I want to talk to you for a little
bit this morning about a most vital issue, something I want
to ask you, something you need to be asking yourself. Here's
the question I put before you. Are you a holy? Are you a holy? I'm not asking
you, are you doing the best you can do? I'm not asking you, are
you living by a certain code of morality. I'm not asking if
you're trying to go by the Ten Commandments. I'm not asking
you to try and be good in this world. What I'm asking is, are
you holy? Because that's the only kind
of people God accepts. It's vital. Look here in 1 Peter
chapter 1. This is really, what I'm going
to read to you is really, it comes out of Leviticus chapter
11 verses 44 and 45. But I'm going to read it here
out of 1 Peter as Peter is led of the Spirit of God to bring
before us the inspired words of Moses as he recorded what
the Lord said here in 1 Peter Chapter 1, look at verses 14,
15, and 16. Verse Peter 1, 14, as obedient
children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts
in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy. in all manner of conversation,
that is, in your life, you've got to be holy. Here's why, because
it's written. It's written in Leviticus chapter
11, 44 and 45. It is written, be ye holy, for
I am holy. God demands it. God commands
it. He's not going to accept anything
less Reading the Hebrews says, without
holiness, no man's gonna see the Lord. Our Savior said there in Matthew
5, he said, you be perfect, because your Father who's in heaven is
perfect. What does it mean to be holy?
The most basic meaning of the word holy is to be separated
or to be set apart. And indeed, as you read through
the scriptures, and it depends on what the context is, of course,
there are also some occasions where it's also the idea of blamelessness
or purity. But the root and basic meaning
of the word holy is set apart or separate, even the word sanctified,
or sanctify, because if you look it up in your Strong's Concordance,
it's all basically the same original word. This God with whom we have
to do, this God of the Bible, this one who's a God of creation,
the God of providence, the God of salvation, he is separate. That is, God is holy. He's separate
from everybody and everything. God is set apart in his purity
and in his blamelessness. In fact, if I could say it this
way, God's in a category all his own. He's set apart. He's separate. He's separate
from everything He's made. He's separate from the angels.
He's certainly separate from man. God is all alone in His
being. The Lord alone is holy in His
essence. In fact, I would say the essence
of God is His holiness because that Talk about God's holiness. He's got a holy love and he's
got a holy hatred. He's holy when he saves. He's
holy when he damns. Everything God is, everything
about God, everything God does is always holy. God is set apart. He's in different, he's in different
class all to himself. Who is like unto the Lord our
God? There's nobody like Him. Our Lord said in Isaiah 40, talking
about those idols that men fashion with their hands and put them
up on their shoulders and carry their idols around, said, your
idols are born by you. He said, I bore you. He said,
who you going to compare me to? That's what he said. I'm all
alone. I'm holy. I'm set apart. Isaiah there in Isaiah chapter
6, he heard the seraphims that said, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God of hosts. And when Isaiah got an understanding
of the holiness of God, he's absolutely separate. He's set
apart in his purity, in his blamelessness. It was then that Isaiah said,
woe is me. Woe is me. You read before that
Isaiah had been woeing everybody else. He's been woeing all the
other nations. Then he said in the year that
King Uzziah died, that's when I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. I saw him in his glory and I
heard this holy, holy, holy bouncing off the seraphims back and forth. He said that's when I fell down
before him. I'm a man of unclean lips. God's in a category all
his own. God's holy. He's separate. He's
set apart. No wonder in the Song of Moses
we read in Exodus 15, 11, who is likened to thee, O Lord, among
the gods? Who is likened to thee, glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? David said, Psalm
71, verse 19. Thy righteousness also, O God,
is very high. Who has done great things? O
God, who is like unto thee? Who is like you, Lord? Who is
like you? Psalm 113.5, who is like unto
the Lord our God that dwelleth on high? He's separate from everybody
else. He's separate from everything
he's made. He's absolutely set apart. Our God is independently
infinitely, immutably holy. He's holy, absolutely holy. You know when the first usage
of the word holy, you know when the first usage of that word
is in the Bible? And it's sort of an unwritten
law, and I know you've heard this before, but you go back
in the Bible and find where it's first used and generally Generally,
that'll be its meaning and the idea of that word, the thought
of that word, all the way through the scriptures. The first occasion
where the word holy is used, Exodus chapter 3 verse 5. It's
when Moses drew near the bush that was burning with fire, but
it wasn't consumed. And it was the Lord Jesus Himself
in pre-incarnate form appearing unto Moses and speaking to Moses
out of that bush. And we know it was the Lord Jesus
because God will not speak to nor be spoken to by any son or
daughter of Adam except through a mediator. That's the Lord Jesus. He's the Lord. He's the great
I Am. How many times in the book of John He said, I Am. I am the
bread of life. I am the light of the world.
