 Okay All right The recording is on. Good morning everybody. Welcome to the class PC 209 on holiness the first lecture for this week And we'll have sorry. We'll have another one on Wednesday morning. Let's pray Get started And I request somebody to pray with a class this morning. Then we'll start everybody's very quiet All right, somebody please pray and we can get started Can I pray? Go ahead say Or Divya Shall I pray? Shall I pray? Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay Thank you Lord for this wonderful opportunity that you've given us Lord to come before your presence Lord to learn from you for the Lord to learn about the holiness father We do not completely comprehend father, but we pray Lord by the Holy Spirit you help us understand Lord To get a glimpse of your holiness father that we may father live lives of holiness Lord just as you are holy Lord help us be holy father in our thoughts and our words and our deeds Lord We surrender ourselves love is render us rushes Lord into your loving hands Lord May you guide him Lord and may he speak your very words to us Lord in Jesus precious name. We pray amen All right, good morning everyone. Thank you for joining the class on holiness we I'm just gonna quickly review what we started doing in chapter 2 and Then we want we're going forward. So what we're dealing with in chapter 1 chapters 1 and 2 is is trying to get a revelation a spiritual understanding of the holiness of God and various aspects of God's holiness and Then in chapter 3 we'll go on into talking about how that holiness God wants it to be reproduced in us so right now we're still trying to get an understanding of the Holiness of God a revelation of that holiness. So Let's go to chapter 2 the notes have been shared with you. I'll just quickly review some of the things we've already covered this so we Talked about the fact that God is referred to as the holy one the holy one and he's he's thoroughly holy completely holy and and When he is worshiped he's worshiped The holiness of God is what's Emphasized in worship, you know, we say he's he's holy holy holy thrice holy and We Are holy to the third degree God is completely holy, there's a complete recognition of his Holiness and you know God is absolutely holy. He is he is you could say the standard or the highest expression of Holiness of this purity of this perfection and It's that aspect of God that is worshiped in the presence of God by the angelic beings and so You and I in our worship of God Must include the worship of his holiness Now We do recognize our unversive God and all other other aspects meaning his power his goodness and you know his Kindness his forgiveness all other aspects. Yeah, we do worship God and all other aspects of his who he is God's nature right we do worship But simply because In the worship that's going on in heaven What is emphasized or what is revealed to us in scripture is that these angelic beings are Worshiping his holiness holy holy holy, but God Almighty So therefore our worship of God must include this Awesome recognition of his holiness his absolutes and thisness So I want us to pause and think here as we are getting a revelation of the holiness of God How much of our worship of God and I worship towards God is You know involves this recognition, you know, we said earlier last week Every aspect of God is undergirded is intertwined with holiness from the previous chapter There's no aspect of God that can be separated from the holiness of God God is holy So in as much as we worship God Our worship of God must also take place in the beauty of holiness like we said Holiness is God's beauty expressed and he wants us to worship in the beauty of holiness So think about that our worship of God must include a recognition of his holiness another aspect as we move forward is There are many many scriptures and I've tried to list all these out here, but God God's name is to be held with Reference is holy name many times blesses holy name bless the Lord of my soul all that is within me bless his holy name Holy name and God Wants us to Hold his name Holy So even in the Lord's prayer when Jesus taught as he said Hallowed be your name. It's very interesting part. Why is he telling us this? You know, why is he saying? hallowed be your name because throughout the scriptures His name is holy Hallowed be your name that means when we mention his name there has to be the sense of holiness a sense of awe and reverence towards that name and In in in scripture and especially the Old Testament God wants us. We see it's part of the commandments So you ten commandments you will not take the name of the Lord your God in vain which don't use this in a Empty way in a light way your hallowed the name of God and There were times when God judged his people and I've just mentioned some here And if I may as he come that doesn't God judge his people Because they profaned his name That means they did not hold his name holy they profaned or they you know treated it very Lightly they profaned my name Where they went they didn't hold his name holy so think about this Dad God Wants us to hold his name with reverence as part of our Understanding of the holiness of God we hold his name with reverence now Sometimes we don't do that. You know we in his name we Speak and say very frivolous things in his name in his name, you know, we May do things that are Actually not from him, but then we add his name to it God told me and I'm doing this in Jesus name, etc. Etc. And we're not actually Holding his name with reverence and Just as a side note and I don't want to take I don't want to take this too far, but that word profane Actually means to pierce to wound so If we understand it correctly When God is saying they Who feigned my holy name It's almost like we are wounding or piercing God himself Okay in bringing dishonor To his name And dishonoring his name we're treating it lightly So part of our reverence to what's God and part of our understanding of holiness must include