Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
The first question in Numbers 1.32 relative to what we'll be talking about is the question,
what is holiness?
What does that mean to you when I say that word holiness?
What does your mind conjure up?
I think God regards it as his most important attribute because he swears by his holy name.
That is an underlying theme to begin with as we even looked at the nation Israel coming
and assembling themselves as a nation.
What did he do?
He just didn't bring organization.
He brought holiness.
He brought himself, his character to the people as the Lord brings his character to us.
Anybody else?
Any thoughts?
Yeah, Jackie.
I was going to say that too, that it would be God, but all the angels sing holy, holy,
holy.
Yes, that's a supporting role and they declare that as we should declare that too.
They are our example.
Anything else?
All right, so let's take a look at the scriptures.
First off, we'll go through some of what that tends to be and we will not major on that
until we get further on down the line.
So holiness was first shown in the burning bush, which is the first time God defines
a place and an action as holy.
If you remember that experience, we have the bush, it's burning, the servant sees it and
he reacts to it and then God says, you're on holy ground.
And then he identifies himself as the eternal self-existent one in the statement, I am
who I am.
And consequently, that's where we begin to start and look at the area of holiness.
Holiness is who he is.
I mean, you talk about any attribute that he would have, it comes back to the word holy.
He's not just morally pure, as some people think, well, he was a pure God.
He had a ministry.
Well, as holiness described his very essence, what is that?
That's absolute purity, separated and perfection.
So that's about who he is.
If God were not holy, he wouldn't be God.
His holiness is what makes him perfect, trustworthy and worthy of worship.
And we see that and we understand that as a Christian.
And Isaiah 6.3 goes back to what you said, Jackie, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.
It's not an assumption to say that he was a ministering entity.
It is to say that he was a holy entity.
That's part of who he is.
That's how we recognize him.
So God's holiness is important to us as Christians.
It's basically, we base our whole foundation on the fact that he is holy.
Take a look at this.
It defines one who God is.
It then reveals why we need Christ and it explains the meaning of the cross and shapes how we
live and again, in the eternal heavenlies, it gives us that eternal hope.
So God's holiness is represented in everything and I'm glad that you have that observation
that it's included in one of the most important elements, Roger, of the kingdom of God.
So holiness is our hope.
In Revelation 21, 27, it says, evil will not enter nor anyone who does what is abhorrent
or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb.
And so consequently, there is a gate in which we pass through, an acceptance because we know
of the Lord or a rejection because we do not.
All right, let's look at some of the outline characteristics of what we'll be talking about
tonight.
First off, there is a responsibility of the priests and the Levi's, verse 1 through 7.
Priests, again, they are accountable, and we'll talk about that, Aaron and his sons
were to bear the responsibility for the offenses against the holiness of God.
The priests had exclusive duties, and that's verses 5 through 7.
The Levites had certain duties, and we'll talk about that.
And then we come into the provision of the priests, how they actually understand what
is going on by virtue of the actions that are taken.
Wave offerings or heave offerings, again, assigned to the priests, verses 8 through 10, and
we'll cover some of that.
And then wave offerings, those were included.
There's two different types in which we'll get into.
And then the priest inheritance, what they got out of this deal, you know, where they
get paid because they didn't have any inheritance in the land.
And the provision of the Levites, the tithes that were given, and the Levites then in
receiving the tithe then gave one-tenth of that tithe to the priests, and that's
how they got paid.
So declaring what we're doing tonight is key in verse 1, where it says that the holiness
of God is something that should be represented by the priests.
Our then main topic will be the holiness as being both serious and achievable in Christ.
Some people say, well, I can never attain to God.
What's the Godliness all about?
Well, you can attain to a certain degree of holiness if you follow him and walk in his
precepts, of which we'll be talking about tonight.
The heave offerings, just by way of coincidence, is a lifting up and exalting the Lord God.
The action is raising upward in a vertical motion as a way of dedicating to God.
Its purpose, it's setting aside a portion for the Lord and then giving it to the priest.
And remember, there was one-tenth that was given.
Examples, animal sacrifices were heaved, first fruits presented to priests were heave offerings.
Offerings of gold and silver and materials were all heave offerings.
Just think of the lifting up and exalting.
Does that sound familiar to you?
How we raise our hands and worship, we don't bring material things, we bring ourself to the Lord.
So we're actually following, as we have said in these many weeks, there is a pattern of
what God does in the Old Testament, bringing forth then the same idea in the New Testament.
So we have where it says we are to lift holy hands before the Lord.
So that's part of what we do.
The other element is the wave offering, that is to wave or move side to side to acknowledge
God's ownership.
The action was waving horizontally before the altar in all directions.
