 turn the recording on and it has come on good okay good morning everyone welcome to BC 2009 our course on holiness we are a little late for the class today apologize around overtime in our earlier class but let's pray together and we get started we'll do the best we can with the time we have could I please request somebody to pray with us as a class and then we'll get started anyone go ahead Prabhakar would you like to pray for Prabhakar Rao can I propose Shri Kumar go ahead precious father we thank you and praise you for this wonderful morning which are given to us with all Lord we commit ourself before your presence and we ask you to fill us with your Holy Spirit and wisdom and revelation strengthen your servant of Father God Lord Master let every word which is going to come out from his mouth let it be directly from the throne room of God and let it Lord Master edify our faith Lord Master let it build or Lord Master our wisdom our knowledge and understanding or Lord Master of your word of your plan for each one of our life for God we submit everything into your mighty hand and we ask you father leaders and guidance and let it be a blessing for each one of us in Jesus can we pray Amen Amen thank you Shri Kumar all right once again welcome everybody we are continuing our journey in this course on holiness where our goal is first of all to get a revelation of the holiness of God and then to see how that holiness the holiness of God can be reproduced in our lives and then revealed through our lives or expressed through our lives we are in chapter 3 we got into chapter 3 last week I mean we were just making this transition on God's holiness being reproduced in us so I'm gonna quickly review some of the things we covered last week in chapter 3 and then go forward and we'll cover as much ground as we can hopefully get into chapter 4 today all right so here's chapter 3 we were talking about this last week and we said you know God's holiness God wants his holiness to be reproduced in us one of the covenants covenant names that he gave is Jehovah make a dish the Lord your sanctifier or the Lord who makes you holy so not only is he the holy one but he's also our Lord who makes us a holy people unto himself and so we talked about certain of these aspects that we see parallel in both Old and New Testament in the Old Testament priests a holiness to the Lord New Testament same thing we are priests unto our God and he calls us to be holy in the New Testament he calls us as saints or holy ones and we saw several references on that he says we are called to be holy in all our conduct we have been called with a holy calling or we've been called not to uncleanness but in holiness so this is something very clearly stated in both the testaments and of course our emphasis is on what stated in the New Testament that he has called us to be holy to himself and what we were trying to highlight last week was when we talk about holiness being formed in us we should look at it as a call to be like God and to share in his nature and also as a call to belong completely to him and then holiness is not an invitation to adapt a set of rules a set of do's and don'ts and sometimes what I should say traditionally that's what it seems to be have been communicated or the way it was communicated was well be holy do this don't do this so you know maybe you're maybe you were you had a list of five do's and don'ts and to more to a higher level of holiness now we have ten do's and don'ts and then it to more another level of holiness you have 20 do's and don'ts you know so traditionally it was perceived like that but it's not about do's and don'ts but it's about sharing in the very nature of God because God is holy and it is about being completely set apart for God being completely his I belong completely to him so actually it's an honored position it's a place of honor to be a people for himself and we see this truth being revealed both in both testaments we said in the Old Testament he you know God was saying look you're a chosen people to be a people for himself you are holiness to the Lord New Testament and this way be stopped he says you are a chosen generation and you're your God's own special people and you are the people of God so the emphasis is not on all the rules all the do's and don'ts the emphasis is on being his own being the people of God so you know if you look at it in the Old Testament of course they had the law but God was trying to the essence of it was look you are the people of God but you know you need to be empowered by God to be that people cannot do it on your own New Testament you are the people of God and you've been empowered by God to be that you have been invited to share in his life in nature and he impoverished you by spirit to be a holy people for himself and that's what we must take a hold of and live out of so that brings us to you know this point where we should try and define or try to not define but to explain or express what does it mean to be holy what does it mean to be holy so as a New Testament believer how should I understand being holy I understand God is holy everything about him is holiness he adorns his house in holiness and all those angelic beings are worshiping him and everything must take place in the beauty of holiness now what does it mean for me to be holy right so first of all it starts off by saying God is my sanctifier means God is the one who is makes me holy he imparts to me the quality that is the nature and the