so so for those who enjoy reading Bible
studies. I have four copies of my exposition
on numbers over here and about eight or ten copies of my exposition
on judges. If you would like a copy of it,
just come over and get one of them. That way you will have
one of them. They are working on Deuteronomy
now and also the epistle of the Hebrews and that should be out
in the next couple of months. Leviticus chapter 19 The title
of my message this morning is NO EXCEPTION! NO EXCEPTION! Moses is told to
tell the people of Israel by the Lord God, ye shall be holy
for I the Lord God am holy. I know just reading those words
people automatically if they've been in religion most of their
life like most of Americans have have an idea of what that means,
and probably it's the wrong idea. But you have been told what holiness
is, and you've been told how to be holy, and you've been misled
more than likely. But the principle doesn't change.
Our Lord said, Be ye holy, for I'm holy. The reason we are to
be holy is because God is holy. That message, the holiness of
God, was the thing that brought my wife to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ for salvation when she saw that God was infinitely,
absolutely, perfectly, holy without sin. The stars, the moon, and
the sun are not pure in his eyes, much less man that is born of
a woman, whose days are short and whose life is full of trouble,
called a maggot from a dunghill, a worm of the dust, impotent, ruined, broken, dead,
doomed, damned, and dying. That's man. Man is not holy. But God says, this is a requirement,
without exception, be holy. For I am holy. Leviticus 20 verse 7 says sanctify
that word means be holy Sanctification is holiness Sanctify
yourselves therefore and be holy for I am the Lord your God 1st
Peter 1 15 says but as he which has called you is holy So be
holy in all manner of conversation 1st Peter 1 16 says because it
is written be holy I am holy For I am holy. This command from
the lips of our Lord is no small thing, nor is it a matter of
indifference. This is an absolute requirement,
an edict from God that is oft repeated in His Word. The Holy
God, who is infinitely pure, separate from all sin, and that's
the initial meaning of holiness, is separate. God's out there. He's up yonder, and we're down
here. We're sinners. He has no sin. He's separate from us. Separate
from us. He's high, noble, full of glory. Without exception, without any
excuse, He requires every one of His people to be holy, to
be sanctified. And there are no degrees that
may be accepted by God. He will not accept 99.99% of
holiness and overlook the 0.1% of sin. In truth, a degree of
holiness does not exist. There is never an instant in
the Word of God that a superlative suffix is positively joined to
the word holy in reference to His requirement. No one is ever
said to be holier that's a superlative suffix "-er", holier, or as anyone
said to be the holiest in Scripture. Unless they are rendering an
opinion of themselves, which is born of their self-righteousness,
in loving themselves and hating others according to the words
of our Lord in Luke 18, People have a lofty opinion of
themselves and they often think of themselves when they can find
someone they deem of less degree that I'm holier than they are. But our Lord said this about
those who say those things, which say, Stand by thyself, come not
near me, for I am holier than thou. God says these are smoke
in my nose. a fire that burneth all day."
God says, such folks make my eyes water. There is smoke in
my nose. However, in order to have fellowship
with God, you and I must be holy. We must be holy in thought, word,
deed, and motive, and we must be separate. We must have clean
hands and a pure heart if we are to ascend to the holy hill
Zion, it says in Psalm 24. And this cannot be emphasized
too much. God requires this of us because He Himself is holy.
He has the right to require this of us because He is our Maker
and our Sovereign and has unquestionable claim on the totality of our
being. Scripture declares that you were
made and bought and paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ, by
God Almighty, therefore you are to glorify God in your body and
in your spirit. This is the language of Scripture.
If it seems like an impossible task to be holy, if it seems
impossible with man, there is a reason for that. It is impossible
with man. Man is by nature, practice and
thought unholy. and only a person deluded in
his own self-righteousness would think otherwise about himself.
There are those who are of the legalistic persuasion who believe
that God is here saying that a person is to grow or progress
in holiness until he or she attains an acceptable state of holiness
before God. Though God does teach that we
are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
in Scripture is never attached to being holy. Check it out. It is never attached to being
holy. Growing in grace is something you do not see happening. Just
like growing in life you did not see happening. Some of us
here today, some are young and vital and full of spit and vinegar. I am glad for them. I can remember
those days myself. When I look in the mirror, I
can remember that I once had a head of flaming red hair and
a red beard, but it's all gone. What's happened? Hoary hairs
have taken its place. Why? Because I'm not young anymore. I'm not young anymore, but I'll
tell you what I know about myself. I've reached this point. I didn't
see it happening. We can't see ourselves grow.
