 So, yes, we'll be continuing with our topic, Holiness of God and if anyone has any doubts or you want to clarify anything, you can just flash that symbol over there, which is available for raising the hand or you can type something in the chat, a question in the chat and then we could address that. So please feel free to do that anytime during the class while it's going on. So, we looked a little bit at the Holiness of God. Okay, we have Japhina raising her hand. So, yes, please go ahead with your question. Yeah, I don't know whether it is very related to what we are looking on, but while I'm listening to the class, I had this question like, is there a difference between Holiness and Righteousness or it's just the same word? Yeah, Righteousness is the right standing that we have before God, where God looks upon us as being without flaw, being acceptable in his eyes. So it's the position that we have before him, it's a position of right standing. So you could say maybe it's a positional thing, Righteousness, where now we are acceptable, where now he looks upon us as not having any sin or flaw or lack, because we all fell short of the mark, right? His standards were here and we all fell short of that. But now, because we are now clothed in Christ's Righteousness, he now regards us having reached the required standard. So it's a positional thing, I would say. Now Holiness, on the other hand, is a person who is not only just positionally Righteous, but is also in his actions and his thoughts and his lifestyle, is trying to live in that Righteousness, they would reflect God's beauty, which is called Holiness. So positionally, at the time of salvation, we have all been brought to that position of right standing with him, where he no longer is looking upon us with judgment, but now he is looking upon us as accepted. He is at peace with us, he is in Shalom with us, he no longer is against us but for us. So positionally, we have all arrived there at the point of salvation. But how are we living? Are we living in that Righteousness, thinking in a way a Righteous person should think? Are we doing things daily that a Righteous person should do? If we are in fact making every attempt by the help of the Holy Spirit to live in that position of right standing with him, if we are acting it out in our thoughts, in our actions, then we start looking like him. We start sounding like him and that is God's beauty. Another word for God's beauty is Holiness. So how would I, so if Righteousness is the standing we have, then what is Holiness? I don't know, it's just a reflection of him, it's something that has to do with him. And we are kind of reflecting that and that would be called Holiness as far as we are concerned. I would probably have to think more about it and come up with the correct English words to express what I am trying to say but I hope you were able to at least catch a little bit of what I have been saying. Yeah, so if anyone else has any doubts or you want to clarify anything, you can please go ahead. And like I have said, sometimes I may not be able to give a very correct answer off the top of my head but I can always get back to you. I'll post the answer in the stream page once I have the scripture references to back it up and all of that. So if any answer is highly unsatisfactory, don't worry, I will look up the necessary verses and get back to you in such cases. So please do feel free to ask your doubts if you have any. So because of who God is, we have a responsibility towards him in not trampling upon this holiness that he is sharing with us, not trampling upon this righteousness which he has so freely given us but to honour him and to treat this righteousness as a privilege because Christ's righteousness has just been freely given to us, we didn't do anything to earn it. It was just, it's a robe which was just, we were clothed in that robe of righteousness and now when God looks at us, he looks at the righteousness of Christ, he doesn't look at us at our imperfections because he knows that we love him and we are working towards co-operating with him, we do want to overcome these things and not continue living in them. He knows that now we really wish to bring glory to his name, so he's being patient and he goes on looking at this robe of righteousness in which we are clothed. So we need to be very careful how we are wearing it, whether we are honouring what we have been given, this privilege which we have been given. So when we pray in fact, this is the way Jesus taught us to pray and this is what he says to us in Matthew chapter 6 verse 9. If someone could please read out for us, Matthew chapter 6 verse 9. Matthew chapter 6 verse 9, this then is how you should pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. So we first of all begin by saying, our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, may your name always be held holy by us, by everyone in fact, may it be held holy because this is a name that has been given to us for our benefit and may we hold it with reverence, may it be held in a holy manner by us. To put it in another way, if we could read out Exodus chapter 20 verse 7, Exodus 20 verse 7. Exodus chapter 20 verse 7, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold any one guiltless misuse as his name. Okay, so NKJV would