This reverence to his holy name Okay, let me just see I think there's a question somebody raised a hand Yes, go ahead Maggie Yeah, thank you sir speaking on on The name of God question I have sighs When it says that we should not take his name in vain is it's Because of our actions are damaging his name because we are calling in his name when when we we we Worship him when we go to church when we we preach a talk about him We are presenting his name. So when he says that do not take my name in invent is it's because of what we do is the reputation is Is affected by what we do because if we look Look at the example of Moses when he struck the rock God said that he didn't Take his he didn't represent him him well before Israelite. That's a question also. Thank you Yeah, I think Yeah Reputation of bringing reproach to the name of God is is a factor But I think even before that what God is really looking for is Hallowing or holding with reverence his name in our hearts So if we hello his name if we Hold his name with reverence You'd be very careful in how we say and do things in his name And that I think is The main thing So many times we Say and do things very In a very in a very frivolous manner very light manner Did it's not coming out of a place of reverence towards God and towards him You know hallowing his name, but we say in the Lord's name in Jesus name whatever, you know We say and do things Now that of course has its repercussion which the outcome which is you know, so we may end up bringing a Disrepute to the name of God But that is I think an outcome The main issue is our heart And I'm holding his name with reverence, so let me put it like this If I hold his name with the reverence It will actually keep me From saying something wrong or doing something wrong In his name if I hold his name in reverence The thing that is uppermost or thing that will be a promotion my mind is Even I'm going to do something it does this please him. Is it right for me? Who bears the name of Christ to do this? See that's the way I would think I mean anyone would think I'm just using this thing I but That's the way we would think When we hold his name in reverence when they hallow his name, why because you and I are bearing his name, so You know Would it please him is this worthy of somebody who's carrying his name? Right, so the where does that come from it comes from the fact that when we hallow his name? It automatically keeps us from Saying and doing things that just not pleasing to me said look this is not worthy of somebody Who is Bearing that name or worshipping that name and I think Paul, you know I'm just going a little off here, but in second Timothy chapter 2 Paul says that everyone who you know This is in verse 19 second Timothy 2 19 Paul says That everyone who names the name of Christ Depart from iniquity Right, so it's look You are naming the name of Christ. That's it. I don't want you know, we just depart because you're a better of that name Does that help me? Yes, that's help. That's healthy. Thank you, sir Okay, I'm gonna go back to the PDF and please feel free to ask questions Oh Okay, let me get back Christopher. You were So I was just moving to the PDF. Go ahead with the question, please All right. Yes, pastor. I was just referring to in this chapter referring to this this you know the worship that happens in heaven and I'm just going to if you understand I'm When when there are there are so many heavenly heavenly Spirits that are heaven This this this aspect of wholeness are the other are the levels of wholeness On you know on the part of other people of the of this of these spirits in heaven and Whether the you know, there is there is some level of I don't want to say unwholeness, but You know because I mean Did we have there were there were the you know, you know There were these angelic beings who who turned away from God and that as I understand happened in heaven so just trying to understand you know other levels of wholeness and You know Are there also levels of unwholeness? So, yeah, I mean that that's basically the question In heaven as far as heaven is concerned, I Think there's only one in heaven. There is only one Standard of holiness which is God and everything Derives its holiness from God and Therefore is of the same standard as God in heaven And the reason I say that is, you know, we are going to see just a little further in the notes it says holiness Adorns your house That means, you know God's house where God dwells is Is Adorned or if you want to say it like this, it's clothed or covered with His holiness so In that realm the realm by God was There's only one standard and there's only one Level of wholeness which is the holiness of God himself in that realm and it is true and Sometimes unimaginable for us How in such a perfect state Could sin be found Which happened, right? when Lucifer Who was in this house where holiness adorned the house in the state of absolute glory and perfection could get the start of You know wanting to take the place of God Anyway, but to answer your question in that place. There's only one standard. It's God Now when you come to the earth realm It is where we are Then they we can say there are degrees of holiness and That's something we're going to learn. I'll just mention a reference or second Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1 and also Hebrews 12 I think it's verse 14 Where it in second 271 says, you know, let us cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So that is our realm We are to perfect the word perfect also means to keep growing in so we're a growing in Hebrews 12 14 it says follow peace with all man and Holiness without which no man will see the Lord and if you just back up a few verses in that same chapter It was 12 talks about God Who disciplines us? Or of the perfect holiness in us. So there so from our perspective in our journey There is degrees of holiness. So there's the growth in holiness But in heaven we got wealth there's only one