True Spirituality | The Centrality of Death
This sermon emphasizes the centrality of Christ's mind—characterized by humility and obedience—as the solution for unity among believers. It explains that "true spirituality" begins with justification through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, which occurred in God's "due time" as the ultimate payment for sin. This justification declares believers righteous, allowing them to pursue sanctification—a life of ongoing spiritual growth. The message calls for believers to cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving, avoiding covetousness and worldly conformity. It highlights that true spirituality requires consistent exposure to God's Word and a daily "death to self"—a spiritual crucifixion with Christ—which means rejecting personal desires and living for others. The sermon stresses that Christ's unique, substitutionary death provides infinite value for salvation, ensuring that all who believe are saved. It concludes by affirming that the Christian life follows an order of rejection and death to self, leading to spiritual resurrection in Christ, all based on the perfect and trustworthy Word of God.
Published: 7/7/2025
Before all things, before time began, there was a Creator. And this is the first sin, or these are the first sins of man, that man did not acknowledge his Creator and opposed the knowledge of the Creator.
When that happens, you will truly sin. Why? Because you did not recognize who is reigning. Nevertheless, the Creator created. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." We know God created all things. Man fell into sin. That is why we have the term "the fall." Why is there death? It is because of sin. Death exists because there is sin. "Death passed upon all men, for all have sinned." So there is sin, there is death, because man fell.
But praise God, there is this thing in the Bible called, "in due time Christ died for the ungodly." So there is something in the Bible called "due time." Those who pay bills are very familiar with this. They know very well that when you say "due date," that is the last day to pay without penalty. If you pay past the due time, there is a penalty. If you were supposed to pay two thousand, it becomes two thousand four hundred or two thousand three hundred, it has increased. It has become much larger. When Christ came, He did not miss the time. Christ's coming to the world was perfectly on time. It was "due time"; it was "just on time." Not late, not early—perfectly on time. When Christ came, that was the perfect time for Him to be in the world. When He was born as a baby, that was the perfect time for Him to be on Earth. And the truth here is that Christ died on the cross, He was buried, and He rose again the third day. Hence, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. What do we call the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ? That's the gospel.
What is the gospel? What does it mean? Good news. Do you follow? When God created all things, sin entered, death entered. Why is there death? Because of sin. Why did Christ die? Because of our sin. I repeat, why is there death, according to the Bible? Because of sin. Why did Christ die? Because of our sin. Christ died for our sins. Without acknowledging that we are sinners, we could not be saved. If we do not acknowledge that we are sinners, we cannot be saved. We first need to acknowledge that we are sinners before we can be saved.
And this "due time," about 2,000 years ago, this happened historically. If we had been alive at that time, you could have watched it live, because it happened in this very world we live in, not in the Philippines, but in a place called Israel. This event literally happened: He was literally crucified on the cross, literally buried, and literally rose again on the third day. That truly happened. And that is the fact of the gospel. That is the truth of Christ's death for our sins. He was buried, but on the third day, He rose again.
Fast forward to 2024. How fast time flies! Today is our time, our year. If a person believes what happened, if they trust that what Christ did is the payment for sin, then that person will be saved. So, if that happens in 2024, it is called "salvation." But the term "salvation" can have many meanings: salvation of the body, salvation of the soul. Let's just call it "justification" to make it clearer. Preacher, what does "justification" mean? It means that when a person believes in what Christ did to pay for their sins, in God's sight, that person is righteous. In God's sight, there is no more guilt. In God's sight, the sin is paid for. Because if we do not allow God to pay for our sins, if we do not allow Christ to pay, then we will be the ones to pay, and if we pay, it will be eternal destruction. That's condemnation. That is what comes with sin and death; there is condemnation.
But we no longer need to experience that condemnation because Christ already experienced it. If Christ took our sins, He bore the wrath, right? In God's sight, it is also, as I said last time, through the gospel. So, whenever you were saved, in 2018, 2019, whenever you were saved, that's the day you were justified. We are justified by faith; we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you believed in what Christ did, that's your justification. We are already justified.
But between justification and physical death or the rapture, there is a period of time in between. This is the time of our sanctification. This concerns what we talk about when we say "true spirituality." From when you were saved until possibly your death, because we might precede the rapture, we might not experience it. You might still be alive and suddenly be taken up. We might not experience that. But even so, whether physical death or rapture, the in-between, between justification and our blessed hope, is sanctification. That is the life we live while in the flesh. That's what we call sanctification. And as I said earlier, this cannot happen if you don't have this, if you don't have justification, if you have not yet been declared guiltless in the sight of God. We cannot claim we are being sanctified. We can be religious, but not saved. We can attend church, but have no assurance of salvation. We can be faithful in church activities, but miss the promise of eternal life. Why? Because sanctification is not based on what you physically do. Sanctification starts if, first and foremost, you have spiritual birth, if you are no longer dead but alive in the spirit.
Related Topics
ObedienceSalvationSanctification