God is Our Holiness

[0:00] You know, the fact of the matter is, regardless of the present time that we live in, we live in truly a remarkable time.

[0:11] No matter what one wishes to accomplish, or if there is something that you want to do, you want to remake in yourself, there is someone available to help you.

[0:25] There is motivational speakers that speak on just about any issue of life that we would want to improve in. If you have a goal, or if you want to learn how to bake bread, or how do I maintain fitness levels, everything is available to you today.

[0:47] There is obviously YouTube, probably one of the most go-to things. Just the other day, I had a problem working on my car. I just had to, YouTube was able to find the exact model.

[0:59] It tells me everything that I needed to do to fix the problem. Same thing with my lawnmower the other week. It's amazing. But when it comes to a desire to improve yourself, there's even more array of products available.

[1:15] There's books, there are podcasts, seminars that we can pay to attend. We can order a DVD series that will help us, and not only help us to maintain or attain a goal, but they will actually help to motivate us.

[1:37] I remember when I was in university, and I know this is a strange time for some of you, but there was no internet, and I was trying to, I wanted to improve my memory, and it turned out there was a product that I saw on TV, and I got these cassettes.

[1:53] I know, old school. But if I worked through these 15 cassettes, not only did the speaker teach me different ways to improve my memory, but he tried to encourage me, to motivate me along the way.

[2:06] Today is a time like no other to learn and be motivated. Just as I was thinking about motivation, I just decided to Google who the top motivational speakers are, and what are the subjects that most people want to be motivated in.

[2:25] Number one area that people want to be motivated is actually finances. Everything from Dave Ramsey's type of program of getting out of debt to a litany of stock investments, financial investments, how to prepare for retirement, that sort of thing.

[2:43] The second area that I saw was leadership, how to improve leadership, how to build into your team, how to become a better sales person, how to motivate others for them to reach their career goals.

[2:57] Then, of course, there's the fitness. Everybody from Arnold Schwarzenegger to a litany of other Olympic athletes, very good speakers, will walk along with you in your earphones, your earbuds, encouraging you.

[3:12] And the other one that kind of came up is the whole faith area. And it was interesting on the faith one because they talked about more on personal empowerment and hope and how to be a better version of yourself.

[3:29] I remember the first book that I ever read on these type of issues was Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Many people have seen some of the videos or teachings on it or read the book, or perhaps it was the other book that I read, it was The Wealthy Barber.

[3:45] These things have been around forever. Now, why are they there? Because one, we want to accomplish something. We want to be successful. We want to win.

[3:55] We want to be effective people. We want to be overcomers. And the reality is some of these motivational speakers are really good. Some, you know, it's just a slick product that they're trying to sell.

[4:10] But others, you get a sense that they really care. They really want you to achieve something. Some of those videos you watch, people are crying. They're inspired.

[4:21] They feel like they can accomplish something that no one else can or could. Now, what's really interesting about reading many of the biographies, they kind of share a similar thread.

[4:36] I was an outsider. I was poor. At times, there was a time in my life I was even homeless. I was financially and morally broken.

[4:47] I was divorced on welfare. I was completely out of shape that I couldn't get out of bed. I had absolutely no energy or I was born with some kind of disease that either physically or mentally impaired.

[5:05] And they all talk about all these things and then they say, hey, but now I own a Ferrari. It's like after being able to overcome all of these things, everything is okay and you can improve too.

[5:22] Now, what's interesting is the Bible contains some motivational speakers for us.

[5:32] But these motivational speakers are quite different. We don't have the Apostle Paul writing to us from his condominium that he has in Rome overlooking the Colosseum with encouraging words for us.

[5:55] We don't read about the Apostle Peter who used to be a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee who now has a fleet of boats operating in the Mediterranean with him and his brothers and his cousins.

[6:10] And he's saying, hey, I can do it. You can do it too. There is no apostle who writes and tells us that they have a wonderful Mediterranean villa with a beautiful view of the Aegean Sea telling us that life is good and things will get better.