state of the position of being holy it comes from him it's not something I achieve on my own but it's something God gives to me and God works in me in us by his grace and by the work of a spirit so holiness is not my achieving something holiness is me receiving what God is giving to me and he is the sanctifier it starts with him so he is doing his work in me that's holiness rather than the emphasis is not on you come up to this level on your own no the emphasis is on I am making you holy because I am Jehovah make it dish I am the Lord you're the one who makes you holy and he does it by imparting what the quality and the position being holy and we are answering yes to the call of God we are saying yes Lord do it in me so I know I'm repeating this because for some of us you know who may have been you know brought up in traditional Christian settings for many of us I should say for some of us holiness traditionally has been this idea of rules and regulations you know what you wear what you don't wear what you eat what you don't need but the reason emphasizing it is we need to shift from rules and regulations to this is God doing something in me and I'm just saying yes to his work in my life and I'm responding to him within yes and it's us recognizing and celebrating that all of us belong to him completely so and as we forget it get further into this if we have this mindset you know when we face temptation when we face the attractions of the world when we face the pressures of the world to do something that is sinful if we just you know remind ourselves you know I belong to God all of me belongs to him every part of me spirit soul and body belongs to him then I don't have any I don't have anything to do with this thing this is unlike God this is unlike who he is then it becomes easy for us to just walk away so this is not God because we have said yes to his work in us of him reproducing his nature and his holiness in us we've said yes to that and we said all of us belong to him therefore I do not want any part of me to be involved in something that's unlike him right so in order for God to do his work in us he has actually set the stage he has actually made it possible and these are truths we all know but we need to put it in context they put it in this context in the context of holiness we recognize that God himself has broken the power of sin over our lives and he did that and he himself has made us a new creation in Christ and set us apart for himself in Christ so this is the work of God and this is like this is where it begins that God so holiness begins at the cross where does holiness begin for us working holiness in us begins at the cross the recognition that on the cross the power of sin over my life or our lives was broken and because the power of sin was broken you and I don't need to be in subjection to sin whatever form or appearance it may have and the way God is working it out is he's brought me into Christ and set us apart for himself in Christ and then of course we get into the practical side of it which is how does God practically empower us to say no to the pressure of temptation to the attractions of this world to the you know to the influences around us how does he have practically help us do it and that's that's you know through his spirit through his word through divine discipline and he helps us do it so this this is a practical sign we're gonna talk about get into and we talk about overcoming sin but where does it begin and where does our ability to be holy where does it start when we understand that the power of sin or our lives has been broken and this is going back to you know what we learned in our very first course in the first semester about being in Christ then we said in Christ we understand that the old man was crucified with him it was crucified with him so that the body of sin that is the power of sin is done away with so we no longer are slaves of sin so when Christ died on the cross be the crucified what part of us was crucified that all sinful nature that we had in us the very nature that was in our spirit being of sin was crucified put to death so that the power of sin over our lives is broken so starting off with this understanding is so important is so important because they're not left to you know do it yourself kind of thing tried by their own efforts to get out of sin get out of any kind of bondage no we look to the cross and say Lord on the cross the power of snow my life was broken so sin has no dominion over me so and getting this understanding is key it's so important for us as we learn how to walk in holiness before God that God is our sanctifier in order to sanctify us to himself he began the work on the cross what did you do on the cross he broke the power of sin on the cross so Jesus not only paid for sin he broke the power of sin so that we could be dead to sin and alive to God and sin does not have to reign in our mortal body to obey it instead we can present ourselves to God right so this presenting ourselves to God in Romans 6 verse 13 is where we do so by an act of our will we say God I am yours and I recognize the power of sin over my life is broken and I'm presenting myself spirit soul and body every part of me I'm presenting to you to be an instrument of righteousness or holiness to God right and so here we become slaves of righteousness resulting in holiness Romans 6 verse 19 so I'm presenting this is an act of my will I'm presenting my body I'm presenting my soul as a slave of