Hebrews 13. I'll give you what I got this morning. I'll give you a lot of Bible verses. Something's been on my heart. I thought I'd write a little something about it, so I did. It's nothing new. You've heard it before. I wanna preach on standing and state in Christ. The Bible said in Hebrews 13 verse number 20, he said, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will. working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight. Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. Our Father, we love you and we thank you for the great privilege to be here this morning. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you'd be with preacher and the men of our church, those that are with them, and you would protect them and fill them with power and use them where they're at and bring them home safely. But Lord, today, the Lord's day, here we are in the house of God. Lord, we come to worship you and hear from the word of God, and I need your help. I pray that, Lord, you'd help the hearts of God's people to hear what you'd have them to hear. Lord Jesus, we sure do love you, thank you, and praise you for all you've done. We thank you, Lord, that it's settled. Dear Father, salvation is not something for us to worry about, but God, it is something that's already been settled as Lord, my son just sang, and we can rest in it. And Father, I thank you, Lord Jesus, for the scriptures, the word of God, and how I pray that you'd help me now as I try to give your people what you've given to me. We love you and praise you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Your standing. It means settled. It means established, it means continually existing. It means permanent. Standing means not temporary. It means fixed, not movable. It means never changes, amen. It means you are sanctified or the sanctification by the blood of Jesus Christ. And you find then, of course, that word state means condition. It means circumstances of a being or a thing at any given time. It also means these circumstances may be internal or constitutional or peculiar to a person. So in other words, dear friend, the state of a Christian can be strong or the state of a Christian can be weak in Christ. It is conditional. Sanctification is progressive. So in other words, dear friend, we read in verse number 20 of Hebrews chapter 13, just as a jumping point, where the Bible said down there, it said, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, that is our standing in Christ. And then he went on to say, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his spirit. That is, of course, our state in Christ. My standing in Christ is positional. My state in Christ is an experience. May I say to you, it is the life that I live. It is the life that you live. My standing in Christ comes from being sanctified by the blood of Christ through the spirit of God. It is eternal. My state in Christ comes from sanctification by the spirit of God. It is internal. The Bible said over there in Romans chapter number five, verses one and two, he said, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That is our standing. Romans chapter five, verses nine and 10, the Bible said, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, listen to this, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. That is our state. May I say to you, dear friend, your standing is glorious and your state can be glorious. There's a lot of people, of course, in this world that claim to be saved, and we'll talk about this maybe a little bit more, but dear friend, they may have a standing in Christ. They may have a salvation, if you would, experience, but it seems that their state is not as glorious as their standing, and that is their choice. You see, you will be as spiritual as you want to be. Dr. Green used to say this, he said, you will be as close to God as you wanna be. If you don't wanna be close to God, you won't be close to God, amen? But if you do wanna be close to God, you will be close to God. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 6 here this morning. 1 Corinthians 6, and I'll read you some scripture here we find over in 1 Corinthians 6 verses 9 and 10. I'll speak just for a moment on our standing, then on our state. But 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9 and 10, you read here a list of pretty bad people, some pretty sinful people. The Bible said in verse 9, know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be not deceived. neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves and mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. We got a slew of them people today in our world, but I want you to pay attention to verse number 11. Here's what it says. And such were some of you. He says, but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Amen? That is your standing in Christ. Friend, there may be some of us that can think back, or maybe somebody can know something about even you. They can say, well, you were this, or you were that, and maybe you fit in that list. or maybe I fit in that list, but I can say every one of us that are saved this morning, we fit in the verse 11 list, amen, where it says, such were some of you, but ye are washed, amen. My Lord, that is your standing in Christ. Doesn't matter what we did. Doesn't matter where we came from. Amen. And matter of fact, it doesn't even matter what we do today. Amen. We are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. Doesn't give me a permission to sin. Doesn't give me the opportunity to go out and live like a devil. Amen. No, there's something on the inside of me called the Holy Ghost of God. Amen. And he saved my soul. And he put my standing in Christ. And nothing can change that standing. The Bible said it within 2 Thessalonians 2.13, it said, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen, listen, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Listen to 1 Peter 1.2. He said, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Listen to what he said. through sanctification of the spirit and the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Romans 15, 16, he said