Christ Holiness Within Us

It's the second part to the message that I just preached on this series, the idea of God making us holy and how he does that. And with this, I wanted to focus today on particularly on Christ within us. I touched on that in the last message and there was just several different things I don't feel I came to. I'd also like to take us to looking at the early Christian view of this and how the early Christians walked through this, but I'm not going to get to that probably today. So today I'm going to focus again on the concept of Christ holiness within us and what that means. So again, if you wouldn't mind, just to help gather my scattered thoughts, do you mind just allow me to pray again as we get through these different distractions of these technical things. So let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, and I do just pray that you would be with me throughout all these different distractions and these different things, God, and help me to present this message and to glorify you for all that you want it to be. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. So there's a story that I felt I was going to tell about my journey in walking in holiness and walking in sanctification. And I don't have a lot of these types of events that happen in my life. It's a very spiritual, very tender, a thing in my life that happened. But when I was coming about 15 years ago, 20 years ago, perhaps close to it, when I was moving to Pennsylvania from Texas, we had gone through as a family a lot of different transitions. And as I was going through that, I was remember really struggling with this concept of my own righteousness and my own holiness. And it's sort of like what Nathan was sharing today in his message about this. And when you begin to look at the early Christians and understand that God does require a holy life, it confronts you. Did you get it? Thank you. Thank you, Christian. It's very shocking in some ways when you realize this, particularly when you were raised as an evangelical and you come to this, it becomes something that's, I don't know, it's just very challenging. And as I began to walk through that and walk through the different ramifications of what that meant, I just felt that I was not able to add up to this. And I began to just sort of spiral further and further down. Again, it was very much like what Nathan was sharing there. And I remember a moment where I was focusing on Christ and getting my attention off of myself onto Christ. And there was a particular devotion I was going through in the morning devotion, and I think it was an Andrew Murray 30-day thing on a focus on being in the vine or something like that. I remember it was something that went through each day. And in this particular passage that I was part of the morning devotion, it was focusing on Christ before the throne, interceding on our behalf for our holiness. And then it took it to this last verse in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, that Christ is our sanctification, that Christ himself is our justification, that it is him. And something about that, and I don't know what it is. And again, I don't have this all the time, but this is one of the more significant moments in my life. I got to a place in prayer that I literally was thinking, I've never been here before. I've never experienced this kind of a concept of being before the throne, allowing Christ to be in me in this way. And there was a special and a sweetness to this that I, I don't know, it's hard to explain it. I don't know, the time seemed to go, and I remember being late to work. I remember it was snowing. And suddenly I remember thinking, oh no, I'm going to be late to work. And I don't know how much time actually lapsed, but I came out of that and I, you know, kind of shook myself and I went to work and just lived my day. And as I thought back to that moment, there's something in that, that I realized there's this, this balance in living a life of holiness, that God does genuinely require us to be holy. And we see that in scripture and in many of us kingdom Christians and people that have come to this and read the early church, we see that in it and it's terrifying. It's literally terrifying at times when you realize that and you see God's holy standards and you see the saints of old. But then somehow in the midst of this, being able to apprehend at least a portion of it, that it is Christ that will do this in me, that it is his interceding on my behalf. It is partaking of Christ within me that this holiness of this, this sanctified life that Christ requires would be possible. And that moment has given me a lot of strength and it's actually, it's become kind of, when I go to pray, I have an image in my mind of this, this place of intercession of Christ interceding for us and it becomes very dear to me. And so I want to talk today about this concept in particular, Christ within us in our sanctification, the presence of Christ in our sanctification. And so just a quick summary of what we've covered so far in this little series. It's not like I went out to start a series, but this is different sermons and I'm not sure how many of this will go to, but I think this is the third, if I can recall. I talked about the idea of the word holy and how God, Hadash in the Hebrew, it literally means this, this concept of being, of being separate, of, of not being like us, of something particular, something special and that God himself, it says three times singing around him, holy, holy, holy, that God is holy, that he's completely not like us. And in this desire that who God is, he wants us to be holy. And so I've thought of, I ponder this concept of in our day and age, how cheapen, how, how, how light we make of this idea. And we think, well, everything is holy and in modern evangelicalism and this type of thing, you know what? Anything can be holy. We don't need sanctuaries. We don't need these things. And, but we must be careful. And I wrote these two things. If everything is holy, then by definition, nothing is holy because nothing is, is separate and called on purpose for God's glory. And then, and also the point, and I'm going to get to this mainly in our last passage with, with worship, just because everything can be holy, we can meet anywhere