Spiritual Transformation: Only Way to Be Holy Cont.

What does God want? Desire of Missouri Avenue Baptist Church in 2016. He desires among other things to be glorified in us, to be glorified in our church, to be glorified in our attitude, in our in our spirit, in our joy. He desires to be glorified. The Bible says in first Corinthians ten thirty one, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

In Matthew five sixteen, Jesus said to his disciples, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. I don't deserve in any way, shape, or form to be glorified in me. I'm a sinner. Saved only by the grace and mercy and power of Jesus Christ to whom be glory. And he will receive the glory.

But he wants to receive that glory today. In the hearts and attitudes, in the behavior and conduct of his children this morning. How do we glorify him? We looked at three things. We're looking at three things the last few weeks.

By demonstrating true faith in the Lord, by demonstrating true love for the Lord and others and by demonstrating true holiness before the Lord. I'm going to turn to Leviticus chapter 11 and verse 45. Leviticus chapter 11 and verse 45 and then we'll turn over to first Peter here in just a few moments. Leviticus 11 and then first Peter chapter one. I'm afraid that we talk a lot today about faith and love but not about holiness.

God is love. We must not forget that. We must not downplay that. One of my favorite passages of scripture was a song I learned when I was a kid. It's first John four seven and eight.

It goes, beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love, so beloved, let us love one another. First John four, seven, and eight. I got to teach Joshua that song last week because that was his verse for school and that verse is stuck with me easily because of that little song that I learned.

God is love. But God is also holy. And those two are not contrary or contradictory of one another. God is holy because among other things, God is love. The Bible says in Leviticus eleven forty five, God says, for I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God.

Ye shall therefore be holy for I am holy. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, we thank you for your word today. We thank you for the opportunity that we have been given. To represent the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a privilege, Lord. We pray that you would be glorified in the service today. We pray that Jesus Christ would be exalted. We pray that you'd be glorified in our lives throughout this week. We pray, dear Lord, that others would see Jesus Christ in us, in our faith, in our love, in our holiness, Lord.

That others would get a glimpse of the true nature of the God who made them and so desires to save them. In Jesus precious name, we pray. Amen. The Bible says, God is what? God is holy.

God says to Israel, you shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy. What does that mean? See, that's one of the problems that sometimes with Bible terms is we use them. But we don't know what they mean. We use words like righteousness and redemption and justification and sanctification and and all these other terms, theological terms we call them.

They're they're just words. They're words that God has used to describe things that are important in the doctrine of Jesus Christ and salvation. But words don't mean a whole lot if we don't know what they mean. What their definition is? What does the word holy mean?

Well, the word holy means pure and clean. The word holy in both testaments. In Hebrew and Greek carries the idea of being clean or pure. Our God is the purest that there is. In this universe.

He is pure. He doesn't have to be clean because he is already clean. In all of his moral character. The word holy means set apart. Set apart.

God is set apart. He is the only true and loving living God. He is the great I am that I am. He is God and there is none other besides him. He is set apart from all in his moral nature and character.

Separated from sin and anything that defiles or corrupt. God is set apart from all that. The world in which we live isn't like that. Everything down here is tainted by what? Sin.

But not our God. He is holy. He is set apart. Set apart from all or any corrupting influence. Beholding to none but his own nature.

God is holy. It also is coupled together with the word righteous. The word righteous. God is just. God is fair in all of his dealings, in all of his judgment.

He is the impartial judge. He is not dishonest. He is a god of integrity. In all of his dealings, God is righteous. Man is not.

God is. He is holy. In every aspect of his moral character, God is love. He is honest. He is good.

He is kind. He is merciful. He is faithful. He is unchanging. He is our holy God.

And we can trust in him. We can trust in him Because he is holy, he will never let us down. Because he is holy, he never makes mistakes. Because he is holy. He'll never lead us astray And we could go on and on and on and on and on if we had time this morning.

Oh, what a joy it is to know and serve. A holy God in whom we can place all of our trust even our eternity and our soul in his hands. Because we are secure. In our holy God. The Bible also tells us here that God not only says he is holy but God expects us also to be what?

