Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God

We are finishing our series on holiness and sanctification in the life of a believer.

We have been considering the process through which the Holy Spirit forms us into Christ likeness so we can live a life God can bless.

We learned that we need to confront sin our life and ask God to forgive us.

Allow the discipline of God to help us in our pursuit of holiness.

Last week we learned that holiness also involves lining our live up against Christ as our cornerstone.

We will see then today’s passage like last week reminds us that our holiness has little to with us.

Our holiness is wrapped up in Jesus

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 NASB 2020

14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? 15 Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “and do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. 18 “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. 1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Are you ready for the message God has for us today?

Cool let’s dig in!

This passage is about why we should be a holy people.

I see three reasons brought out in this passage

1. We are the temple of The God

2 Corinthians 6:16 NASB 2020

16 Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Think of the great temples in ancient times.

Ephesus had the temple of Dina one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Corinth also was know for its many temples to various Greek and Roman Gods.

These temples built by the hands of men as places of worship to idols.

Paul is bring up the point to Corinth that they need to remember whose temple they are both individually and as a church.

They are the temple of The Living God! — The One and Only God!

When Paul was in Athens he brings this point out.

Athens was a another city know for its altars to every know God and to cover themselves and not anger any God — “To the unknown God.”

Acts 17:24–28 NASB 2020

24 The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’

In making his point for the Jews in Corinth who would hear this letter read Paul quotes from two Old Testament passages:

Verse 16 is a quote from Ezekiel 37:26-28

Ezekiel 37:26–28 NASB 2020

26 And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My dwelling place also will be among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.” ’ ”

Verse 17 is a quote from Isaiah 52:11

Isaiah 52:11 NASB 2020

11 Depart, depart, go out from there, Do not touch what is unclean; Go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, You who carry the vessels of the Lord.

Promises God made that he would dwell within His people not some temple!

He would sanctify them and dwell in them and be their God!

2. Be aware of what is in your proximity

2 Corinthians 6:14–16 NASB 2020

14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? 15 Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

We need to be aware of our surroundings.

Culture and society will always try to draw us away from our pursuit of holiness.

We need to be aware of who we allow to be around us.

This is a reason why Sundays are so important. There are non Christians in our oikos. we want to not be led astray by them.

Sunday then becomes so important, remember it helps us to prepare for the Monday through Saturday when we tend to not be around each other.

Small groups are also important. They can be mid week times of encouragement.

As I consider what is in my proximity it is also about what TV shows, movies, music, etc.

All these things that are used by society and culture to draw us away from The God!

Our pursuit is holiness not the instant gratification of selfish desires!

3. Keep things neat and tidy!

Just as the temple and tabernacle were cleansed, and the items they contained, so we too need to cleanse ourselves with the blood of The lamb — Hebrews 9:11-14

Hebrews 9:11–14 NASB 2020

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

You see what he said? How important is the blood of Jesus?

It is through the blood of Jesus that we are sanctified for the dwelling of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

Then 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7

1 Thessalonians 4:1–7 NASB 2020

1 Finally then, brothers and sisters, we request and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel even more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no one violate the rights and take advantage of his brother or sister in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you previously and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in sanctification.

The content of this passage is about Christian behavior.

If we are pursuing holiness then our lives look very different than the world around us.

N.T. Wright, “The holiness in the church comes as a central part of Paul’s symbolic world. This community is the transformed new realty to which Paul saw the Jerusalem temple.”

For it was to the Romans Paul wrote — Romans 8:9-11

Romans 8:9–11 NASB 2020

9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

In pursuing holiness the constant flow of the blood of the lamb allows for the trinity to indwell in us as individuals and as a collective body.

Conclusion

A holy life is not static or fixed.

It is an ever expanding adventure.

Christ dwells in His disciples through the Holy Spirit who fills us with God’s presence and enables us to live in Christ’s love.

Ephesians 3:14–19 NASB 2020

14 For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.

This is what it means to be a holy people!

What are you going to do based on what God ha said today?