Faith
It is when you get excited about the Word that it will work for you. There is no such thing about being in faith for something and being depressed about it. There is no such thing as being in faith about something and being bored with it. If you are bored then you are not in faith. If you are depressed then you are not in faith. Faith believes that God has heard our prayer. Faith believes that my seed is in the ground. Faith believes that its words are in the ground and change is on the way, answers are on the way, money is on the way! If you are expecting to see and feel the change and difference than you cannot be depressed over that. It will excite you.
Would you turn with me this evening to the book of Hebrews seven and then First Corinthians six? We are beginning a new series this evening and I would appreciate it if you would be expecting with me for revelation to flow.
In Hebrews the seventh chapter, he is talking about our high priest, Jesus.
Hebrew 7:25 “Therefore He is able to also to save to the uttermost, completely, perfectly, finally and for all time in eternity those who come to God through Him since He is always living to make petition to God and to intercede with Him and to intervene for them. (AMP)”
He is our High Priest. He is able to save us to the uttermost, completely, perfectly, finally and for all time in eternity. He ever lives to make intercession for us. How many of you know that Jesus is on our side? He is for us and if God be for you who can be against you? Who is bigger than Him? He is for you and that is most definitely different from being against you.
Do you know that many people believe that God is against them? They are convinced of this and as a result they do not go to church. This is why they avoid services and Christians. They are convinced that they are a sinner and that they have done bad stuff and that God is against them. And that belief is unscriptural. That is totally contrary to the Bible. Jesus has already paid the price for all of our sins and God is not mad at us. He is not against us. The Bible says that “He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their sins and trespasses to them.” The good news is that there is not a sin problem anymore. Jesus has taken care of the sin problem. The only problem lies in you not accepting what Jesus has done. If you won’t put faith in what He has done then that is a problem.
But God is not against us. He is for us. The devil is such a liar and especially lies to teenagers that their parents are against them. He lies to wives and husbands that their spouses are against them. You know that he is the accuser of the brethren? That is his work all of the time. He brings thoughts and suggestions. He brings feelings that they are against you, they don’t like you, they don’t believe in you…
Now how many of you understand that the devil is a liar? He is always trying to lie to you and he is always trying to stir something up. The bottom line is that he is trying to convince you that God is against you, He is tired of you, He has written you off, He is through with you… There has never been a bigger lie told.
How many of you here tonight know that no matter what you have done, no matter how low you have been, no matter how bad you have been that God doesn’t love your sin but He does love you? If you come to Him He will forgive you. He will cleanse you. I don’t care how terrible your sins and iniquities were, He will remember them no more. Jesus has already paid for them. Jesus is not against us but is instead for us! He paid the price for us, He is for us, and He ever lives to make intercession for us.
Say it out loud, “God”
“Is on my side…”
“He takes the part with me…”
“Against the enemy…”
“And who can be against me…”
“When God is for me?”
Let’s keep reading.
Hebrews 7:26 “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens…
It is talking about our High Priest – Jesus. Let me read this from the Amplified…
“Here is the high priest perfectly adapted to our needs as was fitting. Holy, blameless, unstained by sin, separated from sinners and exalted higher than the heavens.”
I want you to notice one particular phrase from this passage. It said, “He is separate from sinners.” The title of our new series is Separate from Sin.
“Separate from Sin”
Jesus is our example is he not? He is what all of us should be aspiring to be everyday. Don’t take any man or any woman that you know either in the past or present and say I want to be just like them. I want to be just like mamma or daddy. No you don’t because you are setting your goal to low. If there is somebody that you respect or would like to be it should be because that in some degree they are like Him. But everybody is human and if you want to be just like them you will duplicate their weaknesses and faults. Everybody has some or else they would be one hundred percent like Jesus.
