Living And Walking With Holiness

Good morning. So it's a new series this month of

October called The Power of Holiness. I'm going to talk

a little bit this morning about living and walking in holiness.

Isaiah 35 verses 8 to 9 in the Complete Jewish

Isaiah 35:8–9

Bible says, says a highway will there be, a way

called the way of holiness. The unclean will not pass

over it, but it will be for those whom he guides.

Fools will not stray along it. No lion or beast

or prey will be traveling there. They will not be

found there, but the redeemed will go there. In the

New Testament, Matthew 7 says, Matthew 7, 13 through 14

in the complete Jewish Bible says, go through the narrow gate.

For the gate that leads to destruction is wide and

the road broad. And many travel it. But it is

a narrow gate and the hard road that leads to life.

And only a few find it. So that's just a

precursor to the word. It's a bit wobbly. A bit

of a precursor to the word. In the Old Testament,

as I referenced, there's a highway of holiness. In the

New Testament, Jesus references a narrow road. A hard road

that leads to life and only few find it. So today,

We're going to go through a number of steps, a

number of points, and see what the Holy Spirit does

in terms of giving us some foundational truths about holiness,

what it means to us, what the practicality of what

that means. People say, you know, God says, be holy,

for I am holy. But what does that mean to us, really? So,

cabbage chocolate bars, right? They've got lots of chunks in them,

haven't they? Yeah? Nobody's a captive chocolate bar. Any chocolate

bar has lots of chunks in it. So what I

want to do is just chunk it down today. So

rather than eat the whole bar at once, we're going

to chunk it down to bits because it's easier to eat. Yeah?

Otherwise you're sick. So with the Word of God, we're

going to chunk it down into bits. Okay? And we're

going to build on those bits. So the first part

of that is talking about the incorruptible seed. Okay? I'm

going to read from John 3, 1 through 8. The

New King James Version. There was a man of the

Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man

came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi,

we know that you're a teacher come from God. No

one can do the signs that you do unless God

is with him. Jesus said to him, most assuredly I

say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot

see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how

can a man be born when he's old? Can he

enter a second time into his mother's womb? Jesus answered,

And you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell

where it comes from and where it goes. So is

everyone who is born of the Spirit. So when we're

born again, it's our spirit that changes, not our flesh.

All right? Our spirits inhabit the world of the spirit.

Our flesh inhabits the world of the flesh. Okay? So

flesh to flesh is firm. Spirit to spirit is firm.

So we are, when we are born again, we are

a spirit person and we live in a body. Right?

If I just popped one off at Shane... his body

would drop, his spirit would still be standing there. Yeah?

Now we're born again of incorruptible seed through the word

of God. That's what 1 Peter 2, 23 says. We're

born of incorruptible seed. Jesus paid the price. Yeah? It's incorruptible,

cannot be corrupted. 2 Corinthians 2, 5 puts it this way. Consequently,

from now on we estimate and regard no one from

purely a human point of view in terms of natural

standards of value. No, even though we did estimate Christ

from a human viewpoint and as a man, yet now

we have such knowledge of him that we no longer

in terms of the flesh. Therefore, if any person is

engrafted in Christ the Messiah, he's a new creation, a

new creature altogether. The old previous moral and spirit condition

has passed away. Behold, The flesh has come new. That's

the amplified version. Paul knew Jesus because Jesus was around

when Paul was around. Paul stood there watching the clothes

of the people who stoned Stephen the first martyr. What

Paul is saying here is he knew Jesus in the

flesh and now he knows Jesus in the spirit. He's

had a revelation. He had his Damascus experience. when he

fell down, and Jesus said, don't kick against the goads,

because they've got pricks on, they hurt. He spent three

days fasting, and then the scales fell off his eyes,

so he's had a revelation of Jesus now. Right? Now

we are born again, it's a spiritual change. Our spirits

were dead, now they are alive. Okay? Okay? So you

cannot lead a Christian life. You cannot live a Christian

life in the flesh. Alright? Because you're not born of

the flesh. You're born of the spirit. Yeah? You can nod.

You don't have to shout and say amen, but you

can nod. Alright? Just so I know you're getting it.

Our spirit was dead and now it is alive. Paul

wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, that we're a trichotomy.

