The sermon, delivered by Jason Dohm, focuses on 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, emphasizing God's active role in the lives of Christians, not only in their initial justification but also in their ongoing sanctification and eventual glorification. Dohm outlines six truths about God's work in believers: God undertakes sanctification Himself, it is a sanctifying work, it is complete, it is preserving, God initiates and sees through the work, and it rests on God's faithfulness. The sermon stresses that while believers must cooperate with God's commands, the ultimate progression and preservation are assured by God's faithfulness. The sermon encourages believers to rejoice in God's faithfulness, even amid personal weakness and little faith, and to trust in God's comprehensive work in their lives, ensuring they are preserved blameless at Christ's return.

Our sermon text is 1st Thessalonians 5 verses 23 and 24. I'll begin reading in verse 14 and read through the end of the chapter. Now we exhort you brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, Uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things.

Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.

Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is The Work of God in a Christian.

And if I do my job right this morning, you're going to love the Lord more when we leave. Because this teaches so clearly that God doesn't save you through the blood of Jesus Christ and then back off and see how it goes. That's not the teaching of Scripture, hallelujah. And so we have these sweet words that describe the faithfulness of God to His people, not just in the saving of his people, but in the bringing of his people to the very end of their lives and to heaven. Two weeks ago we had three do's for the children of light.

Things that are fitting for people who have come out of darkness and been brought into light, made children of light, these three things that are appropriate in their lives that we should be cultivating and nurturing, rejoicing, praying, giving thanks. And then last week in our text we had three don'ts. Three things that are not fitting, that are inappropriate, whenever we find them in the lives of the children of light. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't despise prophecies.

Don't partake of evil. In any form of evil, was the word of the text. Abstain from every form of evil. This week we have a blessing and a benediction. We're coming to the end of 1 Thessalonians and our authors, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, are leaving the Thessalonians and really the Lord's people with a blessing in pronouncing this benediction at the end of the letter.

And they speak of how God is at work in all of His people in a very beautiful and powerful way. I just want to make a comment on the structure of this letter. It's really easy to divide this letter into two parts. You have chapters 1, 2, and 3, which talk about their experience among the Thessalonians and how they think about them, and even including Paul and Silvanus sending Timothy back when they were unable to all go together, and Timothy came back with a report. It was a good report, and that had just happened when they write this letter.

This is really the first major section of 1 Thessalonians. It deals with everything up to the present time, up to the writing of the letter. You can tell that that is ending because Paul and Silvanus and Timothy write a blessing and a benediction that reads almost like today's text at the end of chapter 3. Just flip back to chapter 3. I want to read it.

And I just want you to notice how similar it is to the words that we are studying this morning. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 11 through 13. Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." That blessing and benediction that our authors pronounce at the end of the first major section of this letter is almost identical to what we are studying this week at the end of the full book. They are praying that God would work among them to produce, increase, and abound in love, and that they would be established, blameless, and holiness before God when Jesus comes back.

And almost the identical things are pronounced again. So that's the structure of the book. One, two, and three chapters about their experience with the Thessalonians and how they've thought about them in Timothy's report. And then a blessing and benediction pronounced. And then chapters four and five, which are really practical and are exhortations to these new believers.

They can't help themselves, they have to pronounce another blessing and benediction as they end the book. So as we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. God, anyone familiar with your Word knows that you've given your people many things to do, and many things not to do. God, I thank you that you have not left it at that. You have not left us alone with things to do and not to do, but you work in our hearts and in our lives every day.

Thank you God for your kindness, for your faithfulness. Thank you for the beauty of how that's on display in the two verses that we're studying today and I pray that you would press these things home so that we love you more than we have. You are deserving of all of our love, God. I pray that you would have it. In Jesus' name, amen.

I believe in these two verses. We're just looking at 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 23 and 24 today. I was rebuked at Men's Bible Study on Monday for trying to make it all the way to the end, so I received that rebuke and have subdivided and I'm so glad. There's so much here and I think what we have in these two verses are six truths about the work of God in a Christian. So if you're a Christian you're going to learn six things today about how God has worked and is working and will be working until the very end in your life.

Truth number one, God undertakes it Himself. If you're filling in blanks on the handout undertakes. God undertakes it Himself. God undertakes the work, all that is necessary in the life of His children, in the life of Christians. This is not let go and let God theology where we say just lay there passively and watch how God perfects you over time even though you don't lift a finger even though you make no effort to cooperate in his work in your life.

