SABBATH

God's Gift to Us

Feast: Entrusted with Godly Holiness

#FT15-05A

Given 02-Oct-15; 38 minutes

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description: The Continental Congress occurred after the Revolutionary War, a time of runaway inflation, when colonies treated each other more as enemy countries rather than united commonwealths, when George Washington expressed despair that everything the colonies had fought for seemed to have been in vain. The despair and gloom suddenly dissipated when Benjamin Franklin urged his colleagues to actively seek dependence on Divine Providence. Following this affirmation of following Divine Providence, 28 Principles of Liberties based upon the acknowledgement of Divine Providence were drafted, making the new American experiment in governing the envy of the Western world, bringing peace and tranquility to the United States. We have the responsibility to become positive examples to the rest of the world by growing in holiness, separating ourselves from impurity, becoming a holy people. Holiness moves beyond the scope of godliness (a reverential attitude), demanding that one applies energy to living as God lives, seeking a meaningful relationship with God and conforming to His expectations. Living as God commands us to live will bring the wrath of the world on us, but what the whole world is groaning and yearning for we have the privilege of practicing right now. We must be guarding the trust of holiness God has given us, realizing that judgment is on the Israel of God right now. Treating our responsibility lightly or with contempt risks committing the unpardonable sin. Abraham Lincoln said America will never fall to an outside enemy, but will perish from within as we suffer moral rot. The same is true for God's called-out ones; the only one who can violate the trust demanded by our Covenant with God is we ourselves. We have the sobering responsibility of guarding the trust of holiness God has placed in us.


transcript:

I think you are going to hear from the sermon this morning what you have heard in messages previous to this one. You are going to see how God is weaving a web winding right through these sermons.

The following citation is from an article entitled, “The Value of Knowing Principles” It was written for the National Center of Constitutional Studies by a man named Earl Taylor, Jr. I hope you will see as we go through this sermon how critical this very issue is to those who entrusted with godly holiness. You may even be able to draw some parallels with what I am going to read now and what is going on in the church today.

The state of affairs after the Revolutionary War was teetering on disaster and getting worse. When the Founding Fathers assembled in Philadelphia, May 25,1787, it was a frightening experience. The entire American experiment was falling to pieces. The unity which existed during the Revolutionary War had disappeared. There was a deep depression with runaway inflation and rioting in some places. The states were quarrelling over boundaries in the West, fishing rights in the East. The states actually treated one another as countries, charging customs and imports, and exports.

Spain was threating to seize the territory along the Mississippi river, England would not remove her troops from the Northern border of the United States. Such hostility had developed between the states that New England was threatening to succeed from the Union. It was obvious the Articles of Confederation were a failure. The central government was completely incapable of dealing with all these crises.

The whole civilized world was watching to see if the men who assembled in Philadelphia could save the disunited States. At times George Washington himself wondered if they would survive as a nation. Even halfway through the Constitutional Convention of 1787, seeing the disagreements and frustrations of the delegates to come up with solutions, he wrote, “I am almost in despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of the convention, and therefore repent having had any agency in the business.”

Then it happened, after Benjamin Franklin reminded the delegates of their dependence of divine providence. Within several weeks the whole convention seemed to turn around, compromises and consensus were made on important issues, and at the end the delegates were incredibly united in their support of the new Constitution.

After the ratification, members of Congress were elected, and President Washington was sworn into the office of president. He knew he faced an extremely difficult task. But after only two years as President, George Washington was able to watch(?) the United States enjoy a scene of prosperity and tranquility under the new government that could hardly have been hoped for.

Then he wrote the next day, “Tranquility reigns among people with that disposition toward the general government which is likely to preserve it. Our public credit stands on the high ground which three years ago would have been considered as a species of madness, to have foretold.” Not only did these newly discovered principles change the United States, but within a few years if aroused the admiration of the whole world.

Mr. Taylor continues his article on the subheading, “Could this dream of Washington come true in our day?”

I have the pleasure teaching a required government class to seniors in high school. We spend many classroom sessions becoming familiar with the twenty-eight principles of liberty, developed by the founders. Using current issues, we learn how restoring these principles could indeed save America once again. I ask these young students to dream of working hard enough to once again enjoy a government based on these true principles. Then three years from now we will meet again and recollect sitting in our high school classroom three years previous, talking about the terrible shape we are in. But with all the energy we were able to convince enough Americans of the correctness of these principles and restore them in our government. Would not our reaction be as Washington’s? We could say with Washington, “If anyone would have foretold that we could solve our problems in just three years, using these marvelous principles of liberty, we would have thought him a fit candidate for the madhouse.” But it did happen, and it can happen again., [Mr. Taylor wrote.] That is what we must work toward.

