Sermon series: BEHAVING LIKE A CHRISTIAN

Subject: Called Unto Holiness

Romans 12:1-2 Amplified Text
"I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, HOLY (dedicated, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]."

After Paul has spent eleven chapters in Romans discussing the multitude of God's mercies that relate to us as sinners, he now pleads for us to respond to these mercies by making a commitment of our entire self to God. Throughout this chapter and those that follow, Paul makes it very clear that as a result of our commitment to Christ, our lives must be deeply affected. Everything God has done for us in salvation has bearing on everything we should do, in all of life. We must be different people because God has saved us from our sin.
"For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward (appeared) for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind.
It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness (irreligion) and worldly (passionate) desires, to live discreet (temperate, self-controlled), upright, devout (spiritually whole) lives in this present world." (Titus 2:11-12)
[Live] as children of obedience [to God]; do not conform yourselves to the evil desires [that governed you] in your former ignorance [when you did not know the requirements of the Gospel].
But as the One Who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living.
For it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.
And if you call upon Him as [your] Father Who judges each one impartially according to what he does, [then] you should conduct

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yourselves with true reverence throughout the time of your temporary residence [on the earth, whether long or short]." (1 Peter 1:14 17)
"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." (2 Corinthians 7:1)
"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14)
"Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives." (2 Peter 3:11)
In our passage in Romans 12:1, Paul states that the goal in our commitment to Christ is to be HOLY, dedicated, consecrated, presenting ourselves as a sacrifice to God.
What is the meaning of HOLY?
The Hebrew word for HOLY means "that which is set apart and marked off, that which is different. Our English word HOLY comes from the Old English word HALIG which means "to be whole, to be healthy." What health is to the body, holiness is to the inner person. The related word SANCTIFY comes from the Latin SANCTUS which means "consecrated, sacred, blameless. There is one disadvantage in English in our having synonyms of which some are derived from Saxon and others from Latin. Ordinary readers are apt to forget that in our translation of the Bible we may use two different words for what in the original is expressed by one term. This is the case with the words HOLY, HOLINESS, KEEP HOLY, HALLOW, SAINT, SANCTIFY, AND SANCTIFICATION.
When God or Christ is called THE HOLY ONE, the word in Hebrew and Greek is exactly the same that is used when the believer is called a saint; he too is a holy one. So the three words HALLOW, KEEP HOLY, SANCTIFY, all represent but one term in the original, of which the real meaning is to make HOLY.
Contrary to what you may hear today in some sermons and popular religious songs, the emphasis in the Bible is on the HOLINESS OF GOD, and not on the love of God! "Love is central in God," wrote American theologian Augustus Strong, "but holiness is central in love." God's love is a holy love, for the Bible states that "God is light" as well as "God is love." Love without holiness would be a monstrous thing that could destroy God's perfect law, while holiness, without love would leave no hope for the lost sinner. Both are perfectly balanced in the divine nature and works of God.
God’s holiness isn’t simply the absence of

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of defilement, a negative thing. The holiness of God is positive and active. It's God's perfect nature at work in accomplishing God's perfect will.
Holiness is not something we bring to God or do for Him. Holiness is what there is of God in us!
In God's kingdom, holiness isn't a luxury; it's a necessity. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."
Happiness, not holiness, is the chief pursuit of most people today, including many professed Christians. They want Jesus to solve their problems and carry their burdens, but they don't want Him to control their lives and change their character. It doesn't disturb them that eight times in the Bible, God said to His people, "Be holy, for I am holy," and He means it!
"He that sees the beauty of holiness, or true moral good," wrote Jonathan Edwards, "sees the greatest and most important thing in the world."
God wants His children to be happy, but true happiness begins with holiness.
On Sunday morning, January 24, 1861, Charles Haddon Spurgeon closed his sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle with these words: "An unholy Church! It is of no use to the world, and of no esteem among men. Oh! It is an abomination, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. And the larger the Church, the more influential, the worst nuisance does it become, when it becomes dead and unholy."
When we speak for something being HOLY, we are saying that the person, the object, the thing...has been set apart for a very special purpose, dedicated and consecrated for that purpose. We have already suggested that something HOLY is "different" from ordinary things. The word for HOLY is HAGIOS. The Temple is HAGIOS because it is different from other buildings and has a very specific use...a place of worship to God. The Sabbath is HAGIOS because it is different than any other day of the week...it is the day of worship to Almighty God. The prophet Isaiah wrote: "If you turn away your foot from [traveling unduly on] the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor Him and it, not going your own way or seeking or finding your own pleasure or speaking with your own idle words,
Then will you delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage [promised for you] of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the

