Holiness, Part 2

Today's message, what we're going to do is we're going to dig deeper into how we live and grow in holiness. How we live and grow in holiness. So please turn to Ephesians 1 verses 3 through 5. Ephesians 1, 3 through 5. I think holiness just is not what people think it is. For most Christians, holiness is this kind of mystical, puzzling term. Right? We get the concept, we know that God is holy. We're good there.

We realize we are to be holy. We're willing. But how? How do we become holy like God?

Well, if you look over history, you're going to see religious leaders teaching holiness in very odd places. You're going to find it in asceticism, abstinence, seclusion, starvation, silence, vows of poverty, celibacy, special rituals, diet, refusing to bathe, self-castration, beating oneself. I'm going to keep going. There's all these crazy things. So is holiness only achieved through actions of separation from the world like that? No. Does it require fancy cathedrals, or worship of idols, or relics, pilgrimages, crusades, suicide bombings? Is that the way we become holy? And the answer is no. Holiness isn't achieved by hiding away from everyone who is unsaved. I read a quote by a person named Trion Edwards, and he recognized, a holy life is not an ascetic, gloomy, or solitary life, but a life regulated by divine truth and faithful in Christian duty. It is living above the world while we are still in it.

I think it's a good way to phrase it. And holiness is something that we've been called to be. So I'll start reading in Ephesians 1 and verse 3.

So we need to grow in holiness. We also must clearly recognize that we have a strong need here for God's health to achieve it because of all of our weaknesses. And there's ample parts in the Bible to refresh that one, right? I mean, you could think about Proverbs 14, 12, there is a way that appears right to a man, but the end thereof is death. So as humans, we think we have these great, these amazing insights. I'm talking to another parent the other day and like, yeah, my parent, my child suddenly become all-knowing again. You know, it's one of these things that we all go through, but God says the same about us as adults. But the end result there is death. And why? Well, Jeremiah 17, 9 says it's because our heart is desperately wicked. That's your heart. That's my heart. That's our heart. They are all desperately wicked. And what happens is we have this natural carnal tendency to be unclean. And that's what we do. So our thoughts are unclean because our heart is unclean. We twist the word of God to justify our bad conduct, right? We rationalize what we do and try to say, well, that godly principle doesn't apply to me right there because rationalize, rationalize, rationalize. Turn to Hebrews 10 in verse 10. Hebrews 10 in verse 10. A foundational understanding for us today is we cannot manufacture our own holiness. We cannot manufacture our own holiness. It comes only from one source, and that's God, and it's through his Holy Spirit. Now, the good news is that God has given us every spiritual blessing that we need to help us achieve holiness. Hebrews 10.10. By that will, speaking of God's will, we have been sanctified, made holy, remember the word, through the offering of his body, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once for all. So holiness comes from God when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, and we're only able to enter the presence of God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He has purchased us with his life. Go back to the concept as humans, we cannot manufacture holiness. And although we are instructed in the Bible to obey what's commanded, we're told to serve others, we have to always understand those actions do not make us holy.

No matter what we do, we can never earn our way to holiness. A lot of ways are saying the same thing, but I want to make sure that point is clear because mankind has tried repeatedly and they'd failed miserably. Okay, so we can take that concept and now we can say, okay, I get that, and we will then go to another mistake people make, a faulty concept that they take from that thought. Many people think holiness works like this.

God looks down at something filthy, and he says, you are holy. And we then respond, yippee, I'm clean. And then continue to stay filthy in my actions, and that's holiness. No, no, it's not. Holiness means to be set aside by the Almighty God for his purpose and his reason. And that's why 1 Corinthians 6.20 says we were bought with a price, right?

Christ's own blood, his sacrifice. God has given us the gift of holiness. If you think of our distinct spiritual identity, that's the gift of holiness. And where to take on the qualities and the attributes of holiness through God's Spirit within us. If you think about when we eat, right, we try to only put clean food inside of us. And the same is true with what we put inside our mind. Our mental approach should continuously focus on what spiritual food we're allowing inside of us.

Is what we put into our mind spiritually clean? Does it lead to actions that reflect holiness? And if not, that's something to evaluate. Turn to Romans 8 verses 5 through 8. Romans 8, 5 through 8. So we all need God's help, and we can't do it by ourselves. It takes the commitment of baptism for us to receive the critical aid of God's Spirit to help us stay clean. And then from there, we need the Holy Spirit.

