of preparedness for that moment comes to the surface again here.
And we have to ask, are you ready?
He could come today.
Are you ready?
Are you prepared?
Will he find you believing and pursuing holiness as a result of that faith?
Or will you be judged with the unbelieving who pursue self and sin instead?
Now, Paul's prayer for the Thessalonian Christians was that God would, quote,
sanctify them completely.
Sanctify them completely.
Now, we understand that God will complete this work in us when Christ returns.
But Paul is primarily concerned here with their present sanctification,
not their future glorification.
Now, I'm not going to go into all the differences there.
We understand that's the implication of the text, right?
It is all indeed moving to the end at which time God will glorify his saints.
That is, he will free us entirely from sin and death and disease
and all the things that are promised for us in Revelation 21.
That's coming.
I don't think that's what Paul has primarily in mind here.
I think he's praying specifically for the Thessalonians presently in that moment,
in this life, their sanctification.
We should understand completely here in verse 23 in the sense of thorough, of whole.
We might read it,
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you thoroughly.
May he sanctify you wholly, entirely.
And this becomes even more evident when we get to the second part of the prayer
when Paul refers to spirit, soul, and body.
What's he mean?
What's he saying?
He's praying that until Jesus returns,
their whole being, everything about them,
what they do, how they think,
the nature of their worship,
both in private and in public and in corporate worship,
that all of those things,
that God would make them and keep them blameless.
In other words,
he asked God to make these Christians
thoroughly faithful,
mature,
and holy people
prepared for the Lord's coming.
Listen, holiness of spirit, soul, and body,
of our whole being,
it must be
your earnest desire.
And if you're a Christian,
it will be
your earnest
desire.
We don't understand Paul here to mean
perfect
when he says blameless.
In other places,
in the New Testament,
he says that,
for example,
you're to have elders and pastors
in your church
that are above reproach
and that are
blameless.
He says in another place
to one of the other churches,
referring to himself,
that in his preaching
and in his living before the churches,
he himself was
blameless.
And yet,
we go to a place like
Philippians chapter 3
or Romans chapter 7,
and we find that Paul
at no point
considered himself
to have reached a state
of perfection
or sinlessness.
He understands that
all of us
are awaiting that
at the return of Christ.
So when he says blameless here,
he's not speaking of
a kind of perfection
or a sinlessness.
He's just speaking of holiness,
a characterization
of thorough righteousness
in our whole being.
And if you're a Christian,
part of the work
that God does in you
is he sets this
as your desire.
You want to please him,
you want to love him,
and you want to live
in a way that is worthy
of the call
that he's put on your life.
John makes it plain for us
in 1 John chapter 2
verses 3 through 5.
He writes,
and by this we know
that we have come to know him.
We are made certain of
and assured of
our salvation
if we keep his commandments.
Whoever says,
I know him,
but does not keep his commandments,
John says,
is a liar.
The truth is not in him,
but whoever keeps his word
in him,
truly the love of God
is perfected.
It is brought to maturity.
It is completed.
It is made whole.
Sounds a lot like
what Paul is saying
in 1 Thessalonians 5.
By this we may know
that we are in him.
Whoever says he abides in him
ought to walk in the same way
in which he walked.
But back in 1 Thessalonians 5,
I want you to notice
in verse 23,
in Paul's prayer,
who is doing the sanctifying
and keeping?
Those are the verbs.
Sanctify,
be kept,
but who's the subject?
It's the God of peace himself
that is the subject.
Must we willfully pursue holiness?
Yes.
But our sanctification,
like every other facet
of our salvation,
is ultimately
the work of God's grace.
Our sanctification
flows out of
our justification.
That is,
when God saves us,
he sets us
on this divine,
gracious path
of pursuing purity
and holiness.
It is his work of grace.
He is the acting agent here.
There's no other way
to understand
what Paul's saying.
He asks God
to sanctify them.
He asks God
to keep them.
Why?
Not because he wants
to let them off the hook.
No, because he understands
that fundamentally,
this is a work of grace.
