All right, there in 1 Peter chapter
1 that our brother just read, I'm going to preach on holiness
this morning. The title of the message is Be
Ye Holy. A couple weeks ago, I received
a phone call from a television listener, a lady who was Sort
of distraught. And it was over this issue of
holiness. And she had quoted this verse
here, which is quoted from the Old Testament, where it says,
verse 16 of 1 Peter 1, because it is written. It's written in
the book of Leviticus. Twice, I believe. It says, be
ye holy. For I am holy. God is holy. And she was distraught over that.
She said, what does that mean? How in the world is that applicable
to any of us who are such sinful, weak creatures, even as sinners
saved by grace? How in the world could we be
holy? And she said, that's talking about our walk, isn't it? And
I said, well, in the context of first Peter, yes. You know,
in the first 12 verses of this chapter, if you followed along
as Brother Joe was reading, you have one of the greatest,
glorious descriptions of salvation you'll find in the Bible. I've told you that we've been
working on a series of lessons and DVDs, lessons and a book
on what is salvation. And I've divided salvation into
four realms. The eternal realm. Our God is eternal. Our salvation
is the product of an everlasting covenant of grace. Made before
time began between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. God
chose a people and conditioned all of their salvation on Christ.
Gave us to Christ. And then the legal realm. And
that's our justification before God based upon the blood of Christ.
His righteousness imputed. He performed, He worked it out
on the cross when He died for our sins. He was made sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And then the spiritual
realm, that's the new birth. And the ever-abiding presence
of the Holy Spirit within us by which we are preserved by
the grace of God. and by which we persevere in
the grace of God, and then the glorified realm. That hasn't
happened yet. That's future. That's final glory. Well, you
have every bit of that right here in these first 12 verses
of 1 Peter, and it's all of grace. It is all of God's grace. There's
not one thing in any realm of salvation that the sinner can
rise up and say, I earned that. I deserved that. I worked for
that. No sir. It's all of grace. It's all in Christ who is our
salvation. Jesus, His name means salvation. And He is the Savior of His people
in every realm and every way from beginning to end. And what
happens here, look at verse 13. Peter writes here, by inspiration
of the Spirit, he says, wherefore. Now that means for this reason.
And when you consider this complete, great, glorious salvation, from
eternity past to final glory, its final culmination and everything
in between by the sovereign mercy and grace of God, given to sinners
who don't deserve it, who haven't earned it and cannot earn it,
and basically sinners who by nature don't want it. That's
amazing, isn't it? But all of it's right there.
He said, given that, for that reason, gird up the loins of
your mind. Now, what does that mean, that
girding? Well, it's kind of like an analogy to the soldier going
into battle, where they wore the robes back then, or a runner
in a race, and they would tuck the robe up and they put a belt
around them so that their legs wouldn't be caught in the robe
or in the garb that they were wearing. They could fight or
they could run. And what he's saying here is, gird up the loins
of your mind. He's talking about growth in
grace and knowledge of Christ. He's talking about setting our
minds to the glory of God in Christ. And when he says mind,
he's not excluding the heart. I think that's one of the greatest
tragedies of modern day religion. And even some that comes in the
name of sovereign grace, that when they hear the word mind,
they don't think of the heart. In that culture, the mind and
the heart went together. They weren't separated. I know
that people can give mental agreement to things that they don't believe
sincerely and truly. I know that. And that's true.
But listen. Nothing is going to reach your
heart that doesn't come through your mind. And God is the teacher
by His Spirit through His Word. Now you can mark it down. And
so he says, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, that
means be clear thinking, have right judgment, be able to react
in a godly way. And hope, he says hope, that's
a certain expectation. of salvation and final glory
based upon a proper and right and honorable ground which is
Christ Jesus. Hope to the end for the grace
that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That
means when Christ comes again. That's what he's talking about.
You don't have to live in fear of it. That is legal fear. We fear God with a holy fear.