We are a spirit. We have a soul. We live

in a body. Okay? The key thing to understand here

is many of us try to live the way that

God wants us to live in and through our flesh,

not by the spirit. It is impossible to be a

believer and to walk in the power of God in

the flesh. It does not work. Yeah? John 6, 24,

I think it is. It's not on the slides. It

says God is a spirit. Okay? So our spirit communes

with the spirit. Yeah? There's nothing through our flesh. This

is just fundamental to say what I want to say.

Many people don't recognize that. They read it, but they

don't live it. And that all links to walking in holiness, okay?

So a flesh is the bit that needs to change.

It needs to be transformed day by day. Dave made

a comment earlier about he may say something wrong. You know,

he might not get it right all the time because

he's a work in progress, yeah? We're all works in progress.

So what do we need to do? We need to

crucify the flesh. The spirit is done and dusted. When

you're born again, your spirit is perfect as God has

made it. It's your flesh that needs some work. A

bit of contents. Matthew 26, Matthew 26, 42. Jesus was

praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. I think the second

time he went to pray. He knew he was going

to be beaten. He knew he was going to be scourged. Scourged, sorry.

He knew he was going to be crucified. Scourging as

bits of metal and bits of bone in a long whip.

And they stripped their victim and whipped him. So that

tore the flesh, exposed the internal organs. Right? So you

were dying at that point and blood is dripping everywhere.

It's not a pleasant sight. Not that I've seen it

in the flesh. He knew he was going to be crucified.

He knew what he had to go through because he

came with a purpose. So he's in the garden of

Gethsemane and a second time he went to pray and

he said, my father, if this cup cannot pass from me,

Unless I drink it, your will be done. He came

for a purpose. He knew he came to die. Because

it's through his blood, it's through his resurrection that we

can have a relationship with the Father. That's fundamental to

the Christian faith. The purpose here is he made a decision.

He chose to go through with it. His flesh was screaming, no. No.

His spirit said, yes. Remember Philippians 2, verse 5. Jesus

Philippians 2:5

was fully man, but he was fully God. I've got

time to share this point because I've only got a

small slot. But he was fully man, but he was

fully God. Romans 6, 22, the amplified version, classic version says, Now,

since you have been set free from sin and become

slaves to God, you have your present reward in holiness.

And it's then eternal life. So when we're born again,

we are set free from sin. Your spirit is free

from sin. You're free from the law of sin and death.

Go and read the book of Romans. I haven't got

time to do this today. Go read the book of Romans.

We're free from the law of sin and death. And

our present reward is holiness. The end is eternal life.

Paul wrote in Galatians 2.20, which is the Memory verse

for next week. I have been crucified with Christ. It's

no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,

in the Spirit. The life which I now live in

the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of

God who loved me and gave himself for me. We

too have been crucified with Christ. Our old man, if

you like, spiritually speaking, was dead. When we invited Jesus

into our life, it was a miracle and our spirit

became alive. We've now got to make a quality decision

like Jesus made in the Garden of Gethsemane to crucify

our flesh and to renew our mind. I heard someone

say recently, we just saw our stinking thinking. That was

quite interesting. With the word of God. So we've talked

about the incorruptible seed. We've talked about crucifying the flesh.

Next thing I want to talk about is spirit-led renovations. Now,

renovation can mean many things to many people. I have

a friend who likes renovating houses. He's done one, two,

maybe three now. It's always messy. There's always lots of dust,

lots of dirt. He actually enjoys it. And he also

obviously gets a good product at the end of it.

So with that in mind, let's read Romans 12 and

verse 1 through 2, which is the amplified version of

the Bible, classic version, not the new version. Paul speaking,

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 sacrifice, devoted, consecrated,

and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable, rational, intelligent

service and spiritual worship. In other words, make a quality decision,

say no to the wrong things, and yes to God

and the right things. Okay? So make a quality decision,

say no to the wrong things, and yes to the

right things. It's not a case of do I have

another donut? Is my waistline going to get bigger? It's

should I be doing this? It is honoring to God

what I'm doing. Should I be watching this? Should I

be having this conversation? Should I be hanging with these people?

We can break it down to the real world where

the rubber hits the road for us. The ouch moment.