To be holy. Now, turn over if you would to first Peter. We read that there in Leviticus eleven forty five. He told Israel, be holy for I am holy and you say, well, that pastor, that's Old Testament. That's for Israel.

Oh, is it? Is that just for Israel? Is that just for the the the children of Israel? Is that just applied to Old Testament times? No, it doesn't.

You say but we're we're under grace. We're not under law. That's right. Praise God because if we were judged based upon the law, we would all spend an eternity in a place called hell. No, praise God for his amazing grace.

It's by his grace, he has saved us but when he saved you, he didn't save you only to take you where? To heaven. Because if that's the only reason he saved you, where would you be? In heaven. Now, some of you are nodding your heads.

Yes, pastor. We've heard this. We've got it. Okay. But you're not in heaven yet, are you?

No. No, No. You're still here. Why are you here? Why?

Because God has a purpose for you here. God has a purpose that we glorify our Lord. Before the world, That others would praise his name. That others would be drawn to him. And among other things, God is glorified when his children reflect the nature of their father in heaven.

You know, it is a joy to me as a father. When my children reflect the good parts which are only good by the mercy and grace of God. Of their father. And and when they do it better than I'll ever do it. It's a joy for me to have David back here playing trombone.

I like to sing. I like to sing and I love music but but I can't even begin to do that but but but it is a joy to me to see how he has, how God has been able to use music in his life to bless others. It is a greater joy to our heavenly father When his nature is reflected in his children. Be sadly, there are things I don't want reflected. Of my nature and my children.

But that's not true of our God. Our God is what? He is holy. And God rejoices when his nature is reflected and seen in his children. And that is what it means to be holy.

It means to reflect the nature of our God, to be conformed into the image of his son, Jesus Christ. In first Peter chapter one, it begins in verse 13, wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance but as he which hath called you as holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be holy for I am holy. God wants others to see Jesus in who? Reference this a few times. There was a song I used to listen to when I was a teenager and it's touted, you're the only Jesus and the end of the chorus said, you're the only Jesus that some will ever see.

You're the only words of life that some will ever read. So, let them see in you the one in whom is all they'll ever need. For you're the only Jesus that some will ever see. They'll never darken the door of a church. They'll never pick up a Bible and read it.

But they'll rub shoulders with you. What will they see? What will they see? Will they see Jesus in us? God desires for the world to see Jesus and his children.

He desires that we too be holy, that we be morally pure. And sincere and real. That we be separated from sin. And and not fashioning or conforming ourselves to the sinful world around us but being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, his son. Says here in verse 14, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance.

As obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to former lust in your ignorance. Before you were saved, before you became to, before you came to know the Lord. Don't go back there. Go forward. In becoming more like who?

More like Jesus Christ. That's being what? That's being holy. That's being holy. The word holiness means more than just conforming outwardly.

That's what the Pharisees did. Oh, they said the right things and they dressed the right way and they they they never missed a service and and they they fasted and they they prayed for everybody to see. They were very pious. And they knew it but it was only on the what? It's only on the outside.

What did Jesus call them? He called them hypocrites. He called them hypocrites. He said, you're nothing but hypocrites. You're you're like a whitewashed sepulchre, a grave, a mausoleum.

On the outside, you're pretty but inside, you're full of dead man's bones, decay, and corruption. Their heart was not right with God. It was all about what others saw. And they had no desire to really know the Lord. They had no true love for God.

They had no real faith. Holiness is more than just conforming to the rules. You say, but pastor, I don't smoke and I don't drink and I don't do drugs and I don't go to these places and I don't see these people and I don't watch this and I don't do that. That's great. That'll make you holy.

That does not make you holy. You can stop all those things. And not be the least bit holy because holiness begins where? The heart. Jesus said to his disciples, unless your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

You see, the problem is this, God, God expects, yey, commands that we be holy as he is holy but man by nature is anything. But holy. Look at the world in which we live. Somebody was mentioning in Sunday school this morning. What's happening around the world particularly with Isis?

They they just use chemical warfare. On men and women, boys, and girls this week. They're beheading people who don't see things the way they do. They're they're they're going into homes and kidnapping little girls and selling them as sex slaves all around the world. It is very sad and sadly, it is the humanity that has always been around.

