LEVITICUS 11:44-45 BE HOLY BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Leviticus 11:44-45 Be Holy Because God Is Holy

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, as we look at Leviticus chapter 11 this morning, two times in these verses, the Lord says, Be holy, for I am holy. And so I've titled the message this morning, Be Holy, Because God is Holy.

Be holy because God is holy. And as we think about holiness, you know, holiness can sometimes be exclamatory.

equated with legalism. And we want to be careful about that, that this is not, you know, about a system of laws and rules and regulations that now you must follow, as God is saying, be holy because I am holy. And yet at the same time, there is some instruction for us about the way that God wants us to live, the way that God wants us to make decisions, and the things that God wants us to be involved with. And as I was thinking about this concept of holiness and

I started in my mind to think about the idea of hacking. Now, that may not be an obvious connection to you, right? But hey, my world is the computer world. Hacking is something that I'm consistently thinking about. And I would suggest to you that hacking and holiness are related. And I'm not talking about computer hacking so much, but the idea is this. Hacking, essentially, the basic idea of the word hack is

means to use something in a way that it wasn't designed for. It means to use something in a way that it was designed for something else, but you take it and you use it in a different way.

An example of this in the computer world, you might have heard about the recent Facebook hack. 533 million users' data was released or compromised in this way. And without getting into too much detail, the way that happened was the exploiting of a feature that Facebook offers. Facebook offers this feature where you can import your contacts...

And in doing so, automatically find and see, okay, yes, all of these friends in your contact list are on Facebook, and so now we can connect you together. And so it's a feature that they offered for convenience. And so what someone decided to do was to make a spreadsheet of every phone number that they could imagine, every phone number combination that was possible, and then import that as their contact list. And Facebook said, oh, you know,

Rick, because you have his phone number in your contact list. So let me give you Rick's information. Oh, you know Colleen, because her number's in your contact list. Oh, let me give you her information. And so it was a hack. It wasn't designed to be used that way. The engineers came up with it as a way of convenience to be able to get you to get connected to people in different ways. But it was used in a way that it was not designed for, in a way that it was not intended.

Now, that same concept can be translated into the real life as well. It's another kind of hacking, sometimes called a life hack, right? And there's a website, lifehacker.com, if you want to check it out for some, you know, interesting, like, things that you can do in real life. For example, this week, they released an article, 17 uses for dryer sheets outside of a dryer.

You know, those little dryer sheets that, you know, you put in, kind of keeps away the static, makes things smell good. 17 uses. Now, if you read through those uses, I wasn't really impressed. You know, like you can clean, you know, your shower door with it, or you can clean the bugs off the front of your car with it. You know, different things, you know, stick it in your shoes to try to help your shoes not smell great, right? That's not really what those dryer sheets were designed for, used for. But, hey, you can hack it a little bit and use it in a different way

it doesn't work super great but it kind of gets the job done and that and that's the idea here's another example of a hack and this is a bungee cord i don't know how exactly how long this is but i can tell you it's yellow and i can also tell you it's the perfect size to put around my waist

And I discovered this a couple years ago when I was doing some work at the church and my pants kept falling down. And I didn't have a belt with me. And so I scrambled around in desperation. And I found out, hey, this is like the perfect size to go around my waist. And so this is my substitute belt whenever I forget to bring a belt to church so that my pants don't fall down. Now, bungee cords were not designed to be belts, right? They don't actually make the best belts. But...

in a pinch, in an emergency, it gets the job done. It kind of works. And probably you hardly ever notice when I'm wearing that as a belt here at the church. Probably last week, I don't know, did you notice last week? I was wearing it. But this idea here of using something in a way that it wasn't designed for, it really kind of works. You know, it kind of gets the job done, but it's never as good as something that's designed for the task, right?

And this is how hacking is related to holiness. Because you and I are created by God. And we are created with God's design. We are created for his purposes and for his glory. And when we are involved in anything, when we attempt to accomplish anything, when we try to, you know, fill ourselves in a way that is inconsistent with how God has created us, we're hacking.