[6:32] In fact, the Bible almost takes this whole opposite view of inspiring us.

[6:53] Paul's condo was actually a prison. Peter's seaside business is actually the wilderness where he would eventually be captured and hung upside down to die on a cross.

[7:16] John's Mediterranean villa was actually on the Isle of Patmos where he was left alone to die in exile.

[7:27] But what's amazing is these men, through the power of the Holy Spirit, write to us. They want to provide for us probably some of the greatest motivational speakers that any person could ever read.

[7:52] Let's take a look at them. The apostle Paul provides a few of them here. The first one in 2 Corinthians 7.1.

[8:03] Paul is reminding them in this letter that they have these promises, beloved. These promises. Since we have these promises, beloved. Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

[8:28] He later writes to us in 2 Timothy 1.9. He talks about Jesus who saved us and called us to a holy calling.

[8:39] Paul in Romans 12.1. Verse 1 writes, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

[9:05] And Peter's words to us that I want to focus in on are found in 1 Peter 1. Verse 15 to 16.

[9:17] Probably the greatest motivational speech that man could ever deliver. But he who has called you to be holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

[9:38] Now, who did God send to us to tell us about being holy?

[9:53] Men that would eventually die for their faith. And then, of course, we have the writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 12.14, instructs us to strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

[10:23] These are instructions. These are commands. These are God's words to us.

[10:35] And obviously, you're picking up on the theme of holiness here. Last week, I presented to you holiness as an attribute of God, as to who God is.

[10:49] This morning, I want to talk to you about our response that God calls us to in response to who he is, which is holiness.

[11:03] There's a word that we use to describe, and it's called practical holiness, a holiness that you and I can live out.

[11:14] This is a holiness that God calls us to. This is a holiness, as he informs us, that is necessary to see the Lord. That if we want to see the Lord, this is a holiness we need to adopt.

[11:30] This is a holiness we need to accept. Now, for some of you, when I say the word holiness, you hear something else.

[11:40] You hear perfectionism. You hear legalism. You hear puritanism.

[11:51] I don't even know how to say that right. Puritanism. There we go. You think about rules, the do's, the do nots. You think of personal discouragement.

[12:04] You think of a guilt-ridden people. Perhaps you might even think that, hey, I get holiness. That's not for me.

[12:15] That's for God's people who are pastors or missionaries or Christian leaders. There's different standards, and they have to follow the top-level ones.

[12:26] There's a whole other set of rules for me. Now, the goal that I have for you this morning, and it's actually going to be over the next two mornings, is I want to free your thinking of untruths, and I'm praying that I will be able to bring some biblical wisdom so that we can have a fully-orbed understanding of this word holiness.

[12:54] And not only to understand it, but we would be able to comprehend it in such a way that we can live it in our lives so that we may see the Lord.

[13:10] I know what you're thinking. It's a tough subject, and it is. When I spoke last week about God's holiness, that was actually quite easy.

[13:29] We learned that for God, holiness is his majesty. It's his crowning glory. It's his beauty. It's what separates him from us.

[13:40] Just the whole idea when we think about holiness of God is actually how more much is different than us.

[13:57] That he's so unlike us. And when we think of how unlike us, we think if God is holy, how can we even be holy?

[14:12] For God, it's his beauty, but for some of us, it's that big, ugly wart on our nose. It's our discouragement. For God, holiness seems to connotate perfect, consummate perfection, consummate perfection.

[14:31] For us, it seems to indicate consummate failure of what we are not. For God, it is his exalted status.

[14:43] For us, it is our non-exalted status. We actually looked at three areas. We talked about his separateness, his magnificence, and his purity.

[14:58] So this morning, what I want to do is I want to communicate to you. I want to preach to you. I want to teach to you. What does that mean for us? What does that mean for me?

[15:09] What does that mean for you? When God calls us to be holy, he's obviously not calling us to be perfect because we are imperfect. We cannot be perfect.

[15:20] He's not calling us to be magnificent. We are not magnificent. It will never be the jewel on our crown. But there's something to be said about the separateness, to be different from, that is possible as well as pursuing purity in our lives.