we can do, you know, it doesn't mean that everything is holy and that this process of purposely setting aside a worship and a life to God and how important it is. I talked about the different views of God and how this one over here is a proper way that God is not part of us. Now he's close. This isn't like distance. It's not that God is distant from us. He's very close to us, but he's by nature, nothing like us. And these different views of God, I talked about that particularly in the first, in the first episode. But in that, that way, he makes through the incarnation of Jesus Christ and through his grace, through sacraments and through this, his pouring out of his grace, he, he ministers to us by grace, what he is by nature, this, this beautiful part of what God is. And so I talked about that it was one of the things that kingdom people like us usually come to, comes to realize, and it causes a light bulb to come on is, is when you start to realize that a lot of Paul's letter are arguing about the Gentiles coming into the covenant and when particularly dealing with circumcision. And when we deal with that, we kind of get this kingdom epiphany, I call it where, you know, things, your whole Bible begins to look different in so many ways. You start to see the kingdom in the old Testament and into the new Testament into and into revelation and how powerful that is. And but then sometimes with this, I find it, we have to be careful in our kingdom and Anabaptist type circles is that sometimes in our zeal for this, there's sort of what I call a kingdom reductionism, that we understand these things superficially and doctrines like salvation, atonement. And, and we almost, you end up hearing amongst our people a legalistic or sarcastic in, in way. And we have to be very careful that there's, there's a depth to these things. And there's, there's a something to this that's this powerful. I looked at, I'm not going to do a lot of early church today, but I'm going to probably do that in the next one. But I took to us how even in the early church that we see in the from origin in particular, how he spoke of salvation by faith and how even would use the terminology, although we wouldn't, he used the terminology of faith alone and understood in the way the early Christians understand that it's, it's a powerful concept because it's not just a theological subject. It's not just an empty mental game, but it's a life of faith that's genuine and faithfulness as the, as the Greek would show that in origin, I showed in the other, in the other messages, how he says this does not give us an excuse and a license to sin. And so as we look at sanctification today in this the other thing that I showed in the other episodes, that human effort is not bad. It is actually expected as we see through the, through all the scriptures and through all the early church. And you see this in so many different ones. And even you see this when you read, it's funny when I read like Puritan writings, even though by their theology, they would say they would not believe this. And they have some really funny views on, on human effort and such, but coming out of those ones that really seem to know God, they just can't help but realize we must be holy. And it's, it's, it's, it's something that's very, it terrifies us in a way without the grace of God. We saw that we also saw in the other messages that God cares about our works on Judgment Day and that God accomplishes all these things in our life. That is the working of the Holy Spirit and sanctification by his grace. We looked at grace reductionism and then we talked about the idea of grace as a gift. And even that our capitalistic understanding of gift is wrong and that in other cultures and particularly in the culture of their day, a gift is something you circled. It went around a circle, just like I showed a picture of a peace pipe here that you don't just take it and put it in your car and say, oh, this is mine. You would share that in your community and it's something that's, that's very powerful and tender. And then also, of course, this concept that grace is power. And we come to this passage that for the grace of God that bring us salvation has appeared to all men. And this is what grace does, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. And I shared and preached on this passage. So this part that I'm going to focus on, this part that I don't know that I'm I try to find the words to explain a little bit of what happened to me and understand my life and what I try to come back to when I lose my way. Is Christ within us and how this is discussed, you know, when you look at the different, this is not me, this is many people talk about this, the difference between the Greek mind and the Jewish mind. And this is a common theme in theology is to look at those different things. And if there's one thing I think that is needs to be understood about the Greek mind and the biblical Hebrew mind that they would have come out of, is this idea of separating a mental thought from a whole life of action. And we're looking at these different passages here that men create, men, the Greek mind usually thinks of ideas of, I mean, as faith, as just ideas, as mental constructs, as just different things, as a concentration on the individual. And the Hebrew idea, it was walking, it was following after, it was a life, it was it had to do with community and action. Let's see what this does here. I'm going to have to do this, I can't read my slides because my screen's a little broken, if you don't mind. And so the early church took these Hebrew concepts, these Jewish concepts and brought them into the Greek world. And they wrote, they talked about these things and they tried to do this. And when you read their writings, you can see these two worlds contrasting in a way that I think is powerful. And so I might be able to present some of this. I'm going to show you some, just a few quotes that I got from the early church about this. Here's one by Clement of Alexandria. He says, those who are particular about words and devote their time to them, miss the point of the whole picture. And Clement is arguing that if it's just a theology in your head, now keep in mind, Clement of Alexandria was a kind of a philosopher himself. I mean, he had a whole