This one thing we can do. “Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth for the prize or mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” That is being just like Him. That is the bull’s eye. That is the prize. That is the mark that we are shooting for. To be just like Him. So if you go through a day and realize that you didn’t act like Jesus all day then don’t despair. Thank God that you can confess your mistakes and start off today with no sin. Aspire once again today to be like Him and if you don’t make it repent and try again.
He was and is Holy and separate from sin and sinners. He is separate.
Now go with me back to Second Corinthians chapter six. I am going to read this from the New Living translation.
2 Corinthians 6:14 “Don’t team up with unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can life live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?”
He is asking questions and what is the answer? Let me look at this passage again and see if we can see the answer.
How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? What is the answer?
How can life live with darkness? What is the answer?
What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? What is the answer?
You know that is irksome that you see so called theologians and scriptural experts come up with these concepts that God and the devil are working together through some mysterious plan. You have so called preachers that these scenes of God and the devil side by side deciding what they are going to do with humanity.
How can life and darkness work together?
How can good and evil work together?
No God is not working with the devil now or nor will He ever be working with the devil. The devil would love for you to believe that he is a virtual equal with God. He is not even in the same league as God. He is a created being. And he is fallen from that! God is not working with the devil.
How can life work with darkness?
How can good work with evil?
Paul went on to say…
“How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? What union can there be between God’s temple and idols?”
If you read other portions of scripture you know that there are those called gods but there are no true gods except the one true God. He said what they worship is demons. So when people do get involved in actual spiritual operations in these false religions what is involved is not another god, it is a demon.
What fellowship and what union is there between God’s temple and the devil’s temples?
“For we are the temple of the living God as God has said, “I will live in them, and walk in them, I will be their God, and they will be my people therefore come out from among them.”
What are we to come out from? We have got to back up to where Paul started.
Come out from unbelief…
Come out from wickedness…
Come out from evil…
Come out from darkness…
Come out from the devil…
Come out from idolatry…
Come out from them and separate yourself from them. Everybody say, “Separate.” Now Jesus was and is holy and separate from sinners and separate from sin.
“Come out from them and separate yourselves from them,” says the Lord, “and I will welcome you and I will be your Father and you will be my sons and daughters says the Lord God almighty. Because we have these promises dear friends let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit and let us work toward complete purity because we fear God.”
Listen to the NIV on that subject…
“Since we have these promises dear friend, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
Is there a lot in the scriptures about holiness and separation and purity? There is and it is not popular in many circles. People have funny ideas about this subject. All you have to do is to say the word holy or holiness and people’s minds will go off on a tangent. Let’s say we go out and have a Holiness Conference. Will people get excited about that? Well is there much in the Bible about the subject? There are thousands of references. Think of all of the different words that God could have used in describing His Spirit. How many different words could He have used to describe His Spirit?
Mighty Spirit…
Big Spirit…
Wise Spirit…
But what is the main word used? Holy right? What is the most outstanding quality and characteristic that separates the Holy Spirit from every other? Holy. The Word is called the Holy Word. God’s prophets are called His Holy prophets. They moved and spoke as they were given utterances by the Holy Spirit. Holy men moved by the Holy Spirit.
Everybody say holy.
The enemy hates this. He would like to keep us all confused about it. Why? So that we will shun it and avoid it or assume that holiness is some form of perfection that Jesus attained but we never will.
And so we say, “Jesus was holy but we will never get there.”
The congregations answer a statement like this with, “Sad but true!”
“He is high and holy and we are not and lowly.”
Look at 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves…”
What are we to do?
“Let us” do what? “Cleanse ourselves…”
Now to really get the meaning of this you need to back up and look at other portions of scripture. Your conduct is not what makes you acceptable or unacceptable to God. The best you could ever do would never make you acceptable to God. It is His righteousness that makes us righteous.
