What Does The Bilbe Say: November 4th, 2002
In this lesson I would really like to talk about being Holy and Pure before God.
If we look in Thessalonians 4:4-8 Paul just finished saying, "How you ought to walk and to please God".
"That each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctifacation and honor, not in passion or lust..." Verse 7 "For God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit."
So that says a whole lot, God is calling all who follow Him to be Holy, like He is. Thessalonians isn't the only place that talks about this, look also in Ephesians 1:4-5 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will",
Then in Hebrews 12:14 "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."
1 Peter 1:15-16 " But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Then look in Romans 6:19-22 "... Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
So the result of becoming Holy is eternal life! How awesome is that? Then we ask, "Then how do we become Holy?" Holy and pure kinda go together, you have to be pure to be holy (Pure as in sinless, you have no spots of darkness). Now people say that it is impossible not to sin (so did Romans 3:22-23 "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."), But even though it is impossible not to sin, it is possible to obey Him. You know the commandments, but let me put them in a new perspective for you:
Exodus 20:3-17
EX 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me." This verse means things in your life shouldn't be above God, you should have "no other gods" (in your life)! You might be watching TV for hours and hours and you feel like you should read your Bible, but you don't want to get up from the 'box'... then that TV could be a god in your life. You might be spending time with a friend (or you might be doing homework, working at your job, etc) and you hear God saying to come talk to Him, but you ignore it because you are 'busy', then that 'thing' could be a god in your life. You might need advice for something, but you don't go to God about it, you go to a friend or family member first, before you go to God, then that person could be a god in your life because you are putting what they think ABOVE what God thinks. You may not worship these things, but you are putting them over God, which is making them 'another god'.

EX 20:4-5 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God." Anything carved or formed (such as statues or other things that could repressent an "image" in lives) that people worship or praise is wrong, because the only thing we are to worship is God the Father.

EX 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." Missusing His name can be saying, "Oh God!" or "Oh my God!" you are calling on Him for no reason, or as the King James version says, "Do not take the name of the Lord in vain". We take God's name in vain (saying His name for no reason, we say it 'in vain'). Sometimes I can imagine God up in Heaven and someone says, "Oh my God!" He then replies, " Did you call me?". Also, missusing His name could be calling yourself a Christian when you do not live the life that you should. That is missusing His name, then people get decieved into thinking that being a Christian is not what it really is supposed to be. There are many ways to missuse His name, but I don't need to go over them all.

EX 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." In the New Testiment Jesus pointed out that it was not wrong to do good on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:1-11 "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath". So then Jesus says "haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there... they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them "... Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."). That speaks for itself right there.

EX 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." That also means "Obey" your Father and Mother, and at the same time it is saying that we need to listen to them as well, not just 'listen', but really LISTEN (you would be suprised at how smart they are if you really thought about everything). Think about what they say, a lot of times God speaks through our parents to us, we just have to listen to see if it is Him. God has put your parents over you for a reason, to keep you out of trouble and grow you up the way you should go in the Lord. So you need to be listening and actually hearing what they are saying to you, and when they tell you what to do then obey it, and see what the Lord does for you.

EX 20:13 "You shall not murder." Well that means what it says it means, But also do not commit murdur in your heart. Sometimes we wish someone were dead, or had never been born, or we wish that WE had never been born (cause we feel like we have no purpose, read Job 3 and you'll see that he felt that way once). It's ok to think that once, but we need to realize that we are born in God's image and we DO have a purpose, realize that and don't allow that thought of self-hatred to take place again. We need to remember what was said in Esther 4:14, "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?". We are all here for "such a time as this", God knew us before He made us (Jeremiah 1:5 "before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you..."). So we all have a purpose.We also need to pray for those people that annoy us (or get our blood boiling) or people like Marlyn Manson, I used wish he were never alive because of how many people he has been/is dragging to hell with him, but then God remindsed me that He has made all for Himself (Proverbs 16:4 "The Lord has made all for Himself, Yes even the wicked for the day of doom."). We need to even be praying for people who are dragging others to hell, not wishing/praying them to death.

EX 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery." I don't have much time left, so we are going to skip this one (you can look at the end of this lesson and I'll have Matthew 5:27-30 typed up, and it talks about another form of Adultery).

EX 20:15 "You shall not steal." This one is pretty simple, don't steal things from others! That also means "do not take without asking". That is also called stealing.

EX 20:16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." Don't lie about anything 'to' or 'about' anyone! That is one thing that is a "No, No". That is one thing that God hates (Proberbs 6:16 "These six things the Lord hates... A proud look, a lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies..."). Also don't 'joke' and lie, because you never know what your 'words' can do (I wrote another lesson on the tongue, you can look at that one in the 'older lessons')

EX 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." If you have never thought about it, neighbor does not mean your literal "neighbor" (the person who lives next to you) but it means any one that is a human being (remember the story about the samaritan, if not then look in Luke 10:25-37). When a friend has something really nice, don't look at it in envy, but be happy for your friend because of what they have. And if you like what they have, then ask God if He would give you those things as well, but don't look in envy and jealousy. One thing that tends to happen is that we get angry and hateful towards those we are jealous of (which is not Godly at all).

And those are all the Commandments. Well all but the last two, the most important ones "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and with all your mind, this is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself". And those are self explanitory.
You can look in Matthew 5:21-30 (I will put it at the bottem of this lesson), and that shows you what Jesus said about some of the commandments.
Now, Holy means (according to the dictoinary):

1. belonging to or coming from God; consecrated; sacred
2. spiritually perfect or pure; untainted by evil or sin; sinless; saintly

Now here is what Pure means:

4. free from defects; perfect; faultless
5. free from sin or guilt; blameless
9. Bible ceremonially undefiled

Interesting, they both had something to say about sin: "free from sin", "sinless". And holy even said "Spiritually... pure". Remember when the aduterous woman came to Jesus? When she left He said "Go, and sin no more".
Well I really do not have time anymore, I am human just like you all, I have a time frame. I have a whole lot to do today, I just had to take a few hours out of my time to write this.
I just wanted to give you all something to chew on till my next lesson, just think about what I have said today. Be pure, without sin, don't be a snot to people and say that you are better then them, remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:1-18 (I will put that at the end of this lesson as well so you can read it).
Just think about it, God bless you all, a sister in Christ...
Haddy
___________________________________________
VERSES:

Psalm 119:9 "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word."

MT 5:21-30 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, `Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

MT 6:1-18 "Be careful not to do your `acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray:
" `Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, AMEN. '
" For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you