school and he taught a lot, but he says that if this just exists in your mind, then you're not getting the whole picture. Another one by Justin Martyr. And he says here that the matter of religion lies in works, not in words. And this idea that we must see these things in our life. And then I love this one by Mark Felix, who was in this debate and how he frames this idea of the meaning and what our faith should be like. And he says this, Mark Felix in his debate, he said this. He says, we despise the bent brows of the philosophers. In other words, that idea of the philosophers looking down on you and looking very scary and that kind of a thing. We despise the bent brows of the philosophers because we know them to be corruptors, adulterers, and tyrants. They have great eloquence, but they're speaking against vices that they themselves live in. We on the other hand, who do not carry our wisdom in our clothes, but in our minds don't speak great things, we live them. We boast that we have found what they have sought for with the utmost eagerness, but have not been able to find. I love that quote. It's a beautiful idea. Let's see if I can make this a bit bigger. Yeah, it's a little bigger. And so this idea that they were talking about, when you read the early church, when you read them in this, is this idea that Christ is in me, the hope of glory. And I'm going to talk about this. You know, one of the passages that I grew up with a lot from the evangelical background is from this 1 Corinthians 2. And the passage here is, for I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And you know, it's amazing when this passage is frequently given, that it's given in such a way that we just focus on Christ crucified, but it's really a powerful passage. And I think that it's important for us to get that Paul made a specific point. I'm coming here to preach to you Jesus Christ. And if there's anything that I want to leave with you this evening, if there's anything that I really want you to understand is that our faith, our life, our sanctification, our church, our relationship with others must be in the very person of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus is the answer to these things. It is Jesus Christ, not just some theology. And so he comes here to preach. I know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. When we look at this idea of this Christ within me, we see that over 70 times in the scriptures, over 70 times in the scriptures, we get this concept of Christ in me. We also get this idea of we in Christ. But this concept, we don't need to just quickly brush over because the early church understood their salvation in this way. I believe the biblical writers understood their salvation in this way because it's not, you see, getting a aha. It's not just understanding it or some kind of theological thing. It is literally having Jesus Christ within us. This this presence of God and not just a theological construct. And so union with God in Christ is both the means and the motive for attaining this perfection in Christ. And we see this in this concept of God within us. One of the passages that I look to and that I just ponder, ponder this passage again. I mean, it's it's it's crazy powerful when you think of the words that are that are mentioned here in this passage. Second, Peter one, verse four, chapter one, verse four. Think of it as a new and this concept that we're trying to focus tonight on Christ within us. And he said this by which you have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises. We've given these promises of the scriptures that through these those promises of God that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now, I want you to see something in this passage that that Peter is wanting us to understand that by the promises of God, by the scriptures and what we read about about God, we get to partake of the divine nature. But notice it's not just some mental trip. It's not just something that we have some something. Then that divine nature causes us to escape the corruption that's in the world. This presence of Christ within us is real enough to act in us in such a way that prevents us from that, that allows us to to be free from these, the corruption that's in this world through lust. In Romans chapter seven, eight, excuse me, Romans chapter eight, verse seven. See if I can move this. There we go. There's this beautiful passage. And again, one of the things that I've been amazed that just recently we've been looking at as we've been looking at some of these scriptures and it went right with Nathan's devotion this evening. Brother Finney's also been going through this assurance of salvation series, and I love this part that he's bringing in there that and it's very important that assurance of salvation is part of the inheritance of what we're supposed to have as a Christian and that we shouldn't live in fear, that there should be something real inside of us that is part of our inheritance. And as he's been preaching through that series, I've been thinking how in my series also that I'm going through here and how important this this this concept is in Romans chapter eight, verse seven and starting at verse seven. Read these passages with me again. If you have your Bibles and let's look at this in Romans chapter eight, verse seven, it says, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You know, it is amazing to me that in America today, there's so much of Christianity has come to the feeling that we can just go on living a carnal life when it is so clear. And it's amazing to me that Romans is so frequently used to defend this this evil practice. But Romans gives it to us in such a beautiful way, because, again, just like Peter did, it's Christ within us, but that it's real and it's active. He goes on in verse nine. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. So let me ask you all here that are sitting here tonight, everyone look at me. Do you have the spirit of God in you like what Paul is talking about here? He's saying this, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. It's a very important question because he goes on to say, now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ. He is not his. This is not just a theological idea. This is not just some club we join. It's communion. It's relationship with Christ. In a real way, and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he will he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. I see in that passage there this idea of a living a holy life, and he's giving us an incredible inheritance. He's saying that the same spirit, the same power that came and raised Jesus from the dead inside of us will cause us and quicken us in a life of holiness. And he goes on and says, therefore, brother, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And then here's the powerful passage for as many as are led by the spirit of God. These are the sons of God. I mean, say it again. I know you've heard this passage so many times. But don't let it become too familiar for as many as are led by the spirit of God. That word led is like it's driving. It's a passion. The Greek word there is the concept of driving you forward for as many as are driven forth by the spirit of God. These are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you receive the spirit of adoption by whom you cry, Abba, Father, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and of children than heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, we may also be glorified together. I brought up this analogy or this story at the end of one of Brother Finney when he spoke on this passage and the assurance of salvation. I'll bring it here because it's a different whole sermon series. There's this incredible story where John Wesley is on as a missionary going to America, going to Georgia, and he's an Anglican priest at the time, not converted by his own statements in his journal. And he's in there. He goes through what people think is a hurricane. When you read his actual journal, he just talks about this great tempest, this great storm. And it's so bad that the main mast of the ship cracks over and falls into the ship. And you can imagine, I mean, I would be terrified, I have to confess. And he was there and he was witnessing all this. And they're in the middle of, I guess, the Atlantic Ocean. And as the middle of the ocean, this going through a hurricane, the entire main mast sails. And he looks over, though, and these Moravians were singing and praising God. And he looked and he saw even their children were singing and praising God. So afterwards, the fire, the hurricane is over. He goes and he speaks to Bishop Spangenberg and he said, I got to talk to you. How, how did you go through all that and keep singing to God? How? And as he writes this in his journal and Bishop Spangenberg, he saw this and he realized that there was something lacking in John Wesley's life. And he said to him. Does the spirit of Christ dwell within you, does your spirit bear witness with God's spirit that you are a child of God? And he, John Wesley, writes in his journal that he said something just sort of, you know, sort of light and everything. And he's and he goes on, but he said that he believed that Bishop Spangenberg saw through him. And that that's set with John Wesley. It's it it ate away at him, that his his faith was artificial. He had a mental faith. He later writes that this was like a demonic faith. It was it was just a faith in creeds, a faith in mind. But there was not a presence of Christ within him and that he lacked that. And so this passage that that I brought up, this analogy again is, as you see the picture there of the candle, everybody put your kind of imagine there that you're like that picture there. And if we could do this with an analogy here, I'll I'll I'll present this. So, you know, with this, this idea that the glow is on the hand there and that that presence of that glow is there only when it's when it's when it's the the candle is lit. And this passage, as I ponder here, is this is the one that that came to me in that in that moment of prayer in First Corinthians one twenty nine that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ Jesus? Listen to that. But of him, are you in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom? This is like in Proverbs, we see that that wisdom has this has found a house. Christ is that wisdom, Christ and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that as it is written, he who glories let him glory in the Lord. This this idea in theology and it just drives me crazy sometimes that of separating and siloing these different portions of theology. You have your justification, your sanctification and your glorification, and people have these different silos and different theological points. But all of this First Corinthians one twenty nine and 30 is telling us. It's Christ, Christ is our wisdom, Christ is our justification, Christ is our sanctification, and you can't have that. You can't have any of those things, justification, wisdom in any way like that. So like this picture here again, I go. Oh, well, in that picture. In this picture, if you could imagine the hand there now blow out the candle, but keep the glow. Go ahead. Try it. See the hand there, blow out that candle, but I want you to keep the glow on your hand. You cannot. So the glow is only there because of the presence of the fire. And so it is with Christ. He is our wisdom. He is our justification. He and God will not give us something, particularly if something is as precious as salvation apart from his presence. It is Christ. It is him. And we cannot accept anything less than this. Let me again break this so I can see. We cannot accept anything less. And listen to the way Paul now speaks of his testimony and then because of his experience, how he pastors his churches that he is a missionary to. Listen to this. Paul speaking of his testimony. Look at Galatians 4.19, actually beginning at 1.15. But when it pleased God, Paul speaking of himself, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me. Did you hear that? But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me. This is Paul's testimony that Paul has been converted to reveal the presence of Christ within him, that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. So likewise. Now, with that personal experience, this is how Paul pastors. Listen to it now in Galatians 4 now, 6 and 7. And because you are sons, this is that assurance that Brother Finney was preaching on. And because