There is another side of this that we need to understand. This is the fact that even though you have been made a child of God does not mean that you have to walk like a child of God. In the same manner just because Jesus has been made wisdom to you does not mean that you have to walk wisely. The Bible tells us that Jesus was made to us righteousness, but you do not have to walk righteously. You can act unrighteous. He has made us sanctified and holy in Him and we ought to walk it. We need to come up to the point that what is inside of us is dominating the outside.
I want you to believe with me that through this series we will be able to come into what is ours in Christ. There are benefits that you cannot even imagine in learning to walk in holiness. If you ever get a glimpse of them you will develop a hunger to learn how to walk in holiness and grow in purity. There is a wrong thinking about this whole subject that the devil has convinced the church that this is something which cannot be attained.
Two things that you need to understand if you are going to walk in this. First you have been made righteous and holy by the blood before God. But we are talking about our life and conduct. We are talking about walking in what we have on the inside and measuring up to the potential of what God has put into us.
Paul said, “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Prior to this section Paul was talking about being hooked up with the wrong stuff. He talked about being hooked up with the wrong people and the wrong things. Paul follows by saying, “Let us cleanse ourselves from everything that would contaminate and defile us.” We are not of the world, but we are of the world. There is a lot of contaminating stuff in the world. We do not have to be defiled or contaminated with it though. The question though is whether or not we can be contaminated with it? Paul mentioned things that will contaminate you both on the outside and on the inside of your spirit. If you do become contaminated though there is cleansing. Paul speaks of the washing of the water of the word, the sanctifying power of the word, and of course the cleansing power of the blood. Regardless of how contaminated a person has become Jesus has provided a means of cleansing. Having been cleansed you should stay cleansed and not allow yourself to get back into the sin.
Turn now to Isaiah chapter sixty-five.
I know that we are just beginning this series tonight and it may not be clear to you at this point, but what we are beginning is the answer to so many problems people are facing. It is the answer that so many people have prayed about, cried about, and sought about and yet could not get straight in their lives. One thing you need to understand is the fact that God does not always answer you the way that you ask. He answers you with the answer. You may not recognize it when it comes. Think about the Israelites reaction when God rained the manna down from the heavens. They saw it and said, “What is it.” Moses had to tell them that it was the food. It was right in front of them and they did not recognize it. I know in my own life that there have been times that I have been praying and the Lord answered me in what seemed to be a totally different area. I thought that He had changed the subject of me, but instead was providing the answer. It is kind of like getting on an interstate to go in a northerly direction. You will sometimes have to go south on the onramp. It seems that the direction has changed, but instead you are right on the edge of the answer.
In ministering in the area of healing I found many different ways in which healing is spelled. It is spelled o-b-e-y. But in other cases it is spelled r-e-p-e-n-t. Another way that I saw healing spelled is h-u-m-i-l-i-t-y. I have had the Lord talk to me and found myself wondering how the conversation could be related to healing. He would talk about marriage and finances and I was talking about healing. How in the world do those subjects relate to healing? They are connected.
The point that I am trying to bring out is that anything which hinders your faith will hinder your answer. Anything that hinders your confidence is going to hinder your receiving. In thinking about this you will begin to how important holiness is in your receiving answers, in your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and to your development in the things of God. It is connected to so many things because He is a holy God. In looking at the church today though we find so much ignorance on the subject because people just do not have a clue. You will tell that you are developing a revelation in this area when you begin to get excited about holiness.
Now let’s talk about what holiness is not before we go any further. In Isaiah chapter sixty-five the Lord is talking with some individuals that He is very upset with.
Isaiah 65:2-5 “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing, their own imaginations – a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meal; who say, “Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you! Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day long!”
What is the Lord saying about these people? They are a major irritant to Him in the same manner that having smoke in your nose would be a major irritant. Who is a major irritant to Him? People who say that they have holiness figured out and are more holy than anyone else. He is speaking of people who use holiness as a comparative thing with other people those results in one feeling superior to another because they are holier than others.
Turn now to Luke eighteen.