We're trying to, let's say, get fulfillment in our lives. And so we're attempting to do it in a way that God has forbidden. We're trying to receive love and feel loved and be loved. And so we're going down a path that God has forbidden, but

But we're trying to get those feelings. And so we're using our bodies in a way that God has not designed. It's unholy concepts or unholy behavior. It's inconsistent with how God has created us to be. And in that regard, the very first hackers, you could say, was Adam and Eve, right? When they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves after they had sinned in the Garden of Eden.

Fig leaves weren't designed for that. God looked at it and said, you know, that's a hack. It's not so great. It doesn't fit so well. Let me design some clothing, some covering for you and provide that. And so God, you know, provided for them clothing that was designed for that purpose. But

But they had sewn fig leaves together and trying to cover up their nakedness to try to fill what they thought they needed with their own resources and their own means. And that's really what it comes down to is when we try to fill our needs with our own resources, you could think about it in that way that we're hacking.

We're using methods that are not approved. We're accomplishing things in a way that God has not designed us to behave that way or to receive that way. Now, the real hack for Adam and Eve was trying to achieve something through the forbidden fruit. Eve saw the fruit. It was good for food. It was pleasant to the eyes. And it was desirable to make one wise. And she said, you know what? I want to be wise. And so she partakes of the fruit.

trying to achieve something that she desired in a way that she was not designed that way. That was not part of God's plans and purposes for her. And she was trying to attain something and reach for something that perhaps God did want for her, but not that way. And it wasn't the best way to attain that, to achieve that. For you and I, I would encourage you to consider this morning as God says, be holy for I am holy.

that we need to think about and evaluate what is it that we are trying to achieve in our lives? What is it that we're reaching for and wanting to accomplish, wanting to receive? And when we are doing so, pursuing those things in ways that God has forbidden or not allowed us,

We are, in a sense, hacking, unholy hacking. We're trying to accomplish something in our lives apart from God. We want purpose in our lives. We want love or success. We want wisdom. We want glory. We want fulfillment of some kind, right? And so we chase things, we pursue things in ways that God has...

not called us to and not designed us for. And they don't actually work. They kind of work. Maybe it, you know, satisfies us for a few moments, but ultimately it does more damage than good when we pursue those things. Now here, the context of Leviticus chapter 11 is God is giving instruction to Israel in great detail about their dietary laws.

And I'm not going to get into all of the clean and unclean, the different kinds of animals that God is walking through here in Leviticus chapter 11. But I would just take a moment and remind you when we obey an Old Testament law. It's a big question, important question for us as we work our way through the Old Testament and the Bible in three years. When is it that we are to obey an Old Testament law?

And one of the first two things that I always remind you of is, number one, when it's repeated in the New Testament. When it's repeated in the New Testament, then we know, okay, this is a law we must obey because, well, it's repeated again in the New Testament under the new covenant in Christ. This is still a command for us to follow.

But the second thing on that list of when to obey an Old Testament law is when it's not reversed in the New Testament. And this passage right here is a really good example of walking through these principles because here in Leviticus chapter 11, verse 44 and 45, we have the instruction to be holy as God is holy. And we have that connected to the dietary laws.

As you head into the New Testament, you'll find that the dietary law specifics are reversed. For us as believers under the new covenant in Christ, these dietary laws are not requirements for us. They are not something that we must continue to keep today as we look at these things. And we can say that on the authority of Jesus.

On Mark chapter 7, verse 18 and 19, he talks about how food cannot defile you. It goes into your stomach and then it's eliminated, Jesus says. And so that doesn't defile you. It's your heart that defiles you. In Acts chapter 10, the Lord gave Peter a vision of all these clean and unclean animals descending from heaven and

And the Lord told him, arise, Peter, kill and eat. And he said, no, I don't eat unclean things. And God says, don't call unclean things what I've, don't call things unclean that I've cleansed. And so the Lord showed him that in preparation for sending him to the Gentiles, but also addressing this issue of these dietary laws.