[15:41] If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you understand that there is a command to be holy.

[15:52] In fact, the verse that I read to you in 1 Peter, 1 Peter is echoing the words from Leviticus when God called his chosen people to be holy.

[16:03] What he was doing is he was calling them to be separate from the world, to be a holy nation, a holy people. Not for the simple fact of pursuing purity, but in pursuing a partness from the world, from the other nations, so that God was setting them aside to be his people with a very specific function.

[16:31] This morning, I want to go over the next, actually, two Sundays. I want to define holiness for you, what it means and what it doesn't mean.

[16:45] I also want to speak about the roadblocks to holiness, actually, the roadblock to holiness and how that roadblock affects each and every one of us.

[16:59] Then I want to go through next week, I want to spend some time on, how do I say this, the traps of holiness.

[17:10] As we've made a decision, we're going to pursue holiness, we desire holiness, there's certain ways that we get trapped, we get gummed up in such a way that we're actually not pursuing holiness even though we think we are and it's actually driving us farther from God than closer to God.

[17:32] And then ultimately, I want to conclude with both some practical advice and some, obviously, some biblical wisdom undergirding that practical advice about what does it mean to pursue holiness in a believer's life.

[17:48] So, before I go any further, I just want to pray. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, just as we come to this whole idea of holiness, holiness, we have many different thoughts, many different feelings in regards to this word, holiness, oh Father.

[18:03] And we're going to see that there's a lot there and there's a lot that Satan has allowed to corrupt. There's a lot of things just in our flesh and our ideas that we have messed up in our understanding.

[18:16] Sometimes we've messed up our understanding with the most sincerest of intentions, the most sincerest of hearts, all desiring, wanting to serve you, wanting to be holy, wanting to be free from sin.

[18:32] Father, I pray that through this we would see the incredible compassion that you offer us, Father. Lord, just going through this sermon, I saw your grace in my life so many times.

[18:47] I pray that those listening here, this church, Squamish Baptist Church who desperately love you, desperately want to be holy, desperately want to see you, will, Father, desperately want to offer their lives to you as a fragrant aroma would have a proper understanding of this.

[19:10] Father, if there's areas that you demonstrated in our lives that we need to confess and repent, I pray that we do it. I pray that we would do it even as we listen to this service.

[19:21] I pray that you will wipe our hearts clean as you promised to do. We pray that you'll bring things to mind as we go over these issues. We ask these things in your most holy and precious name.

[19:35] Amen. Amen. First of all, let's talk about what is the definition of holiness. The first thing I want to teach you is there is a tension in our understanding of what this word means.

[19:50] The fact of the matter is God expects every Christian to live a holy life. This is not optional. In fact, the Bible tells us this is the way to see the world.

[20:06] The other fact to this, it is not simply an expectation, but it is our birthright. This is our calling as believers in Christ to pursue holiness.

[20:21] The reason Peter calls us to be holy is because we are holy. So he's actually calling us to act like the people who we are.

[20:35] And there's another theological term, it's called justification and sanctification. So that we've been made holy, that means God has justified us. He has declared his innocent, guilt-free.

[20:49] He has made us his sons. And at the same time, we need to act like his sons or his daughters in Christ. The New Testament is filled with commands about holiness.

[21:04] Now the tension that exists, the holiness that we pursue is understanding that there is nothing inherently holy in us that makes us holy.

[21:16] There is no righteousness that we do that makes us holy in itself. And what I mean by that is the holiness that we pursue is on the sanctification side, not the justification side.

[21:32] So no matter how holy that I might be, you might consider me the holiest person in the world, all that time, effort adds nothing to the justifying power of God.

[21:45] Nothing. Absolutely zero. It's impossible for me to do so. So the holiness when God's calling us is acting like he has made me to be.

[21:59] We can understand this holiness as being consecrated, set apart, separated from the world. Now, the reality is you and I both know and if you don't know let me tell you you are not perfect.

