WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:04.620 God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and 00:00:04.620 --> 00:00:07.379 may your spirit and soul and body be preserved 00:00:07.379 --> 00:00:10.919 complete without blame at the coming of our Lord 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:14.480 Jesus Christ, faithful as he who calls you, and 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:19.820 he also will bring it to pass. Operation Desert 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:25.359 Storm is on the precipice of a new phase, as 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.219 we gather this morning. We are led to believe 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:31.760 that the ground war, such as it will be, is about 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:35.719 to begin. Our soldiers who have been waiting 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:38.340 these many months are naturally eager to get 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:43.859 on with it and yet at the same time fearful because 00:00:43.859 --> 00:00:46.460 of some of the terrifying results that may come. 00:00:46.899 --> 00:00:50.740 That's natural. And yet when the order does come 00:00:50.740 --> 00:00:55.380 to advance into Kuwait or into Iraq, they will 00:00:55.380 --> 00:01:00.179 do so because of an important principle that 00:01:00.179 --> 00:01:03.079 is the bedrock of military life and that is the 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:08.159 principle of duty. Duty, according to Webster, 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:12.459 is a moral or legal obligation to follow a certain 00:01:12.459 --> 00:01:17.019 line of conduct. One of the first things that 00:01:17.019 --> 00:01:19.560 a soldier learns in going to boot camp is the 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:24.040 importance of obeying orders and that to do so 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:28.620 is a duty. of him as a soldier. It is an obligation. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:33.379 The word duty comes from the Middle English period 00:01:33.379 --> 00:01:39.540 and a word that then meant what is due. And so 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:44.379 duty is that which is due to a government, to 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:47.480 a commanding officer, to someone who is in authority 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:51.879 over me. We who are believers in Jesus Christ 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:58.159 have a duty to God. Now this assertion that I'm 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:00.599 talking about this morning, our duty to God, 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:04.540 does not contradict the teaching of the gospel 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:09.939 of the grace of God. Duty is a reasonable response 00:02:09.939 --> 00:02:14.319 to God's gracious and genuine work in us. That 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.080 is why when he came to the twelfth chapter of 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:20.439 his epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul began 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.180 by saying, now because of these great mercies 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:26.479 of God, that I have been telling you about in 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:30.500 these first 11 chapters. Present your bodies 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:34.599 to God as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.840 to God, which is your reasonable duty, which 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:42.340 is your service to Him as though you were worshipping 00:02:42.340 --> 00:02:46.379 Him. Present your bodies to God, he says. That 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:50.460 is our duty. In Ephesians chapter 4 we find a 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:53.310 similar statement made. After three chapters 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:56.349 of laying out before us, line upon line, verse 00:02:56.349 --> 00:03:00.009 upon verse, of the grace of God in saving us, 00:03:00.409 --> 00:03:02.949 he says in the fourth chapter as he begins to 00:03:02.949 --> 00:03:07.969 shift gears, I therefore entreat you to walk 00:03:07.969 --> 00:03:12.189 in a manner worthy of the calling with which 00:03:12.189 --> 00:03:16.159 you have been called. He says, because of the 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:20.280 grace of God active in your lives, I entreat 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:25.219 you now to your duty. It is to walk worthy of 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:31.080 the calling of God in your life. Salvation is, 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:35.580 of course, by grace, and it is free to the believing 00:03:35.580 --> 00:03:39.939 sinner. We are grateful that it liberates us 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:44.319 from the law of God. which actually only exposes 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:46.860 the problem. It's incapable of giving us a new 00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:51.120 heart, as grace can do. But a true preaching 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.879 of the gospel of grace does not lead to irresponsibility. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:00.319 It does not imply that the saved by grace person 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.659 has no obligations to God after his salvation. 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:07.379 Indeed, we have a duty to God. Our duty to him 00:04:07.379 --> 00:04:11.280 is not one of law keeping. It's one of grace 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:16.319 obeying. And part of our duty to God is reflected 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:19.459 in our duty to His work in the world, in the 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:23.360 church. As we saw last week in the previous verses 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:27.040 here in 1 Thessalonians 5, we have a duty to 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:31.839 be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. It is a duty 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.600 not only to God, but to others in the church. 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:39.540 Because my sensitivity and your sensitivity to 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:43.220 the Holy Spirit affects everybody else in the 00:04:43.220 --> 00:04:48.100 body. If I am insensitive and careless to the 00:04:48.100 --> 00:04:50.040 Spirit of God, then everybody else in my church 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:53.079 is affected by that. Because we are part of the 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:57.199 same body. On the other hand, if I am yielded 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:59.540 to the Spirit of God and surrender to the Lordship 00:04:59.540 --> 00:05:02.420 of Christ, everybody else in the church benefits 00:05:02.420 --> 00:05:08.300 from that. We have a duty to the Church and to 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:15.100 God to be serious about our calling to holiness 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:19.759 as the people of God. That is Paul's prayer as 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.040 he concludes this epistle in these two verses 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:26.420 before us. He says, I pray that God will do this. 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:32.100 May he sanctify you entirely. That is God's calling 00:05:32.100 --> 00:05:35.689 in our lives, he says. and faithful is the one 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:40.930 who calls us, he will do it. The calling of God 00:05:40.930 --> 00:05:44.790 is a major theme in Paul's writing to the Thessalonians. 00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:49.029 Look back in chapter 2 and verse 12. He exhorts 00:05:49.029 --> 00:05:52.189 them to live a certain way, like a good father 00:05:52.189 --> 00:05:56.089 or a coach. And then he says, so that you may 00:05:56.089 --> 00:05:59.290 walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls 00:05:59.290 --> 00:06:03.490 you into his own kingdom and glory. In chapter 00:06:03.490 --> 00:06:07.949 4 and verse 7, he reminds us, God has not called 00:06:07.949 --> 00:06:12.290 us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 00:06:13.069 --> 00:06:17.529 In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 11, he says, 00:06:17.730 --> 00:06:21.810 To this end we also pray for you always, that 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:24.970 our God may count you worthy of your calling. 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:28.600 fulfill every desire for goodness and the work 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:32.920 of faith with power. In chapter 2 verse 14 he 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:36.199 says, and it was for this he called you through 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:39.600 our gospel that you may gain the glory of our 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:43.579 Lord Jesus Christ. You see the emphasis upon 00:06:43.579 --> 00:06:48.519 our calling here? And so the Apostle it seems 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:54.579 to me is saying something that is very important 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:57.420 for you and for me to grasp as he concludes this 00:06:57.420 --> 00:07:02.339 book. As he prays that God will sanctify the 00:07:02.339 --> 00:07:05.300 Thessalonians, he is also saying to all of us 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:10.980 in the church, be serious about God's calling 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:15.019 in your life to holiness. Be serious about that. 00:07:16.939 --> 00:07:20.620 He says that God's calling has a two -fold purpose 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:24.470 in the first place. On the one hand, his calling 00:07:24.470 --> 00:07:28.170 is for our complete and ultimate sanctification. 