And then the purpose, it was symbolize the consecration and fellowship and offerings that
came from the Lord.
It's amazing when you look at all these things and we have been studying, and you know you
can say it's legalistic, and I will agree to you that boy, you know you've missed one
jot and tittle and one law and you're out, but in reflection all these things that we're
talking about is exemplified somewhere, somehow in the New Testament or in the New Covenant.
And then examples of that is the breast of the animal for peace offerings.
Okay, let me do a quick review for those of you that don't remember.
Both priests and Levites were from the same tribe of Levi, but with different roles.
So don't get them mixed up.
All priests are Levites, but not all Levites are priests.
So there's a delineation here.
You can see the dress by virtue of what they wore is different from one element to
the other, as a picture shows you there.
So the priests looked after the holiness of God, and that's again what we're also
called to do.
They alone bore the guilt if holiness was violated at the altar and the sanctuary
service, so they were responsible for that.
And then the Levites looked after the physical structure of the tabernacle,
maintenance, moving, packing, doing the logistics of things as they moved from
place to place.
Of course, once they got to Jerusalem and built the temple, they did not have to do
the packing, but they did do the maintenance on all the things that were set up.
So both the Levites and priests bore guilt if the tabernacle boundaries were
neglected or profane.
Now, in the scripture it says this in 18.1, and Jehovah said to Aaron,
you and your sons and your father's house with you will bear the iniquity of the
sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of the
priesthood.
Well, what's that mean?
Simply one, bearing the iniquity of the sanctuary is those improper physical
issues that were not attended to, that the priest would be responsible to make
sure that they did these things in accordance to the law.
Number two, bear the iniquity, meaning the responsibility of the priests failing
their duties.
So one was physical and one was moral or spiritual.
So there's a distinctive here as who is responsible for what.
Now, it doesn't mean that the priests caused the sin, but it does mean that
they are accountable for guarding against any profaning of God's holiness,
whatever the failure, and that's a big responsibility.
You think about what we're responsible for, how we are to bear the holiness of
God exemplary in our lives.
We are to give testimony of that as we can, and as opportunity opens up.
And so we also have some responsibility.
So let's look at the holiness and the elements.
All of Israel was to guard his holiness through the boundaries, the purity laws,
and the sacrifices.
That's what they were being educated for.
And again, the Exodus 19.5.7 supports that.
It says, you shall be, to me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
So ultimately, everybody was involved.
The priests were intimately involved with the inward parts of the sanctuary.
The Levites were involved in the outer portion of the sanctuary,
but everybody was involved in the holiness of God.
It so often is said, well, I'll let the pastor do it, or he should do it.
Do you ever get that?
Yeah, he should do it.
No, we should do it, because we are involved in, what, the kingdom of God,
and the things that are established as righteousness we are to carry forward.
It always amazes me when you ask for volunteers,
the same wonderful people always volunteer.
And sometimes you almost are embarrassed, at least some particular point in time
in my life when our congregation was still small,
that you had to call on the same people to do the many tasks.
Okay, so we have boundaries, purity laws, and sacrifices.
Question.
Why does God require boundaries around his presence?
And he still does.
Why does he do that?
Do you mean boundaries to keep us down, or keep us down?
All right.
To progressively come to the Lord, you have to accomplish and overcome certain boundaries.
What are they?
I mean personal boundaries.
Yeah, like, well, letting go of things, distractions to enter the presence.
All right, okay.
Anything else?
Basically, strive for a spirit of detachment from the world.
All right, okay.
And everyone, even his creatures.
All right.
Therefore you approach him alone.
All right, so let's take a look.
I'm sorry, are we finished?
Yeah.
Okay, all right.
So these things that we're talking about are so very rudiment to the understanding that
because of his purity and because of his holiness, we can't dwell.
He cannot dwell with sin in any way, shape, or form.
So in purifying us, he allows us to come into his presence.
In Hebrews 10-10, it says, because of Christ, we are all purified from sin by the offering
that he made.
So there's an accomplishment that we go through to get into a personal relationship.
So the second question, how is God's holiness different from the moral morality?
People say, well, I live a good life.
I haven't done anything wrong.
Yeah, Gail, what's that difference?
Well, God's holiness is inherent to him.
He just, that's who he is.
Our morality is what we do, what we are in our actions, but he is holy.
Does that morality change from season to season?
Sure, we can change.
Yeah, but he never changes.
He never changes, never ever changes.
So we have that difference.
The statement basically goes like this.
God's holiness is one absolute.
It doesn't change.
It's divine.
It's not of our nature.
And it is transformative, which we can transform through the Holy Spirit ourselves,
but we can't transform other people.
