Holiness Day Three…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

It is Wednesday April 9th of 2025.  It is a crisp, cool morning with temperatures below freezing for some of the morning.  The high forecast is 53 with sunrise at 6:40am.

Deceit. Malice. Envy. Evil talking.  We’ve been talking about holiness—and what it means to be set apart.  In our case, we’re talking about being set apart by Jesus—for the purpose of delivering the Gospel and making disciples of all nations.  To be holy is to set ourselves apart from deceit.  To be holy is to set ourselves apart from malice.  We set ourselves apart from envy and from evil talking— Purifying ourselves, as Jesus is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we could turn to…

1 John 3: 1-10

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.  Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.  And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.  Whoever abides in Him does not sin.  Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.  Little children, let no one deceive you.  He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.  He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.  Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

It occurs to me this morning that holiness requires action.  It is a rejection of evil and an embracing of good.  The process that every believer goes through to do this is called sanctification.  Do not be surprised at the fiery trial you happen to be going through—for the testing of our faith teaches us patience. It refines us.  And as John teaches, it is through our actions that we reveal whether we are behaving of God—or of the devil.

Holiness has a purpose.  It is to prepare us for what comes next—after we die.  It is to prepare us to live in God’s Presence continually, if we believe in Jesus Christ.  But if we do not believe in Jesus—if we do not set our hope on His promises— If we continue down our own path, or the path of the devil…  Then we will still be set apart— But for a very different purpose.  And that purpose is hell.

Now, it is God who grants repentance.

John 6: 65

“And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

2 Timothy: 24-25

“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth.”

So.

Have we asked God for repentance of our sins yet?  As we walk down the road of sanctification, we are, of course, expected to do the work—to actively walk away from our sin. But the desire to do so must first be granted by God.  It is through God that we are given the gift of a repentant heart.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved he receives the crown of life.

So.

Do we claim with our mouths that we are of Jesus?

Do we claim with our actions we are of Jesus?

Do the two match?

How are we doing with hypocrisy?

Remember.

Rejoice always!

Pray without cease!

Give thanks in everything!

Be strong in the Grace of Jesus Christ!

Romans 6: 1-12

“What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon with yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”

Set aside all malice, all envy, all evil speaking, and all hypocrisy.  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge Him—and He will make your paths straight.

Our thoughts will be established when we have dedicated them to Him.  The Word is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path.

And that brings us to our Psalm 119 challenge of the day…

Psalm 119: 121-128

“I have done justice and righteousness; do not leave me to my oppressors.  Be surety for Your servant for good; do not let the proud oppress me.  My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation and Your righteous Word.   Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, and teach me Your statutes.  I am You servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies.  It is time for You to act, O LORD, for they have regarded Your Law as void.  Therefore I love Your Commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold!  Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way.”

If we are not deceiving, then we are instead doing justice.  If we put aside malice, we put on righteousness— The breastplate of righteousness that guards our hearts before the Creator of the universe.  We are taught to boldly come before the throne of God with our petitions.  But I humbly suggest—bold doesn’t mean barging in with pride.  It means quietly knowing we have not been walking in sin.  That quiet assurance brings a confidence in prayer and petition that is simply not there when we’re still choosing sin.  It’s the same model that David is showing us in today’s psalm.

David has found himself in trouble.  He has repented of his sins.  He has learned God’s Word.  He wants to know God’s precepts and statutes.  He has done justice and righteousness—and so he boldly prays, asking God to save him from his situation.  And I think there’s something really important to consider in our passages today: David asks God to deal with him according to God’s mercy.

Have we considered that?

The words used in the text is…

Chesed: (Hebrew)

- Kindness; piety; rarely reproof

- beauty: favor, good deed, kindly, kindness, merciful kindness, pity, reproach

David is on the path of cleansing himself of unrighteousness, and he’s asking God to deal with him—not according to His might, not according to His justice—but according to His mercy.  And that makes complete sense to me.  I don’t know about the rest of us.  Sin is a violation of God’s Law. But more than that—it is a crime committed against God Himself.  It is doing wrong to God.  And by wrong, I mean treating God as less than God.  I’m reasonably certain that at the root of almost every personal sin is the problem of idolatry—elevating something that is not God above God in our lives.  And more often than not?  That something is ourselves.

Friends, remember—we are to flee from idolatry.  It may seem weird. It may feel strange or even foreign at first.  We might suddenly find ourselves with big chunks of time we didn’t have before—time we used to give to idols without even realizing it.  But whatever it is that we struggle with, David shows us what to do: He asks God to deal with him according to His mercy.

Proverbs 21: 2

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but The LORD weighs the hearts.”

And finally I wanted to take a look at…

Philippians 4: 1-9

“Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.  I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.  And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the Book of Life.  Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice!  Let your gentleness be known to all men.  The Lord is at hand.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things.  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Our time is to be holy—set apart for God, forever.  Our thoughts are to be holy—set apart for God, forever.  We are to be gentle, and we are to let our gentleness be known.  If we are practicing righteousness—if we are letting go of sin—then what we are doing is letting go of sinful things in our mind, which allows us to begin thinking about righteous things.  The more we think about righteous things, the more we value righteousness.  The more we value it, the more we practice it.  The more we practice righteousness, the more we abide in His Word.  The more we abide in His Word, the more of His commandments we come to know.  The more commandments we know, the more of His ways we can think upon.  And the more we are transformed.  And the more the world around us starts to look different too.

Hebrews 4: 12-13

“For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked an open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

So how did we do on evil speaking yesterday?

I’m going to work on evil thinking today too.  For every word spoken begins with a thought.

Let’s remember!

Rejoice always!

Pray without cease!

Give thanks in and for everything!

I think that’s a good place to start for the day.