Holiness is not a superiority feeling; it is not comparing yourself with someone else. You can tell a wrong spirit. There are numerous groups around that profess to be holier than others and their version of holiness usually is based on their particular code…
• Their conduct code…
• Their dress code…
• Their lifestyle code…
• Their operation code…
Throughout the church I have heard a lot of talk about the world and us. There is a sense of a need to isolate from the world. Those who practice this tend to pretend that they are all that exists in the world. The longer that they continue in this vein the greater a sense of superiority will be seen. They will eventually get into the vein of believing that they are the only ones who will make it into heaven. For the most part though they are not going to make it because our salvation is not based on our works and adding our works and membership is the same as saying that the blood was not enough.
Our challenge is to be out in the world as a bright light without allowing it to corrupt us. We will need to go through all of the junk that the world throws at us without allowing it to pull us down. We cannot it get in us, contaminate us, defile us, and definitely not let it change us.
“Well no brother Baker I think that I am going to just withdraw from the world and become a monk.”
Where did you find that in the Bible? You will find people who pulled away for a time but they always came back to the people with a word and with a ministry. God did not call us to hide or form our holier than though clubs and look down our nose at those on the outside. This is not God’s way. God is the holiest of all and the purest of all. He says, “Come to me. Everyone who is heavy and burdened down come to me.” If He will receive the lowliest and the dirtiest and the worst then who are we to reject anyone? God said that those who say that they are holier than anyone else is a smoke up His nose. This is not what I want Him to say about me. I want to be a sweet savor rising up before Him.
Luke 18:9 “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else…”
Can you see the problem in this parable? He is speaking to those with this feeling of superiority. He said that they trusted in themselves that they were righteous. Is that who we are supposed to trust in for our righteousness? No, we are supposed to trust in Jesus for our righteousness. We need to acknowledge that we could not do anything to save ourselves. We are trusting in His righteousness, His holiness, and in what He has done. If we are living a better and cleaner life than someone else then it is only by the grace of God. If we are able to resist sin where someone else cannot then it is only by the grace of God. An air of superiority communicates a feeling that your holiness is a result of something that you did. That is what is known as trusting in yourself and not in God. If we are able to stand where someone else fails it is only because of His grace. We are able to live clean and free of the world’s contamination, but only by His grace.
People leave the idea that they are blessed because they have more faith than you do. But this is not the truth. Millions believe this and are held back from receiving their blessings as a result. The truth though is that the giants of faith are people who are not much different from anyone else in the church. Anything that they have done is within anyone else’s reach. This includes any degree of relationship and walk with God. I am believing the Lord that this church family will be rid of every vestige of the spiritual superiority stuff. That stuff is a smoke in God’s nose because He knows the real story.
The man in Luke eighteen was supposed to be praying. Instead he was thinking about himself. In verse eleven it even says that he is praying about himself! I wonder if anyone in this room has ever done prayed this way. Then man would have been better off taking a nap or eating a sandwich than praying the way he did. Jesus even related a part of the prayer…
“God, I thank you that am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
This is the smoke in God’s nose. It is most definitely not holiness. You can pretty much accept the fact that God did not accept this prayer. In fact Jesus said that the man was praying about himself. In looking at this man’s prayer it is not the words that are important, but the spirit behind the prayer. We know that we are not supposed to judge. This is something which every Christian agrees about but they still judge one another anyway.
“How in the world can they do that?”
“I would never do anything like that.”
There is only one man, and it is not you or me, that lived His entire life and never sinned. His name was Jesus. Even though a person asks questions like this they know exactly how the person was able to do it because they have also sinned. That is exactly what they did – sin!
“Well yeah Brother Baker I have sinned but not with that kind of sin.”
How do you know? Some things that happen in the heart are more serious than sins committed with the flesh. Anytime that you get real mad about what someone did or did not do you are judging them. Whenever you get that worked up about something and get mad you are judging. If you are not then why do you get so worked up? It will take so many burdens off of you when you begin to have this live and let live attitude. I have learned to just look at situations and say, “I am glad that I don’t have to judge.” I am just thankful that I do not have to judge.