We can pray for them, intercede for them, but then God has to do that through them.
And human morality is relative.
It's incomplete, and it's dependent upon God's standards.
Okay, so here's a question, and this subject matter goes down the line in different elements.
Violating the holiness of God both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
So the first question is, where does God's holiness dwell in the Old Testament?
In the temple?
In the temple or tabernacle.
Okay, so it was very physical by nature.
Sacred objects, the priesthood was there.
It was denominated in physical things.
So let's go on to the explanation.
In the Old Testament, holiness was centered in the temple system.
The things that he did to bring unrighteous people into righteousness.
Because God was teaching that nation to be separate and come apart from all the other nations.
So his people were, again, being taught in tangible ways about these visible physical things.
Physical things pointed to spiritual reality.
You know, what was the Ark for?
It was the presence of God. That's where he was.
So when they would see that, they would understand it.
It, in fact, represented the presence of God as an example.
Okay, in the New Testament, where does God's holiness now dwell?
Inside us, and then also in Christ.
Okay, let's look at the scripture.
In Christ, first off, Colossians 2.9, God lives fully in Christ.
And in the church slash individual believer, in verse Corinthians 3.16, you are God's temple.
So that's where he dwells.
There's no physical aspect of what we're dealing with now.
All the laws, all the traditions, all those things that were put upon the people,
and ages and ages of secular indoctrination into things that weren't even in the original laws
that were distributed to the people.
So, in the New Testament, then holiness is centered in Christ and the individual.
The ecclesia or the church.
And today, God speaks through these individuals and through the church
to bring his message to the unregenerate person.
So, we have that opportunity that's now spiritual, not physical.
Next question.
What is meant by violating holiness?
What identifiers, a little bit of a tougher question,
could you talk about that would identify the violation of God's holiness?
All right, I'll let you in.
How about this?
Again, manhandling the sacred things.
Touching the ark, remember that story?
Offering unauthorized fire, remember that story?
Two brothers.
Defiling sacrifices.
And then ignoring purity laws.
Not listening to those things that God wanted to impute.
These physical patterns, the rituals, the feasts, and all the other objects,
were God's way of pulling his people back to the reality that he is holy.
Learn the lesson.
And, of course, we know that they didn't learn the lesson.
They were stiff-necked and rebellious.
And they needed cleansing to approach him.
Okay, in the New Testament,
we then have those things that are violating holiness,
such as Christ sacrificed as common.
We can't think of that as common.
We think of that very spiritual.
We think of that as something he did.
It is sacred to all of us.
Singing against the Holy Spirit.
Bible talks about that.
Corrupting the church.
You know, do you realize this?
Even corrupting the church by virtue of criticism
and by virtue of mumbling and grumbling is compromising the church?
Now, think about that.
Well, I want to speak my mind.
Okay, it's okay to speak your mind,
but when you have an offense,
you go to the other person and talk it through.
You don't go over to Gail and talk in her ear,
and then she gets all concerned, and then somebody else,
and it goes on and on and on and on.
So there are those things that represent violations
to the overall church activity.
Unworthy participation in the Lord's Supper.
We know that.
Don't take it lightly.
That's a remembrance that we should keep sacred.
Holiness is not an option, or it's not casual.
God's presence is life-giving,
but to approach Him wrongly is extremely dangerous.
This is why Christ's sacrifice is so vital.
He bore our guilt for us, violating His holiness.
So that is finished.
Let's take a look at the next set of questions.
What language was used for violating the holiness of God?
Now, this is a little bit harder.
You kind of get, you know, studying the Scriptures,
it comes to you.
But think about this.
Profaining, my holy name was in Leviticus 22.
Defiling my sanctuary, okay, Leviticus 21.
Doing violence to my law.
Those are words taken out of the Old Testament.
Together, these show a failure of covenant faithfulness.
Profaining His name simply means dishonoring God's character.
Profaining His sanctuary dishonors His presence.
Violating the law dishonors His truth.
So there again, you have those things that were key
and a great concern by the Lord in what He wanted
or what He did not want.
The New Testament.
Profaining the blood of the covenant.
That's important to us.
We remember that every time we take communion.
Again, what about destroying God's temple?
It's referenced in 1 Corinthians 3, 17.
Meaning the temple, the church of God.
Meaning us, meaning the body of Christ.
And then also in Corinthians 11 where it says,
eat and drink judgment.
So those things are key things that set the tone
of what we should not be doing.
These three warnings then emphasize this truth.
God's holiness must not be treated lightly
under the new covenant.
It's no less important.
And you might say, well, what about the grace of God?
Yes, there is God's grace, but yes, there is holiness
that we have to adhere to.
