Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Can God’s Will Make Us Holy │ Msg 811 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Can God’s Will Make Us Holy │ Msg 811 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Some of us are reading through the Bible this year,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and invariably we come across a section that seems terribly monotonous.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: It is that era of the kings, where it's sort
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of like walking through a graveyard. You see one name
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: that you've never come across before in your life, and
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: then you see that he lived and he died, and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: then another came and he lived and he died, and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: another who reigned and then he died, and it's sort
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of like reading an obituary. You see one person after another,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: sort of pass in review, and most of the names
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: are hard to pronounce, and you wonder if there was
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: really that much significance connected to the whole period of
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: several hundred years. Not long ago, I was reading about
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a king named Uziah, and a few things were said
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: about him, a little more than normally were recorded about
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: another king or many of the other kings, And it
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: slipped my mind that something happened the year he died
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: that was terribly significant, in fact, so significant that it
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: took the better part of a chapter for a man
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to write about it, not in the king section, but
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: in the prophetic section of the Bible. The man who
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: wrote about it became the most prolific and eloquent of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: all the prophets. In fact, it's believed by many he's
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the most noble of all the prophets, certainly one who
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: reigned or who served the Lord in the most significant
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of places. His name was Isaiah, and the chapter he
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: took in his journal to record what happened the year
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Eziah died is the sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: If you have a Bible, I'd like you to turn
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and to locate that sixth chapter and to discover with
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: me that it was in the year that the king
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: died that Isaiah was commissioned to serve as a prophet
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of God. You don't read anything about that in the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: kings or in the chronicles, but you do read about
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: it in Isaiah's journy home. Now we're not told that
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: this occurred when Usiah died, but we're told that it
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: occurred the year Usiah died. Usiah has served as king
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: for fifty two years. If you don't mean much about
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: your Bible, you don't know that that's very unusual. Some
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: of the kings served only a few years, some even
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a few months. Assassinations seemed to be popular in that day,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and people didn't put up with kings they didn't like,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and so there would come dynasties that would wipe away
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: a king, and then another king would come, and some
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of the successors would be only a few years old
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: when they became king, and they would live for a
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: while and then die, but not Usiah. Usiah, for fifty
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: two years, served over the nation. So significant was Usiah
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: that the people, I believe, began to get their eyes
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: on him, and maybe even a young man named Isaiah,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and the Lord set aside that year that Usiah died
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: to get Isaiah's attention. It tells us in the sixth
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: chapter that Isaiah, in the year the King died, saw
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the train of his robe filling the temple. Now, I
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: would imagine at this point Isaiah is what we would
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: say today, was in church. He was in the place
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: of worship. And I have the feeling that Isaiah, like
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: many of the people of his day, was caught up
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: with the reign of Usiah. Because the entrance into his
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: journal is connected to that year that Usiah died. Life
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: seemed to revolve around the King. Paul Salehammer, one of
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: our associates in ministry, told me he was reading a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: book in which he came across a very interesting statement.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Someone wrote of our day. It seemed as though our
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: day the pedestals are larger than the heroes. Perhaps that
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: was true in the days of Usiah. His pedestal was
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: larger than the man himself, and Isaiah perhaps had his
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: eyes on the man and not on his God. And
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the Lord got his attention this particular day and showed
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: him himself. Will notice that the Lord is lofty, that
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the Lord is exalted, and that the train of the
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Lord's robe is filling the temple. We read in the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: second verse of something that appears nowhere else in the Bible,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: a body of worshiping creatures are surrounding the Lord. They
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: are called the seraphime Serah's mentioned only here, or angelic
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: beings that are like flaming fires. Or well, I say
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: that because the word saraf means to burn. It's used
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to describe the fiery serpents over in the days of
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Moses that bit the children of Israel. So these are
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: creatures perhaps blazing like fire, which we can't imagine, or
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: perhaps so full of zeal. They were firelike in their worship,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and they surrounded the throne of God, and they minister
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: to our God in praise. In fact, it reads each
