The Holiness of Us (03/31/2002)

Park Meadows Church

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This morning we're going to continue our study on the holiness of God. I think that there could be no more appropriate study on Resurrection Sunday.

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If you remember, when we studied, a little more recently, some different points regarding the holiness of God, we first talked about God's holiness.

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This morning we're going to get into the fact that we are supposed to be holy, as He is holy.

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Greg, could you give me just a little bit of juice, a little bit more juice? Okay, how's that? Am I okay?

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Not too loud, is it? Okay. Well, let's have a word of prayer and we'll begin. Father, we thank you for your word.

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We thank you for your word as it is sung, but also as it is preached, and as your

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Holy Spirit teaches it to us, places it within our hearts, brings it out in times when you choose to use different powerful passages for your purposes in our lives, and as we touch elbows with others,

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Lord, we pray that today you would touch our hearts, that you would teach us what we need to learn this very day.

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We thank you for each person here. Lord, we ask that you would give a special blessing to each person, a blessing of power, a blessing of teaching from your word that would go on from this place as we go into this next coming, these next days.

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Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you for His life that you gave

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Him to us, and that you gave us to Him. We pray that you'll bless our hearts now as we get into the word.

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Lord, take us into the heavenlies, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Let me give you a couple of passages of scripture to be turning to.

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Turn to John chapter 17 and Deuteronomy chapter 6.

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Give you a little advance notice on those two. Last time we spoke about the fact that God's holiness is related to the fact that He is a jealous

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God. We discussed that some in adult Sunday school class again this morning with Brother Otis. It's also related to the fact that God is exclusive.

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He is the only true God, therefore He is holy. His holiness in the

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Bible is related to His glory, to His strength, to His power, to His majesty.

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His holiness is related to the doctrine of election, because the scripture says, blessed is the man whom thou choosest to approach unto thee, unto thy holy temple.

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We must be made holy that we might come into His presence. His holiness is related to His righteousness.

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He is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. His holiness is related to the fact that He is different than we are.

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And we're reminded by the story of Isaiah when all of a sudden he came into the presence of the holiness of God and he said,

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I am a man of unclean lips. And the angel took the coal from the altar and touched

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Isaiah's lips. And then Isaiah said, here am I, Lord, send me.

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We have to remember that whatever touches the altar is sanctified and made holy.

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So His holiness is related to the fact that we need to be made holy by Him.

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It is not something we can do to ourselves. It's not something we can work up. There's no way we can go out and be holy in and of ourselves.

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We must have our lips touched with the coal that came from the altar, and we must remember that Jesus Christ Himself is our altar.

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His holiness is also related to the fact that He is separate from darkness. In Him is no darkness at all.

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His holiness is exclusive holiness. There is none other that is holy as our

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God is holy. And then we finished up that study on the holiness of God at the cross.

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If you remember when Jesus said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

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This probably displayed the holiness of God more than any other thing could. Because here we had the eternal

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Son of God who had been born into the world, Jesus Christ, our

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Savior, the one of perfection, the Son of glory, who had been with the

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Father for all eternity, proceeding forth from the Father, who had been the delight of the

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Father, who had been before Him for all eternity past, and now there comes a moment in time when

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He is separated from God, and God turns His head from His Son while He is on that cross.

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Why did He do that? Because your sins and mine were upon Him at that time.

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Our sins were in His body on the cross, and God is holy.

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He will not come into the presence of sin. Therefore, His holiness is displayed by the fact that His Son suffered death, eternal death on that cross.

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My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because our sins were in Him on the tree.

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Now, as we study the holiness of God, we eventually come to the place in the scriptures where it begins to have verses like Leviticus chapter 11.

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You don't need to look this one up. I'll just read it. It's just a couple of verses, but listen. For I am the

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Lord your God. You shall therefore, why? Because He is our

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God, and He is holy. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, for I am holy.

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Neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the face of the earth.

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For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your

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God. Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. So we're going to talk about the holiness of us today.

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Now, in the scriptures, there are three words that you need to know in the English language. Any place in the

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Bible where you see the word holy, or where you see the word sanctified, or where you see the word saint, oddly enough, it is the same

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Greek word, and it is the word which means holiness. So you can't just look up the word holy and find them all.