[22:17] My wife, anybody who spent ten minutes with me will tell you I am not perfect. We know we have a fleshly nature that obscures everything.

[22:30] One of the most influential books that I ever read on the subject was a book by Jerry Bridges and I read it as a 19-year-old and it was simply called The Pursuit of Holiness. And in that book Jerry asked three very important questions and I think you probably can relate to these questions.

[22:49] The first question is if holiness then is so basic to the Christian life why do we not experience experience it more in daily living?

[23:04] If holiness then is so basic to the Christian life why do we not experience it more in the daily life? The second question that Jerry asks is why do so many Christians feel constantly defeated in their struggle with sin?

[23:24] why do so many Christians feel constantly defeated in their struggle with sin? And the third question that Jerry asks is why does the church of Jesus Christ so often seem to be more conformed to the world around it than to God?

[23:48] Why does the church of Jesus Christ so often seem to be more conformed to the world around it than to God?

[24:00] Now before I answer some of those questions or we get into issues that I hope will answer some of these questions I want to define holiness it was interesting I read a book on one of the definitions and it had 12 subsections of definitions that took several pages I don't want to do that so boiling it down practical holiness is defined as holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God according to what we find in the pages of scripture holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God according to what we find in the pages of scripture second part holiness is the habit of agreeing with

[25:07] God's judgment on hating what God hates and loving what God loves what that simply means is we do what God tells us to do we do it what God tells us not to do we don't do it but this is the punch line we agree with what God tells us to do and we agree with what God tells us not to do you see holiness is about measuring everything in the world by God's standard that we find in our Bibles the key question that every single Christian needs to ask themselves when they're presented with God's truth is are you willing to adjust your life to whatever God reveals of himself are you willing to adjust your life to whatever

[26:14] God reveals of himself now get this holiness has to produce something it is not just an equation with no second part it has to equal something the Bible teaches that holiness produces meekness humility kindness good temperance teaches us to be self denying as one author says on the subject if I can't see your holiness at home then don't fool yourself you're not holy you see true holiness holiness does not consist merely of believing and feeling but of doing and bearing and a practical demonstration of

[27:18] God's graces in your life to put it in a more substantive way holiness needs to bend you holiness needs to break you if you don't bend or break holiness is not a part of the equation you see holiness needs to bend our tongues our tempers our natural passions and inclinations it needs to either break or bend our conduct as parents conduct as children conduct as husbands wives rulers employers employees it has to affect and bend the way we dress it needs to break our employment of time our behavior in our business or our demeanor in sickness and in health in richness and in poverty that's what holiness does it bends and breaks us because

[28:33] God is conforming us to the likeness of Christ J.C.

[28:43] Ryle he is an old he's a minister that lived in the 1800s in England and he asked these three questions in regards to the subject of holiness and he's talking about people who are pursuing holy pursuits private Bible reading or private prayer or they have a lot of devotional time or meditation time and he simply asked the question he says the people who do these things he says do they become more content with their position in life and more free from less restless craving after something different from that which God has given them do they become more content with their position in life and more free from restless craving after something different that which God has given them it's kind of based on that subject you know you're a redneck when you're content with the position that

[29:50] God has you in and you're free from the restless of the things that you believe you deserve second question he asks is do fathers mothers husbands and other relatives and friends do you find them more pleasant and easy to live with that has to be the practical response to holiness ease of living with one another not hardness difficulty and the third question he asks he says above all do they grow in charity especially in charity that means to be graceful nice and he says towards those who do not agree with them with every jot and tittle of their religion holiness gives us grace gives us mercy in fact if holiness is not making you a better husband wife mother father son daughter employee or servant to whoever you serve you may have a problem with holiness holiness what this tells us is if your faith as a