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: had six wings. We're not told how many there were,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: maybe there were hundreds, maybe dozens, maybe a few. But
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Seraphim stood above him. In Hebrew, the plural is im,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the ending not s as in English. We wouldn't say Seraph's.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: In Hebrew, it's Saraphine, like Cherub and cherubin there were
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: many Saraphim, and they stood above him, and they had
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: six wings. With two they covered their faith, and with
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: two that covered their feet, and with two they flew.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: So they're fluttering all around the throne. They're swarming the
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: throne of God with this zealous praise and this worship.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: And Isaiah is caught up in the sudden awareness of
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: this invisible scene. For all we know it goes on
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: all the time. Most of the angelic creation are engaged
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: in activities that we never see. Much of their time
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: is spent in the adoration and praise of a holy God.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: And here God is giving Isaiah eyes to see the
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: invisible notice the antifanal voice in which they're worshiping. One
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: called out to another. Merrill Lunger says, from their antifinal chant,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: we may conceive them to have been ranged in opposite
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: rows on each side of the throne. So maybe they
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: were like the old choirs of yesteryear, sitting on each side,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: and one would speak and the other would answer. The
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: other would speak, and then the other would answer back.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: It was back and forth and back and forth. And
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: what do they say? They called out to one another,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: and they said, Holy, Holy, Holy. Some have interpreted this
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: to mean the Trinity, God, the Father, God, the Son, God,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the Spirit. I think rather it is a reference to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: infinite holiness. When words are repeated in the Hebrew text,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: it is for the purpose of emphasis, and only rarely
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: are words repeated three times or stated three times. There
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: is a sense of infinite exalting incredible holiness is do
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: your name, O, Lord, God of host Holy, Holy, Holy,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: is the Lord, God of hosts. The earth is full
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of his glory. Now, if you study the year Usiah died,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't think the earth was covered with the glory
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: of God. You would think things had kind of gotten
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: out a hand. Usiah was a good man, but he
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: wasn't perfect, and it was true of most of the kings.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: His revival lasted for just a while, and then he
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: passed off the scene, only to give another one the reins.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: So the earth is not marked by evident glory. But
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: from the Sarahime's viewpoint and from the throne room, the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: earth is full of God's glory. Don't forget that. We
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: read newspapers that report nothing of angelic praise. They tell
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: nothing of the glory of God. They only tell the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: horizontal view and all the bad news. But don't doubt it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: The earth is full of God's glory. This place will
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: ultimately be removed, and it will be replaced by that
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: which evidence is the glory of God. But for a moment,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Isaiah is caught up in a scene that other people
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: couldn't see. Look at what happened. The foundation of the
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: While the temple was filling with smoke. The foundations trembled
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: at the thunder of that angelic choir. The place was
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: filled with adoring, worshiping praise. For the first time in
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the passage, Isaiah responds. Up until now he's only been
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: an observer. I think if it had happened to you
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: or me, the same would be true. We would be
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: absolutely stunned, silent, we would be mute as we listen
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: and as we observe this angelic scene, and the first
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: words out of Isaiah's mouth woe is me, woe is me,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: for I am ruined. I think we would say today,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I am finished. It's all over. Go back and observe
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: what had come out of the angel's mouths Holy, Holy, Holy, Supreme,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: complete infinite holiness. Isaiah's response is I am not even
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: worthy to be in the presence of such a scene.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I am a man of unclean lips. I live among
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: the Lord of hose as I recall the living Bible
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: says something like, I am a foul mouthed man living
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: among foul mouthed people. Isaiah saw the Lord in all
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: of his glory, and then he saw himself in contrast,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: and he says, I am not worthy to be in
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: his presence. Now it's spend a few moments understanding the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: truth of holy and holiness. Both the Hebrew and the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Greek words translated Holy convey the idea of separateness or separation,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: a setting apart. When something is said to be holy
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: in the scriptures, that something is set apart unto God.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Like our two words dedicated and consecrated, it is a
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: dedicated piece of furniture that appears in the tabernacle. It
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: is a consecrated robe that is to be worn by
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the priesthood wholly in the sense of being set apart
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: for the purpose and the work and the glory of God.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Holy ness just carries it further separation from all that
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: is sinful and impure and imperfect. Moral wholeness also is
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: in the word holy neess. This is essentially one of
