Are You Holy, or Can You Be?

Happy Sabbath, everyone! So good to see all of you. Hope you've had a great week. It seems like the years go by so very rapidly, don't they? So we've got to make use of every moment, every opportunity we have. It's interesting, Mr. Wohrman's talking about the potluck. I sometimes wonder if we advertise a potluck for a kingdom of God, so we'd have more turnout for it. Or some sort of a dinner. But anyway, hopefully someday that will not be the case and people will come out of the woodwork to be able to hear God's wonderful truth. Well, the world has a certain conception of what being religious really is.

You probably see that all around more often than you realize. You know, often ministers will wear black, or they will wear a certain turn-around collar, I guess it's because that looks more holy, to wear this kind of apparel.

Of course, in the Catholic Church and other churches, women wear a certain garb, a certain color, a certain style. I remember when I was down in Alabama, there was a particular set of religion where the women all wore their hair a certain way. You could tell, in fact, just by the way they wore their hair if they were a part of a particular church. You know, I don't know whether they were a part of the group that believed the top knot come down, or what, but there were different people like that. Their appearance makes them look like they're a particular group, I guess, and think, that's what a Christian should do.

The pope wears a white robe, and he has this big, tall, miter, looks like a big fish head sitting on top of his head, and he gets carried around on a chair. I don't know quite where that comes from, where that originated from.

It might originate from the fact that John the Apostle, when he was very, very old, he had to be carried around. He had to be brought about, as in fact Jesus Christ himself prophesied would happen. But I don't see in the Bible that that's a requirement that popes have to be carried around on a chair.

When we were living in Pennsylvania, we saw many Amish, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, not very far from where we lived in Elizabethtown, and we would go over there to visit in that area. And it would not be uncommon to be driving along on a country road and come up on a horse-drawn buggy. And, of course, this buggy usually had a big sign caution, because they were going about five miles an hour, and you might be going 50 miles an hour, and you'd have to screech on the brakes to keep plowing into the back of them.

But they believed that living in the 18th century, or the 19th century, is the way to go. You know, no electricity, no in-built plumbing, no radios, no television, although some of them sort of fudge on that a little bit. I understand these days some of the Amish actually put an antenna up in the attic so nobody can see that they're watching television. But they farmed, and they worked very, very hard. They were very hard-working individuals. But they believed that this is what being religious is. This is what, if I can put it a different way, what it means to be holy.

So the concept of holiness has kind of been strained, hasn't it, in the world? It seems like that we live in a world today where people have perceptions of what religious is. Often ministers of the world have a certain tone to their voices. Now, I don't think I sound like a minister, like a lot of them. I don't have what they call a stained-glass voice, you know, the kind of voice where you...

Occasionally, when you use the word God, you don't say God, it's God. G-A-W-D. There are many such things that people do. I remember when I was in college at Ambassador College, we had one of our students that got up and did a sort of impression of different ministers and how they sound. He talked about how that, in fact, some of these ministers must have been in a school to learn how to speak. Imagine going to school to actually find out how to speak with that stained-glass voice.

I remember he mentioned one fellow who was... I think he called him Reverend Leroy, that was broadcasting out of Salt Lake City. And Reverend Leroy would be reading, you know, from the letters people were sending. And one of the letters he read is, he said, Dear Reverend Leroy, you know, we have been listening to your program for 25 years.

And then Reverend Leroy says, that's indeed a miracle because we've only been on 20 years. But, you know, there is a certain sound, again, to the voices of people who claim to be holy or religious. Well, by the way, it actually says that Satan is transformed into an agent of light. If you met Satan, in fact, you would probably like him better than if you met a true angel of God. He'd be more impressive. You know that, and it says it's no wonder then that his ministers are transformed also into ministers of light.

I mention these things, brethren, because in the world today, there... It seems like there are always facades that people put up. There are sham fronts and falsehoods. Well, the Bible there does talk about the word holy and that there are holy people in the world today. We know that God is holy, and there are angels in the holy, and God's way is holy. But not at all, of course, like the ways of the world. But my question for you today, for the course of this sermon is, are you holy?