righteousness so I am presenting to God so God's done his part he's saying look I've broken the power of sin over over your life you have a choice now you can present yourself as my slave meaning completely mine and it will result in holiness you can be a slave of God and the way Paul puts it meaning you're completely you're surrendered completely to God and the fruit will be holiness your fruit will be holiness Romans 6 22 your food will be holiness or you could be the other kind of a believer where you believe in Jesus and God indeed has broken the power of sin but instead of walking in that the believer is still living controlled by the soul and the body and then you won't see holiness in that person because you're going to continue doing what's sinful so this is where the choice is put on our side God is Jehovah make a desk the Lord who is sanctifying us in order to practically work that out in our lives first thing he did was he broke the power of sin over our lives and he said sin has no dominion over you sin shall not have dominion over you you're not under law but in the grace under law that is under the old testament there was no empowering under grace that is empowering God says I've broken the power of sin but there's something God cannot do which only we can do what is it we must present ourselves God extends the invitation says look I broke the power of sin would you like to present yourself as a slave for righteousness so that's a choice we make and they say God my whole being spirit soul and body I'm presenting to you I want to be yours I want you to work that righteousness out in me and the result will be holiness formed in me and expressed through me and that's a process but that's what we're gonna learn how when we present ourselves to God how he works that out in our lives right so now don't get frustrated with yourself that well I went to God and I said God I I'm presenting myself to you I thank you for breaking the power of sin over my life I am yours here I am spiritual and body I surrender all Lord Jesus and after you do that you still end up doing something you know it's not pleasing to God well don't condemn yourself we are going to learn how God is gonna work that I once we present ourselves that means we said God yes I want to be a slave of righteousness I want to be a slave of God we're going to learn how God works that right righteousness or holiness in us so that it can be formed in us and expressed to us God will work it out work in us and that's the practical process we are going to learn how he does that and once we learn how God works that out you know we can perfect holiness in our lives we can see that happen in our lives to the point where like John writes in first John we do not practice or let me put it in the positive way we practice righteousness that makes it becomes a baby we live it's of a practice it's a normal thing to do that as we practice right to the point where John can say whoever is born of God is not sin what he means is we don't practice unrighteousness just whoever is born of God cannot sin because his seed remains in him so God will bring us to that place where we don't have to sin we don't practice unrighteousness or we practice righteousness that becomes the normal way of life but it starts here with the recognition that the power of sin of our lives is broken and we are making a deliberate choice to present our ourselves our whole being as slaves of righteousness or slaves of God because we seek the fruit of holiness in our lives Paul repeats this you know he and I'm just picking up a few verses here and Titus too he says you know Jesus gave himself for us Titus to 14 that he might redeem us or set us free from every lawless deed from every lawless deed right every lawless day there are every sinful deed or every deed that's not acceptable to him he says he died so he will set us free he could set us free from every lawless day and we could be this people his own special people so that's holiness we are his own special people that's what we've been emphasizing but he died in order to do that make it possible so in order to work holiness in us God made the provision step one he did it on the cross and be embraced that Jesus I embrace it because you broke the power of sin I declare that sin will not have dominion over me not control me in any way shape or form right it starts with that understanding of the cross and then the second part is that we are now in Christ right in Christ he says all things are passed away everything has become you so we embrace this truth God I am a new man we embrace this truth God has done this for us you're a new man on the inside in your spirit your spirit has been born again it is not just a renovated man that is okay I got a little bit of the old and a little bit of the new no so you are not your spirit does not have the old nature and the new nature it doesn't these cannot coexist your spirit is a new man you see here again there was I don't know how prevalent it is today but there used to be all of this teaching especially in at least where I heard it was you know the traditional evangelical churches where we were told that you know you have a sinful nature you have a you know you're born again nature and so you know you have both and that's why you're still sin well that's not what the Bible says the Bible says you're born again you have a new man and this new man is created in the image of God and what about this new man this new man is righteousness