We need that help in us all the time. If you think about working in a kitchen, I like analogies. So before you cook, you wash your hands. Then you're going to go when you're going to chop up a chicken. Something that has germs or dirt on it. You chop it up. The next thing you go to is you wash your hands again. Constantly rewire your hands. Constantly rewashing your hands. Spiritually, God does not want us to contaminate ourselves again through any kind of spiritual defilement.

So we need to keep washing ourselves with pure water, with God's Spirit. We need to be involved in a holiness change process. Growing in holiness. Romans 8, starting in verse 5. For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. In other words, we need to set our minds to take in only spiritually clean food. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. If we're focused on spiritually unclean foods, that's death.

But if we're focused on clean spiritual foods, that's life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. We'll finish in verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

God designed us to be continually striving to overcome. And when we have God's mind and Holy Spirit leading us, we are no longer consistently walking in sin. We're not consistently living spiritually unclean. We're striving to have a life according to God's Spirit, which is holy. And that's the beauty of God's plan. Verse 20 says, For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. It's a fascinating phrase. God designed humans to face the faultiness of our own selfish nature.

And that was done in order for us to realize our collective need for God's help to fight it. Fascinating. We spent our whole pre-Christian life realizing our selfishness. We tried to overcome sin and we failed. And it was done by design. So we could learn to be holy.

It pictures our whole calling. And we're called saints in the New Testament, set apart holy ones. That's our calling. Turn to Galatians 3 and verse 3. Galatians 3 and verse 3. So how do we receive this gift of holiness? It's actually pretty straightforward. It's a simple concept. We receive holiness by receiving forgiveness.

We receive holiness by receiving forgiveness. We unwrap the gift of holiness not by proclaiming how good we are, but by acknowledging how many sins we have. The holiness of God removes our autonomy. It removes our self-sufficiency. It drives us to the Savior, who alone is able. That's where all of our callings start. And we can fast and acknowledge that we're not perfect. We ask God for forgiveness and mercy. Okay, now let's take that concept, though, and keep it real. Keep it real here. We are all striving to grow in holiness as saints.

We nod our heads here. And in response to God's mercy, we should show grace to others who also need God's mercy. Think about that time. Sometimes somebody pushes your button along the way. All have sins, and all have come short of the glory of God. And that perspective helps us realize—you may have heard this phrase, but I mean, I think it's just it's poetically clever—but it helps us realize that the Church is a hospital for sinners and not a rest home for saints. But it's true. The Church should never be where we congratulate ourselves on how holy Joe, right? We are, but where we learn and where we encourage others on how profoundly forgiven we are. God requires us all, in that sense that I used in the last message, to take our shoes off. Take your shoes off. Approach Him in worship, prayer, humility, reverence. Galatians 3 and verse 3, Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? So the Church in Galatia was fighting with this very thing. Since our efforts were not enough before being called, our efforts aren't enough now. After baptism, we must not go right back to trying to be holy on our own. If we try, then we're only going to struggle and we're going to fail over and over and over again. However, when we submit to the Holy Spirit, when we allow God to do and as what we can't do in ourselves, then God gives us the power to overcome sin daily.

And just as the blood of Christ was enough to save us, then the power of the Holy Spirit is enough to keep us set apart, keep us living in holiness, if we submit to it. That's the challenge. We can't just say, the Holy Spirit, make that go away, because God will say, okay, you go over and you take that dirty thing out of your life. Ah, you don't want to! I kind of like it. The Holy Spirit will help us see what needs to change and give us the strength, but it won't take away our part in the whole thing. There is a participation that goes along here. True lowliness begins with God. Any discussions of the holiness of God should lead us really to celebrate His grace. And God appointed His Son to be the perfect sacrifice for us, for imperfect people.

And that's an important concept when it comes to holiness. It's because of God's grace operating in us that we experience both that conviction of sin and the desire to live a holy life. And from there, the only place we should live is out of gratitude. Gratitude to God. Gratitude for God's mercy. So God took the initiative. He drew us. He opened up our minds. Why? To do the work of God, whatever it is that He calls on us to do. And it's critical that we don't deny or reject it. A concept that maybe we don't always think this way, but it's clear throughout the teachings of the Bible that God only accepts what He Himself inspires and creates. God only accepts what He Himself inspires and creates. We must bring back to God what He has given to us.