Aren't God's people supposed to be holy? And I'm not talking about holes in your pockets. You don't have money in your pocket. But are you holy, brethren? And the question, I think, it is, is it even possible that a human being can be holy? I don't know about you, but I don't feel so holy. Is being holy a feeling, then?

Or is it more what you are? Let's go over to Leviticus chapter 19 over here. I want to talk about this today. We'll talk about what it means to be holy, what it doesn't mean to be holy, and I want to talk about, you know, who is holy. But in Leviticus 19 verse 1, it says, And when the turtle spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to all the tongue, yea sure the children is real, and say to them, You shall be holy. For I, thee, curl, or God am holy.

And so here is what God told ancient Israel. Now, when we look over in 1 Corinthians 10, it talks about the example of the Israelites, and because they disobeyed God over there, in 1 Corinthians 10, well, did Israel obey the commandment of God to be holy just as God was holy? I think we all know the answer to that, don't we?

They didn't. They didn't. God intended them to be holy. He intended them to be righteous. He intended them to be a certain way, but they were not. Why God intends the Israel of God today to be holy, the church to be holy today.

So, brethren, what about you? What about us? Are we, or can we even be holy? Can we be holy? In the world today, it trivializes the word holy. It's like the word love is trivialized in the world as well. People talk about loving, you know, they love ice cream. They love things like that. And, of course, we know they don't have an erotic love for it. And hopefully they don't have an agape-type love for it.

But the word holy, though, is sort of wrong. It's like when people get upset whether they say, Holy cow! I wonder if that comes from the days of Egypt, you know, when Israel brought forward what they're doing at the time of the wilderness when Moses was away, and they created this golden calf.

So people say, Holy cow! How about holy smoke? Probably from the incense of ancient times, holy smoke! Now, I don't have a clue what this is about. Holy Toledo!

And, of course, there's the Holy Roller. You know, whatever that means. I guess you don't have to have roller skates on to be a Holy Roller. But those are certain Pentecostal groups. And basically the reason why they're called Holy Rollers is because they consider themselves to be holy in their rolling their eyes sometimes, because the Spirit has them tearing down. So people call doing things holy, they're in fact are not holy. Here the Holy Spirit is holy, the Holy Days are holy, the Sabbath is holy, we have holy conversations. These, again, are mentioned in the Scriptures themselves. They're holy angels, and the Lord God is holy. Sometimes you will hear people call a minister-revereign. But over in Psalm 111 verse 9 it says, only God is reverent. And the word reverent means revered or worshipped. Fear, actually, the word I think means more revered and feared. And in Revelation 4 verse 8, I won't turn there, but it says, The four living creatures which rested by day and night, say, Holy, Holy, Holy, where God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. So at the throne of God there are angels that apparently, quite frequently, say, Holy, Holy, Holy. And they're always saying this before God, because God is holy. So let's talk about, again, what does it take to be holy? And maybe we can answer the question as to whether or not we are holy, as God's people. Let's go to Exodus 3 over here. Exodus chapter 3.