that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God. That he said the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. According to these verses, dear friend, sanctification by the Spirit of God is the beginning of God's work in the souls of man at salvation, amen. In other words, whenever God saved me, amen, he sanctified me right then and there, amen. And I say to you, dear friend, it is an immediate work of sanctification through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's not a second blessing, as some would say. It's an immediate work of the Holy Ghost. It's talking about your soul being saved. It is an eternal position. Forever. It is your standing in Christ the moment you repented of your sins. You understand? I'm talking about the very second, the very moment that you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. Right then, right there, he sanctified you through the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, amen? And you have a standing with Christ that will never change. The first time you find the Spirit of God mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 1-2. where the Bible said in the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Dear friend, he went and he moved upon a dark world without form and without void, the Bible said. And then he said, let there be light. What happened? Immediately there was light. And I say to you, dear friend, that the day came that the Spirit of God moved across my dead, dark soul. And immediate light shined in and my heart was opened to the Gospel of God. And I say to you, dear friend, I remember that day. I remember the conviction of the power of God. I remember when the Holy Ghost of God was dealing with my heart and the sweet spirit of God shined upon that gospel on my heart. And dear friend, I went forward and accepted the Lord as my savior and he saved my soul. No longer to be a child of the night. No longer to live a life without form and void, dear friend. God saved me and changed me and put my eternal state in heaven and my standing is in Christ. Brother Willard Thomas wrote this. He said, Adam's nature had bound me down and left me like cane on dry, barren ground. My innocence flew like a bird on the wing as I was bound and determined to do my own thing. Deeper still in sin I fell as the master deceiver cast his spell. And my heart, once so pure and free from pain, now bore the mark of sin's crimson stain. Broader and deeper the dark stain grew as farther and farther my innocence flew. I shed many tears over the terrible stain as I tried to erase it again and again. Then I realized in my dark despair that I was servant to sin's awful snare. Just then the high court issued a plea and God's Holy Spirit came after me. The thunders of trouble and judgment did roll and two mighty powers bid for my soul. I visited Jerusalem in spirit that day and walked with my Savior, the Calvary Way. I saw Him there on that cross of shame and realized that He was taking my blame. And over my soul, like a mighty flood, flowed His precious stain-cleansing blood. Now I love Him and serve Him and sing this glad song, that His blood cleanses deeper than the sin stains have gone. The Bible said over there in Romans 8, 38 and 39, he said, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, in case you can think of anything, he said, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is a strong standing in Christ, dear friend. That means nothing can change it, amen. That's a standing that we can shout about. That's a standing that we don't have to worry about, dear friend. That's a standing that we can rest in Him alone. I know your standing is secure because we are in love. We are in the love of Christ, of Jesus our Lord. And since we are in Christ, which is a part of Christ, and there is no part of Christ going to hell, therefore my standing is secure. Our standing is secure because eternal life is a free gift. You and I did not do anything to receive it, and we can't do anything to lose it. The Bible said the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, Romans 11.29, it's eternal. I say to you our standing is secure because we have an intercessor whose prayers are always answered. and Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and here's what he said. He said, Father, I thank you that thou hast heard me and I knew that thou hearest me always, in John 11, 41 and 42. He went on to say in John number 17, he said, Father, I will that they, that's us, also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they, that's us, may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. May I say to you, dear friend, he is our intercessor. I also believe that our standing is secure because we are kept by the power of God. According to 1 Peter 1.5, that's the same power that created the world. That's the same power that keeps the stars in their place. That's the same power that holds this universe That's the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. I believe that our standing is secure because it is based on his righteousness, the righteousness of a sinless man. In him was found no fault. In him is no sin. God the Father was pleased with his sinless sacrifice. And when God looks at you, he doesn't see you, dear friend. He sees Christ, the sinless one. The Bible said in Colossians 3, 3, he said, for ye are dead. You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. I say to you this morning, dear friend, that our standing is secure because I'm part of Christ. I have eternal life in Christ. He is my intercessor, he is my keeper, and he is my righteousness. And your standing is a clearing of the ungodly. It has nothing to do with the feeling because it's settled. People will say things like, I don't feel saved. Doesn't matter. Did you trust him or did you not? Yeah, man, did you ask him? Did you repent? Did you ask the Lord to cleanse you and forgive your sins? Here's what the Bible said in John 10, 28 and 29. He said this. He said, I give unto them eternal life. That's your standing. And they shall never perish. That's your standing. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. There's your standing. My Father which gave to me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. That is your standing, dear friend. And I say to you, dear friend, how big is God's hand? Well, the Bible said over there in Isaiah 42, it teaches us that he measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. That's a pretty big hand, amen? Not only that, it goes on to say that he meted out the heaven with a span. That means he measured it with his hand, amen? His span of his hand is from there to there. And I say to you, that's a pretty big hand when he can measure out the universe with a span of his hand, measure out the heavens with a span of his hand. You say, preacher, I don't know if I can keep my salvation. No, you can't keep it, but he can, amen. I say to you, dear friend, do you think you can lose your salvation? Go ahead and jump on in the middle of God's hand and start running to the edge. You'll never make it. You'll never get there, amen. I say to you, life will be over before you can get there. There's a God in heaven, hallelujah, that saved your soul. He said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That's your standing. Jesus 2.6 says, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's your standing, you're already there. He said in 1 John 5.20, and we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him, that is true. Even in his Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. And I say to you, dear friend, we are in him, that is our standing. Hebrews 10, 14 said, for by one offering, talking about Jesus, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Did you hear that? He said he had perfected them forever. Perfected. That means tomorrow, you're still perfected. That means one month from now, you're still perfected. That means when you lose your mind and you don't even know who you are, And you do things that you never would do if you was in your right mind. Still perfected. Saved. 2 Timothy 1-2 said this, For the witch calls, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I believe, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Can I say to you this morning, rest in the Lord. I say, dear friend, that's my standing. Nothing can separate us from God. We have eternal life. We will never perish. No man can do anything about it. Not even you and I. We already seated in heavenly places. We've already been perfected. My soul has been made alive again. Never did I. I'm already separated from this flesh internally with my name written down in the book of life. It is an unchanging and unchangeable position. And the question could be asked, if you died today, do you know for sure that you'd go to heaven? And I say the answer that I would give is yes, because I am in Christ. I am seated in heavenly places already. I am sealed by the Holy Ghost. I am protected in God's hand. I have been washed in the blood of Jesus. I have been promised, dear friend, eternal life and to never perish. I have been perfected, sanctified, and justified. My standing will never change. That's my standing in Christ. Let me give you our state. Our state in Christ is individual. It is peculiar to each person. Understand that standing in all of us is the same if you're saved. But our state is different. Colossians 1.28 said, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom. Are you listening? That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. May I say to you that that is the goal or should be the goal of every Christian. The Bible said in Philippians 2, to wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, he said, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That doesn't mean that you work for your salvation. He said, you work out your own salvation. God works salvation within, we work salvation without. Dear friend, there's a life from Christ, there's a life with Christ, there is a life for Christ, and there is a life like Christ. And the only way, dear friend, we are going to be like Christ is to have the state in Christ that we should have. You can't earn your standing, but you can work out your state. Your state is an outward walk. sanctified by the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God. It is a washing of the Word of God according to Ephesians 5 verse 26. In other words, let me say it this way, the more Bible you put in, the more Bible comes out. Jesus is the Word, is he not? So the more Jesus I put in, the more Jesus comes out. So let's reverse that. The more world you put in, the more world comes out. The more sin you put in, the more sin comes out. That's not where I want my state in Christ to be. I do not want my state in Christ to be one that allows the world's sin into my life, dear friends, so that the world's sins can come out of my life. Yet instead, as my state in Christ, I want Jesus in, amen? So Jesus comes out. The results will go on progressively through life as you yield to the Holy Ghost. Walking with God, There will be joy and gladness and victory over sin. That is your state in Christ. Your state in Christ can change. You can have a great state in Christ today and tomorrow be carnal as can be. It can be a carnal state or a spiritual state. Your standing in Christ should cause you to be totally aware of your state in Christ every day. In other words, your state in Christ should be that you are increasingly more like Christ every day. I say to you, dear friend, let me say it this way. Since I have a standing in Christ, and I am filled with the Holy Ghost of God, He lives on the inside of me. There should be something on the inside of every single believer, amen, that has a desire to live for the God of heaven. has a desire to get the world out of their life. Let God change your life. Do you remember whenever you first got saved? Boy, your standing was secure. You was excited about the things of God. And man, the Lord would speak to you about something. You'd say, I got to get rid of that. And God would show you this ain't right. I got to get rid of that. And that's not right. I got to get rid of that. Let me ask you a question, dear friend. When did you stop growing? When did you stop progressing? When did you stop