We fear God with a godly fear, reverence. But he says in verse
14, as obedient children, we're to strive to obey. There's no
question about that. Not fashioning yourselves according
to the former lust in your ignorance. Now whatever former lust, before
God revealed Christ to you, that's what he's talking about, before
God revealed his way of salvation in Christ, God's way. Whatever you were involved in,
religiously or whatever, Don't fashion your life your walk your
conversation after that That's what he's saying. That's the
former lust now if you look at If you look at a man like Matthew
the the writer of the first gospel Now Matthew was a publican. He
was a cheat He he was out to get gain he'd cheat anybody for
a dollar. That's what that's the kind of
person he was Well, certainly we'd all agree, Matthew, Christ
has revealed himself, you're a sinner saved by, don't fashion
yourself to that. Don't hone your life around that
kind of attitude and behavior. That's not right. Somebody said,
you know, we talk about people who come from immorality to religion
and things like that. Well, immorality is against God. But now consider Saul of Tarsus.
Now he was a religious man. He didn't want to cheat anybody.
He was doing his dead level best to fashion himself a righteousness. He wanted to be accepted with
God, but that was a lust. You know what lust means, don't
you? It means an unlawful desire. That's what lust means. It's
not just sexual desire, that's included. If it's unlawful, it's
not right. But it's unlawful desire. Well,
let me tell you one of the greatest unlawful desires that man has
by nature, and that is the desire to be saved based on his works. That's an unlawful desire. You
know why it's unlawful? First of all, it doesn't fulfill
the law. It falls short, doesn't it? And secondly, God forbids
it. Didn't He tell Adam? Cain and Abel, if you do well,
you'll be accepted. What is it to do well? Bring
a lamb like Abel. Bring the blood of the lamb.
Forsake your works as forming any part of the ground of your
salvation. They don't recommend you to God. They drive you farther
from God in that sense. And then thirdly, it's unlawful
because it's a denial of Christ. What did Christ come into the
world to do? He came into the world to establish the only righteousness
by which God could save a sinner. Now if I'm trying to establish
one of my own, that denies him. That says he died in vain. He
really didn't need to come at all. Well, don't fashion yourselves,
your lives, your thinking after that former conversation in your
ignorance. But verse 15, he says, but as
he which hath called you is holy, that's God. who called you, that's
the invincible calling, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it's written, be ye holy,
for I am holy. Now, this idea, I preached this,
I told the lady, I said, I'm gonna preach a message on this
and we're gonna put it on television and I did that this past week
and I thought, well, you know, maybe some of you all might be
interested in this too. You know this idea of true holiness
is a mystery to us until God reveals it to us. I think of Isaiah, in Isaiah
chapter 6. I guarantee you, Isaiah had some
idea of holiness in his mind before God really revealed holiness
to Isaiah. Remember Isaiah 6? He had that
vision. saw the Lord high and lifted
up, His train filled the temple. The seraphims and the cherubims,
they said, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And you know
what the first thing Isaiah saw about himself when he saw how
holy God is? He said, I'm undone. Literally
cut off. In other words, I thought I was
accepted of God, close to God, in fellowship with God. I found
out, and when I saw God's holiness, I found out I'm far away from
God. I'm cut off. I'm alienated from God. I'm a
sinner. Somebody says, why Isaiah, you
not be so hard on yourself? Well, hold on, folks. I dwell
amidst a people of unclean lips, too. I'm a man of unclean lips.
I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. You're in the same boat
I am. And then one of the seraphims,
which is an emblem for the messenger of God preaching the gospel,
he flew over and with tongs he grabbed a live coal from the
altar and touched Isaiah's lips. What he did is he gave him the
message of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. That altar is
the brazen altar, the altar of sacrifice. In other words, if
you really know God is holy, you'll see your sinfulness and
the impossibility of any part of your salvation being conditioned
on you. If you ever see God's holiness.
I was reading the obituaries last week and a fellow died and
they said he was a holiness preacher. And I just thought, I said, well,
I hope so. I'm a holiness preacher. Don't
get scared now. I'm not going to jump over the
pew. I'll tell you this much, here's
what I thought, I said, and I'm not just making fun, I'm just
telling you the truth, listen. If you preach or believe salvation
in any way, at any time, at any stage, conditioned on the sinner,
you're not a holiness preacher. You're far from holiness. You know, when we think of holiness,
we normally think of these two words, sinless perfection. Isn't that what you think of?
used to think of, and I hope I'm learning more. Well, you
know, if you could ever find anybody who's sinlessly perfect,
they'd certainly be holy, wouldn't they? But I'll tell you something.