And the answer is, of course, to many of the questions that people have are in the Old Testament. And oftentimes, of course, the Old Testament is jettisoned and thrown out. So quite frankly, people can't understand the New Testament. If you don't understand the Old Testament, you cannot understand the New Testament. But over here, as notice here, it tells us, in fact, about holiness. In Exodus 3, verse 1, it says, Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, a priest of Gideon, and led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the eternal period to him had a flame of fire from amidst the bush. For the look of the hull of the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Verse 3. Then Moses said, I'm going to turn aside. I'm going to see this bush that doesn't burn. And so when the eternal saw that he turned aside the look, God called in from the midst of the bush and said, Moses. And he said, Here I am. Then he said, Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. The place where you're standing. Then Moses said, I am the God of your Father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. So here we see that God was present in that place. And so Moses had to take his sandals off. So what made the place holy? If Moses had been happening by there, which no doubt he must have. He must have gone by that many times if he was tending a flock. Was that place holy before? Before God was there? So what made it holy was God's presence there. That's a major point, brethren, that we need to get out of the Bible. That God's presence makes something holy. Now, there are two words I want to focus on here in the message this morning about the word holy. Here in Exodus 3, the word holy here, or holy ground, comes from the Hebrew word kodesh. It's spelled Q-O-D-E-S-H. It means a sacred place or throne. It means consecrated, dedicated. It means howled or holiness. And so even a place can be holy, can be made holy. The burning bush area, by the way, was not holy after the fact. After God departed from there, and I'm sure even today, people were all over that, maybe not knowing again, where this incident occurred. Driving jukes through the desert, looking all around, and again, it's no different than a red piece of ground. But at that time, it was holy. You know, the place where we are meeting right now, brethren, is holy. The Sabbath is a holy time that we're here, and God's presence here. The Bible says that Jesus, in fact, walks in our midst. But He's not here when we're not here. So this is a holy place as long as God's people are here. Now, you might wonder why do we remove our sandals when we come? Well, first of all, we don't wear sandals. We wear shoes, but we don't remove our shoes, because there is no instruction in the Bible for us ever doing that. If you go through the New Testament, not one example of that ever occurring in the New Testament. And so we are not instructed to do that. But again, what makes God holy? You see, what makes a place holy is God's presence, but what makes God holy? What defiles holiness, brethren? Is it what kind of color you wear? Is it what color you are wearing? Is it, again, whether you wear black or you are living in the 18th century? You've got, you know, a long saffron robe on.

Is that what makes us holy? No, it isn't, brethren. The Bible clearly tells us what makes holy. In fact, the Bible defines that we are made holy by righteousness. We are made holy by purity. God is made holy by that, because He is pure and righteous. He is made holy by His character, which is, again, different than any other being in the entire universe.

His character is pure and perfect, and Jesus Christ is like unto Him or the Word. And His character is illustrated by the fruits of the Spirit over in Galatians 5. But let's go to Psalm 1.19, and we see again what, in fact, holiness is. And this is where a lot of people jump track and get off the path. Oftentimes, they do not rely on the Scriptures, but they rely on whatever, you know, the current trends are. People tend to, again, listen to what has been poured into their head. It's like, I remember, this rhinestraal talked about how college students were. It's like, you know, someone putting a photo on your head and putting all this knowledge in, and young college students accepting the knowledge without challenging the knowledge. A lot of people are that way when it comes to the beliefs as well. We generally believe what our parents taught us, don't we? Or we believe what maybe others have said. And we don't look into the Scriptures. But in Psalm 19 down in Psalm 72, listen to this here. Here David said, My tongue shall speak of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness. All your commandments are righteousness. Let your hand become my help. For I have chosen your precepts. So David said, I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation. It says, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Let my soul live, and it will praise you, and let your judgment help me. He says, I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. So righteousness is defined by God's commandments. And that's what God is. God is holy. He is righteous. He's pure, and we strive to be pure as God's people. In fact, over in 1 John 3, verse 3, it talks about how we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but when Christ appears, we're going to be like Him because we're going to see Him as He is. And it says, He that has this hope purifies Himself as God is pure, as Christ is pure, that we as God's people, again, are striving to be righteous. So all of God's laws are righteousness, and if we walk in them, better we won't be holy. Now, how does this process of walking, though, in God's way begin?

Let's go to a second Greek word here. The first one was, in fact, a Hebrew word. I'm sorry. The second one here is a Greek word for the New Testament. The second one is the Greek word hagidazol. He... hag... e... e... azol. It's a little hard to say. It's spelled H-A-G-I-A-Z-O. Hagidazol, which means to make holy, to make holy, to purify, or to consecrate someone or something to be howled, to be holy, to sanctify. Now, let's go over here to 1 Corinthians 6 and see where this one is used in the New Testament.