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Lord has spoken it." (Isaiah 58:13-14)
The Christian is HAGIOS because he is different from other men, he is God's man by God's choice, and he has been chosen for a specific task in the world and for a destiny in eternity. In the world he must obey the law of God, and reproduce the life of God. There must be something of the purity of God in living, and the love of God in his deeds and actions. To be chosen by God is to enter, not only into great privilege, but also into great responsibility.
"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)
To be HOLY is to be Godlike, to have a disposition, a will, a character like God. The thought almost looks like blasphemy, until we listen again, "He hath chosen us in Christ to be holy." (1 Peter 1:15) In Christ the Holiness of God appeared in a human life: And to be Christlike is to be Godlike; to be Christlike is to be HOLY as God is HOLY. Holiness is not something we do or attain: it is the communication of the Divine life, the inbreathing of the Divine nature, the power of the Divine Presence resting upon us. And our power to become holy is to be found in the call of God: the Holy One calls us to Himself, that He may make us HOLY in possessing Himself.
Listen to the words of a great hymn:
Take time to be holy, Speak often with God;
Find rest in Him always, and feed on His word.
Make friends of God's children; help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessings to seek.
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Much time spend in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct, His likeness shall see.
It is my sincere conviction that the desire and passion for holiness is foundationed in our concept and understanding of God.
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. This is also true of an individual. Our commitment and dedication to God is determined by our knowledge of, our experience with, and respect and reverence for God,

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because, without a doubt, the mightiest thought the mind of man can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God!
In our text, Paul is urging us, begging us, because of all the wonderful mercies of God, to totally consecrate and dedicate all of our faculties as a Holy sacrifice to God.
Let's pause for a moment and consider this God Who is the object of our worship and commitment.
When Moses sings about God, he says: "Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders." (Exodus 15:11)
When David thought about God, his thoughts turned to music and he sang these words: "For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He also is to be [reverently] feared above all so-called gods.
For all the gods of the people are [lifeless] idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.
Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and in holy array.
Tremble and reverently fear before Him, all the earth's peoples; the world also shall be established, so it cannot be moved.
Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigns!
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever! (1 Chronicles 16:25-34)
Isaiah, that great Old Testament prophet, had a personal experience with the Almighty God who seeks our commitment to Him.
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined." For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live

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among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:1-8)
The sight of a holy God, and the sound of the holy hymn of worship, brought great conviction to Isaiah's heart; and he confessed that he was a sinner. Isaiah cried out to be cleansed inwardly, and God met his need. His sin was atoned for and his guilt was removed. He had seen the King, the Lord Almighty!
Every symbol in Isaiah's vision of God is significant. In the first five chapters we learn that Israel had become too complacent in its security to heed the warnings of God and too corrupt in its prosperity to escape the wrath of God. All Israel needed to be shaken by the vision of the Lord "sitting on a throne, high and lifted up" with the train of His robe filling the temple. Each of these symbols--the title Lord, the throne, the lofty position, and the all-encompassing robe--reinforced His sovereignty over all of the universe, over all its kings, over all of their nations, and over all peoples, including the chosen children of Israel. The sovereignty of God is pronounced in Isaiah. Nations turn against Him, but His will prevails; kings compete with Him, but fall in shame; people turn from Him to worship idols, but their false gods crumble. Even His people refuse to trust Him, but they do not escape punishment. Isaiah leaves no doubt the sovereign Lord God Almighty writes the script of human history. And this God is worthy of our worship, our love, our commitment and our all.
Not only does Isaiah reveal God as sovereign, but first and foremost, it is the holiness of God that Isaiah senses! Sovereignty is the powerful nature of God; holiness is the moral character of God. He is pure, He is complete; He is whole. R. C. Sproul, in his book THE HOLINESS OF GOD, notes that holiness is the only attribute of God that is presented in the Scripture in the superlative.
When His holiness is extolled by the seraphim in antiphonal chorus, they sing "Holy, Holy, Holy." No other attribute is so praised. Angels do not sing, "Love, Love, Love" or