No, this is not what's being taught. I don't think that's ever been taught here. And if it has, I repent. There have been many direct exhortations, commands, in 1 Thessalonians. So there are things that God says, do that!

And we've seen them in 1 Thessalonians. And there are things that God says, don't do those things. You are to lift a finger. You are to cooperate in the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. If that wasn't true, they never would have said don't quench the Spirit.

If it was let go and let God, you couldn't quench the Spirit in any meaningful way, and so there would be no need for the exhortation of the command. So it's not that. But, if you have been walking with the Lord for a while, You know your inability to do all the do's in a sustained way over time. And you know your inability to stay away from the don'ts in a sustained way over time. If You've been walking with the Lord for a while.

You know that you are weak and that your faith isn't what it should be and that you have to grow. And that if it were up to you, The whole process would make you get mad and get frustrated and quit and walk away. That's true. It was up to us. We would get mad and we would get frustrated.

We would say, Enough of this weakness and frailty. I just can't do it. I just can't continue and you would walk away. But God has other plans. That's what's being taught in this text.

We have it in the beginning, verse 23. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. God Himself does this. We have it at the end in verse 24, He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. So God Himself does it on the front end, and He who calls you the faithful one also will do it.

That's at the end. And so we have these bookends on our text that say the same thing. God, God, God. God does it. It is His work.

It is the work that He undertakes in the life of His people, on behalf of His people. Listen to Philippians 1 verse 6. I quote it all the time, but I can't stay away from it today. Philippians 1 verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. It's another way of saying what's in our text.

God begins it, God completes it. You have these beautiful words in Philippians 1, 6. Has begun, will complete. Same God, the same God who has begun is the God who will complete. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead will begin a work in his people.

He will raise you from the dead. And then he'll keep at it. Even when you're mad and frustrated and ready to walk away from it all, God will not Let that happen. He has begun a good work. He will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.

So God isn't just the God of justification. The God who comes and cleanses a sinner with the blood of Jesus Christ. He is that, but He is not only that. He is also the God of sanctification. The God who walks with you every day after He has cleansed you.

Isn't this a beautiful picture? These are beautiful words. You should love God more today than you did yesterday because of this text. He comes and He cleanses you if you are a Christian, if you are in Christ. He is the God of your justification, but it doesn't stop there.

It is just getting started there. He is the God of your sanctification. He is the God of your progress. He is the God of you keeping going when you're mad and frustrated and ready to walk away from the whole thing. Because you're weak and your faith isn't what it should be.

God says, no, I'm not going to let you be mad and frustrated and walk away. I'm going to tenderly, maybe rebuke you, but definitely sustain you. Here's what Paul says in Galatians chapter 3 verse 3. Galatians 3.3, Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? The answers are yes and no.

Yes, we are that foolish. And the answer is no. We began in the Spirit and we can't continue in the flesh. We cannot. There's no way forward in the flesh.

There's only a way forward in yielding to the Spirit. And God's not going to take no for an answer in the lives of His children. You might tell God no for a little while. He's not that kind of God that takes that for an answer from His children. He says, no, I am overriding that.

I'm going to work in your life in a way that brings you back from your stubborn hearted, thick headed, little faithed walk with me. I'm bringing you back. He can do that because he's God. That's truth number one. God undertakes it Himself.

Truth number two, it is a sanctifying work. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, sanctifying. It is a sanctifying work. Verse 23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you. Sanctified is a word that's used in two ways in the New Testament.

Here's the first way. In its first use it means to be set apart for a specific purpose. That's the first usage in the New Testament. Set apart for a specific purpose. That's the first usage in the New Testament.

Set apart for a specific purpose. And that almost always means God sets you apart for Himself. God sets Christians apart for Himself. They are in sin and rebellion and He puts His hand on them and says, you're mine and I'm setting you aside to worship me and bring me glory in your life." That's the first meaning. Set apart for a specific purpose.

God saying, you're mine. The second usage means the process of growing more and more into this consecration. In other words, the day God says your mind sets his hand on you, it doesn't mean your life fully reflects that the next day. Nope. You might not be able to tell very much of that consecration the next day.

God begins a work and it progresses. He keeps after it and he sees to it that you keep after it, so that progress is made. So that's the second use of the word sanctified in the New Testament. The process of growing more and more into this consecration so that your life reflects more and more. That you really are set apart to be His.

So the Lord's people are sanctified, according to the first usage of the word, and the Lord's people are being sanctified. It's right to say both of those things. Christians are sanctified people. They have been set apart to be God's and to live for His glory. And Christians are being sanctified.