true righteousness and holiness so this born again man which has a life in the nature of God that born again man or this born again human spirit has a life in the nature of God it has been born in the image of God in righteousness and true holiness that means this you have the capacity or if you want to put it like this the DNA for righteousness and holiness of course you have to grow it has to grow in us this will become strong in us but what is its DNA righteousness and holiness so the born again human spirit the new man is not a sinful creature it's not a sin filled creature no it is created in the image of God and capable of righteousness and true holiness you know so let me put it like this if the born again spirit lived without the soul in the body the only thing you would see is righteousness and holiness if the born again spirit I mean if you just took the born again human spirit out what would you see righteousness and holiness that's the new man but the problem is this born again human spirit is in the soul and in the body which are you know sinful which has been so used to living you know thinking and doing things that are against God so what happens there's the pull of doing wrong things and so on but the humans born again human spirit has the life in the nature of God in true righteousness and holiness and we see this repeated in many places now we are familiar with the truths of being in Christ in Christ we have you know Jesus himself is our sanctification that means Jesus is our holiness Jesus maybe in Christ we've been set apart the way Christ himself has been set apart unto God and we are sanctified unto God again all of these simply mean holiness unto God right so do key truths for us to embrace the power of sin on the cross on the cross the power of sin was broken in Christ we are a new man that's been set apart unto God so spiritually that's where we are starting out so your human spirit is starting out with this free from the power of sin and with the life in the nature of God but then holiness has to be worked out from the spirit to the soul and to the body so that that true righteousness on holiness can govern our thinking our speaking our every part of us right so that's the process of holiness that is being worked out so Hebrews chapter 10 verses 10 and 14 are very interesting it says you know again it's talking about the cross that we have been sanctified through what Jesus did for us on the cross the offering of the body of Christ so we have been sanctified so the work was of making us holy unto God was done on the cross and he's made us complete but verse 14 says we are being sanctified so it's being worked out in our lives so it's God completed the work but that that completed work is now being worked out in our day-to-day lives so that's how God works he completes it in the spirit and then he says okay now let me work it out in your practical life in your soul and in your body how do you live right so that's what we refer to as sanctification or the process of holiness that means God has already finished the work but now he's working it out in me in my everyday life and we need to learn how this is going to happen so how you know just to give touch on the practical things and then I'll take some time for discussion you know in the sanctification of our mind and body that means our thoughts and our words you know so we have to move from thinking ungodly unholy to thinking thoughts that are pure so our minds let's say example when we were unbelievers our mind our thoughts our imaginations were unholy and you know we would engage in unholy thoughts but then now he's going to change that and bring us to the place where our thoughts are holy and lovely noble and pure and if an unholy thought comes it's repulsive to us oh I don't want that here it has no more part in me now it's the mind is moving from all the our thought processes and thought patterns and imaginations are moving from what was unholy to what is holy how does God do that and that has to happen similarly with our speaking maybe we were like you know the Bible says filthy speaking fully stalking coarse jesting speaking lies corrupt words and now we are moving from that kind of language to speaking to something that's pure holy God is bringing about that change or in our desires and affections our passions the bodily desires and appetites you know sexually we could have been sexually immoral doing things that were not pleasing to God but then we are moving from that to being you know being holiness to God even in our passions desires and appetites and affections God is sanctifying our passions affections and desires or in our hopes and dreams and ambitions God is sanctifying that and practically he's working that out in the way we use our time talents and money you know we could have been wasting a lot of time and I'm not saying it's wrong but you know maybe movies were or just just time was spent and lots of other things that may not necessarily be pleasing to God or useful or edifying and then now the time talents and money is being set apart for God holiness is being worked in our lives and in our family home and possessions God is working holiness in these areas so God has finished the work then he's got to work it out in all these aspects of our lives and what we want to learn is how is God going to do that how can we see it happen in our lives how can we make this journey in of holiness in our personal lives okay so that's what we're going