You say, but we're we're civilized and we're educated. That doesn't fix it. Man is still what? Sinful at heart and given to his own ways, he's going to be drawn right back into the wickedness and the destruction where his heart leads him. The Bible says the heart of man is what?

Evil. Wicked. And we see it. We cry for peace. We educate people and still, we have this kind of thing going on today and it doesn't end because man is a sinner at heart.

We are not holy. The Bible says, there is what? None righteous. No, not one. The Bible says, Isaiah sixty four six, all are righteousness, all our good works are as filthy rags.

They may look good to other people but God knows. God knows our heart and before this filthy rag can be used to do anything to the glory of God, it has to be cleansed. And I can't do that Only God can. Look if you would in Romans chapter 12. We we began this last week.

Romans chapter 12 if you would. Excuse me. So, how does sinful man become in any way holy and reflect the nature of a holy God. How can that happen? Well, it doesn't happen by sheer determination and will.

You can go out of here today and say, I am going to be holy. You will not be holy. You can't change it. Share determination and will can't do it. Say, well, education.

Education is the answer. There's more educating going on around this world than ever ever has been. And look what a mess this world is in. Education is not. The answer to holiness You say, well, I'll just be pious and do good things.

I'll go to church and I'll I'll go through the motions and the rituals and the rights. It's Well, fine. Won't make you holy. Will not make you holy. Didn't make the Pharisees holy.

Pious, righteous, religious Pharisees. When God sent his only son for them. How did they respond to him? How did they respond? They wouldn't believe him.

They mocked him. They told others he was a liar and sent by the devil and they determined that they were going to kill him. That is how the religious crowd responded to the son of God. Well, if I just overcome my addictions, depart from my sinful activities, and reform my lifestyle. I was talking to somebody else this past week.

Somebody who recognized that they need something else in their life because they said, I have this problem and I fixed this problem. I quit doing this but the minute I quit doing this, I started doing this. So, then, I quit doing that and I started doing this and they said, no matter what I do, I just, it just goes from one thing to another. I can't get any victory at all. That's right.

On your own, you can't. The Bible says, without him, we can do what? Nothing. No, those things cannot make you holy. You can teach a cat to bark.

Well, maybe. I haven't tried. But it's, if you did, it would still be a what? Yeah. It would still be a cat.

You can train a drunk not to drink but in heart, he may still be an alcoholic. You can you can convince a thief not to steal but at heart, he may still be a what? A thief. And given enough time and the right motivation go right back to it. Now, there's something more that we need.

We must be transformed. We must be transformed. Not conformed by outward pressures but transformed inside from the heart. How can that happen? Well, let's look at it.

Let's first look at Romans twelve one and two. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, delivering sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, may you prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The only way to prove, to live out in our life that good and acceptable and perfect will of God is through transformation. That that that's like that butterfly, that caterpillar that goes into that cocoon and comes out a butterfly. It's not something it determines to do by its will.

It's something that just happens from the inside out. Another term that's been used to describe it is this, John three verse three. Jesus said unto Nicodemus, you must be born again. Except a man be born again. He cannot, will not see, enter into the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus, you know there's something missing in your life. Here it is. You must be born again and Nicodemus said, well, how can I be born again? I can only be born once. He said, no, you're missing the point.

You were born what? Physically. You must be born again spiritually. Spirit ually, the Bible says before we come to know Christ, we're dead and trespasses and in sin. What does that mean?

It means we're unresponsive to who? We're unresponsive to God. We live entirely to satisfy the lust and longings and desires of the flesh that has been corrupted by what? Sin. We are unrighteous to the core.

But God said to Nicodemus, you can be born again. You can be born by the spirit. You can be born from above. You can become a new person in Jesus Christ. You can be transformed.

By the spirit of the Lord and how? Well, he tells us in John three sixteen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever what? Believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That says, if you will put your faith and trust in my son, who I gave to you, who I put on a cross for you, who rose again from the dead, and is seated in heaven interceding for you. If you will put your faith in him, I will transform.

The Bible says in first Corinthians five seventeen, if any man be in Christ, he is a what? New creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. You want to be a different person?