Then in Acts chapter 15, there was a big council in Jerusalem at the church to establish whether or not Gentiles, those who are not Jews, need to become Jews and conform to all of these Levitical laws in order to be faithful to the Lord and to walk with him to be saved. And so Acts chapter 15 resolves that and says, no, that's not required. Then, of course, you have all of Paul's letters and him addressing that as well. So

This dietary law aspect is reversed in the New Testament. That we are not closer to God or farther away from God based upon what we eat. That is not part of what God requires of us today. But verse 44 and 45 also address this concept of holiness. And this part is repeated in the New Testament. In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter quotes from this directly saying,

He says,

And so Peter directly quotes this, repeats this, and says, this is for us today. And so there's some things you must do. You must gird up the loins of your mind. You must be obedient children and not conform yourselves to your former lusts. And instead, you need to go forward in holy conduct because God is holy. And so that's what the Lord wants us to consider this morning. Be holy because God is holy.

Now, I spent a lot more time on the beginning portion of the service for that reason, because we need to understand the concept of holiness and the importance of it. But now, how do we do that? How do we be holy? How do we become holy? How do we need to go forward as we think about this idea of holiness? Holiness is important to God.

to God. The word is used more than 900 times throughout the scriptures. It's something that is important to God because it's part of the core of who he is. The word holiness, it means to be set apart. Again, we often think about holiness in the idea of, in the terms of like legalism and a strict, you know, following of laws and commands. And there is some aspect of that, but we need to be careful to not, you know, equate the two.

That holiness means to be set apart from, but also set apart for. It's a devotion to or a dedication to as much as it is a separation from. Holiness includes ideas of like purity, walking uprightly, integrity. It includes all of those things, but it also includes our passion for the Lord, our desire to know the Lord, and our walk with the Lord.

For us, as we think about holiness, it might seem like it's way out of reach, but you know, the Lord gives us a pretty good head start. And so I want to walk you through four parts to holiness, really how to be holy because God is holy. The first thing to consider is to be holy by receiving God's work. I want to encourage you to be holy by receiving the work that God has done for you. And considering that here in verse 45 of Leviticus chapter 11,

It says this, God says, And he gives reasons why intertwined with these. One of these reasons is because I'm the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt in order to be your God.

And here what God is saying to Israel as he has brought them out of Egypt, he says, look, I'm the guy, I'm the God who rescued you, who delivered you out of your bondage and slavery. I pulled you out to be your God. You see, Israel was already experiencing a part of holiness because again, that holiness, it means to be separate from

from, but also separate for. God says, I've separated you from Egypt. I've delivered you out of that. I've pulled you out of that. You've been removed from that. You have been separated in that way, but I've also done that to be your God. I've pulled you out and now here you are

Now in the book of Leviticus chapter 11, the children of Israel are there in the wilderness before Mount Sinai, just barely setting up the tabernacle. They're right there in the presence of God. And God says, I've done all of this for you so that you could be right here with me, devoted to me, and I'm devoted to you. This is part of the holiness that God had worked on their behalf.

And as you read through the account, you know, they're in Exodus and them coming out of Egypt and them in the wilderness, you can see that it's not Israel doing all the work, right? It's God doing the work to bring them to this place where they can be dedicated to him and receive his focus and attention in this way in the wilderness. It's a holiness, a dedication unto God that God had worked on their behalf.

All that they had to do to experience this aspect of holiness was to receive it. They could have fought it and tried to stay in Egypt. They could have, you know, run away from God. All they really had to do, though, was receive the work that God was doing on their behalf. In a similar way, you and I have the opportunity to be holy simply by just receiving the work that God has done for us.

Of course, this looks to Jesus upon the cross. Jesus dying upon the cross to pay the penalty and pay the payment for our sin affords us the opportunity to have a new status before God. That there's this new creation that we get to be. There's this new relationship where we are set apart, redeemed from, delivered from the old things, the world things, the fleshly things.

and dedicated to the things of God because of what Christ has done for us. It reminded me of the prophet Isaiah. Remember in Isaiah chapter 6 when he was caught up into the presence of the Lord?