We can look and see, oh, I've grown. I've grown up. We can't
see it happening. But it's never attached to the
concept of holiness. God never says in His Scripture
to any person become holy. He never says to any person to
progress in holiness or anything like that. He commands us to
be holy. That's a state of being. The
believer exists in a state of holiness every moment of his
existence and every facet of his life without exception. That's
how it has to be. Be ye holy. And when you assert
this truth, you can be sure that the legal eagles of religion
will run with all speed and bated breath to 2 Corinthians chapter
7 and verse 1 where it says, having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. We say, see there, perfecting
holiness, that means you progress in holiness. Now that's not what
it means if you'll read the text. God is not speaking of progressive
sanctification in that text. He doesn't speak of progressive
sanctification in any text in Scripture. But the legalist is
ever ready to divorce text from context to produce a proof text.
The text reveals that God is speaking the primary meaning
of holiness, which is separation. The verse is preceding that verse.
It speaks of a total and final separation from any mixture of
grace and works. Any mixture. of the false and
the true. Separate yourself for what fellowship
has light with darkness? And the church of God with the
church of the devil. Separate yourselves and be separate,
he says. Holiness is not a goal. It's
not a goal. It's a present, real, factual
state of being. So much is wrong with the false
notion of progressive sanctification that volumes could be written
about it. It cannot be espoused without self-righteousness. It
engenders judgment based on outward appearance. It must be seen in
order for the progress to be recorded. It is false at its
most basic core. It is progressive hypocrisy.
Because when asked, the practitioner of progressive holiness does
not say that he himself is holy. He wouldn't say that. That ain't
humble. Or that he is holier today than he was yesterday.
He won't say that. But he begins to make comparison
based on works or outward appearance. He creates two imaginary characters,
ersatz cartoon characters, straw men, one slovenly dressed sluggard
and one well-dressed Bible-toting fellow. And then asks which one
of you think, which do you think is more holy? I've actually been
asked that question before. And I say, the slovenly dressed
drunkard is more holy than the Bible-toting, self-righteous
hypocrite. If you can go with holiness having
a degree. What people have is feigned humility
and will worship. Progressive holiness does not
occupy the same space with humility. God declares His holiness as
a matter of fact and so does every believer. I stand before
you today a holy man and you can say that about yourself
if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer is humbled all the
time by his lack of love The believer is suspicious of
his own motives. He doesn't trust his own integrity. And he's not
ready in any way to base any level of his acceptance with
God based on his own merit. He is at the same time bold and
confident in his holiness. The believer rejoices in this
happy state of holiness. He's happy and holy. People have
a view of holiness. If you read Nehemiah chapter
8 verses 5-12, you find that after the law was read, the people
began to weep. Because they heard what the law said. The law condemns,
the law kills, the letter makes a lie. That's what the scriptures
say and they heard that and they began to weep. Maybe they thought
this is how a person who is holy ought to react to the law. Maybe
this is what holiness is, to have a downcast look. That's
what most people think. I remember the old holiness church
when I was a boy, a lady across the hill, a wonderful sweet lady,
but she's going out of that house, she's wearing a black dress,
black hose, and black shoes, ugly black shoes, and a black
bonnet on her head. But she is holy, and she wanted
you to know she is a member of a holiness church, and she was
holy. That's what she wanted you to know, and that's the way
she dressed. That's what people think. Outward appearance. People
think that when you talk about holy, even preachers, and I've
done this before and might do it again, The sinner that I am,
I might even do it again. When you say the word holy, you
almost want to kind of drop it an octave and kind of tilt down
your head and slump your shoulders and say, not holy, but holy. That's the tendency. And our
Lord told those who were weeping after they heard the law read,
He says, let's have a feast. Let's have a feast, bake dinner
for you. for yourselves and for your neighbors
and he said this word the only time it is used in scripture
and it is used in reference to a holy convocation thank you
holy convocation in reference to a holy convocation he said
be happy and have mirth you mean you are going to attach that
to holiness yes sir God does have mirth, be happy, be joyous,
dance. Be ye holy for I am holy. Holiness is not something the
believer seeks, it is something that he most joyfully and positively
is. This flies in the face of natural
religion. It does so because it does not consider the acts
of man as in any way having to do with holiness. And holiness
doesn't have anything to do with the way you act. Was David not
holy when he desired Bathsheba? Of course he was. He was wrong. But he was holy before God. He
was the apple of God's eye. Was David not holy when he cheated? and took Bathsheba, Uriah's wife,
for his own. Yeah, boy, he was wrong. He believed
God. He was holy. Holiness is a state of being.
It's a state of being before God. You see, it takes a supernatural
work to make you realize you're a sinner. Most people say, well,
yeah, I'm a sinner. I'm like everybody else. That's
not what that means. For a person to realize he�s
a sinner is to realize by God�s Word and by the Holy Spirit that
he wants to kill God and take His place! That he has a natural
enmity and hatred for God that he can�t do anything about and
don�t want to do anything about! That everything that stands for
good and right and holy, he don�t want anything to do with! It�s
violence! He�s a murderer in his heart!