00:07:29.589 --> 00:07:32.230 Sanctification is a long theological word that 00:07:32.230 --> 00:07:35.930 has a very basic meaning. It means to set something 00:07:35.930 --> 00:07:41.350 aside for special use. You ladies probably have 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:45.310 some special dishes in your house. Not the kind 00:07:45.310 --> 00:07:47.920 that you pull out every night of the week. But 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:49.860 the kind that you put on the table only when 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:52.259 the company comes. And that's how the kids know 00:07:52.259 --> 00:07:55.379 somebody's coming. You might be eating in the 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:58.420 dining room and it's set with that special china. 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:01.600 Now why do we call it special? Because it's been 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:06.160 sanctified. Because it's been set apart for company. 00:08:06.899 --> 00:08:12.019 And you use it on special occasions. So God has 00:08:12.019 --> 00:08:15.680 set you and me apart. And His purpose in calling 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:22.079 us is our ultimate setting apart, our complete 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:27.279 sanctification. He says that every one of us 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:30.600 and every part of us, spirit, soul, and body 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:34.259 is affected by this calling. Every person who's 00:08:34.259 --> 00:08:36.759 sitting here who's a believer in Jesus Christ 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:39.779 is a part of what we're talking about, this calling. 00:08:42.019 --> 00:08:45.750 And every part of us This body, the soul, and 00:08:45.750 --> 00:08:48.490 spirit on the inside of us, every part of us 00:08:48.490 --> 00:08:50.789 is involved in this calling that we're talking 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:54.190 about. And God's purpose in the calling is that 00:08:54.190 --> 00:08:59.590 one day in every respect, every one of us will 00:08:59.590 --> 00:09:04.450 be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Our character 00:09:04.450 --> 00:09:11.210 will reflect our calling. The ramifications of 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:14.769 this are pretty staggering for right now. In 00:09:14.769 --> 00:09:18.169 light of this, back in chapter 4 he told us that 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:21.149 we are to keep ourselves from sexual immorality. 00:09:23.590 --> 00:09:27.029 He says you have to learn how to control the 00:09:27.029 --> 00:09:34.230 desires of your body in purity. Why? Because 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:37.730 God has called you to this purpose, to be like 00:09:37.730 --> 00:09:44.029 Jesus. That's pretty practical, isn't it? We 00:09:44.029 --> 00:09:47.029 can no longer live for selfish pursuits of any 00:09:47.029 --> 00:09:52.309 kind Selfish pursuits because of God's calling 00:09:52.309 --> 00:09:58.129 in our lives to be like Jesus God's purpose is 00:09:58.129 --> 00:10:00.450 our complete and ultimate sanctification, but 00:10:00.450 --> 00:10:04.950 it's also our certain and safe preservation Notice 00:10:04.950 --> 00:10:07.509 he says and may your spirit soul and body be 00:10:07.509 --> 00:10:12.230 preserved complete without blame at the coming 00:10:12.230 --> 00:10:16.330 of the Lord Jesus Christ. Complete means undamaged 00:10:16.330 --> 00:10:20.850 or left intact. It's like the planes that come 00:10:20.850 --> 00:10:24.350 back from the raids in war, and they're not shot 00:10:24.350 --> 00:10:27.509 up. Nothing's come close to them. They come back 00:10:27.509 --> 00:10:31.409 complete, intact from the battle. He says, I 00:10:31.409 --> 00:10:34.029 pray that you will arrive one day at your heavenly 00:10:34.029 --> 00:10:38.009 destination, complete, not shot up by the enemy, 00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:44.320 but intact, preserved. without blame. That means 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:48.580 no legitimate accusation being leveled at you, 00:10:49.379 --> 00:10:53.259 that no charge can be found that has any base 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:56.539 to it, blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus 00:10:56.539 --> 00:11:00.379 Christ. This preservation from harm and from 00:11:00.379 --> 00:11:05.440 accusation, this preservation for Jesus Christ, 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:09.259 will one day be complete when he comes again. 00:11:09.629 --> 00:11:12.669 We're being kept until that day by the power 00:11:12.669 --> 00:11:17.669 of God. God's purpose is that we might share 00:11:17.669 --> 00:11:21.450 the glory of Jesus Christ. That's what He's called 00:11:21.450 --> 00:11:25.450 us for. That's why He is sanctifying us. That's 00:11:25.450 --> 00:11:29.429 why He is preserving us. So that one day we can 00:11:29.429 --> 00:11:34.529 reign with Christ in His glory. That glory will 00:11:34.529 --> 00:11:36.929 be two different kinds. It will be glory that 00:11:36.929 --> 00:11:40.210 will be seen in us. because we will be glorified 00:11:40.210 --> 00:11:44.129 to be made like Him. And it's glory that we will 00:11:44.129 --> 00:11:47.750 live in because it's the location, the land of 00:11:47.750 --> 00:11:52.850 glory. Heaven is called