Addition Through Subtraction

Addition through Subtraction

Pastor Glenn Newton 2-5-00

Text: Titus 2:11-14

“ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It

teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,

upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the

glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us

to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very

own, eager to do what is good.”

1 Thess. 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. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

This morning I want to draw your attention to two phrases that we find in these passages,

the first phrase in Titus 2:14 that says, “to purify for himself a people”, that’s what God is

wanting to do, and then the second phrase, found in 1 Thess. 5:23, “May God himself, the

God of peace, SANCTIFY you through and through.” I want you to notice the word

Sanctify, and notice that it is God who wants to do this work in you.

Friends, this morning I want you to know that God wants to have an active part in your

life. He’s not just interested in Cameo appearances on Sunday mornings.

He didn’t create you to just be an acquaintance........

He didn’t offer His Son Jesus Christ as a Sin Offering on your behalf so He could

be talked about as “the guy upstairs” ....

My Friends, God the Father, your Heavenly Father he has a vested interest in you

that goes beyond what you could imagine.

He Knew You before he knit you together in your mothers womb.

He knows how many times your heart is going to beat today.

He knows the number of hair on top of your head ...... now for some of you that’s

not that hard ........ My Friends, he is interested in you more than you’ll ever understand,

and he knows you better than you’ll ever know yourself, and His Will is to have an

Intimate, Personal, Real Life, Up to date Relationship with you.

And the Truth is, God’s Word tells us that if we want to make Heaven our Eternal

Home, we must have a personal Relationship with God, one that’s up to date, a

relationship that makes a difference in your life.

You see God has a process in mind for our lives. As our two passages point out,

and by the way there are many, many others that would further establish these two that I

have picked, but these verses tell us that God is in the process of “purifying or Refining”

His people, and His will is to “Sanctify” us through and through. I want to bring these

two ideas down to a practical level so we can fully understand what it is God wants from

us, and also so we can respond to him in obedience and in Faith.

This morning we are going to discover a New Math, this would be God’s Math.

Throughout Scripture we can see times where God Subtracts in order to add more to the

Kingdom.

Is there anyone here this morning wearing silver jewelry? Well, probably most of

us have something that has Silver in it. Have you ever seen the process of purifying silver?

This principle of “Addition by Subtraction” is played out everytime silver goes through the

refining process.

Some of you I know have worked in mines, and you could tell us that they are

dark, dirty and dangerous places to work. But out from the depths these minors bring out

the ore. Then the crushing, the smelting must be done. Silver does not melt until it

reaches 960.5 degrees Celsius; and only then does it start to yield up it’s impurities. King

Solomon and the prophet Isaiah understood this process as they wrote about God’s

purging process, the purifying of our hearts and lives.

Solomon writes in Proverbs 25:4-5 “Remove the dross from the silver, and out

comes material for the silversmith; remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his

throne will be established through righteousness.”

Listen to the prophet Isaiah in 1:25, “I will turn my hand against you; I will

thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.”

The Silversmith heats up the fire so that this silver becomes liquid, and as he stirs

the pot, the impurities come to the top, and he will remove the impurities, as the New

Living translation says of Isaiah, “skim off your slag”.