And he sees the glory of the Lord and the angels crying, holy, holy, holy. And the train of the Lord's robe fills the temple with glory, right? That song we used to sing, right? And Isaiah exclaims as he sees the glorious picture of the Lord in the throne room of God there. He says, I am undone. I am of unclean lips and my people are of unclean lips. We are sinful sinners.

I'm as good as dead right now because I deserve judgment. And here I am in the presence of God. I'm not holy. I can't be in the presence of God. But then it goes on to tell us in Isaiah chapter six, verse six and seven, that a seraphim, one of the angels went over to Isaiah with a live coal that was taken from the altar and he touched his lips with it.

And he said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged. Isaiah received holiness at that time. He received it. It touched his lips. And the Lord said, I have purged your sin. I've removed your sin. I've taken that away. So you're separated from it.

by the work that I have done. In a similar way, believing in Jesus Christ, even though we have sinned and are sinful, there is that cleansing effect of the Lord upon us that is just something that we receive. It's not something that we do. It's something that we accept by faith from the Lord. And so we are to be holy first and foremost by faith.

By believing in what Christ has done for us and accepting his work on our behalf, accepting that forgiveness from God. And we are holy so much so that the rest of the New Testament refers to believers in Jesus as saints, which literally means holy ones.

Now, of course, in some concepts, a saint is someone extra special amongst other believers in the Lord. But the biblical concept of a saint is a believer in Jesus. Because there is a holiness. You are a holy one because you have received the forgiveness that God has offered you. And so you are a new creation.

The old things have passed away and behold, all things become new, right? That's the separation. The old things pass away. You're separated from the old. You're separated from the sin. And now you are devoted to this new life that you have in Christ. This new nature that is provided to you by faith in Christ. And so you can receive God's work for you.

And start down this path of holiness where God says, be holy because I am holy. In Colossians chapter 1 verse 21 and 22, Paul says, you were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight.

Once we were alienated, we were separated, we were unholy in that way. We weren't devoted to God, connected to God, we were separated from God, but he accomplished the forgiveness, he accomplished the reconciliation so that he could present us holy and blameless and above reproach. This, you might consider it an imputed holiness. It's not a holiness that we earn or that we deserve or that we kind of build up in our lives.

It's believing in Jesus. He accounts us righteous and he relates to us and deals with us as if we were without sin and entirely righteous for our whole lives. Be holy by receiving God's work. You know, sometimes we get involved in unholy hacking when it comes to this.

And that is that we try to accomplish a right relationship with God through our own efforts and through our own works. And we're trying to be pleasing to God. We're trying to, you know, stand before God righteous based on how good we are, how much we do, or how far we stay away from, you know, sin. And we try to relate to God and establish a relationship with God based on our efforts. But that is not how to be holy.

To be holy means that you receive what God has done for you, that you accept it, that you don't try to have access to God based on your efforts. You accept the access that you have to God based on his efforts and what he has done for you. And when we try to do it ourselves, well, that's hacking. That's a hack.

You try real hard, you make up a rule system, you devote yourself to these things that are man-made, your own ideas or somebody else's, and maybe it feels like it works. Maybe you feel like it gets the job done, but no, it's a hack. It's inconsistent with your nature, and it's inconsistent with the nature of God to try to approach God on the basis of your efforts. We must always come to God because of who He is,

And what he has done for us. And so be holy by receiving God's work. Well, the second thing for us to consider on this idea of holiness this morning is to be holy by devoting yourself to God. Be holy by devoting yourself to God. Here I'm looking at verse 44 again. It says this.

Again, God says, I am the Lord your God. So therefore, here's what you must do. Consecrate yourself. Consecrate yourself. This word consecrate, it's another form of the word for holy. And so as he says, consecrate yourself, he's saying, be holy again.

This is something that is hugely important to God. And so he says, be holy for I am holy twice in these two verses. He also says, consecrate yourself. It's another aspect of holiness. It is speaking of devotion to God. Listen, I would suggest to you that holiness is more important to God than any other aspect of your life. What's most important to God about you and about your life? Your holiness.