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You also have to look up the word saint and the word sanctify and the word holy to find the places where this concept is taught in the

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Bible. Now, there are three things to think about with regard to holiness of the saint, and it's taught this way universally among all theologians that you would care to read anyway.

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And first there is this idea of positional holiness, and then there is the idea of what they call experimental holiness, or I like to call it experiential holiness, and then there is the idea of ultimate holiness.

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Now, let's talk about those just, I want to summarize them because we'll probably cover them in more depth at some other time, not this morning, but I want you to know what they are.

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To get an understanding of it, of especially positional holiness, it's kind of interesting to take a look at 1

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Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 2 and to realize that this particular church is, of all churches in the

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Bible, the carnal church. Paul rebukes this church on more than one occasion for being of the flesh, being carnal.

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He said, I can't even feed you meat, I've got to feed you milk, you ought to be teachers of the word and you're still babes, he said.

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And yet, this church, the carnal church, the most carnal church of all the ones mentioned,

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I suppose, in the scripture, listen to what is said to this church. Listen to how

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God himself, as he inspires Paul, addresses this church in 1

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Corinthians 1 -2. Unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are, and I want you to circle the word are, or underline it, them that are sanctified, now realize that the word sanctify means holy.

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It's exactly the same word in the Greek, so you might as well just think holy, because we're talking about the holiness of God and the fact that the saints are to be holy as he is holy.

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So notice that he writes to the carnal church and he addresses them as the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are, which means are already holy, in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, that word is the same as holy, you could just say called to be holy, with all that in every place, called upon the name of Jesus Christ our

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Lord, both theirs and ours. Isn't it fascinating that the scripture speaks to the carnal church and says they are already holy?

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Well, this is what we call positional holiness. This type of holiness cannot be changed by the believer.

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It is not caused by the believer in the first place. It is a result of what

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Jesus Christ has done on the cross, the blood that he shed on the cross, the fact that he is resurrected from that grave, and the fact that he ascended to heaven and presented that blood before the throne of God on your behalf, and therefore you have a position of being holy.

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That's why it says you're holy in Christ Jesus. There are some other examples of this positional holiness.

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Remember when you think of the word positional, it means you can't change it. However you act today and what you think today will not change your holiness in this aspect of it as it is taught under this category in the

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Bible, because you have to understand you didn't make yourself holy in the first place when we're talking about positional holiness.

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1 Corinthians 6, 11 says, and such were some of you, but now you are washed, you are sanctified holy, but you are justified in the name of the

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Lord, in other words, because of his name and the fact that the Father has given you to him as a love gift, and by the

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Spirit of our God. It is not by the works of our flesh, it is by the Spirit of our God.

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So positional holiness comes because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

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It is a present possession, you already own it, therefore you are holy in this sense.

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It is paired with the concept of cleansing and justification. It deals with a position that you already possess of being in Jesus Christ our

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Lord, and it deals with power because you have it by the Holy Spirit, not by any works of the flesh.

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Ephesians 4, 24 says, and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

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Now these are some scriptures in your Bible that deal with the concept of positional holiness.

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Positional holiness means it's something that cannot be taken away from the believer. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10 says, by the which will we are, circle the word are again, this means you already have it, it's present tense.

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Some of you looking around, is that the trumpet? Let's hope not because we're all still here.

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I think it'll be louder than that one anyway. Hebrews 10, 10, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

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You see how positional holiness cannot be changed by you or me. It is once and for all.

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Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering he hath perfected how long forever them that are, circle the word are, sanctified.

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Now this discusses the topic of positional holiness. Now in the Bible there are many verses that deal with experiential or experimental holiness.

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I'm just going to give you a couple. In Romans chapter 6, starting in verse 1 going through 15, you can find a lot written about this.

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It means this, that we are in fact to reckon it to be true that our position is one of holiness.

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That we are the children of the holy God. And that because he is holy and that we have touched the

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Lord Jesus Christ by faith, who is our altar, we are in fact holy.

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And the experiential part comes by reckoning that to be true. If Satan comes to you and lies to you and says your old man needs to rise up and control you again.

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That you can't have control over the old sin habits you had before salvation. And that in fact you might not even really be saved.

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If Satan comes to you and tells you that, you just tell him he's a liar from the beginning. A liar and a murderer from the beginning.

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And tell him that's not what my Lord said about that. My Lord said by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

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Forever and ever we have been perfected, devil. And let him deal with that.