Verse 2. Do not be conformed to this world, this age,

fashioned after and adapted to its external superficial customs. Don't

follow the crowd. Follow God. Yeah? There's always peer pressure,

whether you're at home, whether you're at work, wherever you are,

there's always peer pressure in your group of friends. Don't

follow the crowd. Follow God. But be transformed, changed by

the entire renewal of your mind. By its new ideals

and its new attitudes. In other words, renovate and renew

your mind. Remember your spirit is perfect. It's the flesh.

It's the flesh. That's the challenge. And it's also we're

going to let our mind rule. We're going to let

our spirit rule. Okay? Remember you've had, let's say you

met Jesus when you're 20 years old. That means you've

had 20 years of stinking thinking. Jesus has got to

basically clean your mind, align your mind with the word

of God, so you have a godly perspective about something,

not a worldly perspective. If you live in the world,

and you don't know Jesus, you're going to die. And

when you die, you're going to go to hell. Yeah?

If you live in the spirit, and you live in

the world, and you die, you go to heaven. Live

for God. Okay? So we've got to choose to renovate

our mind with the Word of God so that you

may prove for yourselves what is the good and acceptable

and perfect will of God, even the things which is

good and acceptable and perfect in His sight. I'll give

you an example. So I remember a few years ago,

I had to knock down some trees, dig out some

tree roots. And we had a lot of ivy in

our garden. It was one of those things where I

had to do some work in the garden. So I

dug about two foot deep. So three, 400 mil deep plus,

or nearly 500 centimeters. People don't know what that is

in English. to dig out this ivy. The ivy latticed

over the garden. I took the top ivy off very quickly,

but the root of the ivy went all over. And

it took me a couple of weekends to just dig

this out. I think I got rid of two wheelie

bins of ivy which were below the ground before I

top soiled it, seeded it, leveled it, and the grass grew.

The reason for using that analogy is sometimes we've got

ivy in our mind, right? You can deal with the

top stuff quite easily. You can just pull it off,

throw it in the bin, and the surface looks great.

When you dig down into it, there's a lot of

roots in there which need to be taken out. There's

a lot of digging that needs to happen to get

rid of it. When it's gone, it's gone, but there's

a lot of work. Okay? So with our minds, Paul's

saying here you need to renew your mind with the

Word of God. The Spirit's done and dusted. It's the

mind that needs sorting out. And like I spent ages

in the garden digging up, we've got to spend ages

in the Word of God, letting God work on our mind,

renewing our mind so that our mind aligns with the

Word of God. So that might be dealing with things

like fear, anxiety, anger, worry, how we treat people, because

we've learned that from the people who brought us up,

or the people we spent time with. I have a friend,

and he went to a Because his boy was in trouble.

I said, where are you going? He said, my boy's

in trouble. He's a bit angry. He gets angry very quickly.

This guy's really placid. He said, Simon, it took me

a long time to deal with my anger. A long time.

I'd be off the handle very quickly. I'd snap very quickly.

So my boy's like me. I said that to say

that sometimes we imbibe something from our our parents are

the people who ring us up. Okay? And because it's

done over a period of time, we don't know it.

Now we can invite some good things, or we can

invite some bad things, depending on who our parents are. So,

sorry parents in the room, not pointing fingers. It is

how it is. I've got friends, I've got family, and

I see where some of the the things come from.

I remember I once met Dave's sister. They don't look

the same, but when they smile, it's like, whoa, that's

the same smile. They have the same smile, which is good.

You know, my wife and her three sisters, or two sisters,

all smile the same as their mother. It's just like, boom.

I can't do it. You don't see the bottom teeth,

but you see the top teeth. And they all do

the same thing. When you get them in the line,

it's like, oh, you don't realize it. I said that

as a bit of humor, but it makes the point.

We imbibe from our people who bring us up, okay?

Good things and bad things, all right? We need to

be transformed into the image of the Son of God

who loved us and gave himself for us. We don't

walk in the flesh, we walk in the Spirit. Okay?