say, you should not profane the name of the Lord, to put it more simply you know in either way, NIV puts it in our modern language, do not misuse the name of the Lord, do not bring dirt, do not throw dirt on the name of the Lord you know and how do people do that? They misuse and profane the name of the Lord basically by their actions, by not living in the way God wants, so which is what happened with the case of the Israelites on many occasions and we see one example of that in Exodus chapter 36 verses 20 to 23, look at the way God you know regards this whole thing, this whole event, so if we could go to, oh no, so sorry it's not Exodus, it's Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 20 to 23, Ezekiel 36, 20 to 23, if someone could read out, I know it's a bit of a long passage but just focus on how the people treat his name and what his response is towards the way they treat his name, okay, so let's read it out. Ms. Verse 36 chapter 20 to 23, when they came to the nations wherever they went they profaned my holy name, when they said of them these are the people of the Lord and yet they have gone out of his land, but I had concerned for my holy name which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went, oh 22 and 23, therefore say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord God I do not do this for your sake or house of Israel but for my holy name's sake which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went and I will sanctify my great name which has been profaned among the nations which you have profaned in their midst and the nations shall shall shall know that I am the Lord says the Lord God when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. Okay, God wants to be hallowed in us before the eyes of the world. If we hold his name with reverence, if we behave and act in a way which will bring glory to his name then the people the world will recognize that he is someone who deserves, you know, honor that he is someone who deserves to be worshiped and treated with reverence. If we ourselves his people, if we ourselves are not hallowing holding up his name and if we are breaking his commandments and living in a way that goes against his wishes then the people will think, okay fine this God of the Christians is not really worthy of worship, you know, so God says I must be hallowed, you know, in the eyes of the world and for that to happen you people must represent me correctly. So if you yourselves are living in the wrong way and if you are going against my will, what's the impression that it would create? It would make people think that oh okay this God is not really worthy of worship and so God says, you know, even if it involves having to punish you, even if it involves having to bring judgment upon you, I will do it because I will bring you to a point where you will indeed treat me with respect that I deserve. Even the world will see that I am someone who deserves honor and they will recognize that I am holy, holy, holy, threefold, I'm completely holy and I will never lower my standards and humanity is expected to rise to that standard through Jesus, through the work of the cross, you know, with the help of the Holy Spirit. So when we refuse to do that, it's like we are actively making an attack on His holiness because this word that we used in the NKJV, it would be the word profaning my holy name. In NIV, which tries to use simpler English, it says misusing the name of the Lord but what is the actual word used over there, the Hebrew word that is used over there? It is the exact word which is used also in Isaiah 53 verse 3. You know, if we could go to Isaiah 53, sorry verse 5, yeah, Isaiah 53 verse 5, we know the one we are all very familiar with, yeah, Isaiah 53, 5 if someone could read out. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5, but he was pure for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his own we are healed. The very first portion of the verse, it says he was pierced, it's like you take a knife and you stab with it, you pierce with it, now that's an act of aggression, right? So that exact word piercing is the word that is used over here in your Ezekiel that is 6, 20 to 23, where it says they pierced, so if you were to literally translate, you would be saying, they are piercing my holy name, they are stabbing at it, they are aggressively going against what that name stands for. Okay, so it's an act of act of rebellion, so when you and I sin, when we even knowing what is right, when we deliberately choose to sin, God doesn't just see it as an act of weakness, we are living in this imperfect world and life is tough and sometimes you have to compromise, no, he does not look at it in that sense, he sees what we are doing as an act of aggression, where we are stabbing at his name, stabbing at what he is standing for and saying, I am opposing you, I know who you are, I know what your standards are, but I am deliberately choosing to attack to rebel, so it's a very serious thing in God's eyes. We can never look at our sin as just a weakness, as an adjustment that has to be done because we are living in a difficult world, no, he sees it as an act of aggression against him, against who he is, because he is holy, he is perfect, he cannot tolerate sin, which is what Habakkuk recognizes in, I am very sorry, it's this bad allergy that's been kind of building up since last night, Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 13, if someone could read out Habakkuk 113. You know, I am glad to have Jefina reading, but if you could also have others reading, just so that I will know that you guys are still there and that you are still listening, so yeah, Jefina you can go ahead, but if we could have other people also just reading out, it would kind of know, let me know that there are people actually watching and listening to the teaching, yeah, go ahead. Can I know the chapter again? Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 13. Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 13, your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong, why then do you tolerate the trucareous, why are you silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than them? Okay, so Habakkuk over here in this verse is confused, he knows that God is holy, he knows that God cannot tolerate any wrong at all and so he says, Lord, why are you delaying justice, why are you not tolerating what these wicked people are doing? And then of course that's an entire topic by itself and we would need to do a study of Habakkuk to understand why God allowed the delay in the justice and all of that. But the point that he makes is that the thing which he recognizes about God's character is that he says, your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong. So that is something that we need to recognize that God can never lower his standards, he will never lower his standards and he will never tolerate what is wrong. He will be patient, he will wait for us to repent, his long suffering is the NKJV word. So for a long time he will suffer and be patient and endure the things that we are doing, these acts of piercing at his name and his holiness, he will tolerate it hoping that we will change our ways because his mercy is supposed to lead us to repentance but if we continue to resist, there would be punishment, there would be judgment. So he is a God who cannot tolerate wrong and that is why it says in Ezekiel chapter 43 verse 7 and in other places that he will only dwell wherever his name is being hallowed, where it is being held with reverence, with respect, where it is being held holy, only in such places he chooses to dwell. So maybe we could look at Ezekiel chapter 43 verse 7, if we could have someone read out Ezekiel 43 verse 7 please. Ezekiel 43 verse 7. Yes. He said son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the souls of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings by their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings at their death. So God speaks of a future time when there are a few remnant who will choose to repent and return to him and those people, he will honor them because they will be that small portion of Israel who finally choose to come back to him and live according to his ways. And he says this is the place of my throne, this is the place for the souls of my feet. This is where I will dwell, this is where I will establish myself, this is where I will do all that I have promised for my people. So if we in our homes, in our own personal lives, if we choose to be a people who are not defiling his holy name, then he will place the souls of his feet in our lives, symbolically speaking. His throne will be in our lives. Imagine if your home is the place where the souls of his feet are resting, wow, what a privileged person you would be. Everything would be easier in the sense because his favor is upon you and your family. It would be so much easier to go through the trials of life. Trials will anyway come because as long as we are in the world, trials would be there. But now because he is on your side and there are no blockages between you and him, his blessings, his victory, his deliverance can flow freely into your situations and your family. So we all I'm sure would like his throne to be in our home. We would like the souls of his feet to be resting in our little space, in our lives. So therefore it is very important that we choose to not defile his name because among such people he would prefer to dwell. Among such people he would prefer to make his habitation. And just to use one new testament example of this, Matthew chapter 18 verses 18 to 20. This is a practical example of how this works. So Matthew chapter 18, 18 to 20, if we could have someone read out please. Matthew chapter 18 verse 18 to 20. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. Again I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name there I am with them. Okay, now this is a portion of a passage. So obviously we would need to know the entire passage to know what is being talked about over here. Here Jesus is talking about his people, people who have now become his followers, people who have chosen to place their allegiance with him. Now they have made a commitment saying Lord you are our master, we are going to be following you. So when such people fall away and disciplinary action has to be taken, so the elders of the church would come together and they would decide what to do. They would take different various steps on trying to bring that person back into the fold and stuff like that. So in that context Jesus is