This holier than thou mentality that permeates the church is an attitude of superiority. You may have been delivered two weeks ago but this does not make you any better than someone who has yet to be delivered. When you come down hard on them is the same as saying that you do not have any area from which you need to be delivered from. In fact you can reach a point where you are free from everything that contaminates a person but only by God’s power. Condemnation and hiding will not get you there though. If you see someone smoking who loves the Lord then just say, “Smoke on brother,” and pray for them. Jesus did not have a problem with this and if He didn’t then you do not need to.
Turn with to me to First John chapter two…
1 John 2:6 “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”
It does not say that everyone will walk as Jesus did. It does say though that everyone should walk as Jesus did. We should walk, and it is possible by the power of the Spirit, as Jesus did. He walked as a man with no unfair advantage over you and me. In Philippians tells us that Jesus emptied Himself and walked as we do. He did not walk in this life with some special power. Jesus came as a man and walked as a man led by the Spirit so that He could be our example. You can not only walk like Jesus, but here in First John we are commanded to walk as Jesus walked.
Can we walk like Jesus?
Can we talk like Jesus?
Can we live like Jesus?
The fact that we can do this sounds strange to people. They will ask who we think we are to compare ourselves to Jesus but He became like us so that we can. He showed us through His life how to live and succeed. Adam on the other hand showed us how to fail and die. The question is whose example you would rather follow.
The enemy tried to separate Jesus from God through the desires of His flesh but He was not successful. Jesus was consecrated to God and the Bible tells us that He came out of His temptation with the power of the Spirit. He was able to overcome the enemy as a man by speaking the Word of God. This is the example that has been set for us. We too can overcome all of the temptation of the enemy by speaking the Word of God in response to the temptations of life.
We have talked about what holiness is not and now I would like to give you a definition of holiness in this series of lessons. You will not find this in a denominational rule book or statement of beliefs. Jesus walked holy, pure, clean, and separate from sin. This had a lot to do with the fact that He was able to walk in the power of the Spirit. On the other hand Adam and Eve stopped ruling and reigning when they stopped walking in separation. In the same way sin will undermine everything that you are trying to do for God in your life.
The price for our freedom has been already been paid. We need to walk in the Spirit so that we will be able to tell people that they too can be free. You have yielded to your flesh as they do but God always picks you up. There is victory over sin that can be found in Jesus and instead of judging others we need to help them step over into victory.
We have seen what holiness is not and now we are going to see what it is. In fact we have already begun to talk about it. It is being like Christ and we can do this through the power of the Spirit.
Our last scripture will be found in John chapter 8…
John 8:28 “So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
Look at what Jesus said about the words He spoke. He was saying that everything that He had spoken and preached were only those things that God had taught Him. The question is whether or not we too can hear from the Father and be taught in the same manner as Christ was. Look at the next verse and notice Jesus’ confession…
John 8:29 “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
Even if this is not your experience in life begin to confess that you always do what pleases God in faith. You will never reach this point if you do not strive for it. I don’t care if you blow it in the same area nine hundred times, you need to make this your confession. Keep seeking Him in the Word and allow the Word to separate you. Paul told us that we are washed by the Water of the Word. This is a process that takes time but one that we can walk through.
Your mind will scream and fuss but just remind it that you have repented and are clean and always do those things that please God. You words are working death in you and cutting you off from revelation but if you will begin to talk faith they will begin to release life into your life. God is in you and today is a new day. You need to talk strength and faith.
Take this phrase, “I always do what pleases God,” and put it in your mouth. Make it your constant confession and you will begin to move in this direction. You need to make Jesus the example of your life and put His Words in your mouth. This is what will enable you to rise above the bondages of the flesh. Faith works the same in every area of your life and always begins with our confession.