He goes on and on saying that. That's who he identified himself
as there in the book of Exodus chapter 3. But this is what he
said to Moses. Draw not nigh hither. Put off
your shoes from your feet. You stand on a holy ground. You're
standing on holy ground. Now there wasn't anything blameless
about that ground. There wasn't anything pure about
that ground. It had been set apart. It had
been separated. It was just like any other piece
of ground, right? Wasn't anything intrinsically
special about that bush or about that area. Because the Lord was
manifesting Himself there. It was special. He set it apart. He sanctified it. He separated
it. Peter said, Be ye holy, for I
am holy. What does it mean to be holy?
Because I'm asking you, are you holy? What does it mean to be
holy? You say, well, you know, I can't
be perfect. And I can't set myself apart
and I can't sanctify myself. I know that. I know that. But this is what God demands. And he'll settle for nothing
less. Our Lord Jesus was the Holy One
and is the Holy One. That's what the demons said.
He came to cast them out and they said, Judge us before the
time, we know who you are. You're the holy one. Is that
what they said? You're the holy one. You're the
separate one. You're the unique one. You're
the set apart one. You're the pure one. You're the
blameless one. Look over at Hebrews chapter
7. Hebrews chapter 7. What I'm trying to say is we
must be a holy people. We must be. We've got to be a holy people
for God to accept us. There's no other way he can't
accept us. Leviticus chapter 22 and verse 21 says, it shall
be perfect to be accepted. No exceptions. No exceptions. God has got to view you and see
you. You must be in God's sight absolutely
holy or you're going to perish. Is that right? That's right,
isn't it? God says be ye holy. He didn't say you ought to be. He didn't say try to be. And certainly in the Bible it
is never implied that this is something that you do. You be holy, for I am holy. Hebrews chapter 7, speaking of
our Savior, look at 26. Well, even verse 25 first of
all. Wherefore He is able, our great
high priest, He is able also to save them to the uttermost. He's able to save perfectly.
He's able to save completely. He's able to save all His people
and save them eternally. He's able to save all that come
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth, unlike those Old Testament
priests who died and then nothing took their place. He ever leave
it to make intercession for us. For such an high priest became
us who is holy. He's the holy one. He was the
one set apart. Wasn't he set apart even in old
eternity to be our Savior? The Lord says there in, where
is it, Isaiah 42, 1, Behold my servant, My servant, whom I uphold, mine
elect. Christ be my first elect, God
said. Then he chose us in Christ. God
chose the Savior to be our surety, to be our Savior, to be our substitute,
to be the sacrifice for sin. God chose him. God set him apart. God separated him. In Psalm 89 it talks about, I've
chosen one out of the people. I've laid help upon one who's
mighty. The full responsibility for our
salvation and all the accountability for our sinfulness was laid upon
our Savior when He was set apart, separated, to save us in old
eternity. And God the Father has always,
always looked to His Son for satisfaction, to His justice,
and for the salvation of His people. That gives me hope. He has never looked to me. If he did, I'd have no hope. There'd be no possibility for
my salvation. Our Savior was set apart. He's
the Holy One. He's the holy. For such a high
priest became us who is holy. He was set apart. He was set
apart among men when he was born. He wasn't born as other men come
into this world. He's born of a virgin. He's separate.