Not filtered in our own Dan version of holiness, because that's missing the whole point of the thing. He will not allow us to bring into His presence a thing that is unholy, that is man-made.

And God will turn His head away from us if He does not see the holiness of Christ in us. If God sees that we've rejected or we've walked away from the gift He gave us, then we will suffer the consequences of it. We won't experience eternal life.

Since we know how to direct, or since we don't know how to direct our ways, again it goes about concept, we need to ask God, right? Ask God, show me your ways. And friends, don't be afraid to add, and please not in your anger, but rather in your mercy. Be careful what you ask for. You might just get it. You know, if you ask God to correct you, He will correct you. So don't be afraid to clarify the request for God to show us His way, but with the caveat in your loving kindness, in your mercy, in a little bit of time, so that it's not too much for me, we need to ask God to direct our steps toward holiness in the merciful way that He knows His best for us. All right, let's pivot to a key learning that I hope you take from this sermon. We are both made holy and to become holy. We are both made holy and to become holy. What I'm talking about here is the difference between justification and sanctification. I'll talk you through it, but important concept to understand biblically. Please turn to Romans 6, verses 15 through 19. Romans 6, verses 15 through 19. Again, foundational. Let's be clear. We are saved by grace and not by being good. Foundational principle. I am talking about justification, being made right with God, to what justification means. None of us are good enough to deserve the forgiveness of our King, and so we have been weighed in the balance. We've been found wanting, and thanks to His perfect sacrifice, Christ tilted the scales in our favor. Right? We are now evaluated according to Christ's holiness, not ours, but that, I should say the wrong reaction to that, would be to say, oh good, I'm under grace. I can now live however I want. Romans 6, and verse 15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not. There's this false concept that Paul was against the law, and that is such a false concept. He simply said a person cannot be justified, made right with God by obeying the law. We have no ability to justify or sanctify, make ourselves holy. God justifies us by His grace, but that doesn't mean we can go before God and say, good, since I've now been justified, I can go sin all I want. Woo-hoo! That's not how it works, because if you try that, God's going to say, no, no, no, it doesn't work that way. Just because we're not under the penalty of the law doesn't mean we can break the law, because we've been declared to be holy by the Almighty God. As a result, we must therefore live holy. Why? Verse 16. Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, actions, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Okay, now let's continue the thought. After being justified, we become sanctified, set apart for a holy purpose. Sanctification, set apart for a holy purpose. As God's slaves, we're to live holy lives. We are to become righteous. We talk about Christian living. I love Christian living sermons. Probably the majority of what I speak on is Christian living. Do you know what Christian living is? Christian living, we're talking about sanctification. Living a life that reflects being set apart for a special use by God. Much easier to say Christian living, but we're talking about sanctification. Verse 17. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. Through repentance, right, and baptism, you have been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. So this is not talking about living a dual life where we come in here on the Sabbath for a couple hours, and then the rest of the week was something totally different. It doesn't work that way. We're to be holy wherever we go because God is working in us if we're baptized. We will still make occasional mistakes. We will still do stupid things. That's why we have the Passover annually coming up in six weeks to remind us where justification comes from and our need for Christ's sacrifice and forgiveness. But if we go back to being slaves of sin, we are rejecting sanctification. That's why we don't go back. And in time, that will lead to where we're no longer justified. That's where this concept of once saved, always saved, is such a false doctrine.

If we reject sanctification, being set apart to live holy lives, we will be separated from God. And it will eventually lead to where we're not justified anymore. Verse 19, I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, remember sin? Transgression of the law? The law is what helps define holiness? Keep going. So now, present your members as slaves of righteousness, for what reason? For holiness.

The goal is to get us to holiness. For whom you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the thing of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin, how? By justification. And having been slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness.

We're supposed to be living differently. We're supposed to be living sanctified, our fruit to holiness. And the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life and Christ Jesus our Lord. We live as a justified person by living as a sanctified or holy person. I'll say it again. We live as a justified person by living as a sanctified or holy person.

We have the most amazing blessings of being imbued with God's holiness. And as a respect, we're to reflect his way of life.

Christ should be seen on us and how we talk and how we dress and how we live and how we act.

We must choose to live holy.