You can be through Jesus Christ and only through Jesus Christ you must be born again Not only must you be born again, that's step one. Born into God's family, forgiven of your sins, justified by his grace, given everlasting life. Yes, you must be born again but secondly, here in Romans twelve two, we read this, it says, and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the what? Of your mind. You say, praise God.

I'm a Christian. I'm going to heaven. God has set me apart unto himself. He has justified me by his grace and he has called me holy. That's what the term saint means.

And if you're a child of God, saved by his grace, God has called you what? Holy, saint, holy one. In whom? In Jesus Christ. However, is it showing in your life?

Is it showing in your actions? Is it showing in your attitude? Is it showing in your spirit? Is it is it showing? In your walk with the Lord.

Are you producing fruit? You see, being saved is not the end. Being saved is just the one. The beginning. It's just the beginning of a new life in Jesus Christ and God saved us.

He says in Romans eight twenty nine that he might conform us into the image, the likeness of his son, Jesus Christ. How does he do that? Well, he does that by his spirit and his word as he renews our what? Our mind. You save my soul.

My soul is in his hands. Praise God. I have a home reserved in heaven for me because of my God and my savior and what he did for me. But that's not enough I want Jesus to be seen in my life. I want to be more like him.

Do you? I think if you're truly a child of God, you do. You do want to be more like Jesus. God has put that in your heart when you gave you his what? His holy spirit.

And God will take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and conform us into the image of his son as he renews not just our heart that he is saved but he changes the way we think. You see, what you do is all connected to what you think. It's not the things that go into a man, Jesus said, that defiles him. It's the things that come out of a man. Out of the heart are the issues of what?

Life. Those things come from our heart and from our mind and God wants to transform the way we think. That's why it says, in first Peter one thirteen, wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind. Tie up the loose ends. Let's let's get serious.

Let's focus our mind on the things of God. We're to be renewed in our mind, in our mindset here from Romans twelve two. It says in first Peter two two, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If you want to be more like Jesus Read this. Study this.

Meditate on this. Hide God's word in your heart. They're more than just words on a page. They're the communication of God with man. They are the way that he has given.

The Bible says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the. Word of God. Word of God. David said, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Hebrews four twelve says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner and of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God is powerful. I am not. This word is.

Pastor, why do you preach it? Why do you quote from it so much? Why don't you tell us more stories? Well, stories have their place this is what changes the heart of man it is powerful. It is quick and it reaches even to the thoughts and intents of the heart.

God has the ability to change the way we think by replacing the ways of the world with the ways of the word. That is the word of God. Christian, how do you view eternity? You probably view it a lot different than the unsafe world around you. The world says, live for the here and now.

God says, love not the world. For the world is what? Passing away. The world says, if it feels good, do it. God says, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.

God says, flee youthful lust. Which war against the soul. The world says, marriage is unnecessary. God says, marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. The world says, make your own way.

God says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be renewed in your mind By the word of God. Why should I listen to the word of God? Because it is the word of who?

God. He's your creator. He made you. He knows what's best for you. Not only did he create you and make you but he sent his son to die for you.

He saw fit to send you his word because he cares about you. Remember back to when in college or after you were in love with somebody and you were separated by a distance and what did you do? You sent what? You sent letters. Now, you don't do that today.

You send Emails, I guess. But Emails don't come with that perfume on em. That those letters came with. Why did that mean so much? Because the person on the other end that took time to wrote that cared enough to do so.

Amen. God cared enough to give us his word. To not leave us in the dark. That's how much he cares for you. Not only did he give you his word but he gave you his son.

Be renewed in your mind by his word. In order for that to happen, number three must happen this morning and that must be that you must be submitted to him. You must submit yourself to the Lord. Romans twelve one, we read over it. We haven't touched it a whole lot in the past couple weeks.

Let's look at it a little closer. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Paul writes, I beseech you therefore, brethren. The the word beseech means I plead. I come alongside of you and I plead with you.

Brethren, Christians, by the mercies of God, according to what God has done for you, what did he do for you? He died for you. The mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice Holy, set apart, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. Based on what God has done in saving our soul by the sacrifice of his son, It is our what kind of service? Our reasonable service.