He's separate. He wasn't tainted by Adam's transgression
and Adam's sin. which was imputed to all that
Adam represented, that is the entire human race, not our savior. He's at the seat of woman. He's
the pure one. He's the holy one. He was set
apart. Set apart to do work. Set apart
in old eternity. Set apart in his humanity. set apart to save his people
from their sins. He was separate in his glorious
person, fully man and fully God. He wasn't man
deified and he wasn't God humanized. Without controversy, Great is
the mystery of godliness. What is that? God was manifest
in the flesh. I can't explain that. But I glory in my savior who
was made like unto us without sin in order to save his people
from their sins. He's the set apart one. He is
holy, look at the name, harmless. You know, you look up the word,
and I love to do word studies, I look up the word harmless,
really the original idea here is simple. That which is not
deceptive. There is no hidden agenda. There's
not something going on that you don't, that you can't read about
and see. Everything was opened before
God and revealed to us in the Scriptures. He is holy. He is harmless and undefiled
and undefilable. He was not defiled by sin. He was not polluted by sin, nor
could He be polluted by sin. That's an impossibility. Watch
this. Separate from sinners. and made higher than the heavens.
This is our Holy Savior. Our Holy Savior. He's the Holy
One. Well, let's get back to the question,
though. This issue of what is holiness? What does it mean to be holy?
Remembering still the basic definition. I kind of drill this into your
mind. You know, when you teach, you say something, go back and
a little bit and then repeat it and go back and repeat it,
because you've got to drill it into people's minds. What is
the basic meaning of holy? Set apart. Separated. Separated. In the Old Testament. The scripture says, in the law,
remember the Sabbath day, To keep it, what's the next word?
Holy. Keep it separate. To set it apart. That's what God said. First time
the word sanctified is used in the Bible is over in Genesis
second chapter. God sanctified the seventh day. Now he didn't make it, doesn't
have anything to do with purity. That's obvious from the context.
Well, what is the idea there? He set that day apart. He took
that which was ordinary, just a common day, 24-hour day, wasn't
anything special about Saturday. God took that which was ordinary,
very common, just like every other day of the week, and God
set it apart. He separated it. And he said,
now that will be my day. And that'll be the day in which
you cease from your labors, you stop working, and you rest. And we know that's
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's our Sabbath. Listen, folks,
the work of redemption, the work of reconciliation, that's been
done. The work has been done. It's
not, we're not adding. Our faith doesn't add anything
to what He did. It's not like the capstone. Well,
you know, Jesus did all He could do and then it's our repentance
and our faith and that kind of pushes it over the edge and then
we got salvation. No. Our repentance and our faith
flows from is the result of the Lord doing His substitutionary
work on the cross whereby He satisfied all the demands of
justice and put away our sins and brought in everlasting righteousness
for God's people. See, the work has been done.
Christ is our Sabbath. What's the law of the Sabbath?
Cease from your labors. That's God's law. Cease from
your labors. R-E-S-T. Rest in the One who did the labor. You rest in Christ Jesus. He
finished the work that the Father gave Him to do. He is the One
who did all that was necessary. This matter of salvation, could
I put it this way, it is sign sealed and delivered. To God
the Father. God satisfied. Christ died. First reason Christ died. First
one He died for. He died for the Father. He died to satisfy God's law.
Boy, you're talking about a legal matter. You're talking about
a legal transaction. Look yonder at the cross. And
see everything settled. See it finalized. Well, what
about in regeneration? Preacher, what happens in regeneration?