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: God's characteristics. He is totally He is completely separate from contamination. Now,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: because the human race is contaminated by sin thanks to
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Adam's fall in the garden, we during our earthly lives,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: cannot ever know experientially full holiness, not in our experience.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: We can in our position in Christ, but we can
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: never know a completely sinless existence. That's why Isaiah responds
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: like he does. He is reminded by seeing infinite holiness,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the incredible contrast between the living God and himself. I
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: suppose the closest we will ever come to it in
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the physical sense is to see a room where surgery occurs,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and the work that goes into scrubbing up and preparing
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: for the act of surgery, the incredible time and effort
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: spent putting one's so into a place where he or
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: she is sterile so that an operation can occur free
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: of germs and physically. That would describe the feeling isaiahead
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: as he stood experientially filthy in the presence of infinitely
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: holy God. Now why is it important? Why is it
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: important for us to see that our God is holy? Well,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I've made a list of two or three reasons. Number One,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: it assures us that he is trustworthy. Being holy, he
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: will never take advantage of his children, He will never
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: abuse us, and he will never manipulate us. One who
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: is sinless cannot do that. You can trust him to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: do what is right by you at all times. Second,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: it guarantees no hidden agenda, no questionable motive. When God
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: leads you into his will, you never have to wonder
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: will this backfire or will it work against me? You
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: never have to wonder about that. His holy will is
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: free of question. Third, since he is holy. He represents
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: a model of perfection, not one flaw hidden or observed
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: or recorded, not even indirectly. Let me show you a
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: classic example of that. Turn from the Old Testament over
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to the New and locate the first chapter of the
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Book of James. It's been a while since we've been
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: in the Book of James, and I'm glad to turn
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: to it. What a practical writer James was. There's something
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: that we might miss if we just read it hurriedly.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: So let me linger here for a time to appreciate
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: this James one verse thirteen. Let no man say when
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God. For God
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: cannot be tempted by evil. Notice that, and He himself
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: he is carried away and enticed by his own lust,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: and then he carries out the process. When lust has conceived,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Back to verse thirteen, Let no one say when he
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: is tempted, I am being tempted by God. Now the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: statement of God's holiness because God cannot be tempted, He
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: himself does not tempt anyone. There is a unique construction
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: in the original text that we would never see in
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: the English, and I camp on it only because it
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: highlights the intricate, infinite, detailed holiness of God. It's in
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: that phrase, I am being tempted by God. The particular
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: phrase is put together in the original conveying the idea
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: of an indirect agency. In other words, a person who
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: sins could in a low moment say, really, what happened?
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: God set me up? I mean, after all, if it
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: hadn't been for his plan, I wouldn't have a sinful nature.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: And if it hadn't been for the events that he's
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: in charge of, I might add I wouldn't have been
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: drawn to that, I wouldn't have been enticed. And really,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: if God had been a bit stronger in my case,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't have fallen. But this phrase conveys the idea that,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: not even indirectly, is God involved in the act of sin.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: by God, either directly or indirect It's not possible because
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: he cannot tempt He is not tempt a ball. The
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: point I'm making is we are on our own back
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: to those thoughts. In Isaiah, Holy, holy, holy, supremely, completely
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: infinitely holy is our Lord. He is not even indirectly
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: involved in wrong. Now, what about in us? What's the
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: significance here? What if holiness were limited to God and
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: kept from us? Well, you're in the book of James,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: so you don't have much further to go to First
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: John chapter one. A couple of three thoughts here. First,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: if we were not given holiness from God, we could
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: not fellowship with him. First John one, five and following.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: And this is the message we have heard from him
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and announced to you, that God is light. In other words,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: in him, there is no darkness at all. Understand, light
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: here is a symbol of a purity. God is absolutely
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: resplendent purity. He is flawless holiness. In him is no
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: darkness at all. Imagine not one dark thought, not one
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: dark motive, not one deceitful statement or act, no darkness
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and we
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: do not practice the truth. But if we walk in
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: the light as He himself is in the light. What
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: happens we have fellowship with one another? How can that happen?