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"Justice, Justice, Justice"--they only sing "Holy, Holy, Holy."
We understand why the seraphim used their wings to cover their feet. Even without sin, they cannot stand to have the holy God look upon their created nature. He and He alone is holy.
But the moral character of the holy God is more than a matter of "being" in His transcendence. Isaiah sees that His holiness is also a matter of "doing" in His immanence. As His transcendent holiness cannot tolerate sin among the people or the nations, wherever His immanent holiness touches down we see the ethical imprint of His character in the glorious work of God. When the glory and majesty and holiness of God become real to us, and our hearts bow in worship to Him, it changes our character, our values, our life-styles, our passion to serve and to give Him everything we have...time, talent, treasure!
Observe how Isaiah responded to the presence of God--to His sovereign will, His holy character, and His glorious works? Rudolph Otto, in his book THE IDEA OF THE HOLY, gives us a clue to Isaiah's response when he suggests that we are, at best, ambivalent. Before the MYSTERIUM of His holiness, we feel both TREMENDUM and FASCINANS. We tremble with fear and awe, but at the same time we are fascinated by His holiness, which is attractive, desirable, promising, and compelling. Peter calls this "reverential fear" (1 Peter 1:18) when we shut our mouths, cover our feet, and close our eyes before the sovereign holiness and glory of God.
As with Isaiah, our worship begins in His holy and glorious presence. In his book REALITY IN WORSHIP, J. P. Allen likens our worship to entering a planetarium from a busy street. Dimming lights hush the sounds and the universe opens up over our heads. Earth becomes one of the smallest of planets and we become one of its smallest creatures. In that awesome moment, we focus upon the greatness, the goodness, and the grace of God. Our worship should be like that. It should not begin with a focus upon ourselves and our own needs, but upon the character of God; we should not proceed without the expectation of the visitation of His Spirit, but wait in His holy presence until He comes; we should not assume there is nothing new under the sun that we have not seen, but come expecting a glimpse of His glory!
In His holy and glorious presence, our holiness begins. Not only does the holiness of God call out the Christ who can redeem us, but it also gives us the promise that we

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can be imprinted with His character. "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16) is not an optional command. God's desire is that we be holy as He is holy. We are born again as God's children. Just as no honest father wants his son to be a thief, no industrious father wants his son to be a sluggard, and no upright father wants his son to be immoral, so God our Heavenly Father, being holy, wants us, His children, to be holy like Himself.
After entering into the awesome presence of the Holy God with Isaiah, we can only sing the prayer,
"Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love, One holy passion, filling all my frame. The baptism of the heaven-descended Dove, my heart an altar, and Thy love the flame."
When we see the holy character of God, we feel anguish for our own sin. Other translations add force to Isaiah's cry when he says, "Woe is me, I am undone." Another says, "Woe is me, I am lost" and still another, "Horrors, my doom is sealed." Whatever the cry, Isaiah is confessing that he is unworthy to join the seraphim in singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy." In His presence, we experience the stab of conscience, the shame of inward uncleanness, the remorse of sin, and the sensation of being lost and alone.
Another agonizing truth comes to us from Isaiah's response. When Isaiah sees God, he accepts responsibility for his sin. "I am a man of unclean lips" or "I am a foulmouthed sinner" allows for no exceptions and leaves no room for shifting the blame.
Isaiah is saying that he has no place in the presence of God, no right to praise God, and no authority to speak for God. Jewish people saw lips as more than a specific set of sensory organs. To them, the lips spoke the motives of the heart and the decisions of the will. So, Isaiah is confessing that through his lips, his telltale heart has betrayed him. Jesus confirmed that truth when He said, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man" (Matthew 15:18). Upon seeing the holiness of God and catching a glimpse of His glory, Isaiah asks, "How can I speak for God without a heart like God? If there is sin in our hearts, our lips and our life will betray us!
Back to our text! Only when we seek to know and understand God, the Almighty, as the object of our commitment, then will we be able to joyfully and completely surrender our all to Him, living a life that is pleasing and acceptable to Him.
"Be ye holy, for I am holy." What a calling we have as Christians!