Rejecting God's blood, dishonors His sacrifice.
Corrupting the temple of God, our body violates,
invites destruction.
And then treating communion irreverently
brings judgment on us.
All right, let's look at, maybe this is a little bit easier.
Name some examples of violating God's holiness.
What comes to mind?
You all know this one.
Think of the Old Testament.
I would say Eli's sons with the sacrifices,
you know, stealing and basically raping the women
that worked in the tabernacle.
What else?
What about when the cart went back to Jerusalem?
I've thought of that.
Yeah, the priest, they touched the back,
and they weren't supposed to be there.
It was going to fall, right?
And the cart was going to come over the cart,
so they went and held it, and they got destroyed.
Yes, Jenny.
Okay, I'm looking in 2 Chronicles,
for Uzziah went into the temple and burned incense
when he wasn't supposed to.
That's another one.
I didn't even think of that one.
That's good.
He did that because he's not great,
he's not supposed to.
I mean, the king, that's what he did.
He got leprosy.
Okay, all right.
Anything, you wanted to say something?
Then Moses struck the rock and got hit upon his beak.
Yeah, right.
Boy, that cost him something.
Oh yeah, yeah.
He couldn't see the promised land.
He got short-cut on that one.
And when Saul made that sacrifice in place of Samuel,
that was not his place.
Well, we had to hurry up.
He made his own decision for and was disobedient.
Boy, it cost him the kingdom.
Catherine just mentioned King Uzziah
when he was struck with...
I couldn't hear back here.
Anything else?
All right.
You're good.
You got these.
All right.
Examples I came up with, we said,
Nahab and Abiyu, the strange fire,
Uzzah touching the ark, 2 Samuel,
and the priest neglecting holy offerings in Numbers.
Okay.
Together, these are examples that teach us what?
God's holiness cannot be treated lightly.
We've said that.
Worship, service, and obedience
must follow God's word, not human invention
or neglect on the other side.
Reverence, obedience, and honor
are the proper response to God's presence.
Okay.
On the other side, the New Testament,
Ananias and Sapphira,
boy, wasn't that a deal?
They lied.
Oh, yeah.
This is what we got for the land.
And all of a sudden, God came in,
smote them, abusing the Lord's supper
in 1 Corinthians 11, 27,
and again, tempting God's sacrifice,
in other words, disgracing God in his blood,
are all things that come against who he is
and what he wants us to represent.
So the Holy Spirit sees through every pretense,
every lie that we tell,
the cross is not something to be treated very lightly.
And as we continue to grow in the grace of God,
we see it is more serious a situation
than we may have thought when we first came to the Lord.
Well, I'll still do my thing.
I'll give God some of my life.
You know, we always equate in men's ministry
how all of us, we men, live in a heart
that's all full of different boxes.
We isolate different things,
and we put it away and tuck it away,
and we don't let that bother us,
and all of a sudden we're triggered or something happens
and we bring that thing out and look at it
and stuff it back again.
And so God, he wants to work in our life.
He wants all of that.
He wants the whole house.
He doesn't want to live in your cellar
or your attic.
He wants the whole house, the living room,
the bedrooms, the bathrooms,
the attics, the basements, all his.
Oh, we all got that, right?
Okay, we're all doing that, are we?
Okay, all right, no comments.
Honestly, the Lord's got to spread the bathroom with me.
What's that says if everybody can hear it?
I said, the Lord's got to do some house cleaning with me.
I'll be frank about that.
Hey, listen.
Confession's good for the soul.
I mean, this is where we should do it.
All right, now, do you want to name them?
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm sure because I'm not perfect.
Yeah.
I'm sure because I'm perfect.
Right, that's it.
And then if we would be perfect,
we'd spoil it, wouldn't we?
Yeah, okay, very good, Ginny.
So, God's, again, the cross is not something
to be treated lightly.
God's blood is the highest, most sacred gift
God has given us.
And would it treat it as ordinary or worse?
To reject it after receiving the knowledge of it?
That's the ultimate insult to God.
Okay, so we get the idea.
All right, let's look at the results of all this.
Death, exile, loss of God's presence.
Let me ask the question as an aside.
Have any of you, while walking with the Lord,
felt that you lost the presence of God in your life
and you became dry and the word didn't mean anything?
And you read it and it didn't speak life to you?
Why was that?
Because God was after something in me.
He wanted me to know that I needed to change.
Yeah, he wanted you to dig deeper.
Yes, he did.
The whole room, the whole house.
Yep, yep, he did.
Anything else anybody wants to confess or share?
Are you scratching?
No, no, no, no, okay, Kathy, sorry.