We don't really know anything about sinless perfection within
ourselves or in our own personal experience. And those who tell
you they do are just lying to themselves and to you. You know the only way we know
anything at all about sinless perfection is as we look to Christ,
who himself and in himself was and is sinlessly perfect. Closest
I'll ever get in this life to sinless perfection. And then
I want you to mark this down. I want you to turn to 1 John
chapter 3. I want to show you something here. And mark this down in your mind.
Gird up the loins of your mind. If we are truly saved, believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only sinless perfection that
we can truly and honestly claim as believers is our standing
in Christ legally. Now I know people don't like
to hear that. I don't mind saying it at all because it's what God
says. The only sinless perfection that
I have before holy God is being washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness. Now men don't like that because
they can't feel it. It's not an emotional thing.
And it's not in themselves. People don't like that. We want
to think of something in ourselves that recommends us unto God.
That's self-righteousness. And then they'll attack it. They'll
say, well, that's not real. That's fiction. Or that's like
God says you're holy, but you're not. No, it has nothing to do
with that. Don't listen to that claptrap. It's not going to help
you. It's not going to gird up the loins of your mind. Paul
said it in Philippians chapter 3, O that I may know him and
be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. But look
here in verse 1 of 1 John 3. He says, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Do you understand something of
the amazing grace of God that we should be called sons of God? Therefore the world knoweth us
not. You, you're a son of God. I know you. I can see you. I saw you lose your temper. I saw you out there where you
shouldn't have been, blah, blah, blah. You know how it goes. You,
a son of God, a child of God. The world doesn't know. And because
it knew him not. It didn't know Christ. Christ When he walked this earth
was holiness incarnate, and the world didn't recognize him. We called him a malefactor, a
criminal, a blasphemer. Verse two, beloved, now are we
the sons of God. Right now, that's not future,
that's a reality. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. What I'm going to be in glory,
it doesn't even appear to me yet. Does it appear to you? I hope
it doesn't. Because if it does, you're in
trouble. What I'm going to be like in glory, that's, you know,
I told you the four realms, that's the last realm. You know, we
know really very little about that. We know some things because
God's word says, you know, gives us some ideas. The closest I
think that we can come to knowing anything about it is what we
read about Christ in his resurrected glory. But he said, it doesn't yet appear
what we shall be. I know David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with thy likeness. I'm not there yet. But he says,
but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him.
We'll be like Christ, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
I'm not there yet, and you're not either. I am perfectly sinless
in him legally. There's no charge laid against
me in the law books of God's justice. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? That is a legal matter. That
doesn't diminish it. That doesn't lessen the glory
of it. That means I'm not guilty. Why? Because Christ took my place. and died under the guilt of my
sins and paid my debt in full. I don't owe anything to God's
law and justice as to attaining or maintaining salvation. Christ
paid it all. You say, I don't believe that.
Well, Joe, next time we sing that song, Jesus paid it all,
whoever you don't believe that, don't sing that with us. Jesus
paid it all. I think we say all the debt I
owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Yeah,
you don't sing that one either, whiter than snow. You say, I'll be like him for
we shall see him as he is. We'll see him with perfect eyes
then. Unhindered eyes, sinless eyes. I can't look at anything with
sinless eyes right now. Not even looking to Christ. I
have to pray, Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief. How about
you? You ever struggle in those areas? Well look at verse 3,
it says, Every man that hath this hope, this certain expectation
of being like Christ, in him, in Christ, purifies himself even
as he is pure. Now how do we purify ourselves
even as he is pure? Now hold on to that thought,
I'm going to come back to that. Look at verse four, he says, whosoever
committeth sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know that he, Christ,
was manifested. He came into the world to take
away our sins. Now, how did he do it? Did he
put them in a bucket and carry them off into some star or something? No. Did he wrap them up in a
package? No. What did he do? He was made
sin. They were imputed, charged, accounted
to Him. Remember we talked about that
a couple weeks ago. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord chargeth
not iniquity. He took my debt. He's my surety. That's what that means. He became
accountable for me. For my sins. He became responsible
to pay my debt. And He took them away. How did
He do that? He died. His death is the bearing away
of my sins. Just like the scapegoat. who
was led out into the wilderness by the fit man, never to be seen
again. And he bore them away. And then
it says, and in him is no sin. Now there's been a lot of controversy
about how Christ was made sin. Was he made sin by impartation
or some whatever? But anyway, Christ was and is
always perfectly sinless in himself. Even when he was on that cross
having our sins charged to him, He Himself was perfectly sinless
in His thoughts, in His heart, in His mind, in His affections,
in His will. He was never contaminated with
our sins. He was imputed with our sins.