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But the truth is in reckoning it to be so, that's where the experiential part comes. That's where some of the scriptures teach us to be holy.

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And lays it within our realm of choices to choose to follow the

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Lord. And walk in the spirit on a given day at a given time. And let's see a couple of those

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Romans chapter 6 verse 4. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death.

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That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so we also should walk in newness of life.

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We should, that implies we might not, but we ought to. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

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It goes on and says that henceforth we should not serve sin.

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Verse 11 down there says likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.

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But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.

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Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness. These are commands given to us by the

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Lord. They are based on positional righteousness. He says since you were placed into Christ.

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Since you were buried in Christ. Before that you died in Christ. Your sins were in his body on the tree.

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You were buried and then you raised with him when he came out of that grave. You are risen.

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Because of that neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness any longer.

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Base it upon your position. You have the position. It is true God says so. Satan says not.

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Who do you believe? If you believe God then you are doing the reckoning. Reckon it to be so he says.

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Rise up and live as one who is already dead. Did you know sin cannot affect a dead man? Try it sometime.

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Next time you see one brother Roger. You seem to come into contact with him more than us. But flash a pack of cigarettes in front of him next time.

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After he is dead and see if he goes after him. He won't do it. We are dead.

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We are crucified. We are dead to sin ladies and gentlemen.

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The next time Satan tries to tempt you. Tell him that part of me is dead.

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Go away. But you know what? We are risen. As true as it is that that tomb was empty on this resurrection morn.

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When the ladies went in and looked. And when Peter outran John. And looked inside there and it was empty.

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And I myself have been there twice. And looked in there and folks it is empty. As sure as it is empty and he is risen.

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You are risen in Christ. And you have the power. You have the resurrection power. To say no to sin.

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And to say yes to following the Lord Jesus Christ. And to living experientially.

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Holyly. Do you like that word? I knew I was in trouble when I said experientially. I knew I was in trouble.

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Holyly. You can live a holy life. Now there is one other beautiful verse about this.

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In 1 John 3. Every man that hath this hope in him. That is the positional part.

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Purify himself. Even as he already is pure. Do you see both working together?

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He is already pure positionally. He has been touched with that coal. He has touched the altar. He has the touch of Jesus on his life.

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And he is born again. And he has that already. Every man that has this hope should purify himself.

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That is the experiential part. That is when you wake up today. You decide how you are going to walk.

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You decide am I going to believe Satan. Who says my flesh is alive and serve that. Or am I going to believe the Lord. Who says it is crucified in Christ and I am risen.

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And I have the power to live for him. Who are you going to believe? The Bible says if you have the hope.

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Then you ought to purify yourself. You ought to go before that altar of the Lord. You ought to have a time where.

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You sing some of these hymns by yourself. To the Lord. Or you write your own. And have a new song in your heart to the

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Lord. And you sing out as David did. And you praise him and you worship him. And you thank him for where you were.

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And where you are. And for what his son Jesus has done for you. And for the death and the burial. And the resurrection power.

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The fact that I have a holy place in Christ. Therefore I can live a holy life today.

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And if you walked out the door singing that. How would you do? You would do about as well as you are doing right now.

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Which is the goal. To get you to do this well. Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And I say you.

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I mean us. I'm talking about me too. I think many, many times when I'm out in the week.

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And you know that I'm. I don't know what the world. I don't know what I am really different.

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A little bit different. I also work. And have a job. I'm not a full time preacher in that sense.

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I am a full time preacher. I didn't say that right. I've been a full time preacher for 22 years.

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But I do work for a living. I don't take a salary from this church. So I'm out there in the world.

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Just like you men are. And I work out there. And so sometimes.

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I have times when I think to myself. I wish right now. That I could feel.

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The power of God. Like I do when I'm with the brothers and sisters. On Sunday morning. In that place.

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Where we're protected by these walls. Well now we can do that. But we have to be walking in the

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Lord to do it. That is the goal of today. Is to get us to the place where tomorrow.

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And Tuesday and Wednesday. As we're out there in this world. Where God has placed us to minister. That we still have that power.

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That's what this day is all about. In many, many ways. And then the

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Bible speaks of a third kind. And not only positional holiness. And experiential holiness. But ultimate holiness.

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Romans chapter 8 verse 29. Says. For whom he did foreknow.