I would say only by the grace of God he would let me know
that I'm in danger of losing his presence
when I even think about my needs.
I say the boss and I take that back to Matthew 5, verse 27, 28.
All right, that's good.
There was a time in my life, go ahead, Chris.
Yeah, I was thinking, you know,
like sometimes it seems like when maybe I'm not accepting a challenge,
like he wants to stretch me outside my comfort zone
and I'm just staying in my comfort zone,
I tend to dry up, you know?
Yeah, there was a time in my life when I was ministering,
not to be redundant but quickly, Sunday sermons,
Tuesday, small group, Thursday counseling night,
Friday and Saturday preparing for Sunday,
doing a full-time job, having 37 employees.
I became dry.
There was nothing left on the inside.
And I want to tell you, looking back on that experience, it was horrible.
Now, when you're going through it, I mean, you're doing the best you can
and, you know, you have kids, you have a wife,
you have all that and yada yada yada, and I'm not making excuses.
But on the other side of life, after learning the terrible lessons
of what that did to me, there's nothing as precious
as endeavoring to want to stay in the presence of God.
Throughout the day, not just in your devotions,
but asking God, praising God in your car while you do dishes,
while you do the laundry, whatever the case may be.
You don't want to leave.
You don't want to be without His presence.
Most important.
So, those are the things in the Old Testament.
The results of disobedience are both spiritual and practical.
The death, meaning in Leviticus 10.2,
the Lord sent fire and destroyed them.
Cain said, I will be hidden from your presence.
Imagine that.
He made that explanation.
And then the loss of presence of the Spirit of the Lord
departed from Saul, which He said.
So, on the side of the New Testament,
judgment, discipline, exclusion from God's kingdom,
we talked about that, referencing in Acts 1 Corinthians and Hebrews.
In these passages then, they remind us that as we approach God,
irreverently, it's extremely dangerous.
His holiness demands truth and an eye on Sapphira.
Reverence, sin and idolatry block every entrance to God's kingdom.
And obedience, which is, again, at peace and living a clean life.
In Christ, we receive the grace and power to live holy lives.
What's that look like?
Grace, first off.
His kindness is given to us not because we earned it,
but because He loves us so greatly.
He gave us grace.
The power is the supernatural ability that God gives us
through the Holy Spirit to overcome sin,
resist temptation and live an obedience to Him.
So, there is a way.
There is an ability to get into the holiness of God,
to approach Him.
And then the underlying principles are these.
God's holiness is separate, pure and untouchable.
Violating it meant ignoring sacred boundaries,
those things that were required.
And then, to set these boundaries, if ignored,
then allow the Israelites to experience God's fullness.
Separate.
God is distinct and cannot be approached casually.
Pure, God is morally perfect and cannot coexist with sin.
Untouchable, God's holiness, when violated, brings judgment.
The Gospel then shows us, on the other hand,
the word separate, where He was separate,
yet He came near in Hebrews.
Where He was pure, the perfect sacrifice was given
in 1 Peter.
He made the untouchable approachable,
because what did He do?
Through His death, He took the veil and rented it in two,
that we could go into the holy of holies
and do business with the Lord.
So, God's holiness is revealed now.
In Christ, we know that.
Violating it means rejecting Him,
living in sin while claiming to belong to Him.
So, again, what's revealed in Christ?
Jesus is the fulfillment of the revelation of His holiness.
He perfectly embodies God's character.
The holiness isn't just rules on a page.
It's a person we can follow, His example.
And I always draw reference to what the chosen did for me.
It graphically showed me the continuing love
that Jesus had for people, even though He was tormented
by those that were in authority,
even though the crowd pressure Him for more miracles,
He gave of Himself.
Our actions, our attitudes, and our choices
should reflect His holiness at all times,
not just when we come together in church,
but when we're alone.
Conditional, unrepentant sin, while claiming to have faith in Christ,
separates us from that intimacy that we're seeking.
All right.
Now, the holiness in the New Testament,
we turned the page.
We're not comparing.
As we learn now, holiness in the Old Testament
was centered in the temple system.
God had to bring that system to bear
to take these rebellious and unregenerate people
to a greater knowledge of who He was.
Again, so often was said by myself
that as we studied in these Leviticus in Numbers,
how He took an entire independent 12 tribes
and made them one and brought them into governance,
brought them into vitality, provided for them miraculous,
He made a nation out of them.
Thinking of doing that, that's difficult to do,
but that's what God was about.
In the New Testament, we find that holiness doesn't disappear.
It gets fulfilled and deepened, as we've talked about.
And then God's holiness is now in Christ, Hebrews 1.3.
God's Son has all the brightness of God's own glory
and is like Him in every way.