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Why the blood of Jesus Christ his Son keeps on
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: cleansing us from all sin. The beauty of this passage
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: is that it gives us hope to fellowship with God.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: And we couldn't fellowship unless we were in perfect harmony
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: with His holiness. And when we lay our sins before him,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: he grants us cleansing, and as his children, he gives
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: us a purity that matches his, and we can fellowship
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: with him. Imagine that, sinful creatures though we are, when
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: walking in the light, we have a sense of communion
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: with our God that if it were not for holiness,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: we would not otherwise know. There's a second reason it
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: seems significant to us. We'd live our entire lives under
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: a cloud of wrong, driven by evil motives, unable ever
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: to be free of the darkness. That's why Isaiah said,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: in a sudden burst of humiliation, woe is me. There's
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: no hope. I can't connect because of my condition and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: of what I see of him. Woe is me. That
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: would be true if it were not possible for there
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to be a transfer of holiness. There's another we forget
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: it Hebrews twelve, verse fourteen. There's a third reason it's
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: significant to us twelve fourteen. Pursue peace with all men
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: and the sanctification. The same word rendered holy elsewhere, is now,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: for some reason rendered sanctification here, or holiness. Pursue peace
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: with all men and holiness, without which no one will
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: see the Lord. If it were not for holiness being
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: transferred to our account through the righteousness of God, we
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: would never see the Lord. We wouldn't have the promise
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: of heaven, he tells us to pursue. Therefore, peace with
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: all men and sanctification. Let me pause for a few
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: moments of realism. The term holiness does seem a little spooky.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: I admit that I thought I was all alone in
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: that thought until I came across John White's writings in
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: the work The Fight, in which he says this ever
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: gone fishing in a polluted river and hauled out an
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: old shoe, a tea kettle, or a rusty can. I
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: got a sort of a similar sort of catch. If
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I cast as a bait the word holiness into the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: murky depths of my mind, to my dismay I come
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: up with such associations as thinness, hollow eyed gauntness, beards, sandals,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: long robes, stone cells, no jokes, hair shirts, frequent cold baths, fasting,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: hours of prayer, wild rocky deserts, getting up at four am,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: clean fingernails, stained glass, self humiliation. The list is a
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: strange one. Some items suggest you can only achieve holiness
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: by a painful and rigorous process. Yet many teachers claim
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: that your most intense efforts will be in vain, since
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: holiness is something God gives, not something you achieve. Again,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: my juxtaposition of items lends an air of frivolity to
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: a subject which none of us dare take lightly. If
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the means by which men and women have sought holiness
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: seem ridiculous, we should weep rather than laugh. I want
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to carry that further in a moment, but I mention
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: it because holiness does convey a kind of a spooky feeling.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: You're around some people who give the impression that will
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: never work hard enough to be holy enough, you'll never
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: give up enough things to be holy, and you're around
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: other people who see it all as a passive fact.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: God distributes it, He gives it, He dumps it on you.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: You enjoy it, take advantage of it, you live in
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: light of it. But there's really no involvement of concern
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to you. You're just a passive part of the process.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Let me convey two thoughts, and it comes to holiness.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: One idea is this holiness always suggests, as I said earlier,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: separateness and difference. God being holy is different from all
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: other gods. God being holy is separate from all other gods.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: So separateness and difference is certainly involved in the word.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: If you and I plan to live holy lives, the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: lives must be marked by a sense of separation and difference.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Another idea, it always has to do with ethical beauty
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: and moral excellence. To say that we are holy suggested