God does this work in us.
This is the testimony
of the scripture.
Ephesians 2 and verse 10,
we read it a moment ago.
For we are his workmanship.
Do you remember the song?
Maybe you sung it as a kid.
He's still working on me
to make me what I ought to be.
It took him just a day
to make the moon and the stars,
the sun and the earth,
Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and faithful
he must be
to still be working on me.
We sing that as kids, right?
Is that not what Paul means?
We are his workmanship.
We're his project.
Created
in Christ Jesus.
That's a reference
to our conversion.
You don't create yourself.
That's a work of grace.
Created in Christ Jesus
for
good works,
holiness,
righteousness,
blamelessness,
which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them.
2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18,
and we all
with unveiled face
beholding the glory
of the Lord,
we are being transformed
into the same image.
That is the image of Christ.
We are being transformed
into the same image
from one degree of glory
to another.
What is he saying?
He's saying this is
a progressive work
of grace
that God is doing
in our lives.
He is transforming us.
We might say
in relationship
to our justification
that we have been saved,
but when we think
about our sanctification,
we would change that.
We would say
we are being saved.
Our justification
guarantees
our sanctification
that we are being saved,
which will result
in our glorification
that one day
we will say
we will be saved
at the coming of the Lord.
finally,
it's complete,
it's done.
What is he saying
in 2 Corinthians 3.18?
That right now
we're being transformed.
We are being saved.
We are being transformed
to the image of Christ
from one degree
of glory
to another.
We're making progress.
And then he says
this comes
from the Lord
who is
the Spirit,
the Spirit of God
working in the people
of God
to conform them
to the image
of the Son of God
all for the glory
of God.
Now how does God
accomplish this work?
He sanctifies us
not by anything extravagant.
last weekend
I got to spend
an extended weekend
four or five days
with a group
of other pastors
at Capitol Hill Baptist Church
in Washington, D.C.
in the opening session
Jonathan Lehman
some of you
have been reading
his books
Jonathan Lehman
he said
I want to just
make clear here
what you're going to see
this weekend
and what you're not going to see.
He said
you will not see
this weekend
anything extraordinary.
He said
all you're going to see
this weekend
is an ordinary church
led by ordinary elders
according to the ordinary
means of grace
because that's the way
that the Lord does
his extraordinary work.
You know how
he's going to sanctify you?
It won't be through
anything extraordinary.
He may use
some unusual circumstances
from time to time
but his sanctifying work
by and large
it won't be through
anything extraordinary.
You know what it's going to be through?
An ordinary church
with an ordinary pastor
with ordinary Christians
who love each other
are committed to one another
who are committed
to the ordinary means of grace
the scriptures
prayer
worship
the ordinances
discipleship
that's how he does it.
That's how he does it.
Now if you're not
growing in holiness
if you're not
progressing in sanctification
determination
you know what I mean
it's not wise
to take a small sample
of your life
and try to make
that determination.
It's like baseball
is about to start
we're finishing up
spring training.
One of the phrases
you'll hear over and over
if you care anything
about baseball right now
is this is a small sample size
we have no idea
if this is indicative
of what the season
is going to be like
right?
If you try to evaluate
your Christian life
by taking a small sample size
just a couple weeks
or a couple months
it's probably not going
to be very useful to you.
we're looking at
the trajectory
of our lives right?
You look at
the trajectory
of your life
an extended amount
of time
and you say
yeah there's not really
a lot of progress
happening there
in a spiritual sense.
There's only two
explanations for that.
The first one
is that you're just
not a Christian.
Our justification
guarantees our
sanctification
in some form.
Now God does his work
differently in everybody.
We're all
at different places.
We're all
working according
to God's working
in our lives right?
We understand that.
When you look
at the trajectory
of your Christian life
and there's no
real sanctifying work
sanctifying progress
happening it could
just be you're
just not a Christian.
You've never really
been born again
by the Spirit of God.
Maybe you've made
some religious
affirmations.
Maybe you have
identified in some
way with Christianity
but Jesus is neither
your Savior
nor is he your Lord
in any genuine
sense of that.