They are in the process of their lives over time, reflecting more and more that they are consecrated to God. They are His. We saw this word in chapter 4, verse 3. For this is the will of God, what? Your sanctification.

That's God's will, your sanctification. That is the second usage that you would grow in reflecting more and more that you're consecrated to God, you're His. And then it begins a list, right? For this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality, etc. Etc.

As we've been working through the chapter, we see more and more things that are a reflection that we're set apart to be God's. So that is that second use, the process of growing. So we play zero role in justification. No role. You say, well we have to believe.

Ephesians 2 says, even that's a gift. That wasn't you. If you believed that wasn't you, God gave that to you as a gift. No role in justification. That is Christ, Christ, more Christ, only Christ, His work on the cross.

His blood cleanses. You play no role in that. But we are to cooperate in sanctification. Now you might think you've caught me. You say we cooperate in sanctification, but the first truth was that God undertakes it Himself.

If it's ultimately God's work, how can we say that we cooperate? Listen to James 1, verses 2 and 3. I know I quoted this one either last week or the week before, but it makes the point that needs to be made. James 1, verses 2 and 3. James 1, verses 2 and 3.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that The testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1 is about making progress in the faith. It's about how God uses, orchestrates circumstances of life to teach you to be patient, and then patience bears this good fruit in your life, you become complete. You become perfect and complete, lacking nothing. But it's God behind that.

You're to count it joy when you fall into various trials, because you're not really falling into various trials. God is bringing them to you to work this in your life, to work completeness in your life, to bring progress into your life. And he tests your faith to show you that it's not what it should be so that next time it's more what it ought to be. You have to see the sovereign God bringing circumstances, even pressures and trials into your life to use them this way, to give you progress, to bring completeness and perfection. It will cause you to lack nothing.

God has His school for discipleship and all His children are enrolled in His school of discipleship. God has His training grounds and He is bringing if you are a Christian, if you are His, if you are a child of light, He is bringing pressures into your life for a good purpose. Make you grow. Make me grow. He's bringing trials.

He's bringing things that we're groaning about into our lives that we shouldn't be. He's actually helping us. It's actually His kindness. Not that He has lost track of us, doesn't care about us anymore. It feels that way sometimes when you're in trials, but it's not that.

It's His sovereign hand working in your life. God has no limits to the tools and the resources that He can bring to bear in your life. He knows you're stubborn. And so he knows he's got to keep bringing this and that and this into your life to teach you. To make your faith grow.

He keeps testing your faith so that the failure this time leads to stronger, bigger faith next time. You trust him more next time because of what he's doing in your life this time. You have to see that. That was truth number two. It is a sanctifying work.

Truth number three, it is a complete work. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, complete. It is a complete work. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless." You hear All the words of thoroughness piled up there.

There is nothing in the life of a Christian that the work of God doesn't touch. I'm going to say that again. That might be one of the important things from this text. There is nothing in the life of a Christian that God's work doesn't touch. He touches everything.

He's got His hands on everything in your life if you're His. If you're a Christian when all is said and done, meaning you either die or Jesus comes back, God will have brought you along. He will have overseen your progress. He's enrolled you in a school, and you'll be going grade level by grade level, making progress. God sees to it.

And then either you die and Jesus comes back and whatever the gap is then between where you are and perfection, He'll finish the work completely then and you'll be made ready for heaven. Completely ready, completely fit for heaven. If we were in heaven as we are now, that would be awkward. That's impossible. We can't be in heaven as we are now.

So there's going to be a gap. However long God gives you to live, and however much progress you make between now and then, there's going to be a big gap between you and fit for heaven. And the gap is going to close in the blink of an eye, and you'll be ready. You'll be completely sanctified. Our text tells us that today.

We should rejoice in that. We should praise God for that. If you're a Christian, when all is said and done, meaning you die or Jesus comes back, there is no part of you that won't have been the object of His works of grace. It's not going to leave any part of you alone. You might think that's bad news.

That's actually great news. There's no part of you, if you're a Christian, that won't be touched by God's grace. That won't be the object of His works of grace. Your spirit, yes. Your spirit will be the object of His works of grace.

Your soul, yes. Your soul will be the object of His works of grace. Your body, yes. Your body will be the object of His works of grace. Your soul?

Yes. Your soul will be the object of His works of grace. Your body? Yes. Your body will be the object of His works of grace.