Mr. Taylor finishes the article under the subheading “As a concerned citizen what can I do to help make a difference?”

But for our purposes today, only the first line under this subheading is important for us. In the first sentence he writes: “Become familiar with these principles yourself, memorize them, and then practice applying them.”

Before going any further, I would like to make a point that was clearly brought out in Austin’s [Del Castillo] sermonette, regarding true freedom. This is fine example of right thinking and consideration of the obvious truth that God grants to all man, and the effort it takes to hold on to those truths with outgoing concern for others. Their goal was wrong.

If you ever take the time to Google these twenty-eight principles (and I think it would be good to do sometime down the road), you must be cautious. They are based on very godly principles of religious and virtuous people being led under the rule of law that is tempered with mercy by leadership from among them with high moral character. But their focus as the wise of the world, is ultimately on the rights and will of the people, rather than the sovereign authority and will of the great God, who has revealed Himself to His elect.

But the point of the illustration is that: just as those people were entrusted with the responsibility within a society set apart to be unlike any other in history, so too you have been entrusted with responsibility within a society set apart to be unlike any other mankind has ever known.

The Body of Christ is even unlike the physical nation of Israel, that had been set apart from all the other physical nations on the earth. Their separation, and the time appointed to them was for the admonition of those called by the Father into the body of His Son. And the time appointed for the addition of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that brings with it absolute accountability before God to literally grow in His entrusted holiness.

Leviticus 11:44-45 For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

As we turn to Leviticus 19, keep in mind that these scriptures are in a section in Leviticus traditionally known as the “Holiness Chapters.” These chapters are clearly directed at pointing out the eternal responsibilities and goals of God’s principles of liberty for the Spirit-led Body of Christ.

Leviticus 19:2-4 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ’You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the Lord your God.’

Leviticus 20:1-8 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech. And the person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statutes and perform them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.’

Leviticus 20:26 ‘And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.’

As we will see, these scriptures that deal with the physical church of God in the wilderness, are intended for those called now, to whom God has entrusted His own holiness. These deal with a relationship with Him that must stand forever. It is being honed now in a major separation from the ways of this dying world, both physically and spiritually.

In Leviticus 21, we see an incredibly important lesson that must be the consuming fire in every one of us, as Richard made clear in his offertory sermon on the Day of Atonement. This is a major responsibility for those called to offer sacrifice to God, for themselves and for all of mankind who will follow them under our elder brother Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 21:1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people.’

Leviticus 21:6 ‘They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore, they shall be holy.’

Leviticus 21:8 ‘Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy.’

Let us make sure we have this truth securely planted in our brains, that this is for those called of God now into the body of His Son.

We will turn now to God’s very clear proclamation of this very thing that we can see from God through the apostle Peter.

I Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having you conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

I Peter 1:13-23 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in this last time for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through word of God which lives and abides forever.

John Ritenbaugh said in a sermon on child rearing several years ago regarding the difference between godliness and holiness:

Godliness and holiness are not specifically the same. Godliness is a respectful reverential attitude. It is pointing to an attitude. It is a respectful, reverential attitude. Holiness, on the other hand, indicates one who is living in a manner like God, as we are required to do now. There is a difference between these two words, but its attributes, that is, qualities of character, they are absolutely essential.”

[John continued that sermon] A person who is holy is one who is living like the Lord. It does not mean the person is perfect, but it is one who is devoting his life to imitating God and striving in his life to reach some degree of holiness over and above, a holiness that comes to us as a result of the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ and receiving of God’s Holy Spirit.

Sanctification is unto holiness, and so a person who is holy in his life, is one who is been started down the road and applying his time and energy to growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and trying hard to live like God lives now. Now, without holiness no one shall see the Lord.

Brethren, this is nothing that we can possibly do by ourselves, but in fact God, through His Word, has entrusted, He has given us a trust that is unbelievable, with His holiness. It takes the work that Peter spoke of, in sincere love with a pure heart. We have in fact been entrusted with godly holiness through something that Israel never had, except for a very few. A heart of flesh being developed by God through His Holy Spirit working in us.

This sermon partly developed out of watching the pandemonium of the politicians in this country, as they all ask the people to entrust them with the responsibility of protection and defense of the Constitution of the United States, while not even knowing what says! Not to mention the principles of liberty that it was built upon. God has truly entrusted us with something much greater. We have been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting and defending His holiness.

How well are we handling our responsibility?