speaking and he says whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. So if you in a godly manner decide okay we need to take action against this person and ask him to stop coming to the church for a few months until he has spent time with the Lord and genuinely repented and given up those things that he is doing. Till then we will choose not to allow him back into the fellowship. So if you make a decision like that what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. I will back up the decision that you guys have taken. I will back up whatever you have chosen. So whatever you bind, whatever you lose, I will back up whatever decision you have taken because he says truly I tell you, you know wherever he says truly I tell you, it's like you know he is saying 100%, 101% I am saying what I am saying. So truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven for where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. So if these people are gathering in his name, if they are taking the disciplinary action in a way that honors his name, if they are taking the disciplinary action in a way that is in sync with the way with God's character, with the way he approaches these situations. So if they are doing it in that manner because they are honoring his name, upholding the holiness of his name, he will be there with them in that and he will give his full backing to them in that thing which they are doing. So over here we have an example where some action has to be taken in the church, in that fellowship regarding some matter. So we can apply this to all other areas of life. In any area of your life, your career, your workplace, wherever you are working, whichever office you are working at, in your relationships with your family members or your relationship with other people, your relatives, your friends, in your finances, in the way you handle your money in every area of life, if you are living in his name, upholding the holiness of his name and living in a way that honors him, then he is very much there in that and he will act on your behalf. You have his full backing. So that's the promise that he makes. So where does he prefer to dwell? He will dwell in the place where his name is being honored, where the holiness of his name is being hallowed, where it is being held as an honorable thing and being treated with reverence. So these are the kind of situations in which he chooses to habit where he forms his dwelling place. So we need to be careful about every area of our life so that he can inhabit and dwell all areas of our life and operate in it freely however he wishes. Now let's come to another aspect which is also equally interesting and nice. Now, many of these things are things that we are already familiar with. It's just that as we are going through this again, almost like a revision, there will be certain aspects that God would touch upon our hearts. So for different people, different passages, different portions of these lessons will become significant. Depending on their situations. So just to cover another aspect of his holiness, let's look at Psalm chapter 60 verse 6 where God makes a promise to the people of Israel. Psalm chapter 60 verse 6. Psalm chapter 60 verse 6. God has spoken from his sanctuary. In triumph, I will parcel out she came and measure of the value of Sukkot. Yes. God has spoken from his sanctuary. In our previous session, we looked at the word Kodesh and that word Kodesh literally means holy. So that word Kodesh is used for God's temple. It's used for his sanctuary. It's also just used for him, his character, his holiness. So which is why if you are looking at your NKJV, it will be translated that verse Psalm 66 will be translated as God has spoken in his holiness. He has spoken in his Kodesh. On the other hand, if you're reading NIV, it will say God has spoken from his sanctuary. He has spoken from his Kodesh. Same word. Same word Kodesh is used for the character of holiness and also the actual physical building, the sanctuary, which is supposed to be a holy place. So which is why we have two different translations going on. But basically what is the essence of what is being said over here? When he speaks, whether he is speaking out of his holy sanctuary or whether he's just speaking out of his holy character, he is speaking out of his holiness. So he will not make promises the way our politicians make promises. They make promises just to sound grand, just to make us feel good for five minutes, but they don't keep their promises. That is a lot of politicians. If you know good ones, that's excellent. You know, you're very privileged. But then most politicians, at least what we see are people who will say things without really meaning them. But whenever God opens his mouth, he speaks out of his holy place or out of his holy character. He is literally speaking out of that holy, holy, holy, that threefold perfection. So he's never going to say anything which he's not going to fulfill completely in all of its completeness. So here he's making a promise to these people, these Israelites. And he says, I will divide Shechem and measure out the valley of Sukkot. These are all places which the Israelites at the moment have lost. They don't have those particular areas anymore, territories. Those areas have been taken over