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: we emulate a morality that is likened to our God.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: In other words, immorality and holiness never mix. They don't
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: go together. A few examples from the scriptures. Look at
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the book of Leviticus, will you. It has been a
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: while since we've been in Leviticus, hasn't it. Leviticus eleven,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: verse forty four. So many of the statements made in
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the New Testament, And I'm thinking now, especially of one
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Peter one, which we'll look at later, are drawn from
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the book of Leviticus. Leviticus eleven forty four kind of
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: sets the stage for the holy sacrifices, and two verses
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: out of this eleventh chapter interest us. For the Lord
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: introduces us to his characteristic eleven forty four, For I
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: am the Lord, your God. Next sentence, consecrate yourselves therefore
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and be holy. For I am holy. You shall not
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: swarm on the earth. And he's just described them in
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: the context of the previous verses. Why should you not
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: do that verse forty five, Because I repeat, I am
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the Lord who brought you up from the land of
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Egypt to be your god. Thus you shall be holy.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: For I am Holy is a command to the Israelites.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: He didn't leave them to hope for the best or
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: simply to admire it in him. He said, you be
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: like I am. You be different from the people around you.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: You separate yourself unto a moral excellence, unto ethical beauty,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: that is, unlike those who are around you. You be
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: like I am. From Leviticus, look at Psalm twenty four,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: verse three twenty four verse three, who may ascend into
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the hill of the Lord, and who may stand in
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: his holy place. The answer he who has clean hands
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. This one
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the God of his salvation. Notice that there is involvement
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: on the part of men and women. Those who stand
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: in God's holy place. It seems to be a symbolism
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: for walking with Him in the light. Those are the
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: ones who have clean hands and a pure heart, those
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: who do not lift up their soul in falsehood and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: do not swear deceitfully. This is a good time to
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: be exhorted regarding deceit. We won't get away with dirty
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: hands as easily as we can get away with deceitful hearts.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: People can see dirty hands, people can see our operations
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: if they are unclean, or if they are unjust, the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: way we treat other folks. If it is unfair, that's obvious.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: We get good at deceit. We can hide the true motive.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: We can lead other people to believe certain things that
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: simply are not true. A deceitful heart has no part
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: in the holiness of God. Look at Isaiah fifty two,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: yet another in the Old Testament. Then we'll look in
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the New Isaiah fifty two to ten. I love this.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: of all the nations, that all the ends of the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: earth may see the salvation of our God. He has
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: bared his not just his arm as in an arm
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: of strength, but he has shown himself distinct. His arm
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: is holy. It's it's an expression that helps us understand
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the nature of God. It attributes to God a body
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: of flesh, which he doesn't have, but that helps us
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: grasp the truth of holiness. God doesn't have arms and
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: legs and hands and feet as we think of it.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: God is a spirit. He lives his entire existence in
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: spirit form. Our savior, Jesus Christ has the body, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: so our God doesn't literally have an arm that he bears,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: but it is a symbol of his holy strength in
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: which he guides and guards us in this life, always
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: marked by holiness, not just strength, but holiness. Now in
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the New Testament, Romans chapter six. If you know your Bible,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: you know that you can't really address holiness completely without
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: a look into the Book of Romans. So we need
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: a little theology. This will help us Romans six twelve.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Writing to Christians living in Rome, Paul says, therefore, do
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: not let sin reign in your mortal in your mortal body,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: that you should obey its lust. Do not go on
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: to God. For sin shall not be master over you. You
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: are not under law but under grace. What then shall
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: we sin? Because we are not under law but under grace? Mayganoida?