God gives us life. He sends the gospel to us. The
Spirit of God regenerates us and brings us to see that in,
through, and by Jesus Christ, His life and His death and His
resurrection, God is absolutely satisfied, the law is honored,
the iniquities of those for whom He died have been removed, separated
from those for whom He died, righteousness has been brought
in, it's credit to the count of all of God's people, and the
Spirit of God brings us to rejoice in Him who did it. We're just
thrilled. We find out by this illumination
of the Spirit of God. We find out Christ has finished
the work. And we're relieved to find out
nothing's required of us. It was all conditioned upon Jesus
Christ Himself. And then you just go, wow, I'm
so thankful. You're just brought to rejoice
in your soul. Rejoice in your soul. We find
out salvations of the Lord. I tell you, we're sanctified
people. God's people are sanctified.
We're a holy people. God's people are. We've been
set apart. We've been separated. Separated. That verse there I quoted to
you out of out of Exodus chapter 20, remember the Sabbath day
to keep it holy. And God sanctified the seventh
day. So he took that which was ordinary,
common, he set it apart. Look at the book of Jude. Look
at the book of Jude, chapter one. Jude chapter one. And it's only, I say chapter
one, It's only one chapter. You know that, I'm sure. But
Jude 1, verse 1, Jude, we're introduced
to the human author. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
who is he? Well, he's a brother of James.
Who are you writing to? To them that are sanctified.
And remember I said God sanctified the seventh day. He took that
which was ordinary, common, Wasn't anything special about it? And
God said, I'm going to sanctify that day. I'm going to set it
apart. Listen, I can't give you all
the ins and outs of God's divine election of sinners in Jesus
Christ under salvation, which was solely based upon the grace
of God and founded upon the fact that Jesus Christ would satisfy
all the stipulation of the everlasting covenant of grace for us. I'll
tell you this. I'll tell you a little bit of
what I know. A little bit of what I know. God the Father set
apart, He sanctified, He separated a
remnant according to the election of grace before the foundation
of the world. And we were sanctified in Christ
Jesus. That's what it says. Sanctified
by God the Father and preserved in or by Jesus Christ and called. Of course, there's the work of
the Trinity there. We're Trinitarians. But we were sanctified by God
the Father. He set us apart. There wasn't
anything special about us. We would all fall in Adam. We'd all be full of blame. But
for the glory of God's grace, he set apart for himself. He sanctified. What John said
was a group of people, so many of them, he said, I can't even
number them. In fact, they're from every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue were sanctified by God the Father. Set apart. We're saints. We're saints. You know, if you look it up in
your concordance, you'll find the word holy and holiness and
sanctified and sanctified and sanctification, it all comes
from the same root word and the idea is the first meaning is
set apart or separated. We're sanctified by God the Father,
set apart in old eternity. Now I know this, we're talking
about holiness, are you holy? I know that today most people
think holiness has to do with the way we live. Let me make an important statement
here, and of course I hope everything I say is important, but I really
want you to get this one. To be sure, you hear me out now, to be sure
Being a holy people, a sanctified people, affects what we say,
what we do, where we go, how we act. That's very true because
we've been separated under God and separated by God. Therefore,
having been separated by God in old eternity to be His people
and separated by the Spirit of God in regeneration, to take
hold of the gospel, that gospel which really took hold of us. Being a holy people affects what
we do and how we live because we're separated under God. But what we do and what we say and
where we go and how we act does not affect our holiness. That is, those things, and it
is important how you live. I'm not, we wouldn't deny that.
We want to live for His glory, right? We want to live for His
glory. I don't want to bring reproach
to the gospel that I love. But how I conduct myself, what
I say, what I do and so forth, it doesn't affect my holiness. It doesn't make me either less
holy or more holy. This is what people are missing
today. Isn't that right? So many people are missing this.
You are not more holy or less holy based upon the kind of life
you live. I grew up in a real strict home. I was brought up in free will,
works, false religion. And make no mistake about it,
Arminianism, free will religion is false religion. Now that's another gospel. We come down hard on it, but
I was in Babylon. That's Babylon. Babylon's God's
word for false religion. I'll even narrow it down more.
It also includes the idea of false Christianity, as in false
Christianity. But God's not going to destroy
Babylon until his word is fulfilled. Come out of her. Some of us brought
out of Babylon. I was brought out of Babylon.