And in Him is no sin. And that's true. But now this
verse is not teaching that particular truth here. That's true that
in him personally there's no sin. What this verse is teaching
is this, in him is no sin. As he bore my sins away and as
I stand in him, no sin. As I'm considered in him, no
sin. No sin charged to me. That's
right. No sin held against me. I'm righteous in Him. And that's
the only sinless perfection that I can claim right now. I can't
claim any other sinless perfection. I can tell you I love God, but
not perfectly. I can honestly tell you I do
love God. I'm not bragging. I don't love Him near as much
as I will. Near as much as I want to. I can say I love you, but
not perfectly. Not sinlessly, perfectly. You
see what I'm saying? Sin contaminates everything we
do. It mars and blemishes our thoughts,
our motives, our actions. I read an article where a fellow
said that our motives are perfect. Not always. Not anytime. But here's what sin does not
do. It does not stain our records. It does not stain our account. It does not diminish our acceptance
before God, because our acceptance is in the Beloved. And He never changes. He is Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. I might do pretty
good today, but I might do terrible tomorrow. And if I don't do terrible
tomorrow, just hang around and watch me. You'll see it. Sin does not contaminate or affect
our righteousness if our righteousness is Christ, the righteousness
of God in Him. But go back to 1 Peter 1. Now,
what is this thing called holiness? Be holy. Well, the word holy and holiness
is closely related to the word sometimes you'll see in the New
Testament of sanctify. or sanctification. And it would do us well if we
would learn, now remember what Peter said, gird up the loins
of your mind. It would do us all well if we
would learn to think of holiness first and foremost in this way,
two words, set apart. Set apart. That's what it means. Somebody says, well, what about
sinless perfection? Well, if you were sinlessly perfect
in yourself, you'd certainly be set apart from this crowd,
wouldn't you? You'd be different. You'd be
different from me. You'd be set apart from me. The
Bible says that Jesus Christ, while He walked this earth, and
it's always been true of Him, He is separate from sinners. He always was. Always will be.
Why? Because he is sinlessly perfect.
He's separate from sinners for many reasons. He's God and man
in one person. That certainly separates him
from us, doesn't it? He's the Lord of glory. He's the great
I am. To set apart. Yes, that would
include sinless perfection where you can find it. You find one,
he's set apart. Well, Christ is. To be sanctified,
to be holy is to be dedicated to God. It means to be separate. Let
me give you these things and the first one starts with God
himself. He says here in verse 16, because
it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. The reason that God's
people are said to be, told to be holy is because God is holy.
God is our father. You are your father's son or
daughter. That separates you from the rest
of mankind. Now, you may have brothers and
sisters who are the same, but they're set apart too from the
rest, because I'm not your father's son. But now, your father has
his own identity. When you think of your father
or your mother, whoever, when you think of your father, you
think of one specific person, don't you? You don't think about
1,000 people. If I come to you and say, tell
me about your father, you don't say, well, he's red, black, yellow,
and gray. No. He has a specific ethnicity. He has a specific personality
that sets Him apart from all these other fathers. And when we think about God,
God is certainly set apart from everyone and everything. There
is none like God. He is holy. Now He is sinlessly
perfect. There is no contamination of
sin. in the nature or person of God.
That sets him apart, doesn't it? He's the creator. He's the one true and living
God. All other gods are false gods.
