In the Saints

Driving home: so the word also includes the concept of moral purity and it's the very word used in 1 Peter 1 be ye holy God says for I am holy as I am set apart from evil and sin and moral defilement

The analogy of rolling a small ball of snow to make a large snowman illustrates how the word 'saint' starts with a limited use in the Bible and gathers weight and meaning as it rolls through the pages, becoming a full-blown concept.

I have no grounds to believe that the inheritance is mine but if I am a saint thank God it is certainly mine what then is a saint well this word saint is the very familiar word used to describe the people of God it's introduced in the ninth chapter of Acts and if you just take a concordance sometime and look up saint and go through the New Testament you see it's one of those words that when it's introduced it's like when you start and that's a proper use of like I've been working with my kids on this matter you know like like like like has become the big filler word I'm working my kid brother ...

18:06 - 19:33 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are not a saint in position, name, heart, and experience, you have no grounds to claim any part in the inheritance.

An old potter pan, once used for play, becomes 'holy' when set apart for use in the temple worship, illustrating the Old Testament concept of holiness as being set apart from common use.

and maybe you had an old potter pan that you used to like to run around the backyard and bang it and play play parade with it or something else well if that potter pan happened to be taken up to the temple and the priest was going to use it in the sacrifice or use it in some form of the worship the moment it was put into the hands of the priest and was either sprinkled with the elements for cleansing ceremonial cleansing or dipped or whatever was done that pan the one that was all beat up where you've been banging on it with a stick suddenly became a holy pan not holy with holes through it but...

21:02 - 22:31 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are not a saint in position, name, heart, and experience, you have no grounds to claim any part in the inheritance.

Moses being told to remove his shoes because he stood on 'holy ground' illustrates that holiness in the Old Testament meant being set apart for a special revelation or use by God, even if the ground itself was just dirt.

unto the service of God so there is holy ground Exodus chapter 3 Moses take your shoes off the place where on you stand is holy ground now it's just plain old dirt if you picked up a handful and rubbed it on yourself it'd be dirty if you picked up a handful and tried to eat it you'd spit dust out of it in your mouth it was just plain old dirt in the back side of a wilderness but God says holy ground why because in that ground God had been pleased to reveal himself and that ground as it were was set apart for a revelation of God it became sanctified it separated from common ground so there was ...

22:31 - 23:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not allow infants to be regarded as members of the church simply because they are the physical seed of saints, as God has no grandchildren.

A young man at a conference shared how he was raised in a good church but presumed his membership made him a saint, only to realize later that he needed a personal, gracious call from God to truly be saved. This illustrates the danger of presuming sainthood based on birth or church affiliation.

simply because they are the physical seed of saints this is why we stand intransigent against the position that the church is comprised of all believers and their children no child is made a saint because he's born of a saint God has no grandchildren this is why we love and nurture and pray for and with as Mr. Spence prayed for our children but we want them to grow up knowing and if we regard them because the apostles always and if we regard saints already in any degree they'll regard themselves and plunge into hell with the curse of presumption just two days ago at the conference on preaching...

35:28 - 36:46 Read in full sermon