October 6, 2009

• "You shall be holy to Me..." Bible reading: Leviticus

  
  You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
  

  –Leviticus 20:26
  
  

  You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

  –Leviticus 20:23

  
  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
  

  –I Peter 2:9-11

  The life of a Christian is to be a life of separation from the customs of this world to a life of holiness and godliness. We are called by God to live wholly to God, but how often do we live wholly to the world and to our own desires?

  Christ died for us on the cross so we might live to Him. He sent His Spirit to dwell in us so we might live like Him and live our lives for Him. God has called us out to live separately and distinctly from the rest of the world.

  God chose us and called us out so we might be a holy people, to be holy as He is holy. His desire for us is sanctification – to be transformed and conformed into the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  Are you being holy to the Lord? Do you have an increasing desire to be holy as He is holy? Or do you think because you have been saved by grace it doesn't matter to the Lord how you live?

  Are you continuing to walk in the customs of the world in such a way that the Lord is ready to vomit you out?

  What parts of your life have you not set apart as holy to Him? How are you continuing to walk in the customs of the world rather than walking as a sojourner or exile in the world?

  Are you seeking to abstain from the passions of the flesh, or are you choosing to keep sin alive and thriving in your life by feeding the passions of your flesh? Does you sin grieve you? Are you seeking to mortify sin and put on the new self by the Spirit? Are you giving sin and Satan a continuing foothold in your life? Are you continuing to ally yourself with sin and fleshly passions rather than waging war against them?

  As Christians, we're not called to imitate the world. We are called to turn our backs on the world and forsake the customs of the world. If you are a Christian, then the Holy Spirit has given you a new heart along with new desires and a new power so you might be an imitator of God, to be holy as He is holy.

  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
  
  5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not associate with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
  

  Awake, O sleeper,
  and arise from the dead,
  and Christ will shine on you.

  
  15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
  

  Are you walking as a child of light or like a son of disobedience? Are you really interested in discerning what is pleasing to the Lord? Or are you continuing to take part in unfruitful works of darkness and even enjoying them?

  Are you walking as a child of light or like a son of disobedience? Are you looking carefully as to how you walk? Do you care about purifying yourself as He is pure? Does you sin grieve you? Does the sin of the world distress you? Do you hear God calling you to walk apart from the world? If we know the love, grace and mercy of our Father poured out for us at Calvary's cross, will we not want to walk in His will for us, to be holy to Him?

  Are you walking as a child of light or like a son of disobedience? How are you walking: as wise or unwise? Are you being foolish in how you conduct yourself, in your choice of friendships and activities? Are you continuing to fellowship with darkness even though you know God's will for you is to come out and be separate and live as a child of light.

  May the Lord give us all grace to examine ourselves in these things, as to whether we are in the faith or not.

  If we are God's children, saved by faith in the blood of Jesus, born of His Holy Spirit and adopted into His family, we will desire and long to be holy like Him and live holy to Him. We can't keep on sinning. How can we who are now light continue to enjoy the darkness? No, that doesn't mean we totally cut ourselves off from the world for Jesus has left us in the world, after all. But it does mean we are to live apart from the darkness in the world. We are to shine in the darkness. If God's people are not holy to the Lord, how can we shine in a dark world? Jesus prayed the Father would protect us from the evil one. Are we attempting to thwart His prayers for us by seeking out fellowship with the darkness and walking ourselves right into the snare of the evil one? How can we who were delivered out of darkness into His marvelous light continue to abide in and enjoy darkness? Rather than offering ourselves up to sin, self and Satan and bearing fruit to death, should we not be offering ourselves up to God so we might bear fruit to holiness?

  Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
  

  –I John 3:2-10

  If you are God's child by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, then by the grace of God and the power of God at work in you, act like it. Stop making excuses or rationalizing your sin. Do not say that you were born such and such a way and you cannot help how you live, that you cannot help sinning. Do not say because my parents did such and such, that's why I am the way I am. Or do not say, such and so lives a certain way, so I can live however I want.

  If you are Christ's, you have been born again of His incorruptible seed and given His Holy Spirit and God calls you to be holy to Him. If you are Christ's, you are a new creation, you have been given a new Spirit with new, holy desires; the old has gone, the new has come. Therefore by His almighty resurrection power at work in you, the power that raised Jesus from the dead, the power that gave you new life in Christ, you can overcome sin. It is true that we will struggle with our sin nature, but God has put a new nature in us so we might desire to be holy as He is holy, so we might long to put off and be rid of our sin. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we have Christ's resurrection power at work in us to make us holy, so sin might no longer have dominion over us. Confess your sin to Him now and ask Him to give you a greater vision for and appreciation of His sacrifice for you and love He showed you on the cross, what your salvation cost Him. How can you say you know His love for you in Christ Jesus and yet remain in sin? He bought you and He owns you. You are not your own; you are His purchased possession. Ask God to give you a greater love for Him and a greater desire to live to Him, to live a life holy and blameless before Him. He has loved you and bought you with His precious blood and called out to be holy unto Him. Should you not be rendering your life wholly unto Him, to be holy to Him and separated from the world – for you are His, after all, are you not?

  If you can see you have called yourself a Christian, that you have called yourself God's child, but you are not really His child, I urge you to go to Him now and speak to Him of these things. Do not harden your heart. Confess your sins to Him, draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Jesus Christ has promised not to cast any out who come to Him. God has promised to come to dwell with all those who have a humble and contrite heart. Ask God to save you from you sin by faith in Christ's blood and then to work in you to change your desires so you might be holy to Him and be separated from the world.

  ---

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  • Bible Reading: Job 2:1 - "Again" (To press on we must always be mortifying sin | John Owen)

  Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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