The Command To Be Holy - Part 1

Moore's Corner Church

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The Command To Be Holy - Part 2

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Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

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Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

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D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

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If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

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As most of you know, when the Bible was originally penned in the Hebrew and the

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Greek languages, there were no chapter divisions. The Bible was not divided into chapters until the year 1227 and then divided into verses about 300 plus years later in the middle of the 1500s.

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And that matters this morning for this reason. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1 really belongs in chapter 6 if you look at it.

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How does Paul begin in chapter 7? Therefore, having these promises.

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Now, no author starts out a chapter with the word therefore. Therefore concludes a thought.

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It doesn't begin a new one. So we have to ask, therefore, having these promises,

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OK, what promises? So to find out, we have to go back to chapter 6.

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And those who were here last week will remember what we talked about, how the apostle

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Paul told the Christians in Corinth, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

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So God's people are to be separate. Verse 17 of chapter 6 says, therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the

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Lord. Do not touch what is unclean. And here are the promises. And I will receive you.

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I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the

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Lord almighty. OK, verse 1 of chapter 7. Based on that, therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

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And that's the title of this morning's message, perfecting holiness. Let's turn to the

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Lord in prayer. Our father, we remember how

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Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He said in this manner, therefore, pray.

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Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And Lord, help us to keep your name hallowed.

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Help us to keep it holy. Help us so that we would not use your name as though it were a common thing.

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That if your name, God, Lord, Jesus Christ, if we use your name while talking, we should be talking about you and giving you the proper honor.

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For you are, as the scripture tells us, holy, holy, holy.

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Also reminded, Lord, of what is said in your word in Hebrews 12, 14, that your people are to pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no one will see the

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Lord. Father, what a weighty topic this is and what a heavy statement that is.

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And father, I know that in my frailty, I cannot do it justice.

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But through the power of the Holy Ghost, I ask that your word would do its perfect work.

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I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So once again, the title of the message is perfecting holiness.

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Paul says, based on God's promises. So you see, this is a call to action here.

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He says, therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

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And this whole idea of perfecting holiness, this might instill or provoke the fear of God.

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And in some, when you hear the title of the message, why? Because I think a lot of people fully understand how much of a sinner they are.

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And they're not comfortable with the term holiness, never mind the idea of perfecting holiness.

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And we can all say, we know, I know, I am a sinner. People might know how much of a sinner they are, but let's not forget how much of a savior he is.

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Someone once said, the greatest thing about preaching to Christians is to be able to share with people what they already are.

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What is meant by that? As a Christian, you are holy.

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You are holy. It's just a matter of you working that out.

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Remember last week how Paul, we touched on this back in chapter one, how he wrote to the church of God, which is at Corinth with all the saints, right?

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And I pointed out how that term saint has been so misused and distorted.

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The word saint, all right, listen now, the word saint literally means holy one.

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Holy one. And saint is just another word for a Christian. Christians are saints.

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Saints are holy ones. So, Christians are saints, at which someone at this point thinks to themselves, well,

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I know some Christians, and believe me, they're no saints. And using the word saint in that sense, as someone who never does anything wrong, well,

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I suppose that's true because nobody's perfect and nobody's even close. Let's face it, there are a lot of Christians who say and do a lot of really dumb things.

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You know, you might even be included in that group. I know I am. And let's face it,

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Christians, seriously though, Christians do sin. Just a simple survey of the

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Bible will reveal that many of the heroes of the faith, not only did they sin, some of them fell into very serious sin.

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Now, that's not an excuse. Don't hear me as if that's some sort of excuse like it's no big deal.

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I'm just trying to clear up some of these common misconceptions. Also, consider the church that Paul is writing to.

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We know about many of the failures of the Corinthian church. The fact that Paul admonishes them to not be unequally yoked, what does that tell you?

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Some of them were unequally yoked. The fact that he has to tell them to clean themselves up from all filthiness, it tells you some of them were getting kind of filthy.

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And things were so bad, and we covered this when we went through 1 Corinthians. 1

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Corinthians 11, you remember, some of them were even getting drunk at communion. I mean, that's really bad.