Brought out. What I was going to say was I
was taught holy people don't use tobacco, don't go to the
picture show, don't drink wine, don't drink beer, don't play
cards. At our house, you couldn't play
rook, you couldn't play old maids because our preacher said that's
not holy living. That's not holy living. Couldn't go to the local swimming
pool because for boys and girls to swim together, that wasn't
holy living. I told Randy yesterday, I said,
that's why I became a lifeguard. Then I go when the girls go swimming.
Hey, I'm no dummy. But that was taboo. That wasn't
holy living. You've heard all that stuff before.
There's even a denomination called the Holiness Church. And they
have certain guidelines, certain rules they go by. And the women
got to wear their dresses down to their ankles, and usually
their hair is long, they put it up in a bun. Tim James said
one time, he said, the men look like used car salesmen, their
hair slicked back, and their wives look like used cars. But that's their idea of holiness. Listen to me, there are no degrees
of holiness. You are either holy or you're
not. You have the great hymn to the
faith. It's some good songs in there.
Boy, there are some doozies though. There's one in there, more holiness
give me. That's the name of it. I hope
you don't sing that. I can't believe you'd ever sing
that. More holiness given. And one
verse says more purity given. You're either pure or you're
not. And there's another one. We used
to sing this. Take time to be holy. Take time to be holy. You take time to exercise. You
take time for a walk. You take time for relaxation.
You know what? You need to take time to be holy.
Oh, don't sing that one either. There are no degrees of holiness.
Oh, but preacher. Preacher. Surely, if I come to
church and I pray and read my Bible and put some money in the
box and try to be a good person, surely I'm holier than others.
One time in all the Bible, the word holier is used. You know
that? Just once. Look at Isaiah 65. Just one time the word holier
is used and it's in Isaiah chapter 65. Isaiah chapter 65. Verse one says, Isaiah 65 one. I'm sought of them that ask not
for me. I'm found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not
called by my name. I've spread out my hands all
the day unto rebellious people which walks in a way wasn't good
after their own thoughts, a people that provoked me to anger continually
to my face, that sacrificed in gardens and burned incense upon
altars of brick, which remain among the graves Lodging them
out, they're still dead. Which eat swine's flesh, and
broth of abominable things is in their vessels, which say,
Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. That's the only time a word is
mentioned in the Bible. Just reeks of self-righteousness. You want to know what God thinks
of people who says, I'm holier than others? Rest of verse five,
these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day long.
It's like that Pharisee who said, I thank God I'm not like other
men are. I'm holier than others. Now, you're either holy or you're
not. How is a sinner made holy? First
Corinthians chapter 1, we're sanctified in Jesus Christ. We
were set apart, chosen in Jesus Christ, and then he came. And we were in him when he lived,
and when he died, and when he arose, and when he ascended. We're holy in Jesus Christ. We
are holy in Jesus Christ. Look over it. Let me give you
two more references. Hebrews chapter 10. While you turn to Hebrews chapter
10, that scripture comes to mind in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Who of God is made unto us? Wisdom, righteousness. Listen, it's right
for God to forgive his people and accept his people. This is
a salvation based on rightness, isn't it? It's right. It's right
for God to save us. It's right for God to illuminate
us and call us to Himself. It's right for God to forgive
us of our sins because of the righteous obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And His righteous obedience,
that's put to our account. You prayed that. Who of God has
made unto us foolish people? Wisdom and righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. That's all I need. Christ is
all I need. Therefore, let he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 here.
Verse 10, by the witch will, we're sanctified. Hebrews 10,
we're sanctified, set apart, separated, even made pure and
blameless. How? Through their offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That's how. This doesn't have anything to
do with your life that you live. This doesn't have anything to
do with your works. This has to do with Jesus Christ
and His work of redemption. Every priest stands daily ministering
and oftentimes the same sacrifices that can't put away sins take
them away. after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool. Now watch this. For
by one offering he hath perfected. You want perfection? That's what
God demands. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Them that are set apart. Them
that are separated. Hello.