What we saw in the Old is exemplified in the New.
Matthew 27, the tearing of the temple veil
showed that access to God's holy presence
is now open through Christ to every one of us
if we want to be there and attain that closeness.
So the question that we have now,
how do we as believers relate to this holiness?
How do you relate to it?
So we now know what it is.
How do you relate to it?
Is it something to be feared?
Is it a challenge?
Is it something you seek?
Is it something, well, you know, I'm neutral, whatever.
How do we relate to that?
Well, I don't think of it so much as relating
as trying not to take it for granted.
Okay, that's good.
Because as humans, it's just part of our nature
to just take things for granted.
And we have so much of His grace and mercy
that we depend on that we don't even realize or acknowledge.
So I think that's why it's so important to stay in the Word.
Because if you're not in the Word,
you're not seeing God who He is and what He's done.
And you're not thinking about that.
And you're thinking about all your other junk instead.
But we have to stay focused on Him.
It's dangerous to live in the world and not be fortified daily.
I think we said that time and time again.
But because of the society that we live in
and the pressure that we all have in one form or another,
is there much pressure when you retire?
No.
Oh, okay.
Boy.
Can I move over with you guys?
Yeah.
No, you can sleep later in the morning.
Yeah, it's good.
Anything else?
Is that a head itch or an influence?
All right, okay.
I pray, Gail, I think it is privilege.
Yes.
Yeah, it can be entered.
The holiness of God is privilege.
Jesus has done for us.
So we can enter it.
So it's thanksgiving.
It all makes you cry sometimes.
When you're in with the Lord,
you're closest to the Lord.
What have you done for me?
Who are you?
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Anything else?
Inputs, thoughts?
No.
Okay.
All right.
Is that a hand?
Okay, go ahead.
Yeah, I think I do.
Yeah, I think that the holiness of God is wonderful
because knowing that He's holy, He doesn't change.
His holiness doesn't.
And the Holy Spirit is so faithful to the Lord
to bring us into the image and likeness of Christ.
So we change as He reveals more for Himself
from glory to glory.
So He does.
He separates us from the world of flesh, you know,
and become more like Him.
Isn't it funny how we come to the Lord
with all our gimmies when we first start,
Lord, I need this and Lord, I need that.
Oh, Lord.
Then, you know, you go on in life after a while
and you spend close proximity to His kingdom
and He's speaking to you,
and all of your needs kind of just fade away
because there is provision there.
You almost don't have to ask for them.
Ginger, how are you?
Good.
It just occurred to me.
I'm going to mustache you.
Oh, yeah, He shows up once in a while.
Well, talking about the separation
that happened with the veil,
now we have become separated similarly
from believers and non-believers.
God has been revealed to us.
So it's kind of irrelevant to the New Testament
and to the now as well.
Okay, all right.
So we're separated.
We're separated from the non-regenerate part of life.
Right.
As we believe in because of the holiness of God
and belief, yeah.
I would like to put that another way.
We're separated in our spirit,
but we live among the people to give us declaration.
Okay, does that work?
Yeah, we're not.
Yeah, and I'm not trying to parse.
We have a whole new world in that of the world.
Yeah, right.
So, you know, there is a separation,
but yet we're part of it.
Okay.
All right.
How are we doing on time here?
Oh, we're good.
Fifteen minutes yet.
Okay.
All right.
We are now the temple of the Lord.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, 16,
do you not know that you are God's temple
and that God's spirit dwells in you?
And that's more purposeful
when we realize that he is in us.
Question.
Speaking of today now,
what profanes the holiness of God?
What do you think profanes the holiness of God?
Yes.
I would see definitely people who,
I guess, manipulate or benefit,
profit from portraying their serving God
and yet they're gaining wealth for themselves
or benefiting personally.
Like a lot of the TV ministries have through the years.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
And those that, again,
nothing against mega churches,
but you lose the familiarity of the brethren,
so to speak,
quote unquote,
when you have thousands of people.
I mean, you know,
I was invited by my son to go to the church
when he was looking after he moved up to Royer's Fort.
And it was like a theater.
You know,
they had the belts across the thing
and it was a 9 o'clock and a 10 o'clock or 10, 15.
And then it was,
so we went to the middle service
and it was like going to a theater.
You know,
you can't go in there yet.
The service is not finished.
The things come off and okay,
now wait,
all the people rushed out and then we rushed in and start again.
And you know,
here you are.
And,
and then I looked back and I saw the clock ticking like we have here.
And then what I looked at is when we finished,
one element was on the,
was on that particular segment of 10 or 15 minutes.
The singing was two songs.
That was it.
And then we wanted the next thing.