They're all dead. He's separate from man. He's
high above us. Separate from us. He said, my
thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. My
thoughts and ways are so high above you that you can't even
think about it without getting a headache. He's holy. I tell you, you always go wrong
when you try to explain God by comparison because I'll tell
you what, there's nothing to compare with. I've heard people
try to explain the Trinity by using physical illustrations
like water, steam, and ice. No, that doesn't explain the
Trinity. That would be one God in three
forms. And the Trinity is one God in three persons. I cannot
explain it to you. He is holy. He is separate. He is unique. He is different. He is different. And yes, He is sinless. So God
Himself. And then secondly, look over
at chapter 2 of 1 Peter. Look at verse 9. Secondly, God
has set His people apart for Himself. Listen, if you are a
child of God, if you are a sinner saved by grace, God has separated
you out from the rest of humanity. Now why did He do that? Well,
He looked down and He saw how good of a fellow you were. No. No. Why did He do it? It seemed
good in His sight. I can't tell you why it seemed
good in His sight to separate me out or to separate any of
you out. It was all of grace in Christ. Mercy. Look at 1 Peter
2 and verse 9. He says, but you're a chosen
generation. He's not talking about the nation
Israel there. He's talking about His church.
You're a royal priesthood. A kingdom of priests. That means
you have free access to God through the blood of Jesus. And holy
nation, that's the church, the spiritual nation, spiritual Israel.
You're separated out. You're in the world, but you're
not of the world. You're citizens of the kingdom
of heaven. You're in Christ. He's your righteousness. He's your holiness. A peculiar
people, that's purchased. You've been bought and paid for.
When you go to the store and you want a loaf of bread, do
you get every loaf of bread on the shelf? No, you just pick
the one you want and you go and pay for it. You separated that
loaf out, didn't you? Well, that's what God did with
His people. He chose His people and He sent His Son to redeem
us by His precious blood. Joe read about that in 1 Peter
1. You're redeemed not with the things of man, the traditions
of man, but you're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
That separates the people of God. That makes them holy. He says that you should show
forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. You know twice in the Bible,
the people of God are called holy brethren. Why is that? Because we have a specific Father. a specific fellowship. Turn to
Hebrews chapter 10. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ
made us holy on the cross of Calvary. He separated us out.
He sanctified us on the cross. Look at Hebrews 10 and verse
10. He says, by the witch will, that's the will of God. We are sanctified. That's another
way of saying it, we're made holy. We're separated, set apart. How? Because of what we wear
or the length of our hair? No. Through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once. One time. He made us whole. He redeemed us. Redeemed. How I love to proclaim it. Redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. A purchased people. Look down
at verse 14. For by one offering He hath perfected, He's completed,
finished, brought it to its close, fulfilled it forever. Them that
are sanctified, separated out. Separated out in electing grace
before the foundation of the world. Separated out by redeeming
grace on the cross. Jesus Christ is made unto us. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
You see, our separation is not in the religious things of this world that people
think separate them out. I think Brother Mahan used to
talk about that church out in Colorado who had on their side
the most separated church in the world. And I don't know what
they meant by that. I don't know, maybe they lived
in a cave or something. I don't know. But what separates
the people of God It's our standing in Christ. And then turn to 2
Thessalonians chapter 2. Here's another thing. The Holy
Spirit sanctifies us, makes us holy. Now that we can say it
that way now, in the new birth. In the new birth. Look at 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. He says in verse 13, he's talking
about those who are perishing because they receive not the
love of the truth, but there's another group he talks about
that are separate from them. Verse 13, but we are bound to
give thanks all the way to God for you brethren, beloved of
the Lord. There's the love of God separating us. God said,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Jacob was separated
out. Why? Because Jacob deserved it?
No. He said, I'm the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you, there's separation, to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's separation in regeneration, that's the new
birth. That's not the impartation of an absolute perfectly sinless
nature, oh no. We have the Holy Spirit, who
by nature is God and is absolutely sinlessly perfect, but that's
not us. We don't become gods. But we
have imparted to us spiritual life, spiritual knowledge, the
graces and the fruit of the Spirit, life from God, And that separates
us from the world. Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe in Christ. Christ is all my salvation. Now here comes somebody along
and they say, well, Christ is part of my salvation. Well, I'm
separate from that person. That's what it is to be holy.
I'm separated. I'm not sinlessly perfect in
myself, but I'm separate. You see what I'm saying? I'm
set apart. And this is not some kind of a progressive holiness
or progressive sanctification. There's no such thing. Holiness
has no degrees. You're either set apart or you're
not. And if you're talking about sinless
perfection, there's no degrees of that. No. We just sang in a hymn a line.