[31:08] Christian does not bring about real world change you might not have a real world faith what I'm not talking about is I'm not talking about biblical knowledge I'm not talking about having made professions of faith or doing a bunch of religious acts or having a lot of zeal and energy for religious things not talking about being moral and having a really outward respectability to you I'm not talking about listening to a whole bunch of sermons or preachers online or even hanging out with a lot of godly people the fact of the matter is those things have never been equated with having true faith and holiness holiness you see holiness is not only seen on the outside but it leads to an inner change in us and this inner change changes our desires it changes our attitudes you see these are some of the lasting imprints of holiness on us to put it basically we are changing moment by moment but the question is are we becoming more like

[32:31] Christ or less like Christ as we grow and submit different parts of our lives to God we are being made holy for some of us it's a minute by minute others it's a month by month but as believers in Christ we've been indwelt with the Holy Spirit works with us to change us so that is what our definition of holiness is for the second part of the sermon I want to talk about the road block to holiness the road block to holiness and it's just as I alluded to at the beginning of the sermon when we study God and then we look at ourselves we clearly understand we are not God in fact

[33:32] I think we can come to the conclusion that we're broken when we read the Bible and how we've been created to be we're not it we understand that we've been created in the image of God but sometimes no matter how hard we try even the best of us do not love God enough do not love our spouses enough do not love our kids enough do not work at work at work hard enough there's plenty of things that we should do that we don't and the basic root of it all is sin it's sin we know what this roadblock is that's what demonstrates we're not holy this is what frustrates us now you've heard me speak on sin before we understand that sin is rebelliousness it's that desire for wanting self my way we also understand sin is presented in the bible is foolishness it's not having wisdom that god has given us or not following the wisdom that god has given us and we're fools because of it and then there's a third section of sin is that we are actually incapable we are incapable of being what we are supposed to be because of our sin reality is we were created in the image of god but somehow we are absolutely clueless in how to act in this image we get this we get this concept

[35:31] I know some of you might fight it a little bit but I think when you're honest whether it's that time before bed or you're not getting along with your significant other you see the ravages of sin in your life perhaps you're that person that gets mad at the world and you see the difficulties that's going on through the social poverty homelessness wars those are all products of sin man broken and the reality is if we are to take holiness seriously we have to take sin seriously now I'm going to make an assumption I'm going to make an assumption that if you're still watching this sermon that you haven't checked out that you want holiness there's something in the bottom pit of your soul your heart your desperate longing to be fixed to be made right with

[36:49] God that you really do want to be holy that even though you sin you actually hate it that perhaps you're living with the consequences of sin and now you're trying to do the right thing but it's still there it's a reminder I believe you want it and if you do and you're just starting off on this Christian road I want to pray with you right now just right now because it's really easy to clear this rubble out a couple things that I want us to do is I just want you right here at home whether you're with I want you to take the time to simply confess the sin name it name the sin write it down just take that time do it right now second thing I want you to do by writing it down

[37:50] I want you to simply ask God for forgiveness God forgive me it's that simple God forgive me for this sin the third area I want you to commit in your heart that Lord I do not want to do this sin again I want you to plead with God I want you to ask God to keep you away from that sin that the Lord of lords the God of gods will help you deal with this sin in your life perhaps these are attitudes perhaps these are desires that are not good ask God for wisdom maybe it's not a particular sin but in your brokenness you just make bad decisions all the time bad decisions whether it be financial relational doesn't matter invite God in to help you make those decisions reach out to me reach out to the church reach out to Pastor Dave we've got an opportunity to sit and walk with you through those areas but more importantly now that you've prayed these things pray for the power of the

[39:04] Holy Spirit that would keep you to your commitment to obey him lean in on him now for you who've been in this Christian battle for a long time talking decades decades 10 20 30 years you've been a Christian and even though you know exactly what I've described for you to do you do it you still feel this ongoing struggle there's an ongoing frustration with your growth with your pursuit of holiness I want to actually encourage you in this next section of this sermon the fact is God knows it well how does God know about our struggles besides the fact that he's God how does he know about me personally with my struggles that go in my head with my attitudes perhaps it's my temper perhaps that it's just frustration with life well