That's the reason the Holy Spirit is not going to take away the effort from us. It's going to make it so we can achieve. But it's not just saying, it didn't do it for me, so therefore it doesn't work. Well, choices come involved with this. Paul clearly said that we're not justified by the works of the law. But he also talked about sanctification and obeying God as part of being made holy. If you want an example of that, think of all the naughty lists that Paul wrote about. There are so many of them in the Bible. And he says, if you do this list of actions, you baptize people, you will not be in the kingdom of God. There's your disprove of once saved, always saved. Once we're justified, once we're made right with God, we must from then on take on the attributes of holiness. And that's what we're being asked to do. Turn to 1 Peter 1, verses 13 through 16. 1 Peter 1, 13 through 16. So the question we should ask ourselves is, are we wearing the new clothes that God has given us to wear? Are we taking on His holiness? In other words, God has selected us for His purpose, and we are already holy.

The question is, what are we going to do with it? Are we willing to be holy in how we live, or do we prefer Satan's world? It doesn't work that way. You can't do both. So let's start reading in verses 1 through 2, and get clarity about how Paul was viewing his readers. I'm sorry, how Peter was viewing his readers. 1 Peter 1, verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification, holiness being set apart, of the Spirit, for what? For obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you, and peace be multiplied. So Peter was addressing those who had gone through baptism, been set apart through the power of God's Holy Spirit, for the purpose of what? Obedience. Now, let's continue in verse 13. Let's see what's required of us. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance. All right, the ancient Greeks had some funny phrases. I'm sure they would, generations would look at what we say and shake their heads too, but gird up the pants of your mind. That's just not a phrase that I necessarily use. Other translations say, therefore prepare your mind for action. Maybe that's easier than gird up the pants of your mind. But you can try that as a mom and see how that works on your kids. You can get this weird look.

We can't become the church Christ will marry and not be holy.

Holiness does not come from us, but it does take effort on our part. And there's so many places. If you can remember in Matthew 22, Christ gave the parable about the people that would appear before Him, and their wedding garment wasn't right. Whether covered with spots, filth, it was an analogy. But His response will be, you don't belong here. And those people, He says, will be tied up and thrown into darkness. Now, if you imagine that setting, I imagine them pleading and saying, look, I'm wearing a type of wedding garment. I feel like I was invited. Think of all the ways people will put phrases of how, you know, the self-made versions of religion now or called Christianity are being applied.

But Christ can see they really aren't sanctified and holy. He's going to be looking, do I see myself in this person? Are they sanctified? Are we sanctified? Are we holy? We're made holy by Christ's sacrifice. Then, when we place our faith and our trust in Christ, regarding how we think, how we live, how we act, we're becoming holy.

You've got to do something with it, with what you know. We have to show we rely on God by submitting to Him working in us. We have to be obedient. Verse 15. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy. And it doesn't stop there in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy for I am holy. So holiness is this very, very real thing.

We are to be holy in all our conduct. One of those outwards, all.

And it doesn't say, God saved me, so I can now do whatever I want. Now, God is holy, and He has set us apart to reflect Him.

That's our calling. That's our journey, to reflect Him. Holiness is what God is doing in us. And Israel failed at this because they didn't have God's Holy Spirit.

And if we live our life like everybody else in the world, but only come to church on Saturday and say, I'm holy.

No, we're not. Holiness is a state of being. It's letting God live in us every day. Verse 17, Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work, works impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

Why would we fear? Why should we fear?

It's because God has called, justified, and made us holy. Remember Uzzah? We talked about him last time a little bit. If Uzzah was killed by God because he touched something holy in an improper way, then we should be very fearful to live our lives as unholy.

There's a lesson that comes from there. It took holy actions by a holy God to redeem and to bring us into a relationship with us. Right? He did that first. He did that for us. He brought us into that relationship that we do not deserve. We now have to continue staying purified, wearing clean clothing through obedience, obeying the truth, obeying what we're told. You can think of my first sermon where we talked about all the things we're told to treat as holy. And we covered things like God's feasts, our marriages, his commands for how we live, how we treat others. Think about how serious that is for God to impute his holiness on us, and then we then treat it as meaningless.

That's what's being contrasted here.

If we just remain corrupt after being declared holy by God, then we can become useless to God. We deeply need to let God's Holy Spirit work in us and to change us so we don't deny our sanctification.