by the Edomites. And God is making a promise in his holiness. And he is saying, you know what? It will come back to you. This territory will come back to you and you will be able to divide it among your families. And allot these different areas to the different families according to all the mosaic laws that are given on how to divide the territory and all of that. So he's promising and saying, you know what? I'm telling you, I'm promising in my holiness that these territories will come back to you. And if we were to look at the introduction of Psalm 60, we kind of get a background of this entire psalm. And we get to know that God in fact did keep his promise. And you know these portions, these territories actually do come back to them. We get to know that Joab, right? Yeah, correct. It's Joab. If you go look at the introduction of Psalm 60, you get to know that even though they were defeated by the Edomites and they lost some of the territories, Joab is able to go back later to the Valley of Salt. And over there, he and his army, they successfully strike down 12,000 Edomites and they're able to take back the territory. And in honor of that occasion, now this psalm is being written. So in the psalm, we discover that God had made a promise to them in his holiness and he actually keeps it. They're able to get back these territories on this particular occasion. So if we were to look at Psalm 89 verses 35 and 36, if someone could read out that, Psalm 89 verses 35 and 36. Psalm 89 verses 35 and 36. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness and I will not lie to David that his line will continue forever and his throne endured before me like this. So here, God is I'm swearing. I'm formally making a promise. The act of swearing in a legal sense is where you're saying, if I go back on my word, may I be punished in that sense. So here, God is formally legally making a sworn statement and he is saying, I will not lie to David. I will see to it that he has a successor on the throne and we see that fulfilled in the Messiah. So God swears his promises in holiness. So which means those promises will be fulfilled and so these verses are a great comfort to us. We all have unanswered prayers in our lives and there are occasions where God has given us verses, has given us promises and said, hold on to this because I am going to fulfill it and we've been praying and we've been waiting and we have not yet seen it come through and sometimes we wonder, did God really mean what he said? But we need to understand that when he opens his mouth, when he speaks, he speaks in his holiness. So he will not compromise. He will not go back on what he said. He will not lie. He will not deceive. So we can always trust his word. So each time we open the Bible and we start reading the promises that God has written down over there, we need to keep in mind that these are words which are coming out of the mouth of a holy God who will never go back on his word. So we have this assurance that because he is speaking in his kodesh in his holiness, he's speaking out of his holy place, he will not lie to us. That gives us confidence that our prayers will be answered in his way and in his perfect timing. Now coming to another aspect of his holiness. Holiness decorates so many aspects of the things which pertain to him. For instance, you know, I just... Psalm 93 verse 5, it talks about how holiness decorates God's house. Your statutes, Lord, stand firm. Holiness adorns your house for endless days. So holiness decorates the house of God. Holiness decorates the hill of God. Now God's holy hill, Psalm chapter 2 verse 6, Psalm 3 verse 4, God's holiness decorates his temple, which is Habakkuk to 20, Psalm 114. His holiness decorates his throne, which would be Psalm 47 verse 8. All these things are there in your notes, okay? So there are so many verses which talk about the holiness of God. And then it says that even in the tabernacle, all those things over there in the tabernacle and the people in the tabernacle, they're all decorated with his holiness. I'm just using the word decorated simply because it's a simpler word than adorn. You know, most of us may not be familiar with this word adorn, A-D-O-R-N. So he's decorating us, beautifying us with his holiness. So I meant it in that sense. So here you have the holy garments which the priests wear. In Exodus 28 verse 2 and 4, the holy garments that the priests are wearing, that is decorated with his holiness. And then the anointing oil that they use over there, the vessels which are used in the tabernacle, they all are adorned, covered with his holiness. They're set apart. The incense which was used over there in the tabernacle to offer before God, that was holy incense. It was incense which has been decorated with his holiness. So it cannot be used for other normal purposes. And in fact, we see, you know, God says in his word, if anyone tries to misuse that incense for normal ordinary everyday things, then in fact he would punish them for it. So in the same way, the body of Christ is also decorated with his holiness. And for that we will look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 16 and 17. 1 Corinthians 3, 16 and 17. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16 and 17. Don't you know that you yourself are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is sacred and you are the temple. Okay, so God's temple is sacred and you are that temple. So here it's talking about the entire body of Christ, the worldwide church of God. That is God's temple. A little local church where you have maybe, you know, 500, 600 people meeting. That also is a portion of his temple of his body and that is sacred. Even an individual believer, just one single person who is carrying the presence of God. That person also because he is carrying the presence of God in him, he is like a temple for God. So he too has been made holy. So all of us who carry God's presence in us, we are his temple and it says, if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is sacred. And so we need to be very careful how we treat our human body and also how we behave as a church, you know, as a local body because that little church, we are carrying all the members, the congregation, we are carrying his presence and we must do it in a way that is honorable. You must hold him as somebody to be revered and honored. So we should be hallowing and holding his name in holiness, you know, in our conduct. Because just like he said even in the Ezekiel passage, God will not tolerate it when we misuse his name, when we pierce and stab at his name, you know. So his holiness is something that should be taken seriously. So that is from our side, that's our responsibility. We must hallow and hold his name as holy and treat him in a worthy manner. The other side to it is when people from the outside attack the church, when they try to harm us, when they try to destroy us, God takes that very seriously because those people are touching the apple of his eye. We are very, very precious to him. There would be an instant reaction. You know, the term apple of the eye, you know, you would have heard sermons about that. That's just basically, you know, the black portion of the eye. You know, if anything comes near the eye, immediately, immediate instant reaction, we immediately close our eyes, come to the defense of that very sensitive part. So when God says, you know, that we are the apple of his eye, it means if anything tries to touch us or harm us, immediate instant reaction, you know, response, God will, is there to shield. But the sad thing is that many of people are saying under his covering, they'll go out there, out of the covering of his wings and do what they want and they end up in a lot of trouble. So on most occasions, yeah, we don't stay under the covering, but if we are under his covering, his protection is there. Of course, sometimes he willfully permits trials to come into our lives, but then he has his own purposes for that and he very carefully monitors those problems and difficulties because he never wants us to be overwhelmed. He wants us to be built up through that trial, not to be crushed by it. He has no interest in crushing us or making us miserable. He always allows these negative things to strengthen us, make us stronger and cause us to shine more in him, you know. So we can have this assurance that when people are attacking the church, when they're taking action against us, when they're trying to persecute us, when they're trying to destroy us, God takes notice. He will be there to protect us and shield us. Persecution will be there. God does allow it because, you know, like God says, like Jesus says, when whatever is done to the master will be done to the followers. So if the master was persecuted, if the master was, you know, wrongly blamed, then yes, those things will happen to you as well. But these things will always be under God's control. He will only allow things that he wants to allow. So people cannot randomly, you know, bring harm to believers. No, God monitors, God sees to it that, you know, things are done in a way that is in accordance with his will because he has a higher plan, he has a higher purpose. He will decide who will be persecuted to what extent he will allow them to be persecuted and he will put a stop to it when they know, when they try to go beyond that, no one can touch God's people, God's church beyond what God allows. So the evil one, you know, cannot randomly do whatever he wants. Of course, there's the other side to it where if we choose to step out of his will and, you know, go out of his covering, then yes, bad things could happen to us, you know, even though he does not want it. So if anyone tries to destroy God's temple, God will destroy that person, you know, when the time comes. So it's a dangerous thing to attack the church and to ill-treat the church of God. So sorry, so sorry. Yes, coming to God's stand on sin, maybe we can look at, okay, Psalm 119 verse 104, maybe. Psalm 119, 104. Psalms 119, 104. Through your presets, I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. David says, I hate every false way. I hate every wrong path. Why? Because God says in Zechariah 817, all these things are what I hate. You know, there's a list of sins that he gives and he says, I hate these things. So God's attitude because of his holiness is attitude towards sin is that he hates sin of any kind and he expects his followers to have that same feeling regarding sin. We should hate it. We must find it repulsive. We must dislike it. Okay, so David says, you know, even as I'm, you