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He also did predestinate. To be conformed to the image. Of his son that he might be the first born.

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Among many brethren. We will be conformed. Into the image of Jesus Christ. Who is holy.

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We are being conformed. Into that image. And we shall be. First John chapter 3 verse 1 says.

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Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. That we should be called the sons of God.

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Therefore the world knoweth us not. Because it knew him not. Beloved now are we the sons of God.

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And it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when we see him. We shall be like him.

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For we shall see him as he is. That's future. That's ultimate.

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That's when this flesh. Of body that you still live in. It will be raptured.

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It will be changed in the air. It will be made where it doesn't pull against. What you want to do for God.

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In your relationship with the Lord. In any sense at all. That's ultimate holiness. So the

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Bible speaks. Of positional holiness. Experiential holiness. And ultimate holiness.

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I'd like for you. To. Go to Deuteronomy passage now. That I mentioned earlier.

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While you're. Getting to that place. It's actually Deuteronomy chapter 6.

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In verse 18. I want to read to you a verse. From Leviticus chapter 20.

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In verse 26. It says and ye shall be holy unto me. For I the Lord am holy.

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And have severed you. From other people. That you should be mine.

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While you think about that word severed. For a few moments. And the purpose of the severing.

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Is so that you might be God's. Now with that in mind. Let's go into this

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Deuteronomy passage. And I want to spend.

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The rest of the little bit of time. That we have on experiential holiness. Day to day holiness.

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Choosing to live in Christ. Rather than to walk in the flesh. Deuteronomy chapter 6.

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Verse 18. Please follow along with me. And thou shalt do that which is right. And good in the sight of the

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Lord. That it may be well with thee. And that thou mayest go in.

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And possess the good land. Which the Lord swear unto thy fathers. And I'm going to read.

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Verse 25. We're going to go through some more of these. But this verse fits right here.

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And it shall be our righteousness. If we observe to do all these commandments. Before the

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Lord our God. As he hath commanded us. Now stop a moment and think with me. What those two verses just said.

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Verse 18 says. And thou shalt do. That which is right. And good in the sight of the

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Lord. That it may be well with thee. And that thou may goest into the promised land. That's what it says.

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Now the first point is. If we're going to talk about experiential righteousness. And if we're going to teach this to our children.

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This is pretty well. A powerful universal. Exhortation. It simply says do that which is right.

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And good in the sight of the Lord. Is that not a good statement? Would that not be a good place to start.

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If we're going to talk about. Experiential righteousness. Which means living a righteous holy life.

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Do that which is right. And good in the sight of the Lord. That it may go well with thee. Now there is a difference though.

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Between us on this side of the cross. And them in the Old Testament. Because notice it says.

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Do right. And good in the sight of the Lord. That thou mayest go in and possess the good land.

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Know what the difference is? We do not do right. That we might possess the land.

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We possess the land. That we might do right. We do not observe the commandments.

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For righteousness. As they did. But because of his righteousness in us.

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We have a great advantage. Over the Old Testament saint. In practical holy living.

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And yet wouldn't you say. As we read the Old Testament. We feel that they were more holy. They had lived a more holy life.

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Than we do. As you look at the American church today. And yet we have the advantage.

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We don't have to do right. In order to get there. We. When we are born again.

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We are brought into the promised land. And we have then the ability to do right. It's reversed.

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Turn to John chapter 17. And realize. That in this passage.

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The very next chapter. Verse 18. Talks about going into Gethsemane.

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It talks about Jesus. Facing the cross. And these were his last.

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Some of his last words really. As far as any.

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Amount. Of information that we hear. Before he goes. To be judged and to go to the cross.

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And look what it's all about. The entire chapter is a prayer. The entire chapter.

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From verse 1 through the end. Is Jesus praying. And what we are talking about here.

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In this passage. Is the fact that we are already. In the promised land. And that's what causes us to be able to do right.

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It's not the other way around. You'll see that throughout this. These words speak Jesus. And lifted up his eyes to heaven.

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And said father. The hour has come glorify thy son. That thy son also may be glorified.

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As thou hast given him power over all flesh. That he should give eternal life.

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To as many as thou hast given him. And this life. This is eternal life.

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This is what eternal life is. That they may know thee the only true God. In Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

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To be able to know God. Is eternal life. Many people across this world.

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Think that they know him. They know him by different names. Such as Buddha or Mohammed.