So, when we go through here, and we begin to see, again, what makes holy, we find it is not the outward appearance that men make a pretest with. We know the Pharisees were really bad about doing that kind of thing. Christ chasing them, called them hypocrites, in fact, who loved to be seen, in a certain way, as being holy, being upright and righteous. But he called them white ensepterers, quillabid and the commandments of God. And those that transgress the commandments will not be in the kingdom of God. And the reason is, is they will not be like God. They're not striving to be like God. And he says, do not be deceived. There are four indicators. Someone breaking and violating the commandment regarding marriage, nor idolaters, people who are very against the commandment about idolatry, nor idolaters, nor homosexuals, nor simites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, who will inherit the kingdom of God. But there's what it says here in verse 11 about the early church. And such were some of you. Such were some of you. You see? Not that everybody had the same problem, but such were some of you. People had come out of it. They had overcome it in order to be righteous and to be like God, to be sanctified, to be purified, to be consecrated to God.

Now, the word sanctified, by the way, actually maybe a more colloquial meaning of it, would be to be set apart. It's like if I were to take someone and set him over here and say, now, I want to use this person as an example. In a way, that's what God has done, brethren, with those of their called in this age. He set us apart for a holy purpose to be a light to the world. Remember, Christ talked about being a light that we don't hide under a bushel basket. And so we don't set apart, or the word, again, in the religious sense, is sanctified. Another way of saying it is, may holy. From God's sight. But the first steps to becoming holy. You know, you decide, just decide you're going to be holy. They're worth that way. The first step to being holy, brethren, is found in John 6, 44. And what does it say over there, brethren? What did Jesus Christ Himself say? He said, no man can come to me unless the Father draw him. And I'll raise Him up the last day. So in order to be sanctified, to be holy, we must be called of God, drawn of the Father to Jesus Christ. Number two step to be holy, to be sanctified, set apart, is we must accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We have to believe that His life was worth more than the sum total of all human beings and all things, not only on earth, but throughout the universe.

And number three, number three, we have to have been granted repentance of ourselves. The Bible actually says that you can't work repentance up. You've got to be granted repentance. And God wants you to see yourself as you really are. And number four, through the blood of Christ, our sins are washed away. And number five, we must receive the Holy Spirit, and the immersion in God's Holy Spirit is, in fact, through the light out of hands. Which more people, if you were to talk to the average Christian, professing Christian, you ask them if they've ever had hairs laid on them after they were baptized. You know, usually they don't know what you're talking about. So what's that? Well, I had somebody that actually tried to lay hands on me one time, but I got away. So we must have the lay out of hands. In fact, I might add, of a minister of God.

Number six, we must obey God's laws as much as we understand it. In fact, before we baptize people, we say, you are obeying God as much as you understand it. And they have to answer and be affirmative.

And number seven, you are then justified before God through Jesus Christ, and you will remain so just before God with no accusers, brethren, in a sanctified position, in a holy position all the days of your life, as long as you walk in God's holy way. The word repentance means, by the way, to repent and keep on repenting. Not, it's one big repentance and then it's over. It is something that we go through all the time. Let's go to John 15. John 15, in order to stay again in this holy condition, in this sanctified, set-apart condition, Jesus Himself came and He was preaching about what was necessary. We know on a physical level that ancient Israel thought we never had God's Spirit, they had the laws of God, but they didn't even walk in the letter of the law, the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. We have to walk in the spirit of the law. But in John 15, verse 1, it says, Christ says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. And every branch of me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, He prones. It may bear more fruit, so it has to be a fruit-bearing branch. He says, you are already clean because of the Word. You see, we're cleaned up, we're purified by the Word of God through the words of baptism. Which I've spoken of you abide, He says in Luke, verse 4, and I in you. John 15, verse 4, and it says, As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. We want to abide in Christ, who remain holy before God, to be certified and set apart. I am the vine, you are a branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him bears much fruit. For it all means you can do nothing. Amen. A great vine, if you cut off one of its branches and lay it on the ground, what happens to it? It slivers up and dies, it will take it up, it will burn it, like he said in verse 6. In verse 7, if you abide in Me, my words abide in you, you will ask what you desired, it shall be done for you. But by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. And here you can see on down through here, verse 9, And as the Father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. So what is the trust of what Christ talked about, abiding in love? But notice the very first thing He mentions here. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. So what defines love, the commandments of God, the letter and the spirit of the law? Just as I kept my Father's commandment and abide in His love, these things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain, you are making a joy maybe for. This is my commandment, you love one another as I have loved you. And greater love has no man than this. You want the act, maybe, of what love is and the keeper of commandments, as you lay your life down for your brethren, for other people. And then He talks about, you are my friends, if you do whatever I command you to do. And so brethren, this is what it means to be holy and how to keep holy as God's people. An attachment to the true vine is necessary, lest we fall from the grace that God has bestowed upon us. Romans 11. Let's go to Romans 11. So we're going to have to wonder about these things.