you are sons, God sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father, that you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. I see many here that have the Charlton family here, and I was rejoicing so much when I got the little message that your adoption went through. And I remember through the years of all the things that y'all have been there, what an incredible thing that is. What a powerful thing that is. Children, that's beautiful. I rejoiced at my house over this. God is saying that this is an inheritance to every Christian, this adoption. You who are adopted can relate to this better than we who don't understand this as well. You have a special understanding that Father God adopts all of us in that way. Now, look into the way Paul forces this home now into the end of chapter 4, and he says this, My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. This is not until you finally get it. I'm going to labor until you answer all the right questions, or I'm going to labor with you till you finally get it. I'm going to labor to you till you get this list of rules and this list of don'ts. No, until Christ is formed in you. And he is a pastor is laboring for this and and crying for this and sleeping, then not sleeping and wanting that the Galatians would truly experience Christ within them. He says the same things to the Colossians, Colossians 127 to them. God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Do you have that hope of glory? Do you have that hope of glory in you? He says that this is a great mystery. This is a treasure that God gave to the Gentiles, and he wanted us to get this idea that Christ in you, the hope of glory. Praise God for that. That's such a beautiful concept that we have here. In the future, and probably the next one, I'd like to talk on the human conscience in sanctification and also some early Christian quotes. I still have this in the series I'd like to get off, but this concept of this freeing of the heart, it goes from this passage, and he goes on into the next chapter and talks about someone who's torn their conscience and everything, but he starts all that with this concept of Christ within us. Now, looking at some of the passages that I did last week, but just bringing it home again with this idea here of Christ within us being our salvation. In Philippians 2.12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God, isn't this powerful? For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. The analogy that I gave here with this picture that you can see is like God gives you this field called salvation, which is in presence in Christ. And he says, and he gives us this idea, we must work out that salvation, work out that field with fear and trembling, because he has a purpose for you. He's called you and saved you for this reason. We are created unto his good works. Now, looking at this Ephesians passage again and this, and then I'm going to show you next time we speak on this, some incredible passages from Chrysostom and some of the early Christians and talking about how God does this inside of us, this Christ within us. This passage now, again, focusing now our attention that our sanctification, our being holy, called out, special unto God. Starts from Christ within us and continues in Christ within us, Ephesians 2, 4 through 7. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love of which he has loved us, even when we were dead and trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. And look at this, and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he may he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. This is amazing. And you'll see next next on my next series in this series, Chrysostom speaking on this, just the amazing idea of what it was he's actually saying here, that he's raising us up to be in Christ, that we get to take part of his being exalted. It's too much. But then he brings us back down with this passage. Chrysostom says that, and I'll show you, Chrysostom says he lifted us up so far in the other verses that he has to bring us back down in these. He says, for by grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. This beautiful concept of God working in us. Now, you got to understand, we came, we preached nothing but Christ and him crucified. At least Paul was saying that. All those prophecies about the Messiah that you read in the Old Testament and all those foreshadowing that comes about what will come in the new covenant, the new times and like the passage that I read to you from Ezekiel 36, that I will gather you from all the nations and I will take that heart of stone out. I will put a heart of flesh and we get this concept of Christ, of the new covenant. We must understand that when Christ came to earth, all of Christ, all that he accomplished and everything he did to establish his way, his church, his people, his salvation is part of that, not of ourselves. It is a gift of God. God came and preached to us the beautiful teachings of Christ and gave us a way and gave us a cure for humanity. It wasn't us that came up with this. It is him. And then moreover, just like we read in Philippians, it's him that continually now works through us in this way. And then we see Paul again coming out and pastoring like this. And Ephesians 4, 11, and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Paul is speaking about here in this passage about the idea of a full ministry and how it should should be represented in the church. And he's saying that people have these different callings. And this is why for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Did you catch that? I know these are common verses that I'm reading tonight, but if I could call your attention to the place of Christ within us in these passages, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is the whole purpose of all these ministries of some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, that all the entire church, the entire congregation, not just the prophets and pastors, but everyone comes and experiences this fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, the cunning craftiness and deceitful plotting. One of my favorite ones in this concept of sanctification is in 2 Corinthians 6 and in 2 Corinthians 5, he's just talking about these