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But Jesus said the fact is. Eternal life is knowing. The true God. I have.

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He says. And this life is eternal life. That they may know thee the only true God. In Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

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The Greek word for sent. Literally means set apart. I have glorified thee on the earth.

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I have finished the work. Jesus said. Which thou gavest me to do.

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You see that's what reversed it. That's why we don't go out. And do right. We don't try to live holy.

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In order to make it into the promised land. Of victorious Christian living. It's reversed. Jesus finished the work on the cross.

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The work has been finished. Which not only propitiated. God's need for justice.

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And wrath against sin. But it also brought us. To the place of reconciliation. And the finished work of cross.

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Brought us to the place of redemption. Where we were set free. By the price that he prayed.

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Of paid and taken out of the slave market. Of sin. All of this was accomplished for us.

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He finished the work. And now oh father glorify thou me. With thine own self. With the glory which

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I had with thee. Before the world was. This entire passage of scripture.

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Deals with the fact. That you have the choice. Every day of your life. As a born again believer.

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To wake up and say. I will walk in the promised land today. That I might do right.

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Before the Lord. Our promised land. I'm going to sort of summarize this passage.

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For sake of time. But it goes all the way on down through verse 26. But our promised land. Our victory.

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Our separation from Egypt if you will. First of all was a gift. That's shown in verse 2.

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That he should give eternal life to as many. As God has given to him. Secondly.

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This promised land that we have. Is to know the only true God. Do you realize how many people.

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That you rub elbows with every day. Don't know him. They think they do. They've heard about him somewhere. They don't have a personal relationship with him.

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But you do. What an advantage. What an advantage in trying to do right tomorrow.

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The fact that you know. The true God. And then our promised land.

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Includes the fact. That he's finished the work. He said I have finished the work. In verse 4. Jesus has done everything that it takes.

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To get you and me to heaven. He's done everything it takes.

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When he came out of that grave. In power. And we are in Christ. He's done everything that it takes.

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For us to have the power to resist sin. And to be delivered. It is finished.

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It is something that we already have. It's a present possession. We then see.

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In verses 5 and 6. That our promised land was reserved. From before the foundation of the world.

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And presented to us. By the eternal son of God. Glorify thou me.

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With thine own self. With the glory which I had with thee. Before the world was.

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I have manifested thy name. And to the men which thou gavest me of the world. Thine they were. Thou gavest them to me.

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And they have kept thy word. And then we see that. Our promised land includes the fact.

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That we now have the ability. To receive his word. Do you remember a time when you couldn't? Can you remember a time when you tried reading the bible.

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Or tried sitting in a Sunday school class. Or hearing preaching. It meant nothing to you. I hope there's no one like that in the room today.

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But if there is. Salvation will go a long way. Towards taking care of that problem. The moment you are born again.

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And the living God comes to live in your body. And your body becomes the temple. Of him.

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And the holy spirit. The great teacher begins to teach you his word. It just comes alive. So we have the ability to receive his word.

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Our promised land includes. The fact that Jesus. Is praying for us.

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With prayers of intercession. This whole chapter is such a prayer. But he says

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I pray not. For the world. Now the church today doesn't understand that. The Armenian church today.

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Believes just like the sign says. At the church I pass every day. So I memorize them.

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And by the time he changes them. I have them in my head and I can't get rid of them. He said Jesus loves you no matter what you do.

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Well maybe so. Maybe not. Depending on the context. But I don't think that's the most appropriate thing.

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To be written on the sign. I guess it is better. Than what was there last time when he said.

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God is cool and Satan is bad. But and that's the pastor right.

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And I was up there but. The point is. That. Jesus. Is interceding for us.

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In heaven. He says I pray not. For the world. But for them which thou.

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Has given me. So I suppose it matters. If you're one of God's sheep.

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Or not when you drive by the sign. And read it. If you happen to be a goat and you read it.

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And it says Jesus loves you no matter what you do. It's a lie. Now he goes on and he says.

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I pray not for the world. But for them which thou has given me. Do you know there are a certain number.

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Of people. That God the father has given to Jesus Christ. As a love gift.

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For they are thine. Jesus says they are yours father. And all mine are thine.

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And thine are mine. And I am glorified. In them. He is praying for us.

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He is at the right hand of the father. Right now. Praying on your behalf. And mine.