Regarding this, I would like to pull a scripture a bit out of context. As I was preparing this sermon I was talking to Richard one day and we were talking about this scripture, and I thought it would kind of fit into what I was going to say. I think it is a good example that we should keep in the back of our minds of entrust and responsibilities. It should serve to give us comfort, and at the same time, a very clear warning.

Romans 3:1-4 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.

Because God is faithful in everything He says and does, we can be certain of the appointed times to keep the Sabbath and holy days, in spite all the confusion and nonsense that is going on out there of when to do that, we cannot, we do not fully understand it fully. But God gave us through an entrusted responsibility the opportunity to know when to be here to keep this Feast.

God entrusted the oracles to the Jews; this is a trust that has not changed to this day. Even though—and here comes the warning—God will always accomplish His Word through men faithful to their entrusted responsibilities, even though some may not be faithful to the privilege that God has given to them. With physical Israel failure to remain trustworthy had deadly physical consequences. But how much greater is our privileged responsibility before God now as part of this tiny called-out group of people, from all over the world, entrusted with His holiness through His Spirit?

We are not only to be physically faithful in those things that obviously will separate us from the world, which is against God, but we have been given the true principles of liberty in God’s word, stirred by God’s Holy Spirit to be internalized and lived in each one of our lives. We have been entrusted through these things to be united in love with the Father and the Son, to be holy as they are holy.

As Jesus Christ plainly told us in John 13:34-35 and 15:9-21, this entrusted holiness and love will be a beacon of our unity with Him for the entire world to see, a world that is watching to see what those people did in Philadelphia, is the world that is watching now to see what God’s little group is doing.

This same beacon of unity with the Father and the Son, with Their entrusted holiness, is going to bring the wrath of a dying world down on those called now, but we must always stay faithful in the place that He is preparing for us through continuous growth and understanding, and love under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that draws us together in godly holiness that has been entrusted to our care.

Brethren, I wrestled with this sermon for over a month, because this is the time for us to be rejoicing, during God’s appointed Feast. But I have been concerned that you may find the remainder of this message too much of a fearful warning on such a joyful occasion.

Yesterday, during Richard’s sermon, I knew without a shadow of a doubt, this is what God wanted said this morning, during the middle of this Feast. We will end on a high note, I am sure of it. But right now, for everyone in this room, He wants His people to understand something at this appointed time. All of God’s planning and work has led to this time, that the whole creation has been groaning over, and we each have a singularly unique opportunity and responsibility. In this very room and out there among the scattered brethren of God, are the elect of God, called to truly be holy as God is holy, in unity through His Holy Spirit. To whom much is given, everything we have is required.

As we go through the last part of this message, I want you to remember that God is faithful to finish what He has set out to do, and He will not fail, even if we stumble along the way.

This is our only day of salvation. Our faithful keeping of every Word of God, and growth and grace and knowledge, together, beyond the basics is not an option, but an absolutely essential piece of the character that God is building in us. We will not be in His Kingdom if we do not do this. He has entrusted us now with His holiness, from the inside out. We must vigorously stay the course because as God inspired the apostle Peter to write,

I Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment [final judgment] to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

We have the awesome privilege of learning and growing and having a relationship with God and one another, by diligently learning and living His Word. God has given us this time, unlike any other, so that we will have the privilege to serve with Jesus Christ in specifically prepared place within His body for eternity.

I was going to ask you to turn to a few chapters in the book of Hebrews that deal with the unpardonable sin, because this is very important to all of us who have been entrusted with God's Holiness. We must understand, this is our entrusted position for eternity, and we must be fervently driven in effort with every aspect of our lives, to respond to grow in truth, love and grace, under His tender loving care.

Instead of asking you to turn there, I am going to read this to you. I would like you to carefully listen to this somber warning to those whom God has given ears to hear, and act now on His real principles of living in holiness. I will be reading parts of Hebrew chapters 6 and 10 (J.B. Phillips translation). This translation gives us a sense of what is at stake if we do not actively grow in the truth of His Word, and in love of the brethren with thoughtful submission to God and to His way of holiness.

Hebrews 6:4-8 (J.B. Phillips) When you find men who have been enlightened, who have experienced salvation and received the Holy Spirit, who have known the wholesome nourishment of the Word of God and touched the spiritual resources of the eternal world and who then fall away, it proves impossible to make them repent as they did at first. For they are re-crucifying the Son of God in their own souls, and by their conduct exposing him to shame and contempt. Ground which absorbs the rain that is constantly falling upon it and produces plants which are useful to those who cultivate it, is ground which has the blessing of God. But ground which produces nothing, but thorns and thistles is of no value and is bound sooner or later to be condemned—the only thing to do is to burn it clean.