It's a gift given to us. We continue sanctified by worshiping him, by obeying his truths, by serving as he wants us to, and so forth. Catch the difference. Justification, sanctification, being holy, growing, becoming holy. Turn to 2 Timothy 2, verses 20 through 21. 2 Timothy 2, 20 through 21. Before we were baptized, we engaged in things that were dishonorable, that were filthy, to use the analogy to God.

Just as a garbage man doesn't mind getting dirty, we took this filthiness for granted.

Now we're to resist things that previously contaminated us.

We're to have true holiness pervade every aspect of our lives. I'm going to read this next verse for clarity from the New Living Translation, because I like the way it phrases this one. It says, In a wealthy home, some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready, now the New King James there says, you will be sanctified and useful, set apart, for the master to use you for every good work. Holiness, remember, doesn't just mean separated.

And that's it. When we become contaminated by sin, we're like a silver cup that's tarnished. If we had a very special guest over, we would not pull out this gross tarnished serving set and serve them. It's the same way with us spiritually. In order for us to remain separated for the special use God intended of us, that's what the word means, the God intended of us, we must remain pure. And when we become contaminated by sin, we lose our ability to be used as God intended. Turn to 2 Corinthians 6 verses 15 through 18. 2 Corinthians 6, 15 through 18. Again, I mentioned over and over, holy means separated for a special purpose. And one purpose for which we're separated is to be the temple of God. I'm excited. There's going to be a message, I think, coming up next week on that. So I told him I promised I wouldn't take much more, but I will refer to a different verse in Corinthians last time. I'd like to just highlight one point that's clarified in this one. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 15. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 16.

Again, analogy. A temple is a place where the presence of God dwells. In the holy tabernacle, an altar has had to have blood put on it to set it apart for worship. Christ's sacrifice did that for us. So God's presence has come to dwell inside us through the Holy Spirit. And we exist now for the special purpose of being a pure dwelling for God.

Holiness. We are to become a living example that reflects God. However, God must live in a temple that is set apart for Him. Not set apart to do whatever it wants. Not set apart in pride because we know better. God cannot live in a temple that's defiled by sin. And that's why we can't only be holy for two hours a day on a Sabbath. Right? It doesn't work that way.

The temple of God has to be what we are every other day of the week. And that means holiness is something we become. We transform. You remember we talked about the metamorphosis a while before. It's that concept. We're to take on God's holiness and grow daily in our relationship with Him. As Romans 12.1 says, we're to present our bodies a living sacrifice through our thoughts, through our actions, showing we are set apart as holy, which is our reasonable service.

It's what's expected of us. If you'll turn to Ephesians 4 verses 22 through 24. Ephesians 4, 22 through 24. There are so many places we could go in the Bible to talk about this concept of becoming a new man or to become a new man. Well, we'll look at something here. This is one I think I mentioned a couple messages ago, but there's just so many unique words in here that I love to highlight. Ephesians 4 and verse 22. That you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Putting off the old man. It's like removing a filthy garment, right? Think of the dirtiest task you could think of. Picture working in a coal mine, thousands of feet underground, covered in dirt.

What's the first thing you're going to want to do when you get home? You're going to want to take your clothes off and take a shower and just scrub. You want to feel clean and comfortable again. And friends, that's what we need to do the same spiritually. We must put the dirty clothes off, the wrong habits, the wrong thoughts, the wrong actions, and wash ourself with God's Word and then put on clean clothes. Okay, so I'm going to grab just a couple of words out of this verse again, just to fill a little bit of color to it. Conduct means manner of life, the way you live, and how you conduct yourself. The Greek word old man gives the sense of worn out, decrepit, useless, it refers to this unconverted person dominated by a nature of Satan the devil. And remember, our old man was crucified with Christ, grows corrupt. That's one of those interesting ones I remember as a kid in services, and somebody would mention the present participle. What that means is it reflects continual action. So it speaks of the progressive condition of corruption that characterizes that old man. And it shows the unconverted are in a situation where they're continually being corrupted, led into sin by their lusts. We all were that way, and we know but for God's help, we fall prey to that.

Verse 23 says, but we're to be a different person by being renewed in the spirit of our mind. Renewed means to be renovated from inside out. Remember that was when I said it wasn't the exact same word as the word metamorphosis, but it's very similarly related. Our growth has to extend beyond just this intellectual understanding, not just an emotional connection to God.