amazing things about we are being the ambassadors of Christ. We've been given this minister of reconciliation and then we see that God came as a sacrifice for us and these types of things. And he takes this right into 2 Corinthians 6 and says that this should produce in you a holiness that is separated from the world. And this is, again, back to this whole concept of the word holy. And this passage, which is not an Old Testament passage, this is a New Testament passage focusing hits on this concept, the holy people of God are not like this world. And the whole passage is incredible for time. I just took a few here, 2 Corinthians 6, 11. He begins this whole section here in 2 Corinthians 6 with this passage. And I love how he calls this an open mind. He says, Oh, Corinthians, we have spoken openly to you. Our heart is wide open. And listen to this, you are not restricted by us. Now, remember, the theme that he's about to talk about is being separated from this wicked world. And he prefaces this by saying you are not restricted by us. But you are restricted by your own affections, by your own passions, by your own lust. You're restricting yourself. Now, in return for the same, I speak as to children, you also be open. In other words, I'm begging you, open your mind to understand what God wants from you. And then he goes through this beautiful passage. And in 17, he says, therefore, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Before I read the next passage, let me ask you this. I'm sure that we differ here and many people differ in different places on what you would consider of the world and not of the world. I'm sure that there's differences between even here in this room where you would draw the line that you would say, OK, that's of the world, that's not of the world. But I want us to call our attention and not get hung up and saying, well, that's your view and that's not my view. But I do want to call your attention to this point, that the idea to come out from among them and be separate, to be holy is a command in the new covenant for the new covenant Christians. And do not touch what is unclean. So let me ask you. Are you involved in things that are unclean? Is your music unclean? Is your associations unclean? Is your media watching unclean? Are your ways, are your attitudes, is your life unclean? Not from my definition, even from your definition, is where is the line? Where do you draw the line between unclean and clean? Where is the Holy Spirit? Where is your conscience giving you the line that that is? Because that is the place where Paul is reaching you to say, please open your mind. It's not me that's restricting you. It's your own passions and lusts that are restricting you. Open your mind and ask the question, come out from among them, but be separate, be special, be a called out people because God loves you and God wants you to be this special possession. And then it goes right on to chapter seven, verse one. I'll read you that last verse there. Therefore, having these promises, that promise is that if we come out from among this world and the evil things of this world, he will be a father to us. That's that adoption again. That's that spirit within us again. That if we do this, he will be a father to us and we will be his sons and daughters. Then it goes on to the first seven one. Therefore, having these promises that if you come out, if you tonight come out from this world, come out from the evil of this world, he will receive you and be a father to you. Therefore, having those promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourself from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Listen, if you don't have a fear of God tonight, if this is just something that's flippant to you, that these things, I mean, as I read these things, I tremble. Perfecting holiness, this is a life that he wants us to continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work in these things and for us to find these things. This is not an Old Testament passage. This is the new covenant asking us that Christ would do this in us. And he's given it to us with promise that he'll be a father to us. He'll receive us. He'll bless us. He'll give us the Holy Spirit to walk in these things. All right, now coming through just a few more things here, James, beautiful book of James, puts this in such a such a great way, doesn't he? And James describes this engrafted relationship. But I know these are familiar passages again, but I want you to concentrate again. What's the theme again? That we're looking at how Christ within us causes us to live a life of holiness. And James says it this way. It begins in James 1.14, giving us a concept of sin and how we know what sin is in our life and defining it. James is very practical, beautifully practical, gloriously practical. James 1.14 says, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Can you think of some things that you are feeling that enticing tug to sin? He says each one is tempted when he's drawn away of his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, that means when you actually do that temptation, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. And a little bit later, he says, therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. And here's that beautiful passage of Christ within us. And receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. The salvation of your soul. This is this is very important stuff. And he's saying that instead of giving in to this wickedness, instead of giving in to the sin, that with meekness, you can receive this implanted word. It's given to us in this way. That's it's like Revelation was it to where he says Jesus is knocking and asking if you would just let me in, if you would just let me in, if you would receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. It is. He goes on in the same chapter. He says, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourself. You're not going to this is not just a mental thing. James is, I think, responding to the mental trip that philosophers are getting into. So be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourself. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in the mirror. For he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. You know, I remember when I was in seventh grade, you guys are all much more handsome than I was. But I never forget in my seventh grade class, we had a homeroom. We had a homeroom class in the in a actually we were in the girls locker room. It was homeroom, but there was no girls in there during that time. But that's where we were met. And so all the homeroom, which homeroom for those who don't come from our culture, it means so in public schools, you'd have every place where they just make sure everybody's attendance and everything. A homeroom teacher just sort of counts heads and make sure everybody's OK. Everybody gets the announcement. So we were meeting in there. And as you come out of the locker room, they had this big mirror. I remember I was in seventh grade. I was probably about this tall, but quite, you know, I'm still pretty weird looking. But at that time, it was even more weird looking. And I remember looking in the mirror going, who's that? Because I remember, I guess I was thinking, imagining myself much more handsome. And I've seen all the other cool guys walking around class. I was thinking that I was kind of like them. But I literally could take you to that moment when I was sort of shocked, like, oh, that's what I look like, you know, and so it says here this idea that this guy is forgetting what he looks like. And that's what it's like to just believe doctrine in your head and not in your life. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Do you think it's a contradiction that James is talking about, that he's comparing continuing in the work of God with the perfect law of liberty? But wait a minute, James. This is not like walking in these ways and making sure I continue in it and making sure I'm a doer of the word is law of liberty. But here's the analogy. I'm going to have to present this one. All right. Here's a little picture I put up here. So we are created for this holiness. Remember, at the beginning of the chapter, he says, receive the engrafted word. We were created to live in holiness, just like this bird was created to fly. It's free in the air. He's free. It's a law of liberty because the bird was created to fly. And you, if you are born again, are created for holiness. And in 1 Peter 1, 16, because it is written, be holy for I am holy. But James is saying, but if you are not walking where you should be, it's like the bird who is free in the air. He's in bondage in the water, isn't he? If you take a bird and you dip him in the water and expect him to swim, he's in bondage. Or the fish, he's free in the water. But when he's above the water, he's in bondage. We look to the law of liberty and freedom because we were made for holiness. And that's where we rest. That's where we have our peace. But you must continue it. You must stay in the air. Or if you're a fish, you stay in the water. We must stay in holiness. And that's where we have our peace. And James goes on. He says, if anyone thinks he's really – he gives some practical examples now. So break that down for me. All right. So if anyone among you thinks he is religious but does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Your faith, your confession, your profession is useless if you are not controlling your tongue. Are you a complaint? Are you a gossip? Are you saying evil things? Are you speaking impure words? It's worthless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep one unspotted from the world. James says, and it goes on to the next chapter, but someone will say, you have faith, I have works. Show me your faith without your works and I will – watch this – show you my faith by my works. We don't get saved by our works. But it is so – because our salvation is not a mental idea. It's Christ within us. If you have Jesus Christ within you tonight, it will work. He said, I will show it to you. He goes on to explain Isaac and Abraham. I know these are familiar passages, but look at them, how they come out. But someone will say – he goes on. In verse 21, look at there. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith – watch this – was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which said, and Abraham believed God. And it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. In other words, not by just faith in your head. Not just by faith in your head. It is real. And then just a few more passages here in Thessalonians. And then I'll close. I want us to ponder this. Do you gather – do you think that sanctification is just some kind of an extra step? Something extra? Again, if we look at our salvation as these siloed portions where you have your salvation, you have your sanctification, you have your different things, then it can tend to be that way in our minds. But if you look that it's you being formed into Christ, it comes out. It's God's – remember what Paul was saying. I labor to you Galatians until Christ is formed in you. To the Thessalonians he says, Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God. For you know what commandments we gave you through our Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. And instead, in case you just make that some sort of a mental thing also, he says, he goes on, that you should abstain from sexual immorality, and that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passions of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one should take advantage of the defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all, as we also forewarned and you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanliness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man. Keep in mind, understand this. If you reject this concept of walking in holiness, you're not rejecting a theology or a church or denomination or a movement or a preacher, but God, who has also given us his Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit. And the last passage that I want to just bring to you in this beautiful way is this concept with Romans. Romans is so beautiful. It's so filled with the treasure. And I have an analogy that I came on and it has helped me through my life, and I'm going to share this with you. And it helps me to understand this balance of how God works with us in sanctification. Paul explains, he makes clear what a life looks like. And in Romans 13, 14, again, this same concept, as