I thought, wow,
what a product.
And the smoke was there.
I'm not against smoke.
Okay.
But,
but do I need all these things to,
to get close to God?
And I'm not being critical.
It was just something that was different.
I'm not used to that.
Yeah,
I have to share this.
I went to the church.
It was formerly the Branch Creek Church a couple of years ago.
And I went to a six o'clock evening Monday night service because I'd
worked
and it was just convenient to go then after work.
So it was a satellite church from Lancaster where you're seeing
another service on video,
but they had an all worship service and I was like,
Oh good, an hour of prison worship.
And next thing you know,
they were belting out Led Zeppelin.
Yeah.
They were belting out the who.
Oh really?
Yeah.
And I just like stopped listening to secular rock and roll influenced
by a YouTube channel called Good Fate Ministries and was trying
to get away from that.
So I got up and left the church and the secret,
the receptionist looked at me and she said,
are you all right?
And I said, no.
And I said, that is wrong.
And I pointed to the door and she said,
I'll send the pastors out.
I said, bring them on.
So these pastors looked younger than my kids.
They were in their 30s and I looked right at them and they
were like, well, Paul preached in front of the statue of
Athena and we're trying to reach down and meet people where
they're at and bring Jesus to them.
And I said, well, you just brought Athena into a synagogue
and I walked out.
Well, I guess we can't play Led Zeppelin this Sunday,
right?
Right, Chris?
No, I'm kidding.
Gee, and that was on the docket.
Some things.
Hebrews 1029 warns that trampling on crushed sacrifices
like profaning the blood of the covenant.
Matthew 2317, Jesus rebukes religious leaders for outward
holiness but inward corruption.
What's in the heart?
You are like whitewashed tombs full of hypocrisy and
lawlessness.
My, I can vividly remember that in the chosen.
Now I'm going to make some confessions here.
That's about me now.
Okay.
Not to point to me, but like priests,
we ministers are summoned to guard.
Now, what is our responsibility to you?
Priests and Levites were accountable to guard the
holiness of God's sanctuary and today we ministers are
commissioned to guard truth, number one,
and the flock of God.
That's what we need to do.
James 3.1 says this, not many of you shall become
teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach
will be judged with greater strictness.
A little bit of my testimony.
After I came back to the Lord, I went to Eastern
College in Biblical studies and there was a
prophetic word that the Lord would use me and
send me forth and I accepted that.
But I was definitely afraid of this verse and I
still to this day really realize when we stand up
here or on the pulpit on Sunday morning that we
have a tremendous burden to deliver what God wants,
not what we want.
And I will say, and I'm not throwing an accolade
to Chris, it's just that those of us that
minister, I believe that we have God-centered
lives enough to share which is truth.
In some instances, like you said, Ginny,
there are those that do not represent the true gospel,
whether it's song, whether it's preaching,
whether it's those that we heard on TV or whatever.
And I had resisted through the studies and then
somebody in our large church down in Philadelphia,
I was attending at the time, said,
look, you know, we need guys to go to the prison
and minister Sunday afternoon.
I thought to myself, well, you know,
what do they know, they can't come after me
and if something's wrong, they can't get me.
So I said, yeah, I said I'll go.
And that was the starting point in the change
of my life.
Now I fast forward, long story short,
being afraid because of that verse of the
stricter judgment led me to have reservations
about what God's calling was in my life.
But I will tell you today that I stand
before you today and Chris can testify on this.
There's no greater accomplishment than to see
you be activated and come alive in the Lord,
maybe through our preaching, our counseling,
our help, but to see you alive because no
matter what the cost is, that is worth it.
It's the people that are important to us.
And so consequently, we have a responsibility
to do these things and I'll give you some more scripture.
We as ministers also have qualifications
and thus carry the weight of responsibility to the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 4.2, the most important quality
of one entrusted with the mysteries of God
is that they are faithful and trustworthy.
I'm speaking to me, okay?
1 Timothy 4.16, keep a close watch on yourself
and on the teaching, meaning our conduct
as well as our motives.
We have to be exemplary, we have to live that life
and we have to walk that life out.
In 1 Corinthians 4.2, it is required of stewards
that they be found faithful, in other words,
handling and walking it out in the Lord.
And then we as ministers must now guard the flock, too.
Now let's look outward.
Against falsehood, teaching the truth,
and equipping the saints.
Paul repeatedly said in 2 Corinthians 6.3,
we put no obstacle in anyone's way.
In other words, we don't put yes, but,
or conditions, we just open it up
and let you see the gospel for what it is.
And Paul did not shrink from declaring
the whole counsel of God.
Remember, he rebuked churches, he praised churches,
he taught churches, he lived exemplary lives.