listening to the Holy Ghost? Listen to what A.W. Tozer said, he said this, he said, extract sin from man and there's God's image again. Do you look like God? Do people see God in your state? in the state that you're in right now, your state, your state in Christ, I understand you're standing. Oh, I'm saved, preacher, I'm on my way to heaven. And you got these people out there today that they think that's all there is to it. Oh, I'm saved, I'm on my way to heaven. It really doesn't matter. My name's in the book of life. You know, I'm under grace. I can do whatever I wanna do. No, you're a fool. I say to you, dear friend, your standing in Christ is secure, and your state in Christ should be secure. Our state in Christ should, may I say to you, dear friend, look like our standing in Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4.3, the Bible said, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. The act of sanctification means the act of making holy. Why is the word holy a fearful word today? Why is the word separation a fearful word today? The Bible said in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 1, he said, furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. In other words, my standing is perfect, it will never change. My state is progressive, it should be abounding more and more. In other words, listen. In other words, my Christianity should be growing. My Christianity should never stop growing. And if your Christianity has never grown, or is not abounding more and more, why not? Why not? Why is it you got people, dear friend, that can go to even this church, that can go to other good Bible-believing churches, can even go to some of these liberal churches out there, and it seems that, dear friend, they never change. It seems that, dear friend, their Christianity never grows. It seems that they're not changing in life. As a matter of fact, it seems that they look just like the world, they talk like the world, they act like the world, they do the things that the world does. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches us that our state, dear friend, is to grow. It's a progressive Christianity, if you would. And we should never stop growing. Many say they're saved. But there's no proof. I should be able to look at you and tell you're saved. Somebody out there in the world ought to be able to hang around me or be around me and know there's something different about me. Good examples, you know all these. Jonah, he was a saved man, called of God, but he ran from God. His standing was secure, but his state was not abounding. What about Lot? Lot, a saved man. but he lived a life of ungodliness. The Bible said in 1 Peter 2 that it said that he was a righteous man. That's what it said about him. He was a righteous man, but it said he vexed his righteous soul. His standing was secure, but his state was not abounding. Peter, a saved man, was he not? Called of God, followed God, walked with Christ, heard the teachings of Christ, saw the miracles of Christ, But that same man that saw all that and did all that, denied that very Christ three times. His standing, secure. His state, not abounding. We could go on. You've got Moses, and you've got Samson, and you've got Jeremiah, and you've got Elijah, and you've got David, and John Mark. Man, the list goes on. A host of others where their standing was good, but their state was not in the position that it was supposed to be in, in a certain time in their life. But I say something about these men. They did not stay in that position. Hey man, and if you're saved, and you're in a backslidden position, it's a hard life. It's a hard life. You look at the lost world out there. It looks like they're having such a good time. It looks like they're having fun. Oh yeah, there's pleasure and sin for a little while. Amen. And it looks like they're just having a ball. But whenever you get out there and you get in that sin, how come you're miserable? How come things seem like they're not going right? You look at the ones that say they're saved, but their life does not match the same life. They're miserable, they're unhappy, their home and their life is falling apart. Nothing is going good for them. I'll tell you why, dear friend, because their standing is secure, but their state, dear friend, is not abounding. They're grieving the Holy Ghost. The Bible said that he chastises his own. I know people today, I believe her saying, And them people today, they're not in church, and their life is a wreck. Let me just say something to the young couples today and some of you teenagers, even everybody. Why don't you just look at the people that are not serving God? Just look at them. I'm not talking about the lost world. I'm talking about the saved crowd, the ones that say they're saved. Just look at them. How's their life going? How's their marriages going? How's it going for him? I'll tell you what's happening. They're falling apart. Is that what you want? He said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That is how the state of a believer should be. A saved person lives their life for God. Our state in Christ should not be that up and down, if you would, Christianity. In other words, one day you're serving God, one day you're serving your sin. One week or one month you're faithful to the house of God, and the next thing you know you miss two or three services, dear friend. I say to your church, listen, I am as happy as I'll ever be when my state is headed in the direction of my standing, or when my life is lining up with my standing in Christ. I've already been mentioned, but your standing is eternal, and your state is internal. But when you put the two together, your results will be external. The Bible said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Church, may I say to you, we are born again now. We have a new birth. The light of the glorious gospel shines in our heart, yet there is this flesh that must be dealt with on a day-to-day basis. It is full of darkness. For one to live their life every day, not willing to die to their flesh and rid their life of the darkness that is within, means to live a defeated life. I say