Holiness

[0:00] 1 Corinthians 12.14 Hebrews 12.14 it says, Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

[0:18] ! Holiness is something we hear a lot about. What does it mean? It means purification. It means separation. It means a life for God, by God and from sin.

[0:32] A holy life. And holiness we could think in lots of ways. It means a position. It means that we are made holy. The Corinthians, even they, with all their faults, were called saints.

[0:45] Holy ones. Even though carnal, it's a position that we have. Once saved, we receive His holiness. Holiness. It's a process too where we're separated from.

[0:56] It's a growing thing where we're changed. As it says in 2 Corinthians 3.18, We're changed into the same image or into Christ's image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

[1:12] So it's a development of Christian character that we grow in. And another thing about holiness is it's a positive thing. Whilst there's the aspect of not doing, there's also the aspect of doing.

[1:25] It's an active seeking to please God. Holiness is something positive as we find pleasure and fulfillment in serving the Lord and living for Him. So it's a position, it's a process, and it's positive.

[1:39] It's Christ-likeness. In 1 Peter 1, he says, Be ye holy, for I am holy. It's being like Christ. It's becoming more like God and less like the world.

[1:53] Holiness. The word in the Greek is hagios. Hagios. And it's a combination of two words.

[2:05] Hat meaning not. Geos meaning, as we know, geography. The world. Or the earth. So it means literally not earthly. And when you become a Christian, there's a sense where we don't belong to this world anymore.

[2:18] This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. As the song goes, Our allegiance, our government, our king is another. God demands holiness.

[2:29] Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Be ye holy. It says be. It's an active exaltation, a demand, a command from God. It's mentioned 1,066 times in the Bible.

[2:44] Holiness, sanctification. It's been said of God that He has two abodes. The holy heaven and the holy heart. God wants His people to be holy.

[2:57] Holy things. Firstly, the holy place. In Ephesians 2, it tells us of the holy temple of the church. Being like a holy temple.

[3:09] A habitation of God through the Spirit. In whom ye are also built together for an habitation, a dwelling place of God through the Spirit. It's a sense where we're a place.

[3:21] A holy place. And where is God's holy place? In 1 Corinthians 3, 17, it tells you, If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.

[3:32] For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. If you're a Christian today, you are a holy temple. A holy temple. The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

[3:45] So there's a sense where the holy place is you. You and I walking about. Another word is a holy vessel or a pot.

[3:57] If you think of it, a clay pot, a clay container. In Timothy 2, 21, Paul exhorts Timothy and says, If a man shall purge himself or cleanse himself from these, talking of wrongdoing, he shall be a vessel unto honour.

[4:14] A vessel unto honour, sanctified, set apart, made holy, meet for the master's use, prepared for every good work. So there's a sense where you are a vessel, a pot, a clay pot, an earthen vessel that God dwells within.

[4:30] And it says we should possess our vessel, our container, the container that we are, that God lives in, his container that you are, possess that vessel, hold it in sanctification and honour.

[4:43] 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 3. So, as a useful Christian, we'll want God's cleansing so we can be used by him. And a third aspect, we've seen the holy place, the temple of God which you are.

[4:57] We've seen the pot, the holy vessel that you are. And thirdly, there's a holy priest that you are. We talked about priests before, but really every Christian, every true Christian is a priest.

[5:10] Men and women who love the Saviour, you are a priest. 1 Peter 2, verse 5. But ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood.

[5:23] We're a royal priesthood, we're a holy nation. We are a holy priesthood, 1 Peter 2, verse 5. So there's a sense where every Christian, what does a priest do? He serves.

[5:35] And every Christian, you are his servants. As a Christian, man or woman, you are a priest. We don't have priests that wear dog collars and you go and mumble words to behind a black curtain.

[5:51] We have a priest, the holy priest, our Saviour, the great high priest. And as a believer, every one of you are his priests in the sense that we are his servants to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto him.

[6:05] How do we get this holiness that we're talking about? It's needful, it's vital, it's demanded of us. How do we have holiness this side of heaven? How can we live godly in this godless world?

[6:21] Christ is our sanctification. 1 Corinthians 1, 30. Christ Jesus is made unto us, among other things, sanctification. He is made unto you, to me, holiness, our Saviour.

[6:37] Sanctification is not something, it's someone. It's Christ in you. It's Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

[6:51] The Lord our righteousness, it tells us, is one of his names in Jeremiah 23, verse 6. Someone has said, you have as much holiness as you have of God in you.

[7:05] His holiness is our holiness. Oswald Chambers, a great writer of old, said, I can't live a holy life. It's quite true to say that.

[7:17] But you can decide to let Jesus make you holy. Let the Lord Jesus make you holy. That is how we are made holy. How do we receive this sanctification?

[7:29] It's by faith. In Acts 26, verse 18, Christ's words to Paul as he commissioned him, as Paul recounts his testimony of how Christ appeared to him and gave him a commission which included that he should turn people from Satan unto God to receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

[7:55] So we made holy, we sanctified by faith that is in Christ. That is what he tells us. It's our faith in Christ that makes us holy. Jude, verse 20, it says, Building up yourselves in your most holy faith.

[8:10] Faith itself is our holiness. It's a gift from God. Holiness is a gift. Faith is a gift. Salvation is a gift. Sanctification or our holiness is by faith.

[8:23] Griffith Thomas said, Holiness is not an achievement to be accomplished but a gift to be accepted. And we're exchanging our lack for his completeness.

[8:35] We're exchanging our filthy rags that are our righteousness for his righteousness. It's an exchange. It's a gift to be accepted. Holy faith.

[8:46] Holy scriptures. We hold them in our hands. The word of God. The Lord Jesus says to the Father, Sanctify them. Make them holy through thy truth. Thy word is true.

[8:58] The holy scriptures make us holy. As we bathe our minds and thoughts, our lives in the word, as we let it saturate our thinking, the holy scriptures will make us holy.

[9:10] The Holy Spirit makes us holy. It talks about sanctification of the Spirit in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. And so there's a wonderful sense where there's the holy scriptures, there's the holy faith, there's the Holy Spirit.

[9:25] There's a drawing process. As we draw nigh to God, he draws nigh to us. And there's that desire that he puts in our heart to want to please him. As I say, holiness, it's a position, it's a process.

[9:39] Holiness is a positive thing. It's our wanting to please God. Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. There's a sense where as a Christian, you'll want to depart from sin, you'll want to die to sin, you'll want to walk in newness of life.

[9:55] Becoming more like him and less like the world day by day. Let's go.