standard. We will see in scripture his holiness adorns his house Okay Okay, all right, let's go forward So what would be saying? Yeah We were talking about how God desires for us to hallow his name that means to Reverence Hold his name with holiness Yeah, and we will go into several different thoughts and each one of these we can really ponder on But I'm going a little fast because there's a lot of ground. We have to cover all right, so and God has Let us know. He's a wheel to us That he too well, he's gonna reside Where his whole name is held with? reverence It's also means He's going to not reside or he's gonna hesitate to abide where his name is Treated lightly or even profane That means they are wounded in peace So if we apply it to our New Testament context, we know Jesus taught us the same thing He said look, you know if you gather together in my name I'm coming there But what are we supposed to do with his name hallowed be your name we have to reverence the name of the Lord so in our life as God's people as a community as Maybe a local church As people who worship God As people who bear the name of Jesus As people who do things in the name of Jesus is there that Reference for his name that's something we should Carry in our hearts that's part of our understanding part of our revelation of the holiness of God The other thing we said is that God speaks in holiness You know, and I like this Scripture here, you know some hundred and eight were seven and also in some 60 or six God says I mean these scriptures say God has spoken in Holiness And that is when God is speaking Whatever he's saying it's the holy one speaking but God is emphasizing look I have spoken in my holiness in other words Could there be anything wrong? But what God has said could there be anything wrong because this is the holy one speaking and whatever he speaks has spoken in holiness You know when you I mean in the natural realm and in the earth realm if we know somebody who is you know Perennial liar Then when they say something you're wondering To they actually say what's right or do they say something are they lying, you know, we're in doubt of What they said But when it comes to God He is holy So what he speaks is spoken in holiness Therefore they can be no, you know element of impurity in it Or if you look at how God must be in Psalm 89 how it is said it how it is expressed, you know God has said look I have spoken once. I will not lie to David And he's talking about you know his throne being established But God saying look I've sworn in my Holiness. I've spoken in my Holiness. I Will not lie meaning it's what I've spoken. I've spoken in Absolute purity There is no lie in it So that's another aspect of God's Holiness that his words are expressed in holiness It's the holy one speaking and therefore his words are holy his words are pure and It's interesting the Bible is called the holy Bible Because a holy God spoke it When you open the Bible you're reading the words of the holy one You're reading the words that have been spoken in holiness. So we regard his word that way Interesting is that these angelic beings And also referred to as holy angels all the holy angels Are referred as holy one or holy ones. So Just like us we also are referred to as holy ones. We are saints holy ones Angels are also referred to as holy angels These created beings are being created as holy beings To stand in the presence of the holy one. So God created them like that fully completely Consecrated set apart for God pure holy the only thing that The angels haven't we have of course is We can make our choice we can choose to do something that's unholy I'll be accreted with a with a free will with the ability to choose unlike You know inanimate things We have of God has given us the freedom to choose but he created them as holy beings Today when we are born again, we have brought into that same place of being holy beings Giving us the ability to stand in his presence So What we can't say is that holiness will attract the holy angels of God But they are holy beings And so they they are created for this Holiness and like I referred to earlier The Bible says it's Psalm 93 verse 5 that the place where God dwells is Adorned with holiness So, you know When when we decorate our house, you know, we put out things that That we like that we like to say, you know, hey see this. This is like what stands out in my home This is what's special to me Well, this is what I like, you know, whether it's works of art or whether it's plants or Whatever, you know, different people have different things that they like to decorate their house with and Here he's saying some the psalmist is telling us God adorns his house You know, he wraps his home. He covers his home. He decorates his home in holiness and so you find a lot of Scriptures in relation to that the place where he is is called the holy hill the holy place the holy century the holy temple The holy throne or his holy habitation meaning everything about where God dwells is Holy it's absolutely pure and perfect his perfections Fill the place where he dwells now What we need to think now, of course in the Old Testament these the in the physical tabernacle there was the the most holy the holy The the most holy place they in a court and then the most holy place But what I want to point out is, you know, spiritually when we worship God Spiritually when we worship God on our side We are referred to as the temple of God and he says The temple of God is holy which temple you are now we know, okay That that the place where God dwells is absolutely holy and then he's saying you are the place where God dwells and therefore you are holy So what would God want this temple meaning I'm talking about us in the New Testament about us What would God want to adorn? this house with You'd want to adorn this house with holiness You want to decorate to you? He wants to decorate me With holiness now we can think about it individually or we can think about it collectively