Sermon Tone Analysis

Kept Blameless

1 Thessalonians 5:23,24

 

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.

May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

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anctification is one of those truths which is easily distorted.

Christians anticipate, according to the Word of God, three-fold sanctification.

Positionally, the saved are now declared holy before God the Father.

Practically, the redeemed are responsible to now grow in holiness.

Potentially, God’s people shall be presented holy and complete before the Son of God.

The message today is a study of the doctrine of sanctification and a review of the Bible’s teaching concerning the thorough work which God performs in the life of each believer.

In the Corinthian letters we are afforded a look at the purpose of the judgement of the Christian.

When I review these verses I am comforted instead of being terrified.

The Apostle, in *2 Corinthians 5:10* speaks of the appearance of Christians before the Bema.

We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

By itself this verse could easily hold terror since we know that there is no possibility that our good outweighs our bad.

What I would have you see is that the Judgement Seat is a place of revelation and a place of reckoning as well as a place of reward and recognition.

In order to form the more complete view we must look to some other passages from Paul’s letters.

I said that the Judgement Seat of Christ is a place of revelation, and that is clearly seen in *1 Corinthians 3:13* and *1 Corinthians 4:5*.

Carefully consider those two verses.

[H]is [the one standing before Christ] work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.

Again, judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes.

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.

At that time each will receive his praise from God.

It should be evident that one great purpose of the Judgement Seat of Christ is to reveal something in the life of the believer.

That which is revealed is the basis for praise from God.

Likewise, the Bema (Judgement Seat) is also a place of reckoning as seen in *Romans 14:10-12*: we will all stand before God's judgement seat.

It is written:

 

“As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will confess to God.”

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

To this point I will concede that it is possible that an individual might shrink in terror at the prospect of giving an account to God.

Indeed, if we are intimately identified with this earth we have reason to fear such an accounting.

However, if the work God has begun in us is thorough we are finding that increasingly the accoutrements of this life are losing their appeal and we are increasingly longing to be complete in Christ.

It is this aspect of the Judgement Seat which is often overlooked.

In *1 Corinthians 3:12-15* and *4:1-6* we read: If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.

If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.

If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.

My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.

It is the Lord who judges me.

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes.

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.

At that time each will receive his praise from God.

Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, ‘Do not go beyond what is written.’

Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.

The former passage becomes a source of deepest comfort in light of the latter.

That last sentence in *verse five* has become a great comfort to many of the saints of God: At that time each will receive his praise from God.

It is clear that the purpose of the Judgement Seat of Christ is to reveal the perfection of His work in the redeemed as He rewards and recognises His own.

All this is possible because of the promise of our text.

*The Child Of God May Anticipate Complete Sanctification* — May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.

In a previous message I spoke on the faithfulness of God from these same verses.

Now I must pause for a moment to take special note the Apostle’s language.

Aujto;" de; oJ qeo;" th`" eijrhvnh".

Himself is emphatic by its position in this sentence.

Himself is the God of peace.

This is a common term in Paul’s writings.

In *Romans 15:33* Paul concludes that letter with the glorious prayer that The God of peace be with you all.

The Apostle follows up on that petition with a statement of confidence in *Romans 16:20*.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

*Philippians 4:9* and *Hebrews 13:20* also introduce God as the God of peace.

By using this particular term—the God of peace—Paul could be emphasising the unity of the Godhead.

In other words, God is one.

It is more likely, however, that He is pointing out that for the child of God security and confidence is found in God.

In the text before us the most sensible understanding of what the Apostle intended to convey is the thought that we may rest confident in the knowledge that this business of sanctification is the responsibility of God from beginning to end.[1]

It will be helpful, then, if we each understand what is meant by sanctification.

Apparently sanctification is a process which God oversees, even actively directs, in the life of the believer.

God is the initiator and the overseer of the process.

Furthermore, if Paul’s plea is any indication, sanctification is thorough and total.

Nevertheless, there is a role for the child of God to play in the process of sanctification.

We discover that Paul presents a double petition (what some call wish prayers)—for sanctification and for preservation.

Some good biblical scholars have questioned whether this is in fact a prayer, but the evidence seems rather clear that Paul does present this request as a prayer for the people of God.

There appears to be no essential difference between the two pleas Paul presents.

This is especially true if the second petition is paraphrased *be kept so as to be blameless at the Parousia*.

Clearly the emphasis in both prayers is on the thoroughness of God’s sanctifying work.[2]

Despite the similarities, I will contend that a case can be made for distinction in the two concepts.

The case is strong if for no other reason than that the Spirit of God is never superfluous.

When we began the message today we began with the recognition that sanctification must always be viewed in three tenses.

Positionally, the saved are now declared holy before God the Father.

At the moment we were born into the Kingdom of God we were declared holy.

The child of God may be confident that he or she is now pure by the sacrifice of Christ the Lord.

I invite you to focus on *Ephesians 1:3-8*, noting especially the fact that all that God has done for His child is already accomplished.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Practically, the redeemed are responsible to grow in holiness throughout this life.

Having been saved, Christians are responsible to work together with God in order that they may live holy and pure lives.

This is the import of Peter’s words in *1 Peter 1:22,23*.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Likewise, this is the reason the Apostle urges the Thessalonians to live sanctified lives in *1 Thessalonians 4:3-8*.

In practical terms Christians are to be a holy people, exhibiting lives which are pure and righteous.

In so living we honour God and demonstrate that we are a transformed people who are born from above.