Unclean and undone, drinks iniquity like water, comes forth of the
womb as soon as he's born, speaking lies. This is what the scripture
says about it. This is what it is to be a sinner, and you'll
never know you're that sinner until God the Holy Spirit awakens
your eyes to see what you really are. And if He does that, to
show you that you're a sinner, He'll show you the Savior. And
He'll show you something else. It'll give you faith to believe
that Savior. And you know what you'll find
out about yourself? That before the thrice holy God, you're holy. That's what you'll find out.
Because that's what the Scripture teaches. It takes a supernatural
work to convince you that you're a sinner. Likewise, it takes
a supernatural work to convince you that you're holy. When God
gives a believer faith to rest in the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the believer then knows that he's holy. When the believer
speaks of how he is assigned to this lofty estate, he does
so with humility and a true sense of his own unworthiness. But
when he speaks of the one who attained it for him by his perfect
sacrificial death, he speaks boldly and full of confidence
that he is made thus, counted as thus, and regarded as thus. He is holy. You see, here's the
thing most people don't realize because religion has lied to
them for so many years. And what God has required of
His people, He has supplied to His people. What God has required
of His people, He has performed for His people by the substitutionary,
propitiatory, expiatory sacrifice of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Be ye holy. That is exactly how
every believer is described by divine inspiration. God describes
his people as holy. So he describes them. So Peter
denied the Lord three times, holy Peter. Saul did those Jewish ceremonies
which he shouldn't have done. Paul did those Jewish ceremonies
and acts which he shouldn't have done. It never worked out good
for him. It's holy Paul. Peter and Barnabas and Silas
and Antioch left the freedom and liberty in Christ and went
back and sat in a table with the Judaizers. Holy Barnabas,
Holy Silas, Holy Peter. They're holy. Sanctified. That's what the Word of God says. John 17, 19, Our Lord said in
this high priestly prayer, For their sakes I sanctify myself,
that they might also be sanctified through the truth, sanctified
Acts 20.32 Now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of
His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance
among all them that are sanctified. Acts 26.18 To open their eyes,
and to turn them from darkness to light, and from power to Satan
unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin, and an inheritance
among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1-2. Unto the church of God, which
is at Corinth. Have you ever read it? We just
finished a study on the church at Corinth. That book from the
first verse to the last verse is a rebuke. Paul rebukes them
on every hand. Fifty-five or so years. Fifty to fifty-five years after
the Lord was born. Twenty years after He was crucified
and ascended to glory. terrible things, all kinds of
junk going on, nothing but a rebuke. He says to the Church of God,
this is how He speaks of them, to the Church of God that is
according to them that are sanctified in Jesus Christ, holy, called
to be saints, with all in every place call upon the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours. First Corinthians 6.11,
and such were some of you, and what He is talking about is revilers,
whoremongers and such. So that's where some of you,
but you're washed. You are sanctified. You are sanctified,
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit
of God. Hebrews 2.11 for both he that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not
ashamed to call them brethren. Hebrews 10.10 By the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Hebrews 10.14 For by one offering
he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Jude 1.
servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that
are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and
called. Second Thessalonians 2 13. But we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth, for
unto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. First Peter 1 2. Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Christ, grace and peace be unto you. This is the language that
God uses to refer to His children, His sanctified ones, His holy
ones. In Romans chapter 8, Verse 32, it says, Who spared
not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not freely with Him give us all things? What does that mean? Well, it says in Scripture, in
Ephesians chapter 1, that, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Is holiness a spiritual blessing?
Yeah. He blessed us with all spiritual blessings. freely given
to us because He gave us Jesus Christ, it says here. Freely
given to us. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
8 and 9, you don't have to turn there, it says, in Him that is
in Christ dwell the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That means
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost is in the
Son, Jesus Christ. And ye are complete in Him. What do you need? If your holiness
is progressive, you need to progress. No! You are complete in Him is
the language of Scripture. You are COMPLETE! Do you believe
that? You do if you are a child of
God! And not only do you believe it, you like it a whole bunch!
You like it a whole bunch! Philippians 4.19, Our God is
able to supply all your needs. 1st Peter, 2nd Peter chapter
1, God has given us all things that pertain to godliness and
life in Jesus Christ. He has given us all things! Jehovah
Jireh! The Lord will provide! Jehovah
Jireh you see according to scripture first Corinthians chapter 1 verse
30 of God are you His people in Jesus Christ who of God is
made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification sanctification and redemption
all of that Christ has made us to be and the Lord said I'm the
Lord I am holy therefore be ye holy holy and reverent is his
name and you as a child of God according to the Word of God
are holy in Jesus Christ I'll tell you gotta float your boat
That will float your boat. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen. God bless you.