meaning us the people of God, you know that the church or the house of God God wants to decorate. He wants to adorn his temple His dwelling place. I'm talking about the church the New Testament We are his dwelling place. So he wants to adorn us with holiness just like he adorns heaven where he dwells with holiness so Let's think about that the local church or the local church meaning the community of believers Should be decorated should be adorned with this holiness With the purity of God so when the outside world sees the church sees the people of God The thing that should really stand out is the holiness of God I'm not saying the only thing because we are called to so forth the Praises of the one who's called us of a darkness into his marvelous life, which means all of this all of his attributes But if God adorns his home with holiness then obviously when the outside world sees us the temple dwelling place of God Something that really should strike them as these people are holy You know something to think about and and and and pray for and aspire towards I'm not trying to say do this as a you know way to condemn us but I'm saying look We are the house of God and God adorns his house with holiness continuing thought God says, you know, I must be regarded as holy So this is interesting because As part of our revelation you also must understand that it is important to God to be regarded as holy God who is holy Shall be hallowed It almost seems redundant to say this almost seems God says by those who come near me I must be regarded as holy. I mean it's almost like why do you want to say it? Because you are holy You are perfectly holy But I think God is sharing his heart with us, you know, suppose you had a friend You'd want a friend to tell you know, what's really important to you So that I could be aware of it. I could respect it. I could You know relate I could honor that And God is telling us his heart And one of the things in his heart is By those who come near me I must be hallowed I must be regarded as Holy I know this is Old Testament, but God hasn't changed And we see it repeated in the New Testament So I'm holy be holy So it's it's not like I can disregard this just because it's Old Testament. I must understand the heart of God that But those who come near him and I want to draw near to God, you know, we know the scripture So draw near to God He will draw near to you Okay But how must I draw near to God? I must be he said by those who come near me I must be regarded as holy So God has expressed his heart saying regard me or hallow me In holiness So in the New Testament Hebrews 12 He says And then we serve God or worship God or you know, whatever we do Minister to God How do we serve God? He says you serve him with reverence and godly fear Same same same part being expressed also in the New Testament one of the places Then we minister to God And we worship God and we praise God Then we draw near to God He says do so with reverence and godly fear or with Whole you know regarding in holy so How do we do that? Or are we doing that? right Now I'm not saying that every time we pray we always demean ourselves. Now that's not what God is Telling us because we know that he tells us to come holy To the throne of grace. He tells us to come with confidence. He tells us, you know We are boldness to enter into the holiest through the blood of Jesus. So there is that aspect regards us, you know come freely Come boldly come with confidence But there is also this aspect of come with reverence Come with godly fear Come draw near to me Regarding me as holy So it has to be held together The entrance that is with full freedom Knowing that we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ knowing that there is no condemnation has to be held together with Those who draw near to me. I must be regarded as holy And remember we said last class last week The holiness of God is the beauty of God. It draws us to him We're in love with that. We're attracted to him because he's holy So we worship In the beauty of holiness and it's very comfortable for us Because he's made us holy And we regard him as holy The reason i'm highlighting this is In our worship today I mean worship. I mean just looking at the church world in general And especially in the You know what we refer to as the emerging church or the contemporary church or the post-modern church, you know people use different terms when we have so much of exhibition in the worship That means as the exhibition of talent there's exhibition of Art there's exhibition of all the fine things that we can do Are we still able to maintain this which is When you draw near to me or We must worship with reverence and godly fear Are we able to maintain that? I'm not against the use of instruments and you know being very good and all of that, you know, okay fine But if you miss out on this Then you miss out on the whole aspect of worship So that's something to think about in our revelation of god It should be very clear revelation of the holiness of god should be very clear That god wants to be held Regarded as holy. He has expressed his heart to us We cannot take that lightly Going to pause here. See if there are any questions in the chat all right Okay But the manoa has asked a question second current in seven one Let us clean this says off all filthiness of the flesh and spirit question is Some explanation on cleansing ourselves in the spirit will be helpful Okay, okay All right, let me try to say this in a very short way and be able I think there is um In chapter five we will be dealing with this in in a little bit more depth In this section on This whole aspect of Filthiness of flesh and spirit, but let me say it in a very quick way So Sin is not just a physical thing That means suppose I example right supposed to believe it steals money Okay, he takes He steals a certain amount of money So in the physical he's done Done something wrong. Okay. He's taken some money here. That's a physical thing Maybe you