When we are born again. God said to Peter, you

used to dress yourself. Now I'll dress you and I'll

send you where you don't want to go. Alright? So,

you know, if you want to live a holy life,

You need to consider these elements, right? It's not about

turning up to church. It's not about just reading the Bible,

following the scriptures through on a plan. It's about doing

business with God. Okay? So that's spirit-led renovation. Number four,

or the fourth thing is set your mind on the

things of the spirit. So some people are very determined, yeah?

Very determined in how they do things. I remember one

of my sister's kids. He was a very determined young man.

I have a vivid memory now of a two-year-old with

red boots and a blue duffel coat sprinting down the

road Because he thought he was going to go for

a run. To sprint after him to catch him up.

Because his little kids go quick. He decided he was

going to do something. He decided he was going to

do it and he did it. Some of us can

be very decisive in what we're going to do. Once

you've made a decision, we're not going to be moved

from that decision. Others are a bit more chilled and

they're like, well, whatever. Depending on how we made up.

It regards whether you're chilled or whether you're decisive, you

need to set your mind on the things of the spirit,

not the things of the flesh. Okay? I'm not saying

the flesh is bad per se, but we do not

live in the flesh, we live in the spirit when

we live in this world. Okay? You were born again,

you were a changed person, and therefore you You were

changed and you have to live a certain way. Okay?

If you try to live in the flesh, it just

won't work and things will fail. Your life will be

like this. Up and down. Up and down. Because you're

trying to live a spiritual life in the flesh and

it just doesn't work. Okay? Romans 8, 5 through 8

in the New King James Version puts it this way.

For those who live according to the flesh set their

minds on the things of the flesh. But those who

live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

For to be carnal-minded is death, but to be spiritual-minded

is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity

against God. For it is subject to the law of God. No,

indeed it can be. So then, those who are in

the flesh cannot please God. So some of us start

this journey and we give up. Because we didn't set

our minds. And the flesh is in control. The flesh

is ruling. It's like, oh, maybe I will, maybe I won't.

You've got to put, what I say, a quality decision

about something. I have a family member who There's been

a number, numerous diets. And they want to lose some weight,

so they lose some weight, do this diet, and they

go back and eat what they used to eat beforehand,

and the weight goes back on. And then they go

another diet, and then they lose some weight, and they

go back to eating what they used to before, and

it goes back on. And it just sort of like

loops and loops and loops. So they win, and then

they go back to their old stinking thinking and go,

I'll have another donut today. Yeah? I'll give you a

some nutritional advice. If you're going to eat lots of donuts,

it isn't going to work for your waistline. It doesn't work.

Especially those Krispy Kreme donuts. That doesn't work. Now, if

we make a quality decision to change our diet and

eat healthy stuff and do a bit of exercise, then

it will work. But you can't do something then go

back to what you were doing before. Do something, go

back to something. That's a cycle which needs to be broken. So,

we need to set our minds on the things of

the Spirit and persevere and push on. Everyone Listen to

my voice, whether it's online or in this room. We've

all got decisions to make about what we do, where

we go, how we live our lives. From a spirit-led perspective,

it's a very personal journey. And it's a hard road

to walk because you've got to crucify your flesh. And

your flesh wants to be in control. All right? So

going back to my analogy, if you were born again

at the age of 20, that's 20 years of the

flesh telling you what to do. And you just go

with it. Then when the spirit's born again, the spirit

wants to be in the driving seat, as it were.

We've got a backseat driver in the flesh saying, no, no,

go here, go there, do this, do that. You know,

it doesn't work. We need to be changed from glory

to glory And it will not be the work of

a man, it will be the work of the Holy

Spirit when we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. And when

we do, we'll become living testimonies because people will see

what God has done. When God does a work, he

does it well. And people notice. And I suppose the

biggest secret to success is to surrender. Going back to

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, not my will,

but your will be done. So we've got to say,

here I am. I surrender. We sing that song, don't we?

I surrender all, but do we actually surrender all or

are we just enjoying singing the song? So is it

a heart condition or is it a stinking thinking condition?

Not pointing any fingers at anybody, I'm just putting it

out there. I was on my notes, there we go. So,

just to summarize. Keeping that slide up, please. Thank you. So,

I've been doing a lot of talking, so I thought

I'd try and summarize this. So, it might be helpful. So,

I broke it down to five things. So, I've got

time to talk about this and time has gone a bit. So,

when the Holy Spirit starts talking about changing our behaviors

or attitudes, wherever it is, and he does speak to

us You might say, Simon, I don't need to do that.