to learn I'm going to pause here and this is just the end of chapter three and let's take up some time for discussion all right I see one question here from Divya so the new creation is in the spirit right yeah so the answer is yes so in the spirit it become a new creation a new man a new person so the spirit the human spirit has been born again made a new creation and has received the life and the nature of God and the spirit does not have the old man doesn't have sinful nature you know the old man is another phrase that is used to refer to the sinful nature it doesn't have that it is the new man it has the life and the nature of God it has this new man it's life and nature of God is capable of righteousness and true holiness that's the spirit human spirit but remember the human spirit has to grow and this has to be developed in us and yet to let it affect our soul and our body all right and yet to affect let it affect our soul and our body all right Maggie your question and Christopher your question please Maggie thank you sir just a question on the first quarantine three this one two three where Paul said that he couldn't address them because they're most of them they could not address them as a mature believer because most of them are still kind of so just want to know what's the difference if someone has been born again and the spirit of God is in him even though it's not mature yet in in in the things of the Lord but has been justified and there's been in is a new creation so how could Paul can Paul call someone who is a believer cannot and please explain or apply the five yes thank you sir yeah so we see this both in first quarantine chapter three and also in Romans chapter eight the first spot Romans 8 that's verses 1 to 13 where Paul is writing to believers writing to saints you know he begins his letter in a very nice way to the saints holy ones very good but he proceeds to call them carnal says you are carnal well he just referred to them as saints that means in Christ they are saints but the way they are living they're living carnal in fact in first quarantine three he says you're living like mere men you're living like ordinary people he called them saints but now he's rebuking them saying you're living like ordinary people what does it mean in Romans 8 he explains that he says there is therefore now no condemnation Romans 8 verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit so there's a choice we have to make you know we are in Christ we are sanctified in Christ we are saints in Christ but in the way we live on earth we have a choice we can live according to the flesh or we can live according to the spirit then he continues he says you know in that same Romans 8 he says if you live according to be carnaly minded is death so because a carnal mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the law of God it cannot be so so here's a problem the word carnal simply means to be flesh ruled fleshly that means the affections and the desires are set on things that are displeasing to God so if I walk according to or in submission to these desires or the lust of the flesh and of the mind I'm a carnal Christian whereas if I could if I live according to the spirit according to what God has done for me in my spirit then I can walk in the spirit so who is a carnal Christian based on Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 3 these are people believers who are in Christ but in the day to day life they're living according to the flesh and according to the mind the the sinful desires of the mind so that's a carnal Christian and so in that Christian you don't see the life of God you don't see the holiness of God being expressed so that's what he's addressing god of mangy yes sir thank you so much thank you sir Christopher your question please yes thank you pastor my question is actually is more like a lifestyle than a question and an observation also so there are denominations and even other religions who have you know in a sense in courts holy holy people holy men who are you know who are sort of given upon given upon some of the you know cares of the of of the world also have you know kind of withdrawn from from from society and want to try and achieve this level of communion with with God and even in even in some some question not in our nations they have certain communities that you know in a sense close to themselves and you know they don't they don't actually you know be a part of the world and I'm just thinking of you know even um apostle Paul after you know Jesus appeared to him there was a period of time where I'm not sure how many years but where he you know spent time um maybe in his in his in his in his business but I think he importantly could have also you know strengthened a lot just you know being away from from the world before he could actually you know be such a such a strong person in in you know in in Christianity to the to the people so I guess my question is for some some some of us who may not have responsibilities of you know family in fact uh apostle Paul even had you know suggested that you know not having a family could you know could also help you know to you know make this make make a difference in the you know the way one lives a lives a life as a Christian so I guess the question is for some for some for some people would that be a lifestyle you know where they are now not you know in a sense they've withdrawn from from the world and be and are able to you know maintain this level