That you, first of all, receive from God the holiness that he provides through faith in Jesus. And although that is where it starts and that is, you know, where we need to be, there is also now steps that God invites us to take to consecrate ourselves.

Now, this isn't to have access to God, right? This isn't now, okay, now that you've believed in Jesus, now it's works-based. No, it's not that, but it is that we devote ourselves to God to draw near to him and in pursuit of him. It's flowing out of a desire to know God, to walk with God. It's flowing out of a desire to love God. And so you are holy because you've believed in Jesus, right?

But you also must pursue holiness as you desire to grow and to walk with him. The author of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews chapter 12. Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And so we are instructed to pursue holiness. Now without holiness, no one will see the Lord.

That's not the holiness of our efforts in the sense of salvation. Again, our access to God is determined based upon what God has done for us. At the same time, what's consistent with our nature in Christ? You believe in Jesus. You're a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now what's consistent with your nature, what you are designed for and engineered for is the pursuit of holiness, to become more like God.

to become more in line with God's heart and God's mind. And to be involved in anything that is different, it's inconsistent with who we are in Christ. And so it doesn't fit. Now there is the battle, of course, for us because we have the sinful nature. And so part of us doesn't want to be devoted to God. And part of us doesn't want to give ourselves to the Lord and pursue further and further and more and more the things of God to know him, to love him and to walk with him.

But God instructs us here to pursue holiness. Without holiness, you will not see the Lord. And that means, first of all, you need to receive the holiness that he provides through faith in Jesus Christ. But it also means that ongoing now in your spiritual life, you need to be involved in a pursuit of conformity with God, a pursuit to become more like God.

that this needs to be a part of your life in response of what God has done for you. The commentator R.K. Harrison says, sanctification, this is the pursuit of holiness, okay? That's another way of saying that. Sanctification cannot be acquired through periodic contact with sacred objects, but is essentially a matter of personal spiritual growth requiring a great deal of consistent effort.

sanctification this is the idea of of pursuing holiness where we become more like god we become more in line with his nature and his character and he says look this isn't going to happen by every once in a while you know showing up for church service or coming in contact you know with something sacred but he describes it as a great deal of consistent effort when god says be holy because i am holy

When he says, consecrate yourselves, let us be reminded this morning that God is calling us to a great deal of consistent effort on our part to know him, to draw near to him, to walk with him, and to be like him. Paul puts it another way in Romans chapter 6. In Romans chapter 6, he says, look, you used to surrender the members of your body to activities that were sinful, right?

to uncleanness and lawlessness and you would present your hands and say, all right, here's my hands to do, you know, whatever lawlessness that was desirable at the moment. And in Romans chapter six, Paul says, flip that around now. As a believer in the Lord, present your members as slaves of righteousness. Okay, here's my hands now, not to do whatever sinful thing is desirable, but to do things that honor the Lord and are desirable by him.

Of course, Romans chapter 12, verse 1, that famous verse, and we've quoted it a lot as we've been looking at Leviticus over the past few weeks, to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. That is to be a living sacrifice and say, here I am, Lord, holy, not in the sense of perfect, but in the sense of having received God's work.

And in the sense of, Lord, here I am to know you more, to devote myself to you, to walk with you. Here I am, Lord, yours to instruct, to lead, to guide, to direct however you see fit. And so there's an aspect of holiness that we receive from God in the work that he has done for us. But there's an aspect of holiness that is also important for us to devote ourselves, to consecrate ourselves to God. And so you know what? I'm not...

I'm not to be used for unholy purposes any longer. That is, in the workplace, in the home, in the store, in the park, in the parking lot, or wherever I might be. I am consistently and continually to be given over to the things of God. To never be involved with hacking. Trying to accomplish things in my life through my own resources, through means that God has not prescribed. But to always, in every instance...