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: May it never be perish the thought. Philip says, what
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a ghastly thought, What a terrible statement. And you have
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: many choose to live that way. I've heard about grace.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: I understand its forgiveness, and I know that God will
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: deal with me in grace. So I will sin knowing
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: that He will treat me in grace. That is heresy.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: May it never be. Do you not know so that
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: But thanks be to God that though you were slaves
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: of sin, you became obedient from the heart. That's our conversion.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: That's when you trusted the Savior. You became obedient from
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: the heart to that form of teaching to which you
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: were committed, And having been freed from sin, you became
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: slaves of righteousness. Now learn a little theology here. Without Christ,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: we are slaves to sin. It is our master. We
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: can make all the New Year's resolutions, we wish all
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: the promises to ourselves, all the accountability we can imagine,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: but we cannot keep from serving sin unless we have
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: a power within that overcomes it. For us. That power
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: is Christ. We come to the cross, and we become
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: obedient to that form of teaching which we just read about,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: and we give ourselves to the Savior by faith. At
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: that moment, the slavery to sin is canceled, and we
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: are now enslaved to God. However, there still dwells within us,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: this tendency to do wrong, and it keeps wearing its
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: ugly head, keeps coming back, keeps visiting us even though
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: we are right with God, there is still a battle,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: and whoever denies it is simply denying reality. Let me
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: tell you how it works. God sees us in Christ
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: when we come as believing sinners, and he justifies us.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Justification is the sovereign act of God, whereby he declares
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: righteous the believing sinner, while we are still in the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: sinning state. Still in a sinning state, God says, on
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: the basis of our faith in Christ, you are in Christ.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: You belong to my family. I declare you righteous, and
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: he credits to our spiritual account the righteousness of God.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: What a wonderful transfer, What a great relief of debt,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: and the whole that sin has had over you all
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: your life is canceled. You don't have to be a
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: slave to sin. Before you had no choice, you had
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to keep serving sin because He was there as your master.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Christ came and brought deliverance, and with justification came peace
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Romans five to one. Being justified by faith, we have
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And with
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: peace came holiness. He granted us not only forgiveness, not
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: only peace, not only righteousness, but he granted us the
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: capacity of holiness which we never had before. Now, the
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: point Paul makes here is, since you have been declared
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: not guilty, what are you doing serving sin? It's no
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: longer a master over you. You have been yielding yourselves
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Do it no longer
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: yield yourself unto God. Take advantage of his gift of holiness.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Now some say, well, when you do that, you become
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: totally passive God. Does it all? Turn to Romans twelve.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: You're in Romans six, six chapters later. Romans twelve. I
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: constantly have to address the issue of passivity among Christians. Constantly.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: I meet up with them all the time, and they're
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: all so well meaning. They all look so holy too.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: It's another thing that you notice about them, their eyes
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: kind of half masked, and you think they eat bird
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: seed through the afternoon and strama guitar, and you know,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: they kind of meet in that never never land and
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: somewhere you've not been. And it says, though he comes
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: and meets with them, and somehow you're missing that wonderful
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: dialogue that's theirs. And they, when you finally get them
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: to talk about it, they reveal to you that It's
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: all done by God. Everything is done by God, and
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: they simply have believed and the rest is up to God. Well,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you who the commands are addressed
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: to in chapter twelve. God. No. I urge you, brethren,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: and I urge you by the mercies of God, that
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: you present your bodies. You do the presenting of your
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: bodies as a living and holy sacrifice. Look at the
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: word holy sacrifice. You present your body as a living,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: holy sacrifice to God, which is your your spiritual service
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: of worship. I've said it before and you've heard it.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: The problem with a living sacrifice it keeps wanting to
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: crawl off the altar. So when you crawl off the altar,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: get back on the altar. And you may have to
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: do it every morning, every morning. Frankly, I do it
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: many mornings of my life. Lord. Today is your day.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: Today is a hard day. It will be my tendency
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: to act in the I don't want to do that.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I want to act in your spirit. I want to
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: respond as you would have me respond. And I give
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: you myself myself. I placed myself on your altar, and
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: I ask you to help me in the sacrifice to
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: give up my will and to accept yours, and to
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: live like that, not just talk about it. Don't be
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: conformed to this world is another command verse two. But
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It takes
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: a whole new mental process that you may prove that
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: He goes on and on and on. First Corinthians three, sixteen,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and seventeen tells us we're even temples of the Holy Spirit.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Look at first Thessalonians four. First Thessalonians four, verse three.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: For this is the will of God, your holiness called