The other explanation
is that you are
a Christian
who has neglected
the ordinary means
of grace.
If that's the way
that God works
and you have
neglected
those means
why would you
ever expect
to notice
any significant
work being done
in your life?
Maybe you've
stopped praying
and meditating
on God's word
in any real
meaningful way.
Yeah you bless
your food
but come on.
I mean real
prayer.
Real communion
with God.
Yeah you bring
your Bible
to church.
Or actually
meditating
in the scriptures.
Opening yourselves
to them day
by day
week by week.
Perhaps you've
neglected
to regularly
gather
or at least
meaningfully
engage
in the gatherings
of the church
for worship.
Maybe it's that
your relationships
with other Christians
are either
non-existent
or there's
really no
difference
in their
nature
between
your
relationship
with other
Christians
and your
relationships
with non-Christians.
How can you
expect God
to do a
thorough
work
in your
life
when you
do not
avail yourself
to his
means?
So Paul's
prayer of
blessing
is that God
will thoroughly
sanctify the
Thessalonians
in preparation
for Christ's
return.
And we
should also
pray this
for one
another.
And we
should pursue
that work
through the
ordinary means
of grace.
So we have
a prayer of
blessing.
Second,
we have a
promise of
blessing.
A promise
of blessing.
Look with me
again at
verse 24.
Paul's
prayer and
encouragement
is all
anchored
here.
It's all
anchored
here.
Many of
our prayers
do not
come with
any certainty.
We can
ask of
God,
we trust
in God,
but we
also trust
that God
will do
his work
his way
in our
lives.
There's
some prayers
we pray.
We don't
know how
God's
going to
work.
We just
entrust
those things
to him.
But there
are some
prayers we
can be
absolutely
certain God
will answer
and this
is one
of them.
The basic
framework of
the promise
is simple.
He is
faithful.
He will
do it.
He is
faithful.
He will
do it.
Who is
he?
The God
of peace.
What is
it that
he's
doing?
Or
that he
promises
to do?
Sanctify
you
completely.
Keep
you
blameless.
The promise
is significant.
God
will
complete
his
saving
work.
Again
and again
the scriptures
testify to
this.
We know
it commonly
from
Philippians
1.6.
I am
persuaded
that he
who has
begun
a good
work
in you
will
bring
it
to
completion
at the
day
of
Jesus
Christ.
Even
more,
the promise
is predicated
not simply
on God's
power
but
particularly
on God's
character.
Do you
see it?
Look at the
verse.
He is
powerful.
faithful.
He will
do it.
That's not
what Paul
says.
He is
faithful.
He will
do it.
The fact
that God
can save
us
comes with
no special
guarantee
that he
will.
However,
his
perfect
faithfulness
means his
people have
no reason
to doubt
the promise
or fear
Christ's
judgment.
So Paul
adds a
modifier
to express
the certainty
that should
comfort us.
He doesn't
just say
he will
do it.
He says
he will
surely
do it.
It's
certain.
Our
final
salvation,
our
progress
until that
time
is 100%
guaranteed
by God's
perfect
record
of
faithfulness.
He's
never
broken
a promise.
He has
fulfilled
them all.
He will
fulfill
this one.
Paul
says,
trust him
Thessalonians.
Trust him
Cornelius.
Trust him
Christians.
He's
faithful.
He'll
do it.
But there's
another
modifier
here we have
to take
into account.
God is
perfectly
faithful to
fulfill his
promise.
But who
is the
promise for?
Who can
claim the
promise?
It is for
those,
Paul says,
whom
God
calls.
He
who calls
you
is faithful.
He will
surely
do it
for you.
This language
of calling
has been
used two
other times
in the
letter.
Just set
your eyes
on it.
Chapter 2,
verse 12.
12.
We exhorted
each one
of you
and encouraged
you and
charged you
to walk
in a manner
worthy of
God who
calls you
into his
own kingdom
and glory.
Calls you
to
salvation.