[40:17] I think God knows this pretty clearly because if you turn to Romans chapter one or 1st Corinthians chapter one or 2nd Corinthians chapter one or Ephesians Philippians Colossians chapter one go ahead you can turn to the first page of any of those books that I just read go ahead please do it can be Romans 1st Corinthians 2nd Corinthians Ephesians Philippians Colossians what's interesting in each of those books he addresses the recipients as saints he addresses them as saints and what are all these letters about saints sin these letters are written to saints those who are mature in

[41:27] Jesus Christ who believe in Jesus Christ the reality is since the beginning of time saints struggle with sin we're no longer called sinners but we're called saints we are redeemed and the reality is it is going to be a struggle forever and until Christ calls us home to glory it's not going to end fact of matter is these letters are written to people who love the Lord dearly and just like you they struggle they struggle in their actions they struggle in their communications they struggle in their attitudes in the letters that I wrote you were written by Paul but he tenderly writes them and calls them to holiness they are no longer lost they are no longer prisoners they are no longer enemies of

[42:28] God but here's the rub that happens in the Christian life as you grow older as you mature in your faith as you conquer certain sins in your life through the power of the Holy Spirit you know what you become more aware of more sin that is our life we think we've got something dealt with and then it turns out we just got to move on to something else and more often than not it's a sin that's always been there but it was never apparent but now God for whatever reason in his providential care and grace has now brought this to you and I'm going to tell you what this is this is an example of God's grace this is an example of God's loving wonderful grace imagine if you had this prayer

[43:35] Lord show me what my sins are all right I want to confess them I want to deal with them imagine if God revealed every single sin of yours at one moment to you I'm telling you right now it would devastate you it would destroy you and get this it's not just the sins you know about it's not just the sins you forgot about but it'd be the sins that you committed you didn't even know about whether it was you cutting off that person in traffic perhaps it was that relationship that you had that you did something to a friend and you didn't even notice perhaps you thought you were acting in the most purest and holiest of intentions but it was sin and hurtful and offensive to the other party but they never said anything to you I remember just sharing a quick story with my wife about I still remember when

[44:35] I was a kid in high school I was meeting a friend applying for a job and it was interesting he was there before me he was filling out the application I got there I filled out the application and I actually was able to do it quicker than him and handed it before him and I remember he was so hurt by that and here I am grade 10 not having a sense or wit about me not knowing that I was being particularly incredibly rude and selfish to him he was being meticulous he really needed the job and but he was in line ahead and I kind of cut in on him it took him I don't know maybe a year for him to finally tell me about that didn't even know this so he imagined all those sins all those things that we've done God brought it to our conscious at once it'd be horrible but God doesn't do that and it's because of his love grace and mercy he brings to mind step by step areas that we need to deal in and

[45:42] I'm going as an elder team he was coming out of other sins and that's what we were excited about but yet I remember someone just kind of getting upset that he said something at a potluck dinner we don't know what God is doing in our different lives I don't know what he's doing in your life I know sometimes as a pastor if we see a repetition of sin that is destroying relationships we're going to talk to you about it because we care and love for you and that's why sometimes your friends are going to talk to you and all of a sudden you've got a whole bunch of friends that don't want to talk to you anymore don't want to hang out could be a problem that could be the sin that God wants you to deal with right now but God is always going to be there because that is part of the holiness process that is part of the process of being made more like

[47:10] Christ it's God's gift to us as you mature you will deal with certain different sin issues in your life the reality is it doesn't end now one of the things is you might be able to deal a lot better as you grow and mature with the outward sins but what's interesting as we grow older in the faith you begin to see the effects of your sin in other areas as well and then it comes talking about dealing them with your thoughts your imagination your attitudes although we may see fewer outward acts of rebellion in your life you will start to see that there is a struggle more on the intent even if you have a perfect spouse perfect kids perfect career perfect amount of money all your needs are met you are still going to have those issues there theologians debate whether this verse