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: here sanctification. What is that you abstained from sexual immorality? Well, now,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: if it is all up to God, what is he
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: doing demanding us to abstain? It isn't all up to God.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: It is up to God to give us the strength.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: It is up to us to obey. And he says
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: that each of you know how to possess his own
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like gentiles.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: You don't know. God, let no one transgress and defraud
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: avenger in all these things. Just as we told you
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: before and solemnly warned you. God has not called us
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: for the purpose of impurity, but in holiness. Here it
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: is again, it's a context of sexual purity. One more,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: First Peter Chapter one, a verse thirteen. Therefore, gird your
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: minds for action. You're going to see five commands. First,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: gird your mind. Second, keep sober in the spirit, get
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: serious about this. Third, fix your hope completely on the
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: grace to be brought to you at the revelation of
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Fourth, as obedient children, do not be conformed
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance. By
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the way, it's plural. There are various lusts, and you
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: may have been conformed to one series of lusts, not
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: like my series of lusts. Lust is simply a word
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: for evil desires. They come from evil motives, and they're
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: for evil purposes. This the way this word appears here,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: and he asks, He commands us to be obedient children,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: not conformed to the lusts of our past. See we've
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: been we're no longer enslaved. To that. He could never
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: write that to non Christians. They live their lives slaved enslaved.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: But now the fifth command, like the Holy One who
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: called you be holy yourselves in all your behavior, because
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: it's written, we just read it Leviticus. You shall be holy,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: for I am holy. Back when I was a little boy,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: we worshiped in a church in Houston, East Houston that
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: had a big white sign with broad black letters that
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: read let go and let God. And I remember sitting
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: there as a child and as a young adolescent looking
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: at those words. In fact, I looked at them every
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Sunday for several years let go and let God. They
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: sounded real great, and I'm sure whoever put them up
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: there wanted them to speak to everybody there. They're big
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: bow letters. Since those days, I found out the origin
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: of that sign. It's a little dubious whether this is
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: the origin, but it seems to be rather well documented.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: A college student back in the nineteenth century took six
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: postcards and wrote a large letter on each one of
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: the postcards L E. T. G. D. Let God, and
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: he put him on the mantelpiece in his room where
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: he was living at school. One evening, a draft kind
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: of blew through the room and the d blew away,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: and he took it. When he saw that as a
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: message from God. As the secret of the Christian life
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: that only by letting go can you let God. And
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: I guess the end of the sentence would be have
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: His way or carry out His will in your life.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: And again I say, that's pretty good. But if it's
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: taken to extreme, it'll lead to heresy. I don't find
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: any place here in this wonderful passage directing us in
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: a life of holiness to let go unless it's letting
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: go of the former lusts, and that certainly is needed,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: or letting go of wayward thoughts so that we gird
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: our minds for action. It isn't as though God does
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: it all and I do nothing. It's God does his
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: part and I do mine. God sends the signals and
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: I read them and respond. I drive a car that
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: has little lights that come on on the dashboard. Every
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: once in a while they flash. I'd never pull over
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: and get a little hammer and knock out the lights
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: so that I can without being disturbed by the lights
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: on the dishboard. Invariably I stop. I turned the thing off.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: In fact, I've had mechanics say don't keep driving, just
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: find somebody to give you some help. They've seen my
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: work and they know, don't get your head under there.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Let us do it. But whatever you do, don't keep driving.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: God sends red lights along the way. He flashes them
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: at times. He says stop, stop, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: and we stop. If we're wise, we do something about it.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: We don't just let go and say, well, I guess
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: he likes red. That says my night for red. He's
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: have to take care of it. We take care of it.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: We confess our sins, and he is just to forgive
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: us our sins. We deal with the necessary disciplines that
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: keep our minds pure, and he does his part in
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: honoring that obedience. We don't passively yawn our way through life,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: hoping by the grace of God that will somehow make it.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Second Peter one seems like it's saying it's all from
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: God in verse four, but it's followed by a series
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: of commands. By these he has granted to us precious
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: and magnificent promises. Second Peter one four, He's given us
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: promises in order that by them you might become partakers
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: or partners of the divine nature. Oh that's wonderful. I
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: have a new nature it's a divine nature, and I've
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust, wonderful,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: terrific period next sentence. Now, for this very reason, also