This text is ground for a big debate about whether a person has three parts or two parts. It looks like three parts in this text, your spirit, your soul, and your body. But there are other texts where it makes it sound like two, either soul and body or spirit and body. I'd like to say this about that. Beware those who make precise doctrines out of one or the other of those who represent they know really clearly where the lines between these things are and how they interrelate.

Beware. If anybody represents that they know a lot about exactly how to define either three parts or two and why it's three parts or two, and they make big doctrines out of them, and they make big implications of them, and they seem to know exactly where the line is, and how these things interrelate to each other. They're doing that speculatively. I looked at it this week, and You have to speculate to draw the lines hard and fast and to say that you know how these things interrelate to one another. So just I would say the big point is God's work doesn't leave any part of me out.

That's what he's trying to say here. He's not making a big doctrinal argument about whether there's three parts of me or two parts of me. He's just saying all parts of me are touched by the works of God's grace. That's what we should get out of this text. Here's the summary.

We're given the extent of the work of God, every part. Spirit, soul, body. And we're given the degree through and through. God won't stop until we are 100% fit and ready for heaven which is a perfect place. And there's going to be a lot of progress between now and the end for us.

We die or Jesus comes back. And then there's going to need to be a lot of progress to take us the rest of the way. But whatever the case, God will take us the rest of the way. Every part through and through. That's the extent, that's the degree.

That was truth number three. It is a complete work. Here's truth number four. It is a preserving work. If you're filling in blanks, preserving.

It is a preserving work. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that the five points of Calvinism are often represented by the acronym TULIP. Total Depravity, T. Unconditional election.

U. Limited atonement. L. Irresistible grace. I.

Perseverance of the saints. P. So, perseverance of the saints is what we have here in front of us. And I've heard multiple preachers say very helpfully, it would be better if it was preservation of the saints. It's classically known as perseverance of the saints, but it is better if we would think of it as preservation of the saints.

Why is that? Because perseverance of the saints makes it sound like if you can just hang in there long enough, God will take you at the end. That is not what the doctrine is. It makes it sound like it's a prerequisite to being a saint. If you can just hang in there, at the end you'll be a saint.

And it's exactly the opposite of that. Which is, if you're a saint, then God will so work in your life to preserve you, that you will hang in there, and you will make it to the end. So perseverance of the saints is easily misunderstood to be man centered, that it's something you do to earn sainthood at the end. The real teaching, the real doctrine couldn't be further from that. Preservation of the saints makes it clear that it's God's work to preserve you blameless until Jesus comes back.

What is God to His people? He is the God of peace. That's in our text. May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. He is the God of peace.

Jesus, his son, is the Prince of peace. That's what Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 calls him among other things like wonderful counselor. One of Jesus' titles of honor is Prince of Peace. And then in the next verse in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 7 it says, of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Jesus has an everlasting kingdom and in that kingdom there are two things that are going to be increasing and increasing and increasing.

His government and peace. God is a God of peace. His son is the Prince of Peace to his people and his government just keeps expanding and the peace in his kingdom just keeps expanding. This is of course, Isaiah 9 is a great prophetic, It's a great prophecy about the Messiah, the one who will redeem his people, who buys his people with his blood. That's where the peace comes from.

If you're a Christian, God determined to end your war against him by opening your eyes. If you're a Christian, God decided that the war, the war of insanity that you've been prosecuting against him, even though he's good and great, that that war he's going to bring it to an end by showing you the insanity of the war. By showing you His greatness and your smallness and your desperate need. You didn't see it, then one day you can see it. How is that?

It's because God reveals it to you. He gives you eyes to see and ears to hear. And then, He gives you the gift of repentance and faith and He makes you blameless through Christ. He cleanses you with the blood of Christ. And then he works to keep the peace.

He doesn't just make you at peace, which is the work of Christ does that. His blood cleanses you and makes you as white as snow. Your sins were like scarlet, He makes them white as snow. But then He keeps the peace. You might abandon the peace in your insanity, but He works to keep you in peace.

The ESV and the NIV, instead of rendering it preserved, render it kept. Kept by God. The Greek means this, to attend to carefully, to take care of. That is the nature of the preservation that is spoken of in our text. To attend to carefully.

God is attending to His people carefully to keep them at peace with Him. To take care of. He's taking care of you so that you'll still be in Christ at the end. In our weakness and in the littleness of our faith, we would have abandoned ship. But God has different plans.

God attends to us carefully. God takes care of us. God keeps us. God preserves us. So at the end, when Jesus comes back, we'll be found to be in Christ.