He was such that he didn't take any money.
He was a tent maker, worked his fingers to a bone,
making tents so that he would not be dependent upon people.
And then Acts 20.26, speaking truth and righteousness
even when it's not popular.
It would be easy, and to be honest,
that church that you referred to,
we had gone to for some period of time, Jenny.
And it was like you get the blank piece of paper
with the fill-ins.
And it was like a pet talk.
This is what it is, one, two, three, four, okay.
And I had about six months of that.
And my wife came to me very honest
even before I said anything, she said,
you know, we aren't getting fed.
So, oh, okay.
It was nice because at 9.30 or 10 o'clock
was all over with I could go home
and tinker with my cars.
Boy, didn't I have priorities right.
But anyway, that's beside the point.
So, Acts 2.28, be true shepherds over all the flock
and feed them well.
Don't give them crumbs.
Don't come up to the pulpit
spending five minutes in prayer
and kneeing, genuflexing and saying,
Lord, what do you give me?
You open the Bible and there's a verse you preach on.
It is something that is worthy of study
and seeking and time spent
to give fresh bread to our people.
Last, Ephesians 4.12,
leaders are to equip the saints
for the work of ministry.
Again, well, why doesn't Chris do it?
Well, Chris isn't there to do.
Chris is to here exhort us.
Ministries are to exhort us, to enable us,
and for the work of service to be done
by the congregation, by the people in the pews.
Think about this.
Why does Gail come in and clean the bulletins up
on Wednesday night?
Because she understands it's a life of giving.
She doesn't let Justin do it.
Okay.
Why do some of you say, okay,
I want to help in the outreach on Saturday,
the picnic.
Many hands make light work.
So we need the body interaction.
All right, here we go.
Come into a close.
All of us are to honor God's holiness.
So what's our calling?
God's holiness, fully revealed in Christ,
calls believers to live lives of purity
and obedience.
That's first.
Ministry, by the way, comes second.
But I don't have my ministry.
What is my ministry?
Live the life.
Do what you can do where you're at.
Clean the toilets.
Do whatever.
Shake hands.
Take bulletins out.
Do whatever.
And God will promote you.
But you say, perhaps, parenthetically,
why does holiness even matter when we have grace?
Holiness honors God first.
It preserves our fellowship with Him,
and it protects us from destructive effects of sin.
That holiness is antithetical to sin, light, darkness.
Doing God's business is what we do.
Holiness is serious.
We've said that.
It's not optional.
And we are to reflect God's character in all of our lives,
no matter where you are or who you are.
And then, abiding in holiness is simply this.
We grow in holiness over time.
God is patient with us, providing forgiveness
and empowers our transformation.
You don't grow up overnight.
It's almost like a child coming with his hands out.
Lord, give me.
And after a while, you see productivity coming.
They're satisfied with who they are.
I now have a...
It doesn't matter his age.
I think he's 13.
He wants to get a job, my grandson.
So his father said, and he's a chip off the old block,
okay, you want to have money?
You now have to earn it.
So what did he creatively do?
His father has my pressure washer in his garage,
because when we moved, we don't need a pressure washer.
So he gets this idea, and maybe he got it online.
I don't know.
But he goes around every Monday afternoon
and every Thursday afternoon, and he cleans garbage cans.
He takes a pressure washer, washes out the inside.
He took some of his mother's smell good stuff
and sprinkled that in there.
And, oh, the people love it.
So he got more clients than he can live with now.
So consequently, the idea of being transformed
to where you are a taker and you're now a giver
is part of the holiness process that you come to.
And my closing thoughts are these.
Holiness is simply living in a way that reflects God's character,
whatever that may be.
That's a very broad statement, but that's it.
And then on our own, oh, it's what I can do.
We cannot consistently achieve true holiness
because of our human weakness and sin in us.
The Adamic nature is there no matter how holy we think we are.
And then finally, but in Christ, God's grace covers our shortcomings
and enables us to pursue righteousness.
So we now have exhausted, in some form or fashion,
what holiness is, what it is not, what is prohibited,
what is allowed, how you draw close to God.
And so we'll end this chapter and we'll close our eyes
and we'll thank the Lord for your goodness to us tonight, Lord.
Thank you for revealing your word to us.
I trust that you planted seeds in our hearts, Lord,
that we can increase in your holiness.
We can be holy because you are holy.
You are our pattern, Lord.
And those that seek you, Father, and spend time with you,
I ask, Lord, that you would give them revelation,
give them wisdom, Lord, give them an exciting experience with you,
because, Lord, there is nothing like being in your kingdom
even if we are a doorkeeper.
So we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. God bless you.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!