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: applying all diligence, you get involved in holiness in your faith,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: supply moral excellence. In your moral excellence, knowledge, in your knowledge,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: you supply self control. In your self control, you supply perseverance,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: and in your perseverance, godliness, in your godliness, brotherly kindness,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: and in your brotherly kindness Christian love. For if these
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: qualities are yours and are on the increase, they render
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: you neither useless nor unfruitful. In the true knowledge of
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, we yield and place ourselves at
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: God's disposal. We have a divine nature. It allows us
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: to operate in that realm, which we were never able
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: to do before. Christ. Once yielded, he pours out the power,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: and we declare war on everything that is evil within
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: and without. We live a life that is different, morally, excellent,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: ethically beautiful. He honors that because it's like he is.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: According to Ephesians five to one, we are to mimic God,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: live like He lives. Now in light of what we
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: have heard. Here are three things that I think apply. First,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: let's keep ourselves from conforming to former lusts. Let's commit
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: ourselves to that. If you've not done that for a
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: long time, or if it's been a even years in
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: your life, or maybe even a few days, let's this
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: moment determine before God will stop conforming to former lusts.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: We'll stop operating in that realm, whether it's greed or revenge,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: or or a sexual impurity, whether it is a deceitful,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: a tongue or wrong motive. Let's determine will not conform
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: to former lust. Second, let's remind ourselves of our calling.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: He who has called you is holy, so be holy.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: Let me show you one more that I've passed up
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: too quickly. And it's the third point I want to
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: make one Peter again, verse chapter one, verse seventeen. And
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: if you address as Father, the one who impartially judges
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: the time of your stay on earth. Conduct yourselves in fear.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: That's the third piece of advice. Let's conduct ourselves in fear.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: You got them. Let's keep ourselves from conforming to former
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: luss verse Fourteen, don't be conformed of former lust. Fifteen,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Let's remind ourselves of our calling. He who called you
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: is holy, so you'd be holy in your behavior. Let's
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: remind ourselves of that. Third, let's conduct ourselves in fear.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: It's not that we're afraid of God, it's that we
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: reverence him. We reverence him kind of like a child
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: with a parent. You don't want your child scared of you,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: but you love the fact that they reverence you. They
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: believe you when you say what you say, and they
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: are fearful of doing what you say, don't do or
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: not to do. I'd like us to bow together in prayer.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Following this rather intense study we've had in the scriptures,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: I'd like you to close your eyes allow me a
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: couple of questions. How is it between you and your Lord?
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: These days? Some of you may be so engaged in
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: religious work that you find yourself pretty much going through
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: empty motions, out of habit. And you just realized in
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: these brief times we've had together that it is just
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: that empty series of events, just a habit. Take time
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: to get reacquainted. Do that soon. And second, let's take
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: a real honest look at our walk, any areas of
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: form or luss begun to take control. You know, those
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: things you battled with for so long, and finally Christ
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: gave you that a new direction, gave you power to
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: carry it out. You might have to confess at this
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: moment you've begun to slump. If so, stop, tell him
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: maybe you've never given your life to Christ. You've never
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: in your life, said Lord Jesus Christ. I am lost.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: I don't have enough power to do any of these things.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: I need yours, and I come to Christ right now.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: I give you my life. Do that now. Lord. We've
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: sung all our Christian lives that it takes time to
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: be holy. It certainly takes time to be mature. It
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: takes time to cultivate a walk with you that begins
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: to flow naturally. Because the enemy is so much more
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: assertive and powerful than we, and so creative, so full
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: of fresh ideas on how to derail us and demoralize us.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: I pray for my friends who listened so carefully to
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: these words. I thank you for power that comes from
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: your throne that causes the seraphim to flood your presence
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: with words of praise. That you don't keep that to yourself,
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: but you grant us the ability to be like you.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: Are we, because of a nature like ours, haven't the
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: consistency you have. But Lord, you know that we long
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: to be like you and to walk in the light
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: as you're in the light. Hear your children at this
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: moment as they express to you their need read our hearts.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: Give us a refreshing, a zeal to live a life
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: that is different, morally excellent and ethically beautiful, spiritually free
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: of deceit. Thank you in the name of Christ for
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: these moments we have had and these thoughts we have entertained.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: May they find lodging and make a difference in the
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: name of Christ. Amen.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Can God's Will Make Us Holy? Was
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in nineteen eighty seven, nineteen eighty eight, nineteen ninety four,
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: two thousand and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated.
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. The duplication of copyrighted material
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: for commercial use is strictly prohibited.