It has to turn into behavioral changes, a renewal. And that's what's being asked of us. We need God's Spirit to change and renew us. Verse 24, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

The phrase created according to God, again, that's this interesting one, apparently in the Greek word, it means according to what God is in himself. So you and I have been created according to the pattern of God-likeness, of what God is, is what that's getting to. And there should not be a disconnect between what we profess, what we believe, and what we do. It happens. We're growing. We need God's help. But that's the journey of growing. And the Spirit of God has to be the driving force, the power that's guiding us. If you'll turn to 2 Peter 3 and verse 10 through 12. 2 Peter 3, 10 through 12. I'll read another quote I read about holiness. It says, We are holy in our standing before God, but we are only progressively becoming holy in our thinking, our actions, and our disposition as we struggle with sin each day. It is almost as if biblical writers are telling us, Be what you are.

You are holy. Now be that way. And live that way. I love that. I mean, that's just got to listen to a mom saying something like that to you along the way. You are holy. Now be that way. And live that way.

But that's the concept. What Peter next is going to tell us is that the awareness of the punishment that God has when he returns and in judgment should also be a motivation. 2 Peter 3 and verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, as a result of all that, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of person ought you to be? How are you going to be measured in holy conduct and godliness? How much do you look like God? How much do you and I reflect God?

Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord.

There's a lot of Christians in the world today that honor God with their lips, but they really never are fearful to inquire what the will of God is for them. You know, is the nuances of what I'm doing exactly what the Bible says. Because there is careful instruction that's been given in Scripture about what we are supposed to do. And there's so many examples. I mean, David, right? David, woo! Man after God's own heart. David initially tried to honor God by carrying the ark on a new cart. So, carrying the ark on a new cart was man's idea of how best to hold the glory of God. That was unacceptable to God. That was unacceptable to God.

Likewise, we can worship in ways which are not acceptable to God. We can worship in vain. If we do not obediently seek God's will, and God does not want His glory transported on new carts, carts we make up along the way, we're to live holy lives, godly lives. The reason we're here, the reason we go to church, the reason we study the Bible, the reason we pray, the reason we act the way we do, is because we want to keep our holiness. We've been sanctified. We don't want to lose that. We want to reflect the person who gave their life for us. We don't want to throw it all away. And once we move away from that which is holy, remember the picture, we're moving away from God.

Move away from holiness. We're supposed to reflect God. God is holy. We're moving away from God. And jeopardizing our position of holiness. Living a life of holiness means living a life that is separated, that is set apart.

Hopefully, I've said that enough times that it sinks in for what that concept is. And to treat things as holy means to recognize them as something that's set apart for God, requiring reverence and respect and careful handling. Again, think of all the holy things I mentioned in that first message. Do we carefully handle and show them all with deep respect, with awe? Do we avoid disrespecting or trivializing what is holy? Because that's what referencing means. Take your shoes off. Holiness is this moral integrity, doing what is right, simply because it's right, not because it's popular.

Holiness is placing obedience to God above our personal comforts. Above our conventional wisdoms. And above what everybody else might expect.

Holiness is knowing who God made us to be, and then following that path. And we'd love to stop the sentence there, but the reality is, wherever it leads and whatever it costs, and that's where we all have our gulp moments in life.

And any time we find that our spiritual clothing has gotten dirty again, putting our own better mind of, I think I know a better way, and then God says, Dan, stop that. We need to repent and wash them. If you'll turn to Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Hebrews 12 and verse 14. I'd like us to look now at some specific instructions on how we're to live out our lives in holiness. Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. The New Living Translation says, Be at peace with all men, live a holy life. No one will see the Lord without having that kind of life. So holiness is reflecting Christ's nature. How are we doing? How are we doing at that? Do others see the Lord through and because of our actions?

Holiness is not a remote, cold goodness. Holiness is not being holier than thou. You know, anything you can do, I can do better. We're not supposed to go about arrogantly saying, I'm one of those holy people.

It's not about us. Holiness is not being a holy joe. It's not trumping our feeble skills at discipleship or whatever. What we know. Holiness is the gift of integrity. It's the gift of love. It's the gift of compassion. It's this commitment not only to personal integrity, but living it. Being loving, being compassionate. And it's the gift of not losing who we are spiritually while we're being surrounded with influences that want to pull us away from God. Because Satan's active and that's his biggest goal for us. Another reason we're set apart or separated is to show others the goodness of God.

To show others the goodness of God. Holiness is given to us so that we show God's praises.