That was number four. It is a preserving work. Number five, God begins it and then sees it through. If you're filling in blanks, begins, sees. God begins it and then sees it through.

That is a truth about the work of God and the life of a Christian. He initiates it and then he sees it through. Verse 24, He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. The fact that he calls you tells us that this is initiated by God. This is not our idea.

We do not initiate our salvation. God initiates it. God calls sinners to repentance. And then, He's the one who also will do it. What is it?

Sanctify you and preserve you. He sees it through. He calls a sinner out of darkness into his marvelous light. He says, Hey sinner, come over here. Hey sinner, blind deaf sinner, come over here.

Come out of that darkness and into this light. And by being able to give you sight and the ability to hear the things that you couldn't see before and hear before, you say, I've got to get out of this darkness, I've got to fly from here to Christ. Come into that kingdom of marvelous light. There is a progression that takes a person from being a condemned sinner and saves him or her and then takes him or her to heaven. And that progression is described in Romans chapter 8.

So please turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 tells us so beautifully how God works in the lives of people to save them and then to see that work through. Romans chapter verses 28 through 30. It begins in this famous verse about all things working together for good. And then in verse 30 it gives us this progression that I want us to consider.

So Romans chapter 8, 28-30, Paul writes, And we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified." God talks about, through Paul, here in Romans chapter 8, God talks about those whom God foreknew, and he says he predestined them to be conformed into the image of Christ.

That is sanctification. What is sanctification? Ultimately, it's about being pressed into the image of Jesus Christ. It is about Christ-likeness. If God foreknew you, He predestines you to that, to be conformed into Jesus' image.

That's verse 29. I'm not very paraphrased, that's essentially exactly what the text says. But then in 30, we get the progression. He predestines, God predestines. He calls, God calls.

He justifies, God justifies. He glorifies, God glorifies. You don't call yourself, you don't justify yourself. You don't glorify yourself. God does those things.

God initiates it. God sees it through. God, God, God, Christ, Christ, Christ. There's no room in the language for a change of direction. He called me, he justified me, but I turned back.

When he pulls you off of the broad road that leads to destruction, you are safe. You are safe. There are no U-turns. When he's really done it, you are his. There's one direction to this.

He predestines and then calls and then justifies and then glorifies and there's no stopping and there's no turning around because He's God and He says that's what He's going to do. That was truth five. God begins it and then sees it through. Truth six, the last one. It rests on the faithfulness of God, if you're filling in blanks.

Rests faithfulness. It rests on the faithfulness of God. Your sanctification rests on the faithfulness of God. Your preservation rests on the faithfulness of God. The work of God in your life rests on the faithfulness of God.

He who calls you is faithful who also will do it. He's faithful. What words does God say to the weak and the one of little faith that has saving faith? Saving faith can be very small. What does God say to the one who is mad, who is frustrated, and who is ready to just walk away because they are so weak and their faith is so little.

Listen to these words, For if we died with Him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself.

That's 2 Timothy 2, 11-13. 2 Timothy 2, 11-13. You should be very familiar with those words. For those who find themselves to be weak and to have little faith, you ought to know these words. If we are faithless, He remains faithful.

He cannot deny Himself. Jesus Christ is the Savior of His people. His spirit indwells them. He can't deny Himself. Just because you only have a little faith, even though you are weak, He can't deny Himself.

He is resident in His people. He cannot deny himself. Even if you are faithless, you say, I have been faithless, God can't take me back one more time. Yes, He can. Yes, He can.

Yes, He can. If we are faithless, He remains faithful. It does not depend on the steadfastness of our faith. Our faith, if we are in Christ, our faith will be steadfast for one reason and one reason alone. He is faithful.

What else does God say to the weak and to the one who has little faith but saving faith? Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11, 28-30. So you come to 1 Thessalonians, we get down to the practical matters, the exhortations and the commands, and we got the do's.

And you look at, rejoice always, pray without ceasing in everything give thanks and you're depressed you're discouraged and I am too we come to first Thessalonians We come to this practical section with the exhortations and the commands and we do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Abstain from every form of evil and you're depressed. I'm so weak. Do these things and don't do these things and I can't do what I want to do and I find myself not doing or not keeping from the things that I'm supposed to keep from.

That sounds like Paul in Romans 7. But Christ tells us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him. He says that He is gentle and lowly in heart and that we will find rest. And He says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Even in the face of all the commandments, even in the face of all the do's and the don'ts, Christ's yoke is easy and His burden is light because God has promised that He's faithful and He'll work in our lives and He won't stop.