be seeking for God's plan and God's purposes and trusting God for his will in my life. Be holy by devoting yourself to God. You know, this morning, God may be calling you to stop the hacking. That maybe you are devoted to things that are competing with your relationship with God. And maybe you're trying to accomplish some things that are

noble and worthy and worthwhile you know you you want to have purpose you want to have value you want to you know accomplish these things for the sake of your family and and there's all these different things that you could be you know thinking about and desiring and pursuing after but let me remind you and let the lord remind you this morning be holy because god is holy

regardless of how good those goals might be and how desirable those things might be and how noble, you know, those thoughts are, the most important thing for you is to be consecrated, to be devoted to God. Pastor Malcolm Wild said this, he says, the degree of holiness that is present in my life is directly proportionate to how much I agree with God. I think that's an interesting thing to consider. The holiness that is present in my life

It's directly proportionate to how much I agree with God and say, yes, God, you're right. This is the way to walk. This is the way to behave. It's about our relationship with the Lord and our desire to please him. And as we seek to honor him and to please the Lord, as we devote ourselves to him, we'll be progressing down the path of holiness, down the path of sanctification in our devotion to God.

Well, moving on to point number three this morning, the third aspect of holiness for us to consider, be holy by separating yourself from sin. We are called to be holy by devoting ourselves to God. But again, holiness has that double part. It's the devotion to as well as separation from. And so here's the separation from part. Be holy by separating yourself from sin.

Continuing on in verse 44, he says, neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So you're to be consecrated unto me, devoted unto me, and you're to remove from your life, you're to remove from yourself these things that I have forbidden. These things that I have declared will defile you.

Now again, the immediate context here is the dietary laws, which were appropriate for the nation of Israel as God was establishing the nation. There's a lot that could be said that I'm not going to say about these dietary laws and how important they were and how useful they were and useful.

There's a variety of different understandings as far as why God allowed and disallowed the different animals and interesting things to consider if you want to dig into those things. But for us, just understanding this idea of defilement, there are things that God says, look, this is bad for you. This defiles you. This is not consistent with who I have created you to be. And everything that's not consistent with God's will for our lives is

Everything that's not consistent with God's plan for us, everything that is not consistent with the way that God has designed us and created us, it's defilement. It is unholy. It is not to be part of our lives. For the children of Israel, that meant they were to strictly monitor their diet.

And it would cause them to be different than the nations around them. They would have a distinctness because, well, they ate a certain way. They ate certain things and would not eat other things that were common in the society around them. For you and I today, it takes a little bit different form, but there's also those similarities. And that it's not so much about the food that we eat that makes us different, but it is, well, about our behavior, right?

And the things that we do and the way that we behave and the attitudes that we have, the words that we say, well, there's a lot that we need to be distinct and different from the world around us. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, giving great promises in chapter 6, he says, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness and the fear of God.

And so one side of holiness is consecrating ourselves and devoting ourselves to God and desiring to know God more, to walk with God and put more of God in our lives. But there's also the perfecting holiness in the sense of cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, removing from our lives everything that defiles, removing from our lives everything that is contrary to the nature of God and to the nature that God has given to us.

Remove from your life everything that is not of God. And that may sound like a steep request, a big requirement. But attached to this requirement that God gives to Israel, he says, look, I am the God who brought you out of Egypt. I bought you out. I redeemed you from slavery. And so it's not too much for God to say, now, keep yourself from these things that defile you.

Because the reality is this defilement that God is talking about is, well, it's things that separate Israel from God. They are to be devoted to God and connected to God. But these things that defile, God says, this separates you. It disconnects our fellowship. It disconnects our relationship. And so what God is asking for is for them to stay united with him because he is holy. So you be holy and don't engage in things that break our fellowship, that break our relationship.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul reminds us, you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. You were bought at a price. You also were redeemed. You were bought out of slavery and redeemed by the Lord. And so it's appropriate for him to look to us and say, okay, now this life that you have, I've given it to you. Don't do anything that separates you from me.

Don't be engaged in things that keep you from me, that breaks our fellowship and our relationship together. And this can be a real challenge for us because, well, again, we continue to have our sinful nature and there's a battle that rages within because we still desire things that separate us from God. And sometimes the things that we're desiring and pursuing, the things that we want the most are the things that will keep us from right relationship with God. Things that will break us

Our intimacy with the Lord disconnect us from our walk with God. And sometimes we can be very reluctant to give up those things. To really devote ourselves to the Lord, we have to separate from anything that is inconsistent with what God has called us to. You know, sometimes we want God to do a work within the boundaries that we set.