know, dwelling upon your precepts, even as I'm dwelling upon your word and learning your principles, I am beginning to gain understanding and therefore now even I hate all the things which you hate. So it's something that we grow into because when we are first saved and we first become believers, we still have not yet developed that deep hatred for the things of the world. It happens slowly even as we, like David, we meditate on his precepts and we begin to, our mind starts thinking the way he thinks. You know, it starts getting renewed and so gradually we begin to hate the things which God hates. We are thinking gets aligned with his thinking. So these are not things which will happen automatically. You can't just, you know, sit lazily in your chair and say, oh God will make me holy. No, it doesn't happen that way. He expects us to renew our mind, to be strengthened in our inner man and all these things happen even as we spend time with him, even as we spend time in prayer, even as we, you know, pray in tongues and build up our inner person, even as we do all of these spiritual exercises that need to be done, then we will start becoming like him in our nature and then, like David, we will be able to say, yeah, I too hate these wrong parts. The things which you dislike, I also, you know, dislike. And if there are things which we don't dislike at the moment and there are sinful things that we love at the moment, it would be really help to go very frankly into his presence and place those things in front of him and say, Lord, I can see that the way you feel about this thing and the way I feel about this thing is really this big contrast and Lord, I want to be like you. I want to see this thing the way you see it. I want to hate it the way you hate it. So Lord, even as I cooperate with you, you help me to overcome this. So by and by, you know, even as we make a conscious effort to overcome that particular area that we are drawn to the wrong area of sin, even as we actively cooperate with the Holy Spirit, you know, Galatians 5, we walk in step with the spirit and we begin to respond to him rather than respond to the pull of those wrong things. Then we start becoming like him and then we will develop the divine hatred towards those evil things. So it does not happen automatically. If we are spiritually lazy and we sit back and say, ah, okay, one day I will hate it. It's not going to happen that way. We have to consciously renew our mind. We have to consciously strengthen our inner man. We have to consciously strengthen that contact that we have with the Lord. The Lord is always there, always present right next to us. But we have to reach out and strengthen our contact with him so that we will become more like him, so that his nature can flow more and more into us. These are all things that we would have to actively do. These are all disciplines that we need to take on, on a day-to-day basis. Spiritual laziness does not lead to holiness. It doesn't happen just like that automatically. And we are doing that by not because it's this heavy burden and responsibility that has been thrust upon us, but no, because God, in his great love, wanted to share his beauty with us. He wanted us not just to be forgiven, a forgiven bunch of sinners, like, you know, a pathetic bunch of, you know, dependents on whom you took pity and now like an act of charity or being nice to them. No, he wanted us to be sons and daughters, literally family members, not just some charity cases that he's being nice to. He literally wants us to be part of his household and so he wants us to become like him. So this is a privilege which is being given to us. It's not some kind of imposition that has been thrust upon us. So holiness is a privilege, an honour that we work towards, you know, because he has already made us righteous in Christ. So we choose to reflect his beauty and we must not look upon it as just a headache that we have to endure, no, not at all. Okay, so his intentions were good when he said, be holy as I am holy. Okay, just to look at one example, we do not have time, so we will not look at that example. All right, we'll close for the day and next, so we have spent two classes kind of looking at different aspects of God's holiness and understanding who he is. So next class, we will look into in greater detail of why we need to be holy. And once we kind of, you know, have tackled that why we need to be holy, then it will become easier for us to, you know, focus on all the rest of this course. So we'll get into the why of it in our next session. I'll just close with a small word of prayer, all right. Lord, we just thank you so much for all the learnings that we, you know, had today. I pray that you would continue to remind us of these things so that Lord, we would actually begin to practice these things in our everyday lives. Be with us a lot. No one can become holy on their own. We need your power. And so we pray that you just like Galatians 5 says, we will walk in step with you and even as we are walking in step with you, you or Lord will empower us to be like you and live in a way which honors your name. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much for holding out till the end. Yeah, so we'll meet again next week. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.