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So, Paul, why does he give all of these exhortations calling upon the holy ones to be perfecting holiness in the fear of God?

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Because they needed to do that. They needed to be reminded they were able to do that.

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He's not going to give them some command that they're totally incapable of doing. So, we need to get this straight right away.

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That if you have trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are already holy.

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If you are a true believer, you're a Christian, that means you're a saint. And a saint, again, means what?

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A holy one. You are already holy. So, now it's just a question of whether or not you're acting like it on a consistent basis.

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So, again, this is a call to action. So, the point to remember is this.

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Being holy does not mean you are perfect. One of the problems, you've seen the pictures and the paintings of the holy people, right, with the glowing halo above their head.

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Have you ever met anyone like that? I haven't. And the people they painted, guess what?

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They didn't really have halos. They were more like you than what the painting suggests.

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So, being holy is not about being sinless. But, if you're perfecting in holiness, you will sin less.

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I think the most holy people that I know, if you walk by them on the street, they really wouldn't look all that different from anyone else.

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So, what is it that sets them apart from just anyone else?

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Well, it's their faith. It's their commitment to Christ. They are striving to overcome temptation and to resist sin and worldliness.

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It's their desire to live differently in this fallen world.

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It's their desire to grow in holiness. Even though they understand that the completion or the perfecting, like the final perfecting itself, will never be obtained in this life.

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Therefore, having these promises based on what God has done for us, we should do this.

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We should be perfecting holiness. God has received you as a son or a daughter.

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Isn't that the promise back in chapter 6? That's what he said. Do you believe it? He will be your father, you will be his son, you will be his daughter.

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If you have faith and you believe that, you are holy. You are a holy one.

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Now, again, it's just a matter of making that invisible spiritual reality, that declaration that God has made, it's just a matter of making that visible.

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Making it visible. So, say it along with me. Because of my faith in Christ, God has declared me holy.

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Say it with me. Because of my faith in Christ, God has declared me holy.

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I said a moment ago, some of the most holy or spiritual or godly people I know, if you walk by them on the street, they really wouldn't look all that different from anyone else.

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But they would look different from some people. Okay, I have to say that. That's true. Now, there are a lot of groups that go out of their way to look different.

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To appear holy. This is an approach that some people take.

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They'll go out of their way, wear certain things, do certain things, so that they will stand out.

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Either they will wear a funny hat. I don't know why this is common amongst cults and false religions.

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It's so common to wear some kind of funny hat. Or a robe. A long flowing robe.

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Maybe a collar. Just something that when somebody sees it, they automatically know, oh, that man is a holy man.

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That man is a holy man based on what he's wearing. You know this happens.

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And we don't need to get into the details. And scripture addresses this kind of thing. You're aware of that.

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Jesus addresses this kind of thing. That people should not wear clothing to intentionally show off their holiness.

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Or to get attention. Look at me. Look how holy and godly I am. This is what the scribes did.

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This is what the Pharisees did. They broadened their phylacteries. The borders on their garments.

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What did Jesus say in Luke 20, verse 46? Beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes.

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It's not practical to walk around your daily life in a long robe. Why did they do it? Because they loved the greetings at the marketplace.

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They did something. They wore something so that when people would see them, oh, greetings, rabbi.

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Greetings, father. Greetings. That's why they did it. So we could say that holiness is not so much of an outward display as it is inward reality.

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However, what's on the inside will come out on the outside. In 1

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Timothy chapter 2. Let's give some examples. Can we do that? 1

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Timothy chapter 2. It speaks of women professing godliness. Wearing modest apparel.

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Well, that's not so much a problem for men. But scripture also talks about coarse jesting and filthy language.

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That is a little more of a problem for men. Filthy language. That is not fitting for the saints.

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And why are these admonitions found all the way through the

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New Testament? Same reason they're found all the way through the Old Testament. Because God wants his people to be different.

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You shouldn't just do and dress and talk just like everybody else. God wants his people to be different.

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He wants his people to be holy. And he doesn't want there to be confusion about what that means.

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Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website

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MorrisCornetChurch .com And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.