I want to read that line nearer still nearer. And it said there,
grant me the cleansing by blood doth impart. That's what he's
talking about here. What is the cleansing that his
blood imparts? It's the washing of regeneration
whereby we're cleansed by the blood of Christ. We look to Christ. We rest in Christ. Over in our
text in 1 Peter, in verse 22, he says, seeing you've purified
your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfain
love, we're set apart. Fifthly, our gospel sets us apart. Paul said that in Romans chapter
1 and verse 1. Here's how he identified himself.
Verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God. Our gospel is different. What's different about it? Grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. That's what's different
about it. It's not grace plus you, grace
plus works, grace plus, it's grace. Christ, Christ, Christ
alone. That's separate. That's different,
you see. You say, well, everybody preaches
grace, do they? You better gird up the loins of your mind. You better check it out. Don't
just assume that everybody's giving you the right message.
Don't assume that I'm giving you the right message. Grace
reigns through righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord. Holiness,
sinless perfection, where? In Christ. Nowhere else. That's
separate. That's different. Paul said this
in 1 Corinthians 15. He said, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. Nothing else. Just grace. And then our fellowship sets
us apart. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1. Turn over to 2 Peter. Our fellowship
sets us apart. We have a different family. It's not the same family as before.
2 Peter chapter 1. He's talking about the grace
of God that comes to us through the righteousness of our God
and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse four, he says, whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, the promises
of all life. He said all things that pertain
to life and godliness that by these, by these promises as applied
to our hearts, our minds, by the Holy Spirit, you might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. That's a separation from
the world and their lust. What happens? You become a partaker
of the divine nature. What is the divine nature there?
It's the nature of God himself. You want to talk about a divine
nature? That's God. God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. You'll hear somebody say, well,
God creates a divine nature in you. First thing you need to
tell them is you can't create anything that's divine. If it's
divine, it has no beginning and no end. That's the nature of
God. That word partaker means to be
a participant, a partner. It's the same word that John
used in 1 John 1 that means fellowship. We're brought into fellowship
with the divine nature. Now, how can a sinner like me
be brought into fellowship with God, the divine nature, through
Christ? And that's the only way. And
now, I have a different family. Who are my brothers? Christ said. Those who do the will of my Father.
That's those who have been separated out of the world. Brother Tim
James preached on that phrase in 2 Corinthians 7 which talked
about perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. And he
had it right. He said that means finish our separation from false
religion. That means when you come to Christ
you be done with the world and its religion and its ways. Repent
that's what that means count it all but done that we may win
Christ and be found in him and then lastly Our obedience sets
us apart Not because our obedience makes us holy No, so not because
our obedience makes us righteous But because our obedience itself
is set apart Now what do I mean by that? Well, we could go to
a number of scriptures. Let me just give you this. Now,
our goal should be and is to be sinless perfection in ourselves. Our goal is to be conformed to
Christ. But we will not experience that in this life. You say, well,
I'm getting closer. Well, that is laughable, isn't
it? I tell you, the more we gird
up the loins of our mind and grow in grace and knowledge,
I think a big part of that is we see how far away from that
we really are, even more. We see our need of Christ, don't
we? Our goal is to be holy, not to be saved, and not because
our efforts make us holy, but because we are saved by the grace
of God. And what that does, that separates
our obedience in this sense. Our motive is grace and gratitude
and love. We're not mercenaries. We're
not legalists. You see, if you're, as people say, if you're working
hard for God in order to attain or maintain salvation, that doesn't
separate you. That's the religion of Cain.
That's the religion of the world. But if it's like Paul said, the
love of Christ constrains me, that's different. That's the
grace of God. And then our goal is the glory
of God. Let me just read you this and I'll close. Matthew
5, 16. It says, let your light so shine
before men. Well, what is the light there? That's the gospel.
That's Christ. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works. and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Our goal in obedience is the
glory of God. It's not to draw attention to
ourselves. It's not to make ourselves righteous
before God. But we just want to honor Him.
We want to glorify God. That's the goal. That's different. That's holy obedience. It's not
perfectly sinless in any way. But I tell you what, it's different,
isn't it?