glory in the Bible. And 00:11:52.850 --> 00:11:57.309 one day we will be there in glory. God's purpose 00:11:57.309 --> 00:12:02.190 is that we be there and be glorified. Be serious 00:12:02.190 --> 00:12:06.259 about your calling. Then he says something about 00:12:06.259 --> 00:12:11.200 God's process in this calling here. There is 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:15.000 one sense in which God's calling upon us is a 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.360 completed act. You'll notice perhaps in verse 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:23.799 7 of chapter 4, he says, God has not called us 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:28.159 for impurity but in sanctification. The word 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:32.429 called there is in the aorist tense. In other 00:12:32.429 --> 00:12:35.690 words, it is a once -for -all completed action. 00:12:36.289 --> 00:12:40.509 It may look to the past. It is something that 00:12:40.509 --> 00:12:43.889 has already been accomplished for them. In this 00:12:43.889 --> 00:12:47.710 sense, God's calling is over. It's done. It's 00:12:47.710 --> 00:12:51.149 finished. It's completed. It came to them through 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:54.629 the preaching of Paul, the gospel that he proclaimed 00:12:54.629 --> 00:12:58.039 to them. God's calling in your life is in one 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:00.919 sense completed. It came at that moment that 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:05.399 you trusted Christ as a youngster at camp or 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:07.759 as that person came to your home and called on 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:10.820 you or whatever the situation was. That moment 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:13.320 that you prayed to receive Christ, God's calling 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.860 came to you and it was completed and consummated 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:22.230 at that moment in one sense. But in another sense, 00:13:22.490 --> 00:13:24.870 God's calling is a process in your life. We are 00:13:24.870 --> 00:13:28.110 being called. You'll notice when he uses this 00:13:28.110 --> 00:13:30.450 term in chapter 2 verse 12, it's in the present 00:13:30.450 --> 00:13:35.649 tense. The God who calls you to his kingdom and 00:13:35.649 --> 00:13:38.769 glory. And that is the same sense that we're 00:13:38.769 --> 00:13:42.370 looking at here in chapter 5 verse 24. Faithful 00:13:42.370 --> 00:13:47.929 is he who calls you. This is the call of God 00:13:47.929 --> 00:13:52.529 right now in our lives. It is the call of God 00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:56.470 for transformation. It is the call of God for 00:13:56.470 --> 00:14:01.250 change. It is the call of God which He will consummate 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:04.429 one day when Jesus comes. It is certain that 00:14:04.429 --> 00:14:09.110 He will. Faithful is He who calls you. It is 00:14:09.110 --> 00:14:14.049 the call of God that we have a part in. Yes, 00:14:14.090 --> 00:14:18.330 we have a part. We have a responsibility in this 00:14:18.330 --> 00:14:23.679 whole process. of God's calling. Our responsibility 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:27.179 is found, for example, in 2 Corinthians 7 .1, 00:14:27.259 --> 00:14:29.559 where it says, Therefore, having these promises, 00:14:29.980 --> 00:14:34.539 beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement 00:14:34.539 --> 00:14:37.700 of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:41.059 fear of God. God's calling and God's work in 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:43.399 us is to make us holy, but we have a part in 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:48.809 that. We cooperate with God in this process of 00:14:48.809 --> 00:14:53.789 His calling, and if we don't cooperate, then 00:14:53.789 --> 00:14:59.870 it's to our loss. This is an important aspect 00:14:59.870 --> 00:15:03.129 of God's calling in our lives, and it's one that 00:15:03.129 --> 00:15:06.169 Paul underscores in this epistle. In chapter 00:15:06.169 --> 00:15:09.049 4, for example, he tells us that we are to live 00:15:09.049 --> 00:15:12.690 purely, we are to live lovingly, we are to live 00:15:12.690 --> 00:15:16.240 honorably. You may recall that series from chapter 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:19.779 4. We are to live purely, we are to live lovingly, 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:23.759 we are to live honorably because of the calling 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:29.159 of God in our lives. Let me ask you an honest 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:33.340 question. What difference does it make in your 00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:36.580 marriage because God has called you to Himself? 