[48:24] Paul is writing about whether it's before a Christian or he's a Christian it's Romans 7 15 when he simply says for I do not understand my own actions for I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate how do I why do I believe that this is Paul as a believer in Christ because this is me I do believe in Jesus I love Jesus I pursue Jesus but there is still sin and I do it and I hate it it's good to be frustrated with our sin it means we're dealing with it we're turning it over to God as you grow as you mature you will get more frustrated because you're going to see how that sin affects other people you're going to see how it affects your affects your affections your reasoning your will but as you begin to see

[49:31] God's working through in your life you get to see his wonder you get to see his love and you get to see his grace yes yes there's times you're frustrated with your sin yes you were saved yes you were washed yes you were justified yes you have the indwelling you're the indwelling of the Holy Spirit yet this is the path that God has chosen to grow you as you deal with one you will have to deal with another this is why the apostle Paul addresses this letter to saints loved ones beloved cared for so as mature believers we understand that the continuing steps towards holiness is not so much to simply recognize sin but as you mature you will recognize the amazing as one author calls it the sinfulness of sin you will see less sins in some areas but you're going to see the effects of that sin in other areas that you never thought possible and if it ever gets the point of thinking this isn't so bad it doesn't bother

[51:10] I've got it conquered you're off the reservation you have slipped so far from God's truth reality is we need to accept the calling that we have here on this earth to pursue holiness that means there is no arrival to the time till God calls us to glorification so today we looked at what the definition of sin is which isn't just a matter of doing what God wants us to do and not doing what God doesn't want us to do but it's completely agreeing that all this is good that everything that God wants us to do is good and everything he doesn't want us to do is good and part of our holiness is accepting that and you understand the hypocrisy there I'm sure it's the people who do the really good outward stuff but in the hearts they hate it that's not holiness

[52:19] I want to encourage you just as we see what the sin is and we see the sinfulness of sin and we see how much it affects our attitudes and we might be learning man it's going to be there forever on this earth anyway I want to encourage you that God knows you I want to encourage you that you and I have all been created differently different passions different emotions different thoughts different backgrounds for some of us we grew up in complete godless backgrounds and it's a lot to overcome but the reality is you are still being made holy there is nothing that is so strong that God's indwelling spirit can't handle for some of us it's going to take a lot longer to deal with certain sins than others some of us we might scoff at other person's sins that they're worried about they're not to be scoffed at they're to be envied in the sort of way that that's where

[53:34] God has them in their maturity that they're watching every single attitude so next week I want to look at pitfalls so you've decided I want to be made holy I want to pursue this I want some really good helpful advice I'm going to talk about the things not to do then I'm going to talk about the things of what to do as we come and submit our lives to Christ please pray with me father we just simply come to you and we ask you to forgive us lord we thank you for this holiness this calling you have given on our life father some of us over time we can laugh because we see the things that we used to worry about that we no longer do for others we are heartbroken over our sin because there's certain things that we still continue to feel like we are slaves to sin that a sin has become so strong and so habitual in our lives that we feel that we cannot have victory over it there's no such thing as that sin but sometimes we just need more prayer we need more help in developing appropriate actions and habits to overcome that sin

[54:50] I pray that you would grant us your understanding and thank you for your grace father forgive us for not trusting forgive us for not believing forgive us for not being patient we know the call that you have on our lives forgive us for wanting to rush things for stepping into areas that caused us harm father I pray that you will bring forgiveness where there was sin I pray that you will bring wisdom where there was foolishness and I pray that you will bring us capability in your most awesome spirit where there was incapability father one of the most incredible definitions that I read about holiness is that holiness is impossible without the church that there's no such thing as a man who lives on his own or a woman who lives on his own and is holy but that there is a desperate need in our pursuit of holiness to be bonded together to be living together to be serving together father I pray that we will be able to come together very soon

[56:16] I pray that we would bring the breakthrough that our government needs to allow us where we can come love support one another so that we can grow in holiness with one another father I desperately want every truth to come from my tongue to be absolutely of you every word father forgive me for words that are careless and foolish that bring hurt father I pray that you would align our minds with your will give us care compassion and gentleness to those who are around us who are at different stages of their maturity father help us each of us as we grow in the pursuit of holiness in your most holy and precious name amen