Even in the weak even in the ones who have little faith, He won't stop. He'll keep working, He'll keep working, He'll keep working, He'll sanctify you completely, He'll preserve you blameless until Jesus comes back. You have to believe that. Christians are only faithful because they have been brought to trust a faithful God. Christians are only faithful because they have been brought to trust a faithful God.

And it all rests on that. I want to close with another great benediction of scripture. Jude. Jude is right before Revelation. So all the way to the back, turn to Jude.

Jude in Revelation. Jude's just got one chapter, so you don't even say Jude chapter 1, you just say Jude 24 and 25. You just call out verses. It's a single chapter. We're talking sweet benedictions.

The pronouncing of blessings and benedictions here, these are sweet words. These are sweet words in 1 Timothy 5, now in Jude 24, verse 24 and 25. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To God our Savior who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen." This is it.

This is the great hope of the Christian and the only hope of the Christian that God who justifies is able to sanctify, that He's able to keep you from stumbling, that He's able to present you blameless, faultless. He's able to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. If you are a brother or sister in Christ, this is our hope. That He who cleanses us is able to keep us from stumbling. He is able to present us faultless before a holy God.

He is able to preserve us blameless to take it back into the language of 1st Thessalonians 5. Applications, I have three. Number one, faith is not just for salvation, It is also for progress. Faith is not just for salvation. It is also for progress.

This just stems from what I was saying earlier. God is not just the God of justification, He's also the God of sanctification. So if God is to be the object of our faith for justification, He is also to be the object of our faith for sanctification, we need to exercise our faith for sanctification. In other words, we need to believe what we're being taught in 1 Thessalonians 5. Believe it!

God will work in your life till the end and bring you along, and He will not abandon you. We need to exercise that faith and have an expectancy of fruitfulness in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit. That's the kind of fruitfulness that I'm talking about. We have the right to expect an abundance of the fruit of Spirit in our life, and we should look to God for that.

We should exercise our faith towards our sanctification, towards growing in lives that reflect that we're consecrated to God. Faith is not just for salvation, it is also for progress. You have to believe God for progress. And then move. You know, move, trusting that God is going to meet you there and help you and give you the strength that you need.

Number two, don't let your weakness and the littleness of your faith rob you of joy. Don't let it! You're weak, so am I. Your faith is little, so is mine. You're going to wait to have joy?

Forever? Wait till you feel strong? Wait till you feel like your faith is big? I'm just exempting myself from joy until then. You can have that.

You go be miserable and alone. Don't let your weakness and the littleness of your faith rob you of joy. There is a discouragement that is very man centered. There is a discouragement that is very, very, very man centered. And you're discouraged because all you're looking at is you.

And God is faithful and you're actually withholding the praise that God deserves for his faithfulness because all you can think about is you and how you're weak and don't have much faith. Now here are two things I'm not saying. Just to make sure we're clear. Two things I'm not saying. Here's the first thing I'm not saying.

All discouragement is sin. I'm not saying that. I've read the book of Psalms 2. There's a lot of discouragement expressed in the Psalms 2. I don't think all that is sin.

I don't think that's what the Bible teaches, that all discouragement is sin. I think we should comfort the faint-hearted. Sometimes life is very discouraging. I'm just saying in the middle of those discouragements we can't afford to only look at ourselves and withhold the praise that God deserves for being faithful. Here's the second thing I'm not saying.

If you are wallowing in sin, that shouldn't affect your joy. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying if you're wallowing in sin like a pig in mud, that you shouldn't expect your joy to be unaffected. Just go ahead and wallow, have joy anyway. I'm not saying that.

I'm not here to give false hope to anyone who hasn't repented of their sins. But don't let your weakness and the littleness of your faith rob you of joy. If you need to repent, repent. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. That's what Peter preaches in one of the sermons early in Acts.

When we repent, times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. And that's not just first time repentance. As every time you repent, you find yourself refreshed. Number three, finally, if you are in Christ, rejoice always in the faithfulness of your God. We should come away from this text rejoicing.

God is for us. If God is for us, who can be against us? If God has said you're justified, who can accuse us? God is faithful. He also will do it.

Let's pray. God, I thank You for Your goodness, and I pray that today finds us loving You more for Your greatness and Your goodness and Your faithfulness to us. We know who we are, and we know if it depended on us we would never make it to the finish line but you are faithful and we praise you. We praise you God. You are worthy of all honor and praise.

Cause us to rejoice over these sweet truths, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.