The second
time it's
used is in
chapter 4
and verse
7.
God has
not called
us for
impurity
but in
holiness.
So he
calls us
to live
in
holiness.
So this
calling
language,
it refers
to God's
sovereign
call to
salvation
and the
subsequent
sanctification
that comes
along with
it.
He calls
us to
believe,
calls us
into his
kingdom
and glory
and those
whom he
calls into
his kingdom
and glory
he calls
to live
in holiness.
So the
promise is
for those
whom God
calls to
salvation
and the
encouragement
is that he
will be
faithful to
keep
those he
calls
until the
day of
Christ.
To the
very end
he will
keep them.
God
will
be
useful.
How
exactly
are we
to
understand
this
call
to
salvation?
The
Bible
speaks of
it in
at least
two
ways.
I
think
really
only
two
ways.
First
we
understand
there
is
the
general
call
of
salvation.
The
general
call.
Sometimes
the
scriptures
speak of
God's
call
as a
command
for
all
people
to
love
worship
and
obey
him.
He
calls
all
people
everywhere
to
repent.
That's
Acts 17
30 and
31.
He
calls
all
people
everywhere
to
praise
him.
Psalm
67.
Let
the
peoples
praise
you
oh
God.
Let
all
the
peoples
praise
you.
The
psalmist
says.
Not
just the
Jews.
All
the
peoples.
They're
all
called
to
praise.
He
calls
on us
to
trust
Jesus
by
faith.
All
people.
That's
Romans
10
13.
Whosoever
will
call
upon
the
name
of
the
Lord
shall
be
saved.
It's
the
general
call
of
salvation.
It is
implicit
in the
great
commission.
Christians
are to
preach
the
gospel
to
all
people
regardless
of
whether
or not
we
think
or
know
that
they
will
hear
it
and
believe
it.
Implicit
in the
commission
is the
general
call.
God
calls
all
people
everywhere
to
repent
and
praise
and
trust
in
Christ.
It's
the
general
call.
But
it's
not
the
only
way
that
the
Bible
speaks
of
God's
call.
There's
also
what we
call
the
effectual
call.
The
effectual
call
or the
effective
call.
So that
the
scriptures
also
speak of
God's
call to
salvation
as a
mighty
work
of the
Holy
Spirit
that
awakens
a dead
heart
affecting
the
sinner's
response
to
the
general
call
of
the
gospel.
We
see it
in
John
3,
John
6,
2
Corinthians
4,
Ephesians
2,
over and
over.
We see
there is
another
way
that the
apostles
were speaking
of the
call of
God
and they
didn't
understand
that to
be the
general
call
that God
issues to
all people
to repent
and praise
and have
faith.
They're
speaking of
a specific
call like
in 1
Thessalonians
chapter 2
and verse
13 that
we read
a moment
ago.
He has
called you
into his
glory.
That is
an effective
call.
It is a
call that
has actually
accomplished
something.
So that
while God
calls everyone
everywhere to
repent and
believe,
his call
comes to
some with
divine
effectiveness
leading to
their genuine
conversion
to Christ.
Now I
just want
to show
you one
passage and
then you
can study
this out
on your
own.
1 Corinthians
chapter 1
verses 22
to 24.
It's on the
screen or you
can turn there.
It's up to
you.
1 Corinthians
1, 22
to 24.
Paul says,
for Jews
demand
signs,
Greeks
seek wisdom
but we
preach
Christ
crucified
which is
a stumbling
block
to the
Jews
and
folly
to the
Gentiles.
He's speaking
categorically
that the
gospel is
being preached,
the call
of God
is being
issued
generally
to all
people,
Jew
and Gentile,
Jew
and Greek.
That's just a
way of saying
everybody.
And Paul
says as
that general
call goes
out,
the Jews
think of it
as a
stumbling
block,
the Gentiles
think of it
as foolishness
but then
there's this
other category.
He says
but to
those
who are
called.
Well I
thought everybody
was called
in the first
part of the
verse.
Yes they
are in the
general sense.