to you, dear friend, a life that will be chastised by your heavenly Father. Never to live the abounding and the abundant life. Now I'll give you something real simple. For me to have an abounding life, I must be obedient to the word of God. For me to have an abounding and abundant life, I say to you, dear friend, I must read and meditate on the word of God every day. I must spend time in prayer every day. I must be faithful to church every time the doors are open. I must obey the Holy Ghost every time he speaks to my heart. I must say no to my flesh and its sinful desires. Are you listening? I must rid my life of carnality and sinful habits. I must fall in love with Jesus Christ. And there's people today, dear friend, they say, I don't know how to do this. How come my life's messing up? How come everything's falling apart for me? How come this? How come that? And you can go down through the list. You can say, do you read your Bible? Do you go to church? Do you spend time in prayer? Do you mind the Holy Ghost? Do you say no to your flesh? Are you throwing the carnality and sinful habits out of your life? Are you falling in love with Jesus? I say to you, dear friend, most of the time, those things are not in their life and their state. It's a long ways from where their standing is. May I say to you, dear friend, our goal should be this, that our state and our standing are together. I don't believe that somebody that's saved should say, well, my standing is here and I'm on my way to heaven, but you know what? I ain't nothing I can do about it. My state's down here, hogwash. I believe, dear friend, we ought to do our devil level best to do as best as we can for God. Many of God's people do not have a good state with Christ because these examples are not in their life. The Bible says in Psalm 119, he said, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. In other words, let me put it real simple. You must do what the Bible says. It's amazing how I can have people, they'll come to me and they'll say, they'll say, Jason, what can I do? How can I help my family? How can, you know, we got this problem, we got that problem. And I can say, here's what you can do. And I can use that Bible. Here's what God said. And they don't do it. I scratch my head at that. The Bible said in James 1, 21 and 25, wherefore lay apart all filthiness. He's talking to Christians here. those whose standing is sure. This is how you get a good state. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word. Listen, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgiveth what man or man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgiver here, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If my state in Christ is going to be where it should be, I must get rid of all sin in my life. and be a doer of the word and not a forgetful hearer. In other words, I'm going to search my heart. I'm going to search my life. I feel like I lost some of you. I'm going to search my home and I'm going to cleanse it. I'm going to cleanse it. I wonder when the last time is, dear friend, daddy, mama, that you said, you know what? We're not where we should be as a Christian. We don't use the word state most of the time, but we're not in the right state of mind. Maybe we'll say that we're not in the right state as a Christian. The last time you went through your life, through your house, through your phone and said, that ain't right. Get rid of it. That ain't right. Get rid of it. Well, that's really hindering my family from being close to God. Get rid of it. I'll make a statement. Some of you will think it's foolish, but that's okay. I told my wife whenever we first got married, I said, honey, I said, I don't want no TV in my house. I'm not mad at those that have it. That's up to them. I don't care. But I said, I don't want one in the house because I just wanted to do it and mess me up. I won't be as right with God as I should be. Not only that, I don't want her seeing stuff that ain't right and hearing stuff that ain't right. I don't want my kids growing up watching the filth and the nakedness and the cussing and ungodliness. I don't want it in my home. Because I want my state to be right in Christ. I didn't understand the word state then, but I did understand being right with God. And I did understand being clean. That's just one thing. And so every now and then there's things that creeps into your life. If you're listening to the Holy Ghost, here's what he'll do. He'll say, hey, that ain't right. What are you looking at that for? Why are you spending so much time doing that? Well, you sure do look at that a lot. Matter of fact, you look at it more than you spend with me. And if you're the right kind of Christian, you know what you'll do? You'll fall on your face for God and you'll say, thank you, Holy Ghost, for dealing with me. And you'll get that out of your life. That's how you keep your state lined up with your standing. The great question that comes to mind is how do you get people to desire for their state in Christ to be as honoring to God as their standing is to God. I'll say it again. How do you get people to desire for their state in Christ to be as honoring to God as their standing is to God? I believe the answer is this, and I believe there's only one answer. Are you listening? The answer is fall in love with Jesus. Is Jesus number one in your home? Is he number one in your life? John 14, 15, the Bible said, if you love me, keep my commandments. He said in 2 Timothy 2, 21, if a man therefore purge himself from these, that's talking about things of dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. I say to you, dear friend, that's what our state should be. Honorable unto God. Santa, if you don't mind coming, I'm about done. Our prayer should be, O that my state in Christ could be as honorable as my standing in Christ. The believer's standing and state in Christ is found in Christ. That's your position. It is fellowship with Christ. That is your passion. It is faithful for Christ. That is your practice. It is fruitful through Christ. That is your privilege. and it is fashioned like Christ. That is your promise.