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:41.580 Does it make you a more understanding and loving 00:15:41.580 --> 00:15:47.940 husband? Does God's calling cause you to be more 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:54.919 considerate of your wife? What difference does 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:57.120 it make in the way that you live in the business 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:02.200 world because of God's calling? We say that's 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:05.220 up to God. It's God's calling. Yes, it originates 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:08.139 with God, but we participate in this process. 00:16:10.730 --> 00:16:13.049 Do the people you do business with know that 00:16:13.049 --> 00:16:15.389 there's a difference about you, that you live 00:16:15.389 --> 00:16:18.269 honorably, you're an honest business person? 00:16:19.730 --> 00:16:23.230 Do they know that because they come to you, they're 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:27.590 going to get a fair deal? That you're not trying 00:16:27.590 --> 00:16:33.269 to steal from them because of the calling of 00:16:33.269 --> 00:16:38.029 God in your life? The calling of God should make 00:16:38.029 --> 00:16:40.649 a difference. That's the point this morning. 00:16:40.690 --> 00:16:44.769 We are to be serious about God's call in our 00:16:44.769 --> 00:16:47.870 lives to holiness. He concludes by giving us 00:16:47.870 --> 00:16:53.549 God's promise. Faithful is He. He will do it. 00:16:57.690 --> 00:17:00.330 A couple of weeks ago I went back to my alma 00:17:00.330 --> 00:17:04.930 mater in Chicago and there participated in the 00:17:04.930 --> 00:17:08.690 25th reunion of our graduating class of 1966. 00:17:10.049 --> 00:17:12.210 It's amazing how old some people in our class 00:17:12.210 --> 00:17:16.769 have gotten in the last 25 years. Age has really 00:17:16.769 --> 00:17:25.210 taken its toll on them. But we still have our 00:17:25.210 --> 00:17:28.950 memories, for the most part. One of the things 00:17:28.950 --> 00:17:31.970 that we talked about was our class verse. It 00:17:31.970 --> 00:17:34.130 was the custom, you see, that each class would 00:17:34.130 --> 00:17:40.970 adopt a verse. And our verse was 1 Thessalonians 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:50.269 5, 24. Faithful is he who calls you. He will 00:17:50.269 --> 00:17:54.450 do it. And as we shared about what's happened 00:17:54.450 --> 00:18:02.339 in the last quarter of a century, It was interesting 00:18:02.339 --> 00:18:05.579 to hear that though all of us have been through 00:18:05.579 --> 00:18:10.579 times of pain and disappointment, as well as 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:15.720 blessing and some success, that the theme that 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:18.579 came out over and over again was exactly what 00:18:18.579 --> 00:18:22.220 the promise of God was to our class 25 years 00:18:22.220 --> 00:18:29.559 ago. Faithful is he who calls you. Your final 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:34.240 salvation Your sanctification, to be made like 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:38.200 Jesus Christ, rests finally and ultimately upon 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:44.740 God. He began the process. We cooperate with 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:47.099 him in the process, but he is the one who is 00:18:47.099 --> 00:18:51.640 going to consummate it. He who has begun a good 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.940 work in you will complete it, says Paul to the 00:18:54.940 --> 00:18:59.190 Philippians in the day of Jesus Christ. Just 00:18:59.190 --> 00:19:02.549 as He justified you by grace, He will sanctify 00:19:02.549 --> 00:19:06.809 you by grace, and His calling in your life will 00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:16.410 be realized. Be serious about your calling. Live 00:19:16.410 --> 00:19:19.690 so that one day when that final adjustment is 00:19:19.690 --> 00:19:22.690 made, so that when you are like Christ, it's 00:19:22.690 --> 00:19:26.589 not going to be a leap of a hundred miles, but 00:19:26.589 --> 00:19:34.339 just another step. in the process. Why is this 00:19:34.339 --> 00:19:39.519 so important with regards to the church? In the 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:44.619 first place because this calling to holiness 00:19:44.619 --> 00:19:50.519 affects the witness of our church. People in 00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:53.299 the community know what we teach, hopefully. 00:19:56.680 --> 00:19:59.740 And it is the holiness, the godliness of our 00:19:59.740 --> 00:20:04.160 lives that backs up our witness and gives us 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:07.960 credibility. I remember when I was pastoring 00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:11.839 another church, I went calling on a person who 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.680 had visited our church some time before that. 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:19.539 And the essence of his response to my visit and 00:20:19.539 --> 00:20:23.299 my plea with him was this, look, I know so -and 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:25.339 -so that goes to your church, and if that's what 00:20:25.339 --> 00:20:27.559 Christians are like, I want nothing to do with 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:33.079 it. The only thing I could do at that point was 00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:38.579 to make a hasty and apologetic exit, because 00:20:38.579 --> 00:20:40.980 any credibility of the message that I was trying 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:45.559 to deliver had been undermined. This call to 00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:48.220 holiness is something we have to be serious about, 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:51.109 folks. because it affects the witness of our 00:20:51.109 --> 00:20:54.869 church. It also affects the work of our church. 