Or Shane, I don't need to do that. Yeah? We've

got to make that quality decision to go along with

God's change. And then we've got to decide not to

give up when we start going through that change. It

might be we have a bad temper. Yeah? It might

be we like too many donuts. It might be something

that God wants to change in our lives. So we've

got to align with his plan. And he'll speak to

us through the word of God. And it's like this.

If we don't do it, we go around the mountain again.

And he keeps bringing us back to the starting point

and saying, okay, we need to deal with this. Let's

deal with this. So fundamentally, we need to say yes

to change. Yes, let's get on and do this business.

Even though I don't like the idea. I recognize we

need to change. Number two, we need to surrender our

will in this area, wherever it may be. Or, put

it this way, we need to not fight God. Number three,

we need to daily follow through on our decision. We

need to be consistent. When you're consistent, that's when you're successful.

You consistently pray consistently. And read the word and do

what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. And go

through that discomfort of dealing with the flesh. God will

change you. Number four, we need to learn how to

meditate on the word that God gives us. That word

which speaks to us either from a spoken word or

something that just jumps out of the page at us.

And God is speaking to us. We need to put

that word in our heart and in our mouth. Joshua 1.8 says,

do not let this book of the Lord depart from

your mouth. Meditate on it day and night that you'll

be prosperous and successful to do all that is written

in it. Meditate there is the Hebrew for mutter. In

other words, speak the word over, run it through your mind,

run it through your heart. It's like the latest song,

whether it's a popular song or a worship song. Once

that gets in your heart, Your mind and your heart.

I think Dave calls it an earworm or something like that.

Where it just sticks in there, sticks in there. You've

got to get the word in there so it's continually

flowing through there. So it's continually changing us. This can

take weeks. It can take months. It can take years.

But it's a journey. And the last thing is thank

God for the journey. As you go through the process.

1 Thessalonians 5.18 says, In everything give thanks, for this

is the will of God in Christ Jesus. When you

give thanks, you activate the spirit realm. And things happen. Remember,

we live in the spirit. We do not live in

the flesh. Why would you give thanks for something that

is difficult and unpleasant? That is just, from a logic

point of view, that's nuts. That's nuts. But in the

spirit of Rome, God kicks in. The angels kick in. Yeah?

So going back to Galatians 2.20. I've been crucified with Christ.

It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

When we die to self, we're allowing God to change

us gradually, step by step. And then self will disappear.

And we'll be hidden with Christ in God. As a result,

the person of Jesus will become more visible. The more

you die, the less people see of you and the

more people that see of Jesus. I've seen people where

I see the presence of Jesus, which is very heavy

in those people's lives because they pay the price. And

the desires of the flesh diminish and we walk in holiness.

When that happens, it will impact our environment, our family,

our friends and those around us. When we enter a room,

the presence of God will be tangible. The atmosphere will change, okay?

I've seen it. I've experienced that. So wholeness is when

we're hidden in Christ with God. Colossians 3, 3. We

can't do this by ourselves, right? Because it's a spiritual journey.

It's not a flesh journey. So we need the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8.26 says, likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.

So let's wrap it there. I'll quickly pray. It's the time. Father,

pray for each individual in this room and those listening

to this message now and later that you would open

their hearts to receive this message and give them an

understanding of where they are on their journey and what

needs to happen next so that they can progressively be

changed from glory to glory. Unconscious as people here who

may have not started that journey, and some people who

may need to restart that journey. Please give them the

grace to... take the next step. And like I said before,

each step will be a miracle. So the scripture that

God gave me this morning when I was praying is

2 Corinthians 6 Verse 2. You'll hear it in translation.

2 Corinthians 6:2

For God said, at just the right time, I heard you.

On the day of salvation, I helped you. Indeed, the

right time is now. Today is the day of salvation.

So maybe somebody here, where today is the day of

salvation for you, or you listen online, and today is

the day of salvation for you. There's a ministry room

behind me. If you want to pray with somebody about that,

today you can do. If there's an online, drop us

a message and we can pray with you. I think

I'll just wrap it there. Dave. Thanks, Simon. There's a

real battle.