And so we want holiness. We want relationship with God. We want all the blessings of, you know, a people that is right with God, but I don't want to change anything in my life. So God just, you know, fix that issue. I'm not going to change anything. I'm not going to do anything. I'm not going to put forth any effort, but Lord, you just fix it. You take away that issue.

Lord, I want this job. I want this home. I want this spouse. I want this entertainment. I want unfiltered internet access. I'm not going to change any of that. But Lord, would you change this issue of holiness in my life, this defilement that's in my life? You know, sometimes separating yourself from sin is a very literal, physical separation from sin. You think about Joseph, right? The temptation with Potiphar's wife.

As she was coming on to him, coming on to him, continually, continually, continually. And finally she grabs him by the coat and he leaves it in her hand and he runs out of the house. That's a very physical, practical, separating himself from sin. It's a good model for us. We need to separate ourselves.

And maybe there's some practical things that need to change in your life because they disconnect you from God, because they bring defilement to your heart. And it's not so much that, you know, now it's a legalistic system and a list of rules, but it's looking at, look, God has done this in my life. And when I do this, I don't get to have fellowship with him. And so I'm going to stay away from that because...

I need fellowship with God more than anything else in my life. I need that closeness with God. And so maybe I need to stop watching that show. Maybe I need to deal with and address that area of struggle in my life that nobody else really knows about. Maybe I need to change jobs. Maybe I need to change my living situation.

Sometimes we say, hey, whatever you want to do to help me overcome is fine, but just within these boundaries, right? Okay, only these things, Lord. These things you could touch. Everything else, I still want that. I'm not surrendering that to you. Be holy by separating yourself from sin. Don't put boundaries on it, but let the Lord tell you, this defiles you. This separates you from me. This keeps you from what I want in your life. This is not consistent with

with the nature that I have given to you in Christ. Be holy by separating yourself from sin. Again, God cares more about your holiness than anything else. And so this morning he would say, stop the hacking. Look, you're trying to receive love. You're trying to feel loved, but you're doing it in a way that defiles you. And that relationship, it's not helping you in your relationship with the Lord. It's not fulfilling you. It's not satisfying you. It's only doing damage, but it's

But it kind of works. You know, you feel okay for a moment. Stop it, God says. That's destroying you. That's bringing defilement into your life. You're wanting to find relief. And so you're engaging in this substance or that behavior. You have the desire. You're yearning for it. And you're trying to accomplish it through a means that God has said, that defiles you. That hurts you. And it separates you from me. Be holy by separating yourself from those things.

Stop doing that. You're not going to find what you're looking for that way. And that's why, well, we try that and then we have to do it again and then we have to do it again and then we have to do it again and we have to do more and more and we have to try different things because we're trying things that fulfill. We're drinking from things that can never satisfy our thirst. Where Jesus said, come to me and drink and you'll never thirst again.

Because Jesus has all that we need and all that we're thirsting for. But we have to trust him. Be holy by separating yourself from sin. You want purpose. You want love. You want wisdom. You want glory. You want safety and security. You want all those things. Make sure you find them in the Lord in ways that he has prescribed and not through your own efforts. Well, finally, the last thing for us to consider in regards to holiness is

Here's point number four, be holy by waiting for God's finished work. Be holy by waiting for God's finished work. At the end of verse 45, God says, you shall therefore be holy for I am holy. And I'm doing a little play on the words in my head. You shall therefore be holy. It's a command, you shall be holy, but we can also understand it as a promise. You shall be holy, right?

you know, sometimes in the pursuit of holiness, it can feel like we're never going to get there. And the Lord would want to remind you this morning, you shall be holy. You will be holy. You may not feel holy. You may feel like the road ahead to holiness is, you know, so far that you're never going to reach the end of it. But here the Lord wants to remind us, you shall be holy.