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And if that's not enough. Our promised land includes the fact in verses 10 and 11. That we are kept safe.

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By Jesus. He said when I was here. I kept them in thine name. Those that thou gavest me

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I have kept. And none of them is lost. Then he prayed and says.

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Father if I'm not here. Would you keep them. Kind of reminds me of John chapter 10. Where Jesus said you're in the father's hand.

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And you're in my hand. And I and the father are one. You're pretty safe. You're ultimately safe.

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In that position. And then our promised land includes the fact.

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That we have the separation of joy. Even in a world. Where we are hated. Jesus said these things

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I speak in the world. That they might have my joy. Fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word.

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And the world hath hated them. Because they are not of the world. Even as I am out of the world.

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That's your position of holiness. You're not of the world. You have been severed. From this world.

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And brought unto your father. Placed in a group. Of his children. The family and household of God.

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We are kept from evil. And from the evil one. And God's word sanctifies us.

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Jesus said as he continued his prayer. In verses 16 and 17. They are not of the world. Even as I am not of the world.

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But that thou should keep them from evil. Or from the evil one. Sanctify them by thy truth.

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Thy word is truth. Do we realize this morning. How much this book.

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Plays a role. In experiential holiness. Bless you. A lot of us have it.

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You need to get in the singing group. You know how much this book plays.

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In experiential holiness. You could practically say this.

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For those of you who know a little bit of math. Your experiential holiness. Is directly proportional.

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To the amount of time you spend in this book. All other things being equal. Now it has to be time.

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Where the Holy Spirit is teaching. And where you're in the Lord. And you're trying to learn. And you're reading the book. You're in fellowship with the

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Lord. And you're in the book. There is a direct proportionality there.

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Those who spend more time. With other brothers and sisters. Discussing the things of the Lord. I'm not saying that you just go around.

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That's all you talk about. But I am saying this. That in all of what you talk about. He comes into play. In your conversation.

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With your brothers and sisters. I'm not saying use religious jargon. Amen brother.

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Hallelujah. You don't have to do all that. I don't see Jesus talking that way. He just talked like a normal man.

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But I'm just saying that. As we go in and out together. Can we not notice the sunrise.

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And the sunset. And the pictures that he paints. And the clouds and the stars. That he threw out into heaven.

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And then put them into perfect order. Can we not notice the little child. That we might be holding on our lap.

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And their little fingers. Little toes. The incredible brain that's there.

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Developing. All that this marvelous designer. The Lord Jesus Christ has made.

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Can we not speak of those things together. Those who do such things. And who are in the word.

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Those are the ones who have. A more experiential. Holy life. You know why?

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Because those things. Jesus said very clearly. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.

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The word of God continues to set you apart. And to sever you even more.

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From the world. It's an ongoing process of growth. Our holy land.

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Includes the fact. That we are sanctified. And set apart to be holy. That we may be sent out.

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With the glorious gospel. You know that's a great purpose. For our holiness. Experiential holiness is very very important.

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When it comes to our testimony. Now the Lord knows. That we will not be sinless in this life.

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That's ultimate holiness. But he has. First John 1 .9 in there.

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Very plain for us. It's the most simple verse in the bible. And the most unbelieved verse. Very few people.

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Sitting in this room this morning. Really truly believe. That when you sin. That if you confess that sin to the Lord. And agree with him.

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How wretched it was. And you name it. That he is faithful. Which means he'll do it every time.

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And just. Which means it's right for him to do it. To forgive you of that sin. And to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

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So that you're just as clean as you were. The moment you were born again. Very few of us believe that verse. And Satan knows that.

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And he comes to you and talks about your filth. And your dirtiness. And the fact that you didn't pray enough. Today or yesterday or all week.

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You weren't in the word enough. You weren't this that and the other. And so therefore you don't deserve a relationship with God. And can't have one.

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It's all a lie. It's all a lie from hell. And so God has given the provision. And the precious blood of Jesus.

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And the example he gave. When he washed their feet. Come to me let me wash your feet. Peter said no you won't wash mine. He said then you'll have no part with me.

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Peter said wash all of me. He said no I'll correct you again Peter. You don't have to be washed all. Because you saved once.

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I'm going to die once forever. For all your sins. But you will get your feet dirty in this world. And let me wash them.