The general
call is going
out to all
of them but
then he uses
calling here
in a different
way.
This is a
different category
but to
those who
are called
whether they're
Jew or Greek
doesn't matter.
Those who
are called
Christ and
Christ crucified
then to
them is
seen as
the power
of God
and the
wisdom of
God.
What is
that?
It's the
call of
God.
Both the
general call
and the
effectual call
represented in
one passage.
The general
call goes out
to all people
but there is
this thing
that God
does,
this work
of grace
that God
does when
his gospel
goes out
that he
transforms
people.
His call
is effective.
The Old
Testament
is said
this way,
the word
of God
goes out
and it
never returns
to him
void.
It always
accomplishes
the purposes
that he
intends for
it.
To be
clear,
God does
not force
anyone
to receive
him,
God does
not force
anyone
to reject
him.
One's
rebellion
against God
and rejection
of the
gospel is
truly their
willful,
volitional
rebellion
and rejection.
God does
not make
them
disbelieve.
The same
is true
for those
who believe.
Their faith
and repentance
are truly
their own.
God doesn't
do the
believing
for you.
He does
not force
you to
believe.
So whether
you believe
or not,
it is truly
an act
of your
will.
But that
being said,
our natural
condition
is so
utterly
sinful
according to
the Bible
that no
one will
ever
turn to
God
apart
from
his
divine
intervention.
Romans
3
quoting
a string
of verses
in the
Old
Testament
says
no one
seeks
for God
God.
No one
on their
own
apart
from
God's
intervention
actually
wants
him.
They
all
hate
him.
They
want
what
they
want.
We
want
what
we
want.
It's
our
rebellion.
And nobody's
just going to
wake up one
day of their
own volition
and decide,
you know
what,
I think
I'm tired
of serving
myself.
I think
I'll serve
someone
else.
Jesus
sounds
pretty
good.
Maybe
I'll
try
that.
It
doesn't
work
like
that.
We're
too
sinful
for
that.
I just
don't
think we
understand
the depth
of our
own
depravity.
It's
not that
we all
do the
worst
possible
sins.
It's
that we're
all
thoroughly
corrupt.
And what
Paul is
praying for
in 1
Thessalonians
5 is
that God
would
reverse
that.
That he
would
take the
thorough
corruption
that is
our
nature
and our
flesh
and that
he will
make it
thoroughly
holy
and righteous
in the
spirit
of God
according
to the
nature
of
Christ.
That's
the
prayer.
We are
not dying
in sin.
We're
dead.
We're
not
drowning
in sin.
We're
drowned.
We're
not awaiting
!
We're
not awaiting
a coming
condemnation.
Jesus
said in
John 3,
if you
do not
believe,
you're
condemned
already.
It's
your
present
circumstance.
Moving
from
death
to
life
requires
a
miracle
from
God
and that
is
precisely
what
conversion
is.
God
does
not
force
anyone
to
believe
but
through
the
preaching
of
the
gospel,
the
general
call,
the
Holy
Spirit
sovereignly
and
admittedly
mysteriously
works
a
miracle
in the
hardened
hearts
of
some
who
hear.
That
is
the
effectual
call
and
when
he
does
this
work
of
regeneration
is the
word
we use.
This
work
of
bringing
a
dead
soul
to
life,
this
work
of
salvation,
calling
that
sinner
to
believe,
it
is
effective.
He
never
loses.
He
doesn't
force us
to
believe
but when
he
awakens
your
heart
you
will.