People won't say, Wow, Dan, you're a special guy.

But rather, wow, God has surely done something special with you.

It's not about us. They're supposed to see God because it's not our holiness. If you'll turn to 1 Peter 2, verses 1 through 12. We read verse 9 in my first message, and we will start there.

And it talks about the church being God's holy nation now. So what I'm going to have us do is read verse 9. Then we're going to go to the beginning, read the first couple of verses of this chapter, and we'll finish in verses 11 through 12. So starting in 1 Peter 2, 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. Remember, he's talking to the church here. A holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So we talked about that. God has called us out of darkness. So clearly, we don't deserve to have an ego.

We didn't give ourselves that holiness. Holiness is showing others the goodness and nature of God. Okay, now verse 1 through 3 shows what that looks like in practice. And that's a scary word all in here again.

1 Peter 2, 1. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

That list of things that we need to lay aside, that's the old man, isn't it? That's kind of what we were talking about, the old man that we're supposed to have done away with. Those are the sandals we're supposed to leave off, leave behind us, take off your shoes. Those are the things we're supposed to leave behind when we're on holy ground. And of course, that word all, I highlighted it a couple of times in there, but that's the out word that clarifies we all have a long life journey in becoming more like God. If we have tasted what Jesus, that Jesus is gracious by being justified from our sins, justification, we're expected to live a holy, sanctified life. Sanctification.

We are holy, we're to become holy. They fit together. Verse 11 through 12 clarifies who is to be recognized, who's to be acknowledged when people see us acting holy. Verse 11. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you, as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Even if, even when, when. When they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they're going to give honor, don't miss, to God in the future when he comes to judge the world. That's the long perspective on being treated poorly for doing the right thing, isn't it? That's kind of humbling. Now turn to 1 Peter 3 and verse 15. Go forward to chapter 1 Peter 3, 15. But sanctify, set apart, reflect the holiness of the Lord God in your heart, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. So you'll notice Peter said, if you are asked, why would somebody ask?

What would lead somebody to do that? And the answer again goes back to 1 Peter 2, 12, where they will be able to reflect on your good works.

You also see that concept here. Verse 16. Having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed, for it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. So real holiness in our everyday actions and attitudes is supposed to attract people to the faith.

Even when a holy person is accused of wrong, we're to act in a way that's honorable, is what this is saying.

And in this world, when someone is accused, that's not the way we naturally do it, right? We tend to be more defensive, hostile, but the set-apart person isn't undone by being accused. His integrity carries him through in such a way that the accuser in the end wants to be like him. There is something attractive, appealing.

That's the difference.

And I've seen people like that. In the moment, I'm still a little cranky, Dan, but afterwards I'd look and be like, you said a really good example to me there. I'm sorry. It's one of those things that time helps provide perspective. And that's when we explain to others how through Jesus Christ, they too can achieve the same thing. It's never that we're better than they are. It's not that we're special in and of ourselves. We are special.

But the truth is that anybody can be special too. Our lives have been set apart for the purpose of bringing other people into the kingdom of God.

How holy is your conduct, is my conduct, is our conduct as an example as Christians.

Some to think about each day when we're traveling around. Everything about holiness requires God's Holy Spirit to enable us to do what we can't do for ourselves. Another concept I'm just going to plant and then move off, but just to think about, you all know Galatians 5.22-23, the fruit of the Spirit.

Fruit of the Spirit. Think about and pray for that in relation to holiness because the Spirit's holy. We're told how we should act. That's what it looks like. Ask from the perspective of holiness in your prayers. Ask for God's love, for his joy, for his peace, to be patient like him, to have self-control, to be meek, to be gentle, and so forth. That's reflecting the holiness of God. That's another way you can look at this. If you'll turn to 1 Thessalonians 3, verses 11-13. 1 Thessalonians 3, 11-13. I think one of the most...

One of the things that makes it most difficult to be holy is that we're always measuring our holiness by a worldly standard. We may not realize that, but our eyes are often what tells our brain what's going on. And so what we do is we look at what the sinners around us are doing, and we try to be better. Not realizing that the world's on this downward slope, and are we just trying to stay a little bit above the downward slope?

If so, we're getting farther and farther away from God as we're chasing, staying a fraction above the world as the world goes in the wrong direction.

We try to remain very much a part of the world, and at the same time try not to be contaminated by the world.