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That's 1 John 1 9. And the whole thing is to guard. And protect our testimony.

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So that we may take the glorious gospel out. And give it in power. And people don't say well I saw where you were last week.

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Why should I believe that? I saw what you were doing last week. Why should I believe that?

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You're not living any different. Than anybody around me who claims to be lost. What do you know of God?

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That's exactly how they think. The world knows more how we ought to live. Than we do. And boy when we get outside of their preconceived notions.

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Of how a Christian ought to live. They won't listen to us anymore many times. So we need this experiential holiness.

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And in verse 18. It says very carefully. I mean very precisely. As thou hast sent me.

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As. As thou hast sent me into the world. Even so have I also sent them.

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The Greek word sent means set apart. That's what holiness means. Do you know that you can't be sent with the gospel.

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If you're not set apart. You have to be holy. Or it. Just disintegrates in your hand.

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As thou hast sent me. Into the world. Even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes

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I sanctify myself. That's Jesus saying I have experiential holiness too. I'm not just relying.

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On the deity part. He said I'm also relying. On the being filled with the Holy Spirit part.

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And walking a clean life. Being tempted in all points. Even as we. And yet without sin.

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So he says right here. For their sakes I sanctify myself. There are some things

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Jesus. Did not partake of that he perhaps could have. But he did not. For our sakes.

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Lest no one would stumble. That they also might be sanctified. Through the truth.

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So we're supposed to follow that example. And then this passage in verse 21.

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Talks about another beautiful thing. About our promised land that we live in. That causes us to be able to do right.

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Verse 21 and following. Gives a five fold. Likeness that we have to Jesus.

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Just as Jesus. Has these things. We have these things. And you can read it for yourself.

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But the list is this. The same unity. That Jesus has with the father. We have with each other and with the father.

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And with Jesus. The same glory. That Jesus was glorified with. When we are in Christ.

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We have that glory. The same completion. That Jesus Christ has.

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Being one with the father. We have that oneness. We are in him. He is in the father.

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He is in us. The father is in us. And this is the most remarkable part. Of this whole passage.

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Because it says in verse 23. I in them and thou in me.

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That they may be made perfect. In other words mature. In one. And that the world may know.

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That thou has sent me. Now look at this. And has loved them as. Now circle the word as.

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As thou. Has loved me. Can this be true. Jesus says.

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As you. The father loved. The only begotten son. You love them that same way.

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Well it has to be. There is only one kind of. Love with God. And that is agape. And he is that.

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He is love. But some of us. Don't spend a great deal of time. Realizing that the same unity.

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Jesus had with the father we have. The same glory Jesus had. In the presence of the father. We have and shall have.

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The same completeness and oneness. That he had with the father we now have. The same love.

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That God had for his son. He has for you right now. Here today.

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And not only that. But the same position. Five things. Unity, glory, completion, love.

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And the same position at the throne. The father has given to the son. And then to us.

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Because we were in the son. What a promised land. We have. And the last verse.

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May be the most remarkable of all. Verse 26 says. And I have declared unto them thy name.

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And look at this little phrase. And will declare it. That the love.

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Wherewith thou hast loved me. May be in them. And I in them. He has and always will.

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Declare. The father. To us. He has already declared him to us.

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Or we wouldn't be saved. We heard it when he did it. We were given ears that hear.

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But he says he will always declare. You realize that word declare means. That he will manifest the father to us.

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Always. His express image of his person. We possess the land.

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That we may do right. And we are made holy. We don't have any excuse to do it.

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We weren't given a bunch of commandments. That said now keep those. Keep those so they may do well with you.

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We actually had those. That very righteousness. Placed within our heart and soul. At the moment of salvation.

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And the Holy Spirit God himself. Sealed within our very heart. And soul at the moment of salvation.

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And all of these things. That Jesus talked about in this whole chapter. Of John chapter 17. That's our promised land.

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We're already in. Let's stand in that prayer together.

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Father we thank you this morning. For the resurrection power. We thank you that it is in all of us.

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Who belong to you. Lord we ask you. To manifest that power in our lives.

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As we go out from this place. Cause us. To be set apart.

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And sent. With the precious gospel. When we give portions of it to people.

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That the power of God would be there. And it would change their life. One way or the other. Forever.

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Lord we pray for you to be with us. During our time of fellowship. Our evening service. And ask that you bless our meal together as well.