Hebrews 6:9-15 (J.B. Phillips) But although we give these words of warning, we feel sure that you, whom we love, are capable of better things and will enjoy the full experience of salvation. God is not unfair: he will not lose sight of all that you have done nor of the loving labor which you have shown for his sake in looking after fellow-Christians (as you are still doing). It is our earnest wish that every one of you should show a similar keenness in fully grasping the hope that is within you. We do not want any of you to grow slack, but to follow the example of those who through sheer patient faith came to possess the promises. When God made his promise to Abraham, he swore by himself, for there was no one greater by whom he could swear, and he said: ‘Surely blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you’. And then Abraham, after patient endurance, found the promise true.

This hope we hold as the utter reliable anchor for our souls fixed in the very certainty of God Himself in heaven where Jesus has already entered on our behalf having become, as we have seen, High Priest forever according to the order Melchizedek. Paul continues in chapter 10.

Hebrews 10:19-25 (J.B. Phillips) So by virtue of the blood of Jesus, you and I, my brothers, may now have courage to enter the holy of holies by way of the one who died and is yet alive, who has made for us a holy means of entry by himself passing through the curtain, that is, his own human nature. Further, since we have a great High Priest set over the household of God, let us draw near with true hearts and fullest confidence, knowing that our inmost souls have been purified by the sprinkling of his blood just as our bodies are cleansed by the washing of clean water. In this confidence let us hold on to the hope that we profess without the slightest hesitation—for he is utterly dependable—and let us think of one another and how we can encourage each other to love and do good deeds. And let us not hold aloof from our church meetings, as some do. Let us do all we can to help one another’s faith, and this the more earnestly as we see the final day drawing ever nearer.

Hebrews 10:26-31 (J.B. Phillips) Now if we sin deliberately after we have known and accepted the truth, there can be no further sacrifice for sin for us but only a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fire of God’s indignation, which will one day consume all that sets itself against him. The man who showed contempt for Moses’ Law died without hope of appeal on the evidence of two or three of his fellows. How much more dreadful a punishment will he be thought to deserve who has poured scorn on the Son of God, treated like dirt the blood of the agreement which had once made him holy, and insulted the very Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said: ‘Vengeance is mine: I will repay’. And again: ‘The Lord will judge his people’. Truly it is a terrible thing for a man who has done this to fall into the hands of the living God!

Hebrews 10:32-38 (J.B. Phillips) You must never forget those past days when you had received the light and went through such a great and painful struggle. It was partly because everyone’s eye was on you as you endured harsh words and hard experiences, partly because you threw in your lot with those who suffered much the same. You sympathized with those who were put in prison, and you were cheerful when your own goods were confiscated, for you knew that you had a much more solid and lasting treasure in Heaven. Don’t throw away your trust now—it carries with it a rich reward in the world to come. Patient endurance is what you need if, after doing God’s will, you are to receive what he has promised. ‘For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him’.

Abraham Lincoln was quoted in saying about the freedom entrusted to Americans, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter or lose our freedoms it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” It is the same with us but with a much more precious gift entrusted to us by God. To be holy as He is holy, we ourselves can destroy that holiness that is already in us, and part of us and moving us forward with Him.

As we begin to close here brethren, please know that this is the time when judgment has begun with the household of God. We need to be carefully diligent with the holiness that has already been entrusted to us. Always remember the inspired words the apostle Paul said to the Philippians. He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

With that in mind, as we close, I would like to read those words from Philippians 1, within context from the Message Bible Translation. I want you to consider them not merely as the words of the apostle Paul but consider them as the words of God that should be deeply held sentiment within every one of us within the body of Christ as we experience the time of the blessings of trials and tribulations, as the day of Christ returns approaches.

Our words should be the same to one another as God inspired to come from the heart of the apostle Paul.

Philippians 1:3-6 (The Message Bible) Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

Philippians 1:7-8 (The Message Bible) It’s not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. (and personally brethren we can think of ourselves as, we can add to the list the times when we broke or fractured our arms, or the time I felt alone in the bend, the time I spent living in a tent in a rain storm, the time I had a heart attack, the time I hurt my back, the time I struggled with old age, the time I endured the borage that God allowed Satan to pass on to us.) All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!

Philippians 1:9-11 (The Message Bible) So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you (we) will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You (we) need to use your head and test your (our) feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

This is His holy way of life that He has entrusted to each one of us.

MS/cdm/drm