he said before, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. In Romans 6, we get this beautiful walking of a sanctified life. Paul gives us a wonderful picture. Through baptism, we, in verse 4, walk in newness of life. In verse 12, we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. In the next verse, but we are to present ourself to God. Verse 14, so that sin will not have dominion over us. And 19, our members are to be yielded unto righteousness. And then in verse 22, therefore, we have been set free from sin and become slaves to God. But you get to this passage in Romans 7, and this is the passage that I'm going to just give you this analogy, then I'll be done. Because I think it's beautiful. In this Romans chapter 7, it gets brought up a lot. And I know coming up, growing up in an American evangelical, the concept that was given in Romans chapter 7 was that we can never have victory in holiness. Because it says in Romans chapter 7, verse 15, For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. And Paul is talking about this life of living, trying to live a holy life in the carnal way. Back to my own personal experience before I give you this last analogy. That was me. And understand what Paul is going to argue here, this is the present state for me now without Christ. And I'm going to show you that. But remember the analogy again of the candle with the light. We can't have the salvation, the justification, the wisdom, those things apart from his very presence. Without him, we are worthless. Without him, we continue to fall. Paul says, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin. And then he goes on to this beautiful analogy of how this comes in Romans chapter 8, how he has this victory in Christ. But here's the way that I see this whole passage, and then I'll show you. I imagine, if you would, in Romans chapter 7, a ship. And as the ship was going, it finally has a shipwreck. There it is. And as the shipwreck goes, you're out swimming. And as you're out swimming, you see then that as you're swimming, and the tempest and the waves and everything, the gravity, that's supposed to be the bottom of the ocean, is dragging you down. The gravity is dragging you down. And so as you're there, and you're trying to live this, this is your Romans chapter 7 life. For what I will to do that I do not practice, that what I hate that I do, if then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. And it gets confusing, and Paul's talking about this, but what I see is a man there swimming, and he wants to stay up, and with his strength he stays up. But every time he rests, he comes down. The law of gravity is dragging him down. The law of gravity is trying, and although he's trying, he can't seem to get it. I find in a law that evil is present within me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law, two laws, his desire to be good. The law of gravity, if you will, the law of sin. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me, he said. So then with my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. And so I want you to see what happens here now. God brings in a third principle. He could make him, as number one there, a superman, where he could swim and swim and swim and never have any problem. He could make us, he could get rid of the law of gravity, and that's kind of like what eradication theology is. We no longer have a sin nature. And then we could just walk on water. But he does something different. He does something very powerful. He could just say, cheer up, you're actually floating, you just don't know it. That's modern evangelicalism. There you are at the bottom of the ocean and someone says, no, you're fine, you've just been wrecking yourself to be there. But here's the thing. He brings in, he doesn't make us a superman. He doesn't get rid of the law of gravity. He brings in Christ as a lifeboat. In Romans 8 it says, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Watch this now. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. What the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, he condemns sin in the flesh. So here's the thing. This is the beautiful part of it. If you're in that boat, you're free, right? You're not floating, you're not having to stride, you're not having to swim and survive. You're free, that law of gravity is defeated. But what happens if you get out of the boat? It's all there again. You can't have the sanctification of Christ apart from Christ. He comes as a third principle. When we're in Christ, that's when we have the victory. And so that's why we can say, Wow, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. But I am continually dependent upon Christ and that lifeboat. I can't get out of it. I can't just leave that and come from it. And then I'll finish with this last verse in Romans chapter 8. And I'll close it, I'll hand it back over to Brother Charles. Paul brings this beautiful, sanctified, holy life. Christ within me. We're free of sin. We're free of that Romans 7 life because we're living in victory now in Christ. And what that mental anguish life of trying to live that way in my own brain could not do, I now experience by genuinely being within Christ. And then 8-12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. But if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received a spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. So let's now close with prayer, and then I'll hand it over to Brother Charlton. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, that you have saved us. I thank you for the grace of God. I thank you for this blueprint for our life, of how we can serve you and please you and let you be alive in us. Oh, God, I pray that you would prevent me from frustrating the grace of God and preventing you from working in me. And Lord, I want to be more like what Paul is encouraging me to have more of you and to come out from among this world and to be separate so that you will be my father. And Lord, I pray for all those listening. I pray, God, that you would increase within them until Christ be formed in us, every one of us here, Lord. So Lord, I pray that this would be a reality in our life, that we will truly be holy because you are holy. We would be separated from this world special to you.