Paul
says
the
natural
man
is
blind,
he's
blinded
by the
God
of
this
world
but when
God
shines
the
light
of
the
glory
of
Christ
in
their
hearts
it's
as if
God
is
taking
the
blindfold
and
he's
ripped
it
off
of
our
faces
so
then
what
was
in
rebellion
to
God
truly
our
own
rebellion
now
suddenly
is
truly
our
own
faith
and
love
where
once
was a
human
will
and
rebellion
to
God
it
is
now
a
human
will
that
desires
to
love
and
obey
God
this
is
the
work
of
salvation
and
it
is
all
of
grace
it's
all
of
grace
this
promise
in
chapter
5
in
verse
24
this
promise
is
for
those
whom
God
made
his
own
by
grace
before
the
foundations
of
the
world
it
is
for
all
who
are
born
again
by
the
spirit
but
how
can
you
know
if
that's
you
it
sounds
like
we
can't
know
oh
but
you
can
if
you
have
turned
to
Christ
it
is
because
God
has
graciously
called
you
to
do
so
if
you
trust
in
Christ
death
and
resurrection
for
salvation
and
you
turn
from
your
sin
and
from
your
own
selfish
desires
to
follow
him
as
Lord
and
to
submit
to
him
as
your
God
this
promise
is
for
you
he
is
faithful
he
will
surely
bring
your
salvation
to
completion
and
he
will
surely
sanctify
and
keep
you
blameless
at
the
return
of
Christ
you
don't
have
to
wonder
about
your
future
you're
not
destined
for
wrath
but
to
obtain
salvation
God
will
be
faithful
to
his
promise
rejoice
he
will
do
it
if
you're
in
Christ
you
will
be
tomorrow
why
because
he's
faithful
it
won't
be
because
you're
better
than
those
who
don't
believe
it
won't
be
because
you've
done
enough
good
to
cover
all
the
bad
if
that
were
even
possible
then
Jesus'
death
means
absolutely
nothing
at all
and we
need
to
stop
talking
about
it
if
you
wake
up a
Christian
tomorrow
there's
only one
reason
why
because
God's
faithful
and
he
will
continue
to
fulfill
his
promise
to
all
he
calls
to
salvation
it
won't
be
because
you're
holding on
as
tightly
as
you
can
to
Jesus
though
you
need
to
do
that
but
that
won't
be
the
thing
it's
because
he's
holding
on
tightly
to
you
literally
he
said
it
I
hold
them
in
the
palm
of
my
hand
and
no
one
can
take
them
out
we
sing
it
all
the
time
no
power
of
hell
no
sin
of
man
can
ever
pluck
me
from
his
hand
till
he
returns
or calls
me
home
here
in the
love
of
Christ
I
stand
I
like
the way
Andrew
Peterson
sings it
his song
rest
easy
you
don't
have
to
work
so
hard
you
can
rest
easy
you
don't
have
to
prove
yourself
you're
already
mine
you
don't
have
to
hide
your
heart
I
already
love
you
I
hold
it
in
mine
so
you
can
rest
easy
if
you're
in
Christ
loved
one
rest
!
easy!
Stop
trying to
prove to
everybody
that you're
a great
Christian
just be
a Christian
and be
happy to
be one
stop
trying
after
saying
that you're
trusting
in
Christ
alone
to
save
you
stop
trying
your
hardest
and
doing
your
best
to
make
sure
that
you
stay
safe
rest
easy
in the
gospel
of
grace
pursue
holiness
yes
you
don't
have
to
prove
yourself
to
anybody
you
don't
have
to
prove
yourself
to
God
he
already
loves
you
he's
called
you
so
rest
now
if
you
wake
up
tomorrow
and
you're
not
a
Christian
you
don't
believe
and
you're
not
interested
in
following
him
with
all
the
external
things
that
maybe
you're
trying
to
do
today
and
you
just
decide
I
don't
want
it
anymore
I'm
not
trying
to
do
that
anymore
!
It
won't
be
because
God
has
forced
you
to
reject
him
it
won't
be
because
God
has
prevented
you
from
coming
to
him
it
will
be
because
you
have
willfully
volitionally
denied
him
and
his
truth
but
God
is
calling
and
he's
calling
you
now
in
this
sermon
with
this
text
now
repent
and
believe
turn
trust
him
his
work
is
sufficient
he
really
is
the
treasure
in
the
field
he
really
is
the
pearl
of
great
price
it
really
is
true
believe
turn
and if
you
will
turn
to
Jesus
this
promise
it's
for you
it's
for you
he's
faithful
he will
do it
to