know what motivated so the issue is His act was wrong. Yes He but what motivated that? There could be and and there could be many things it could be deception lying greed Wrong desire So many things So it's not just the act. Okay. He took some money here That's a physical thing that was done But there's a spiritual side to it That led to that act. So there's filthiness flesh And spirit what was the motive what was inside the heart? Jesus said in Matthew 12, you know Out of the heart comes out of the heart comes And then he lists all the evil things, you know adulteration this and evil thoughts and those things so there's things out of the heart coming So here's something to think about which we will also discuss in our other class on developing the human spirit The born again human spirit has a life in the nature of God and yet their sin that can affect the born again human spirit Okay these these wrong things Wrong motives stealing whatever whatever can affect the born again human spirit So the born again human spirit has a life in the nature of God and yet There's this sin that can come and this bipolar saying cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of flesh and spirit I hope that quickly understands, but we're going to delve into that deeper in chapter five in the course on holiness and also in this course on Developing the human spirit Thank you And Elisha does God hear the prayer of an unholy believer? Okay How do I answer that? Elisha asked a question Does God hear the prayer Of an unholy believer Okay Now why am I struggling to answer that question because There are scriptures on one side like Psalm 66 verse 18 if I regard sin in my heart the Lord will not hear me for spirit chapter three I think it's verse eight That um He's talking to husbands husbands if you don't treat your wives well your prayers will be hindered So there are scriptures like that And then there are you know Scriptures that tell us that as believers, you know, we can talk to God freely and so on So that's why I'm kind of struggling to answer that question um So let me put it like this Elisha. I I don't know the correct answer to it, but See the Bible does say that our prayers can be hindered because of sin And yet we know there is the mercy of God Which means in spite of sin God hears Whether old testament you testament you find examples So what We don't know is Exactly at what point A person goes out of range In their connectivity to God I don't know. I know it's possible that you can go out of range But at what point Perhaps you can put it like this, you know that if a believer is, you know Or the way John puts it in first John chapter three is, you know, we have to practice the righteousness So if a believer is actually practicing starts practicing unrighteousness You can imagine it like this that their connectivity with God is getting interrupted And if they're not if they're not repenting see we all do wrong things like first John chapter one talks about it But if you confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us if we walk in the light as he is in the light We have fellowship with one another But he also says if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves the truth is not in us So that it's conditional I walk in the light as he's in the light we have fellowship But if a believer is stepping out of that place of walking in the light and stepping into willfully going on and to practicing unrighteousness his connectivity with heaven is getting interrupted At what point he loses connectivity? I don't know But I do know that's possible because there are lovers several scriptures, you know I'm just I think it's first on 519. It says if a brother sins a sin unto death. I say don't even pray for it That means Not only is he out of connection. He's saying don't even pray for his connection to be restored. Which is a pretty serious thing Okay So I don't know the exact answer to your question Elisha I would say this God has a lot of mercy So even if her believers, you know You know You know doing some sin God and his merciful here, but at some point the believer is going to go out of that place office connectivity with God That's not God's fault, but the believer stepping out I would I would look at it that way All right, so time's up for today There's a lot more we need to get in But are these things settling into our hearts? Are you all with me? Is it getting in? You are understanding this Yes, master Yeah, okay. I see your responses in the chat. Thank you All right, so we're going to take this father on Wednesday. Go further into it. Okay. Can somebody Uh Close and prayer and then people Dismiss for today Who wants to pray? I'll call somebody's name Shri Kumar. Why don't you pray? All right, Kennedy Cowboys Shri Kumar. Okay, thank you Precious father. We thank you and praise you For this wonderful day which are given to us for God We pray that father god Give us grace and wisdom and revelation to know your holiness So that we can lord master walk in holiness regard Lord, we can walk in that revelation of the holiness Oh lord more and more so that we can serve you or lord in such a way which pleases you father We surrender everything into your mighty hand. Thank you father god for lord master giving the revelation and wisdom to pastor And lord master and also we thank you that preparing each one of our heart to receive this revelation Which is a defying our faith Which is strengthening our relationship with you. We thank you and praise you and ask you Make us the fruitful branch for your kingdom so that we can lord master We can walk with that essence of that holiness We can walk with the fruitfulness of your word of father god We thank you and praise you for answering our prayer when jesus can be pray Amen. Amen. All right everyone. I will see you tomorrow Enjoy the rest of your day. God bless you. See you again tomorrow. Thanks. Bye now. Thank you pastor. Thank you everyone Thank you My father. Thank you for today