It is a reasonable service that we yield ourselves our whole selves to his service. He gave his wholesale his life for us. The Bible says, Galatians five sixteen, Paul wrote, this I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. James four seven, we looked at earlier. We read at the beginning of the service says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Christian, if you want to get victory in your life, if you want to become more like your savior Jesus Christ, if you want God to be seen in you, you must yield yourself to him and to his word. It's one thing to say I believe it. It's another thing to live it in your life. James told those to whom he was writing. He says, be you doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own self but pastor, I know.

I I know this is right and I know this is wrong. Well, are you doing it? Are you yielded to his word? It's not enough. To know it.

It doesn't affect how you live. Your walk talks louder than your talk talks. Are you submitted to the Lord? And to his word or is it just a theological exercise? Submission is a normal part of life.

As an employee, you submit to your boss at work. As a United States citizen, you submit to the laws of the land. As a child, you submit to your parents. As a soldier, you submit to your commander, as a student to your teacher. Submission is a normal part of life but is something that the human heart rebels against.

And apart from the grace and transformation of Jesus Christ, it is extremely difficult but by God's grace, we can submit to the authorities in our life that God has placed there but more importantly, we can submit to the will of God for us in our life and we must. Jesus, our savior, was submitted to the will of his father. John five thirty, he says, I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of my father which has sent me. When Satan tempted him to turn a stone to bread after Jesus hadn't eaten for forty days, Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. I won't do it because it isn't why.

God's will. Philippians two says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being the form of God, thought it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Christ, the son of God, submitted his will to the will of the father and he never altered from that course. He is our great example. Our great example.

In the Garden Of Gethsemane, he prayed, father, if that, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Remove this cup of suffering. But that's not where the verse ends, is it? Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done. I used Eric Liddell as an illustration a few weeks ago.

Eric Liddell was from Scotland. His parents were missionaries to China, but he is known for, even in the world, for his athletic accomplishments. He was a sprinter. But when it came to race his best race in the Olympics, he refused to run-in the heat to even get into the finals. Why?

Because the heat was on Sunday. Why did he do that? Because he had yielded, submitted himself to the Lord and he believed it wasn't God's will to run on Sunday. It didn't matter the consequences. He wasn't going to run.

And he didn't and he didn't stay in athletics either after the Olympics. What did he do? He went back to China to live and minister and die among the Chinese people to whom he told about the Lord. How about you? Your job, your weekends, your family, your church attendance, your activities, your entertainment, your time, will you submit them to God's will?

You say, I want to be holy. Okay. You and God agree. He wants you to be more like Jesus. If you're going to be more like Jesus, first of all, you have to know Jesus.

You have to be born again through faith in what he did for you on Calvary's Cross. And you need to be renewed in your mind by hiding God's word in your heart and you need to submit yourself as Jesus did. To the will of his father. To the job that he wants you to have, to the activities he wants you to partake in, to be the responsible, loving, and godly father and mother in your family, husband and wife, to be faithful to your church. And the list goes on.

In Luke nine twenty three, Jesus said, to his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. And follow me. Let's follow the Lord Jesus Christ. As Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, let us bring glory to the Lord this year. As we become more like Jesus Christ, as we become more holy day by day.

He said in first Corinthians four two, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Would you be found faithful? Would you today choose to serve Jesus Christ? Is there something in your life that God has put a finger on and said, you know, this isn't right. Is there something God has put his finger on and said to you, you know that your heart is not with me and you're not yielded to me.

Is there something that God is speaking to you about this morning? Maybe that thing is you're not his child because you've never humbled yourself. And received him as their Lord and savior. You can do that today. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word. We thank you Lord for the opportunity. To know it and to know you through it. Lord, we thank you for what you did for us. We thank you that you are holy and trustworthy and we pray that in every aspect of our life and our conduct that we might reflect the holiness of our God.

Lord, that means we have to change. Lord, change us today. Lord, make us more like you and we pray if there's one here today that's never trusted in Jesus that today they might come as we give this hymn of invitation that we might show them how they can be safe today and know it. In Jesus precious name, we pray. Amen.