So holiness is not what you wear on the outside, but holiness emanates from within through the power of the Spirit that God puts in us, through the laying on of hands. But in Romans 11, down in verse 13, He says, when I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am a apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. Romans 11 verse 14, He says, If by any means am I provoked to jealousy those who are my flesh, and save some of them. We know a lot of the Jews that Paul came in contact with didn't embrace anything he said. In fact, sometimes they wanted to kill him. But, you know, he did turn to Gentiles, and that event God began to call some of the Gentiles. But He says, for if they're being cast away is a reconciler of the world, or is the beginning of a reconciler of the world, what will be their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Sometimes people want to basically rest on their progenitors, their ancestors. It's like the Jews boasted to Christ, well, we're Abraham's seed. Sometimes people in the United States, in Britain, and other Israel-Lai-ish modern nations, there's a certain boastfulness, not that they are aware that they're Israel. But if we're not careful, we can be aware of it. We think we maybe have sent it up on somebody else from another nation and peoples.

But that's not what makes us holy. Doing an Israel right today matters, not one wit. Not one wit. Only the fact that God's doing a lot of His work here. We're in modern Israel today. I guess in that way we do have a blessing. But it says if the first fruit is holy, the root is also holy, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Interesting, the way He puts it there. Do you remember what happened with ancient Israel? Because they did not walk in God's ways, because they did not live in a holy manner like God had commanded the dude there in Leviticus 19, in verses 1 and 2. They did not walk in a righteous manner, but they turned from God. They turned away from God. What happened is God actually divorced Israel. He put Israel away. And Judah, likewise, by the way, was put away. So God divorced Israel. So as far as God was concerned, no longer was Israel a wife. No longer could she even be considered holy as far as God was concerned.

No longer could she be treated differently, quite frankly, than there were other notions of the world. My wife and I have a relationship with one another, and we have an ongoing relationship, and she treats her in a certain way, and I treat her in a certain way. But we don't do that with all else. At least we're not supposed to.

Are we? In the world today, you might find just about anything in the world. But God had a special relationship with Israel, but we need to worst them no longer, did that relationship exist the way it did before. And so Israel, you might say, after a while, became so detached, in fact, that it forgot when the Sabbath day was.

Now, the Jews did remember the Sabbath, but, unfortunately, they were unrighteous in so many other ways, and there were a few. There were righteous. Even Paul was there, a righteous among the Israelites through the ages. At least, they tried to walk in a certain way. But God cast them away, the lion's share of Israel and Judah, for unfaithfulness. But the medicine says, the first fruit, if the first fruit is holy... Now, who's the first fruit? Who's the first fruit? Christ, right? Christ is the first fruit. If the first fruit is holy, so Paul's talking about Jesus Christ, that makes the root holy.

What happens is, when we were cut off after the divorce took place, then we are grafted in again to be holy, you see. So, through Christ's presence, because he made the root holy, we are holy because of that. So, that's why we have to stay attached to the true vine, as God's people. Let's go on reading here. In the summer, ranchers are broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree...

That's why sometimes when you refer to people that are wild, you call them wild-hearers, but the people that go out and they serve their wild oats, because they're not living according to God's way of life, we're grafted in among them. And with them became a partaker of the root and fullness of the olive tree, made holy by Jesus Christ. He says, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, he's talking, of course, the Gentiles here, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say, them branches are broken off, and I might be grafted in. Well said! Because of unbelief, they were broken off.