of holiness easier maybe easier from from from the other people to that that's really my question so um I'm trying to understand a question is the question uh like I'm saying uh you know people withdraw from the world to get you know they live in some very questioned environment is holiness easier for them as opposed to those of us who are engaged in the day-to-day things of life is that the question uh yes and also in relation to that could that be also you know a lifestyle that that could be such you know that one could subscribe to and you know which you know which is just another another part towards what towards towards holiness so if you know a very quick answer would be right there in 1 Corinthians 7 when Paul is you know talking about life and marriage and all of that and and basically what he says and I just you know pick out a few verses there 1 Corinthians 7 he says you know basically he's saying you know in whatever way God has called you remain there verse 17 you know as God has distributed each one as the Lord is called stay there and yes he does say you know okay if you're not married you will you will be able to spend more attention to the things of God and so on but he says that uh you know verse 20 that each one remain the same calling in which he was called uh and then you know if and for those of us who are using the world which is uh let me hear the exact words here this is and yeah so for those of us who are engaged with the world so uh verse I think this is verse 30 those who reap and those who rejoice and don't rejoice by as they do not possess um so he's not yeah so this is phrase here this is in 1 Corinthians 7 I'm not able to find oh yeah verse 31 but those who use this world as not misusing it for the form of the world is passing away so so he's not really advocating that you know if you read 1 Corinthians 7 thing verse 20 on to verse 30 he's not advocating to be all disconnect from the world but in how we engage with the world we can do it in such a way like he says in verse 30 those who use the world as so they are not misusing and that means I'm engaging with the world but I'm not and that is that's not my priority or it's not the main thing for me so to answer your question you know is it going to be easier for somebody uh you know who's who's disconnected from the world they go away separately to live a life of holiness maybe to some extent but not necessarily because you know remember that uh ultimately our thoughts and every part of us has to be consecrated to God whether we are inside of a closed environment or whether we're out there in the world being exposed to whatever's happening uh ultimately you know we have to be consecrated to God perhaps you know living a life of seclusion may to some extent but not entirely make it easy but I just want to say this that God has not called all of us to do that in fact you know in in in Luke 19 the commission is occupied to like come so you know Jesus gives talents to all of these people and his commission to them is occupy or engage with the world to like come that's what he tells us you know occupy till I come you know do business with the world to like come so that's the commission in Luke 19 so we are actually sent into the world and so God would call different ones of us to you know engage with the world in different ways and he needs us there so that we can be salt and light we can have influence we can have impact for the kingdom uh uh so practically it would not be possible for all of us to disengage from the world but uh to some extent to those who do disengage uh maybe it's a little easier but not entirely because ultimately consecration has to take place spirit soul and body and that can happen whether we are engaged with the world or separated from the world physically it doesn't matter I hope I answered your question I said 70 different things okay all right thank you all for patiently holding up today I know we went over time both our classes but I appreciate your patience let's wrap up today and get somebody please pray and dismiss us I will pick these up pick up this class on Wednesday but somebody pray and dismiss us please wants to pray please go ahead our name thank you thank you father god thank you for what we have learned father thank you father for leading us to live a life of holiness father in helping us renew our minds be aligned to the word father and lord father thank you that you are so very generous loving and caring towards us father that you are day after day night after night father talking to us through your word father and helping us grow more in your word and be enriched by it father we thank you for pastor we thank you for anointing him to lead us into life of holiness father we truly want to consecrate ourselves this morning father and surrender our thought word actions indeed at your feet so that we may be we may become what you intend us to become father completely give ourselves to you father and we once again thank you for this time of togetherness fellowship and learning bless us all with your divine wisdom and favor and lead us in your parks of righteousness for your namesake father once again we thank you bless everyone who's here and continue to lord father lead us in the matchless and precious name of Jesus our savior we ask and pray this pray amen amen amen thank you thank you everyone um enjoy the recipe day and see y'all tomorrow thank you her some god bless thank you everyone thank you love us your god bless