We don't want to give up the world, so we hold on to it while at the same time trying to resist the power of it. You see, I'm just different ways to phrase the same thing, but hopefully one of those connects to what we do very naturally. That's the opposite of what holiness is.

Holiness is not to continue buying into the world's system in a Christian way.

That's not what it's about. The way of holiness is what we read in 2 Corinthians 6 where it says, Come out from the evil of the world and separate yourself. Holy, separate ones. Called for separate purpose. 1 Thessalonians 3, 11. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our ways 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 heart blameless in holiness. There's a goal. Blameless in holiness. Before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all of his saints, all of his set apart, sanctified holy ones.

Again, the word holiness is such a meaningful word, and this one's actually very interesting, similar to what I used one of the other times. The way it's used means blameless in godly character or nature. Blameless in godliness is kind of the way this is being referenced here. Literally holy. And again, remember there's no chapter break, so let's just keep going.

First Thessalonians 4.1. Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you see received from us how you ought to walk and to please God. For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

It's the will of God for us. God's will is our sanctification, becoming blameless in holiness.

And now Paul goes on in this one analogy to start talking about sexual immorality, but you can go to what we just read the chapter before, about God directing all our ways. The lesson applies to everything. Since we're justified through the blood of Jesus Christ, we should live in a way that pleases God.

Every day, I'll give you a challenge, just as a thought analogy. You don't have to take me literally on this one. But every day, ask yourselves for each thing you're doing, is this pleasing to God? Is this pleasing to God? Can you imagine if you had a three by five card? If you had a thousand three by five cards glued on your mirror, on your car, on everything in front of you, but is this pleasing to God? Is this pleasing to God? Is this pleasing to God? Is this pleasing to God? I'm not telling you if you're going to do that and block off your view and wreck somebody because you can't see through your car window. I'm not telling you to do that, but you can picture the concept.

Because we're holy, because we have a relationship with God, we should want to do what pleases God, who has given us the special privilege of being made holy. We should want to grow in sanctification. We should want to reflect God in how we treat others each day. We certainly don't want to put back on those dirty clothes. Think about coming down up in the mine where you're a thousand feet below, just covered in dirt. We don't want to put back on their dirty clothes the ways of living that would make it possible for us to lose our sanctification. That's not what we want. That's not what we want. So let's conclude this message.

One of the spiritual gifts we are given is the gift of holiness. It's a special identity.

But we don't always open our gifts. Right? As humans, we don't always open our gifts. And the gift of holiness is one that we kind of leave on the shelf sometime. I think sometimes we can feel like that's for other people. That's for special people. And not ordinary, everyday folks. So we leave it alone. Sometimes, I think, the gift of holiness feels like it separates us too much from others. Right? Because we're act- or separated to look like God and not like others. And that can be where we- what matters most to us.

And so we get squeamish about accepting it, or we leave it unopened. The studies have shown that people more often become Christians, start attending church when they have kids, which is really interesting. That makes them suddenly revisit things. But more often than not, God uses tragedies. Tragedies that we bring on ourselves to get our attention.

So, let's try back to the message from last time.

Have you ever wondered how long God tried to get Moses' attention prior to Mount Sinai?

Maybe God had been trying to get Moses' attention for years in that desert right near that mountain. I wonder how long he tries to get ours sometime.

And there's this sign that's along a primitive Alaskan highway, which says, be careful which rut you choose, because you'll be in it for the next hundred miles. If you've been in Alaska, you know there's largely one road that you're going along.

We get used to things we do, and we get into bad habits. Moses had to move through this 80-year journey from being this Egyptian hotshot to a nothing shepherd for God to fully get his attention about holiness.

Does God fully have our attention?

The whole fabric of the Bible portrays this vision of people set apart in a holy relationship with our God. Holiness, remember? Separated, set apart from the ordinary. And it's to reflect who we are as given by God.

Always remember that final part of it, because it's as given by God. It's about becoming like God, reflecting his values, his instructions, his nature in what we do, in our thoughts, in our actions, in the unique ways that each of us are human. But we can reflect God with our different personalities. Holiness is fundamentally God's gift of this unique, this special identity. So are there sandals? Are there shoes that we should take off, that we should not be wearing anymore now that we are holy? Take your shoes off, Moses. Rather than asking, what is everyone else doing? Let's start asking, what does God want me to be? What me to do to reflect his holiness?