But you stand by faith. Do not be hotter but fear. So, remember, once God has brought us into again the true vine, we better be very fearful that we could be cut off again. Somehow, I think, we get into the mentality, well, I've made it, you know, and we can have the idea that we'll save always saved. Which again is a fallacy of Scripture. Or some misunderstand in Scripture. Verse 22. Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God. Consider it. Think about how God is good, what makes him good, what makes him righteous, what makes him holy.

It says, on those who fell, severity, which would put you goodness. If you continue in his goodness, otherwise you will be cut off. You see, unless we continue in God's goodness, we will be cut off. So, again, a real strong admonition, brethren. We better remain attached to the true vine. And notice, have right to be on the true vine. We were put there. We had to be grafted in. Whether or not we were Israelite, in descent, or Gentile in descent. We had to all of us be grafted in. And through Christ, Christ made it possible for us to be grafted in. But we can be removed from, you know, being on the vine and cease to be holy as far as God is concerned. And cease to be set apart if we're cut off. So, that's why it says, continue in goodness, brethren, in your life, in your calling. Over in Romans 12, not far from where you are then, verses 1 and 2, that's why Paul says, I beseech you. Therefore, why is it fake here? Your eternal life, why eternal life is it's fake, brethren? By the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, make this the real deal. You'll have a real love for God, a real love for God's way of life. And don't have a sloppy adopting for God, like some people today seem to have. But holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So, brethren, we've got to stay on top of it, don't we? Spiritually speaking. To remain holy, to be holy, lest we be cut off. Now, you and I are going to make this case, it's certainly true. That's why God's Son, Jesus Christ, came, that we would have the opportunity for forgiveness. We're not talking about a lifestyle, we're talking about falling down, making a mistake. And God is not going to reject a man or a woman, or in any case, if they're striving, even if they fall down. He will obey her, and they get up and ask God's forgiveness. But once we see ourselves, brethren, once we come to ourselves and we really repent, we change, we begin to overcome, brethren. We surrender our lives to Jesus Christ. We've answered the call of God. We've got to continue in that through the rest of our lives. It is a lifelong commitment. True repentance, brethren, is not like the world's repentance. You're baptized on Sunday, and go back to the same sins on Monday. It's like I used to refer to the Baptist fish. Get baptized on Sunday, and three days later, the spoil. Go back to the sin of the world. Hebrews 6, Hebrews 6 over here. Hebrews 6.

Hebrews 6 and verse 1. Here Paul admonishes the church, the church at large, therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ. Let's go on to perfection. We've got to keep pressing toward perfection. Not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. Did you get what that said, brethren? Not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works.

Who do they say? That insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. But how often do people rather live their lives that way? They do the same thing. They arrive at the same point. It's almost like a spiritual groundhog day, right? Same result. They do not change their mode of life. Well, God wants His brethren to live a certain way of life and to repent of dead works. You ever done a dead work before? I know I have. You could give me one of the most difficult tasks, brethren. Like if I was having to repair a vehicle or something. And I will basically tear it down, put it back together, and leave a washer out or something. And that's the only thing that makes that whole car go. If you notice that, little things like that make a big difference. So what do I have to do? I have to tear it back down. Put the washer in, so effectively, the work that I did to begin with was a dead work. It didn't produce anything. It didn't accomplish anything. It's like pushing a rock up a hill, only to have it lower back down. Sometimes life seems that way, doesn't it? Well, a dead work is that, brethren. Don't spin your wheels. Don't do the same thing expecting a different result. You know, jumping down your mate's throat didn't produce a good result last time, and it probably didn't produce a good result this time, right? In marriage. If we deal with people the same way, probably they'll get the same results.