Yes, it's a command and we have a responsibility to pursue holiness and devote ourselves to God and to separate ourselves from sin. But we also do that knowing that God has promised that he will finish the work. And so the scriptures refer to the Lord as presenting him to himself as the pure spotless bride. As we enter into eternity, there is the promise of the completion of these holiness efforts.

will have the completion of the work of God, the complete fulfillment of what he accomplished for us at the cross, that work of the Lord for our holiness that we talked about in the first point. We get to experience that right now in status, but we get to experience it in full in the future as we enter into eternity and we receive the benefit of his work in a completed form and fashion. You shall be holy.

There will be a time where you stand before God as a believer in Jesus Christ. There will be a time where you stand before God completely holy. That is nothing inconsistent with his nature and nothing inconsistent with your nature. Completely perfect, set apart to God, set apart from sin. You will stand before God in that way and be in his presence for the rest of eternity. You shall be holy.

It's a command and a promise. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, one of those classic verses we quote a lot. The Lord says, He will finish the work that He began in us. We can count on that. We can trust in that. He will finish the work. Sometimes you might look in the mirror and you feel like there's no way that work will ever be finished. You will never be holy.

God says, no, I'll finish the work. I know how to get it done. I've already actually done the work. You just don't get to see it yet, but God can see it. You shall be holy. The apostle John in 1 John chapter 3 tells us, we are the children of God. It's not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. When the Lord appears and when we stand before him, we shall be like him.

will receive that completed work of holiness. Now, he goes on to say, everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. That finished work that is promised to us sets before us a desire and a motivation to purify ourselves, to continue the work because we know it is completed at some point in the future.

So that we don't give up. Listen, the enemy wants to get you to give up on holiness. To convince you it's hopeless. You're never going to be rid of that issue in your life. You're never going to be delivered from that. You're never going to be satisfied any other way. You're never going to be happy, you know, in this way or that way. And so just pursue these things that you can find this fulfillment now. And these are all hacks that the enemy presents. But the Lord says, listen, I have started the work. I will finish the work.

Now in between those two points on the journey, you pursue holiness because you know it will be completed because you know it will be fulfilled and you're going to be with the Lord completely and holy, devoted to him, consecrated to him, completely consistent with his nature. God cares about your holiness more than anything else in your life. So pursue holiness. He started the work.

And I think it's interesting to consider it that way and looking at the first and fourth points this morning. Our efforts are sandwiched in between God's work. Be holy by receiving God's work and be holy by waiting for God's finished work. It's God's work from beginning to end. In the middle, he says, look, I will help you. I will enable you to progress down this path that I have set before you.

Hebrews chapter 12 talks to us about running the race with endurance, setting our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He is the beginning of it. He's the end of it. And so here in the middle, he says, all right, this is your part. Pursue peace and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And so this morning, I would encourage you, stop the hacking. You're chasing the

Things in your life that are not of God. You're engaging in methods and means that are not consistent with the nature of God and what he has given to you. It's defilement. It separates you from God. It hinders your relationship with God. It holds you back from what God wants for you and it brings destruction to your life. Instead, honor the Lord. Believe what he says and devote yourself to him. Consecrate yourself unto him. Let's pray.

Lord, we ask that you would help us now as we consider these things. Lord, in each of our lives, there is always going to be areas of holiness that you want to address. And so God, I pray that you would bring to our minds, bring to our attention and understanding of areas where we need to devote ourselves to you. Areas where we need to separate ourselves from the things that are not of you. And Lord, where we have forgotten about your provision of holiness and forgotten about your work.

Help us, Lord, to receive that, to go back to right relationship with you by faith and not by our efforts, not by our works or legalism. At the same time, Lord, we want to progress, to know you more, to draw near to you. And so as you call us to yourselves, Lord, teach us to be holy. You are holy. And so we cannot have fellowship with you apart from holiness. Lord, help us to see the things that are happening in this life for what they really are.

Help us to see the hacking, the efforts of our own flesh and our own resources for what they really are. Lord, that we wouldn't be deceived by the temporary, but we would fix our eyes on the eternal and look to you, the author and finisher of our faith. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.