00:20:57.430 --> 00:20:59.609 Because if there are some of us not serious about 00:20:59.609 --> 00:21:02.190 God's calling to holiness, the Holy Spirit is 00:21:02.190 --> 00:21:06.609 quenched. And to the extent that He is quenched, 00:21:07.049 --> 00:21:09.049 or as Havner put it last week in that quote, 00:21:09.289 --> 00:21:14.670 squenched, to the extent that He is, then He's 00:21:14.670 --> 00:21:18.589 not working powerfully through us. It affects 00:21:18.589 --> 00:21:21.170 the work of our church, and finally it affects 00:21:21.170 --> 00:21:26.069 the worship of our church. For if we are not 00:21:26.069 --> 00:21:28.650 serious about our call to holiness, our worship 00:21:28.650 --> 00:21:35.509 to God is in vain. Sometimes read the first chapter 00:21:35.509 --> 00:21:38.309 of the book of Isaiah and see what God thought 00:21:38.309 --> 00:21:41.349 about the worship of the Jews in Isaiah's day 00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:48.930 when their lives were not holy. We must be serious 00:21:48.930 --> 00:21:53.089 about God's call to holiness because it is our 00:21:53.089 --> 00:21:57.849 duty to God and it's also our duty to the people 00:21:57.849 --> 00:22:04.809 of God. A gentleman was visiting a coal mine 00:22:04.809 --> 00:22:09.529 on one occasion and as he got off the elevator 00:22:09.529 --> 00:22:14.210 there in the shaft and began to walk he saw a 00:22:14.210 --> 00:22:20.289 flower. a flower of all things blooming, white, 00:22:21.990 --> 00:22:25.329 beautiful, there in one of the cracks in the 00:22:25.329 --> 00:22:28.930 seam of coal. And he asked the question, how 00:22:28.930 --> 00:22:33.049 can it blossom in such purity and radiance in 00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:37.089 the midst of all of this coal dust? Whereupon 00:22:37.089 --> 00:22:39.390 his guide said, well throw some coal dust on 00:22:39.390 --> 00:22:42.839 it, and he did. As he threw the dust on the petals, 00:22:43.140 --> 00:22:46.299 the dust simply came off of it. It slid off, 00:22:46.420 --> 00:22:50.599 leaving the snowy white petals unstained. Because 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.559 God has made that particular flower with petals 00:22:53.559 --> 00:22:55.940 that are so smooth that the grit and the grime 00:22:55.940 --> 00:23:00.980 of a coal mine cannot attach to it. The application 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:04.559 of that seems to me obvious. Our hearts should 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:08.900 have a similar characteristic. Just as that flower 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:12.880 could not control its habitat, so we cannot help 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:15.380 that we have to live in a world that is filled 00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:20.259 with evil. But God's grace can keep us so clean 00:23:20.259 --> 00:23:24.759 and unspotted that though we touch sin on every 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:29.500 side, it will not cling to us. That's God's calling. 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:32.980 That as you and I walk through the world this 00:23:32.980 --> 00:23:36.259 week, the sin that we must come into contact 00:23:36.259 --> 00:23:42.809 with Will not pollute us Will not spot us But 00:23:42.809 --> 00:23:45.869 at the end of the week as we come together for 00:23:45.869 --> 00:23:50.509 worship we come as a pure people That's our duty 00:23:50.509 --> 00:23:55.289 to God We owe that to God Because he's called 00:23:55.289 --> 00:24:07.539 us to holiness Let's pray Spirit of God We thank 00:24:07.539 --> 00:24:12.299 you for the calling that you've given us, a calling 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:17.240 to salvation which is sure and certain, guaranteed 00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:23.880 by your presence in us. But we thank you too 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:27.759 for that calling to holiness, whereby one day 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:33.799 we will be like Jesus, in every respect. And 00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:38.730 right now, On this day, in this week of 1991, 00:24:40.069 --> 00:24:44.369 our desire is that the process of this calling 00:24:44.369 --> 00:24:49.470 will be real in our lives. We pray that we will 00:24:49.470 --> 00:24:52.210 be yielded to the Holy Spirit in every way that 00:24:52.210 --> 00:24:56.569 we know, so that as we walk through the world 00:24:56.569 --> 00:25:05.059 this week, we will be left unstained. I pray 00:25:05.059 --> 00:25:10.059 that you will write upon our hearts the importance 00:25:10.059 --> 00:25:15.059 of our being serious about your calling in our 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:19.059 lives. In Jesus' name, amen.