A soft answer turns a little graph, the Bible says. So again, live through experience and learn. Learn how to deal with things and to make some real changes in your life. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and let's go down to verse 15 this time. 1 Corinthians 6, and verse 15. In verse 15, we talked about how those unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. And then in verse 15, it says, So whenever we get attached to the true vine, it is like a betrothal of marriage. And when Christ does return, we're going to participate. All of this in the marriage is going to take place. As we understand, betrothal in ancient Israel was as good as marriage. So if we are dedicated to Christ, if we depart from that, we're planning to part of a harlot. It says, He says, Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined from war is one spirit with him. And so we are the one spirit, one mind, as it were, with Christ. Paul says in the first, the flippance to verse 5, let this mind be in you. We're one spirit with Christ. And hopefully, brethren, over a period of time we'll become a perfect match for a great future husband, Jesus Christ. Oftentimes when people have been with each other a long time, the husband knows what the wife is thinking, and the wife knows what the husband is thinking. And because you get to know each other. Some actually say they start looking alike. I don't know if that is true. But maybe it's because they live together so long that they know the room of one. Maybe that's the way it works. But I guess there's a certain cuteness about that, particularly when you get older. Not so much when you're young, though, right? Usually you don't really look like your husband, and your wife certainly doesn't look like her husband. And I'm digging myself a hole here.

Who's a boy in that lap used to talk about how I used to dig holes. And he said I would somehow be able to dig out before it was in. So let's go to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 over here in verse 42.

Here it says, So you see, we all make a lot of mistakes prior to our conversion. Frankly, we make a lot of mistakes that we afterward convert. But through the pure blood of Jesus Christ, it says basically our conscience can be purged as it were. It can be cleansed so that we, again, are pure as far as God is concerned. So the blood of Christ purges our sins and the dead works. But when I make a habit of dead works, it's all wasted action, isn't it, to do that? If you, again, compare it to any work project that you're doing. But how many people, whether oftentimes, come into the church and do not take advantage of the time? You know, as we used to say in Oklahoma, make hay while the sun shines. And after 30 and 40 years, they were rustling the same old stuff.

I know that some things are that way, but everything shouldn't be that way. We should be making progress in our lives. And even if it's slow progress, if it's a step at a time, we know that that is a step in the right direction. But through Christ, through His chaste blood, His pure blood, we can become holy. Before, we were alienated. We were cut off. But now, we are made holy. And the reason is, is we're attached to the true vine that is made holy by Jesus Christ. Colossians 1. Colossians 1 over here. Colossians 1 and verse 21. Here, in fact, it says in Paul's writing to the brother Colossae, And you were once alienated, enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now He is reconciled. So we then brought back in, we then grafted in to the true vine.

And it says, In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy. The reason that this was done, to present you holy and blameless and above with poach in His sight. E.F.M.D. notice, it says, You continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and will not move from the hope of the gospel, which you've heard, which was preached to every creature in the heaven, of which Paul, I Paul became a minister. And so, brethren, we are holy and we're blameless, but we've got to continue in the faith, as the Bible, again, clearly, tells us. Over in 1 Peter, let's go to 1 Peter.

1 Peter in chapter 1, over here.

It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, verse 3 here. 1 Peter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to our living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the dead, to our inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. In other words, it is a pure inheritance that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

Now, in verse 15 here, in the same chapter, But as he who called you to be is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, again, drawing from what was said anciently to Israel, because as it are written, Be holy for I am holy. So they were admonished to do, in fact, what God admonished through Moses, Israel to do.

Verse 17, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's word, conduct yourselves, who, at the time of your stay, here in fear, who with respect and regard for God. Knowingly, you are not regained with corruptible things like the silver or gold from your earliest conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of the Lamb without blemish and without spot.

And so here again, we see that we are to be like Christ, who was himself without blemish and without spot. And then again, we should be again attached to the true vine, but be you holy, God says, as I am holy. And again, that is a process in our lives of living according to God's law. Now, over here in 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9.

Well, here Peter goes on talking about the holiness of God's people. But it says, verse 9, when you are chosen generation, we are a priesthood and a holy nation. So Israel of God, as we understand, as the terms are used elsewhere. His holy special people that you that proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness, and who has marvelous lives, who were once not people and are now the people of God, who have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. So God's people are very special. Well, I beg you, He says, I beg you, before He said, I beseech you in Romans 12 that we read, I beg you, as sojourners, that pilgrims abstain from the flesh and lust which war against the soul. Now, don't have those dead works, as Paul related in Hebrews. He says, that we, as God's people, you know, again, should be having good works. That war, not the flesh and lust, that war against the soul. Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evil to bearers, they may, by your good works which they observe, will fight God in the day of visitation. So we are the lights. Christ said that we are to be lights to the world. So, no matter what the pressure is, brethren, that we receive from the communities where we live, on the job where we may be, or the schools that we go to, no matter what the pressures are, the peer pressures, whether we have to hold fast to God's way of life in order to have that holy conduct, so that we continue in being holy by walking in God's righteous way of life. We're very steadfast, as the Bible talks about. Now, let's go to Revelation 22. Revelation 22 over here. There's an error, as to what's changed, by the way, over here between the Apostle John and the angel, the provision that he saw in Revelation 22. Revelation 22, verse 6.

Then he said to me, the angel, these words are faithful and true. Now, God means what he says, what he tells us and what else is to be holy, as he is holy, what he says. It says, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show his service to things which must shortly come to pass.

He says, Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. So, blessed are those who are going to be able to have a special future because they have obeyed, they've walked in God's way of life, and tried to mimic Jesus Christ because he is the paragon of virtue. Then we must follow. But going on, and we're saying, Now, I just saw and heard these things, and when I heard, and saw I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

But notice here, then he said to me, See that you do not do that, for I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of the book, worship God. You get what he says, then, brethren? The angel said, Don't worship me, worship God. An angel, of course, is a creative being like we are, creative beings.

Of course, a great deal more powerful than we are, but we are to worship God, brethren, because he is holy, and only God should be reverent, and only God should be worshipped. Verse 11. Then it goes on, John writes, He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He was going to get a point, brethren, where God would say, Okay, you know, there is a way to concentrate on me. He was unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. You are one with the world, and be like the world, and be a part of the world, and be separate with the world.

He was righteous, though. He says, Let him be righteous still. Continue in that righteousness. He was holy, let him be holy still. Now, why do you want to be holy still? Why do we want to turn from unrighteousness? In verse 12, And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every one of the Quarianers' work. Quarian, to whatever you've done, whatever your Ur-Dah had been, the works of your life had been. Have you sowed to the works of the flesh, or have you sowed to the fruits of the Spirit?

And the Spirit of God? Have you chosen a life, or have you chosen death? It says, I am the Alpha of America, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Best are those who do these commandments. So again, we get back to the commandments, don't we, brethren? Which define for His righteousness, which define what the love of God is all about. But then they'll have right to the tree of life, and they enter through the gates into the city.

But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexual and immoral, and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices are why. And so outside, you know, we are told here by this revelation, are, you might say, symbolically, those who will have participated in these types of sins in the world. And they may mean this in an allegorical sense, because we know the Bible says that the unrighteous will be ashes under the feet, or the righteous. Because the unrighteous is going to be burnt up, but that's where they'll be. They'll be outside of the city of God that will descend from heaven.

So rather than God has called us to be holy, the holiness doesn't mean, again, you don't care about what you wear and the presence of God. That would be foolish, too. Because remember, even in the case of Moses, he had to take off his shoes in order to then stand before God. And there are many other scriptures that the Bible tells us, again, about our outward appearance. But, brethren, holiness is not your outward appearance. It's not living in a set time of history. You know, there were a person begging, and that was a righteous time.

That's not what righteousness is. But we should understand, again, that Satan has, in fact, falsified what righteousness and holiness really is. So that he is transformed into an angel of light in his ministers and his people, by the way, appear to be holy. But, brethren, let's be aware that we must truly be holy, and that is to walk in God's holy way of God's people in all manner of our life.

We need to continue in goodness, continue in God's will of life, and to be as we admonish, both in the Old Testament, in the Book of Leviticus, and the New Testament, in Peter's writings, Be you holy, for I am holy. So, brethren, let's make sure that we are walking in a holy manner, and we can answer the question, are you holy?

The fact of the matter is, if you're walking in God's will of life, you are holy. In fact, the word saint means sanctified, and you are a saint of God. So let's be holy, remain holy, as God is holy.