I don't know if anyone here has made resolutions for the New Year. I don't usually make resolutions for the New Year. I was wondering, why do people make resolutions knowing that they probably won't achieve them? Perhaps it's because they long for some type of a change in their life, so they set goals and they have certain desires. But as I was thinking about that, it made me think, what does God desire for His children? Not at the start of a new year, but what does God desire for His children from the very moment of their adoption? And you become a child of God, through faith in Jesus Christ. You become an adopted son of Jesus Christ. That really is the subject of my message this morning. It will take aim at the heart, more than the mind. At the will, more than the intellect. What is God's desire for His children? If you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, you are a child of God. I mentioned it comes by way of faith in Christ. As Christian parents, we have desires and goals for our children, and the same is true of God. He desires many things for us, all of which are good. You can rest assured of that. That God's will for you, as difficult as it is, is always good. It's always perfect. I want to focus on just one desire of God in particular this morning. The one desire of God that encompasses all of what He wills for those who belong to Him. We read it in the passage of scripture in 1 Thessalonians 4. For this is the will or the desire of God, even your sanctification. The desire is found in that passage that we put in the bulletin this morning, Romans 8.29. For whom He did foreknow, He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. God set His love upon us by the sacrifice of His Son. That's what we will remember here this morning at the Lord's table. But God has far more in store for His children than the forgiveness of sin, as wonderful as that is. His desire is that we be like His Son. His desire is that we be like Jesus. And that's what the process of sanctification entails. You know, we're saved in a moment. Justification is an event in time. A singular moment. But sanctification is a process that goes on throughout all of our life. Here's my definition as I was thinking about this. Sanctification means the impartation of the holy character of Jesus Christ in the life of the Christian through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That's what it means. The impartation of the holy character or the qualities of Jesus Christ in the life of the believer through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Holiness is not a special state to which only some Christians attain. It's the will of God that all of his children will be made holy. Perfectly holy. Perfectly conformed to the image of His Son. And that's a promise that will be fulfilled in the future state. Look with me at a couple Bible verses this morning. We're not going to explain these verses. I would ask you that you would just listen and look closely. Ephesians 5, 25-27. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." Turn to Colossians 1.21. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet hath he now reconciled." That's salvation. "...in the body of his flesh through death." That's the sacrifice of Christ. "...to present you." This is the goal. "...holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and the 12th verse. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men even as we do toward you. To the end, there's the goal again stated clearly, to the end that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the saints. And there's a passage, an exciting passage of scripture in Philippians chapter 3, verse 21. We eagerly await for a Savior. I hope you're eagerly awaiting the return of the Lord. We eagerly await for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has, even to subject all things to Himself. We will not only be spiritually transformed, as John says, We will be like Him. We will see Him and we will be like Him. But even our body, our material body will be, the Bible says, conformed to the body of His glory. What a moment awaits us in the future when that's accomplished. But I would submit to you that in the here and now, we are not free from the command to live holy lives. That is God's desire for His children. In Ephesians 1 verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has chosen us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Now, again, that will be accomplished at the future state, but it's also a present command in other portions of Scripture. Look with me at 1 Peter 1 and verse 14. 1 Peter 1.14. As obedient children, well, we should read verse 13. Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. as obedient children, not fashioning, which would mean conforming yourself, according to the former lusts in your ignorance, that's your former way of life, but as He who has called you is holy, be ye holy in all manner of life. So we have the expectation of the future there. We're going to see the revelation of Jesus Christ and the grace that will be brought to us. But he says, even as we anticipate that, we're to live in obedience. We're to not conform ourself to the way we were or go back to the way we were. But we're to be holy because he is holy. Look in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10. Second Peter 3.10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with the great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, the whole the whole world, as we know it, the whole world system. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation, which means manner of life and godliness. Romans 12.1, I know many of you have memorized this verse. I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. The Old Testament sacrifices were holy. And he says, I want you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly. acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Translation of that last phrase, literally, your reasonable act of worship. It's the word that we get our word liturgy from, which is an order of service, worship service. So he's saying, I want you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. That is your reasonable act of worship. So in short, the short time remaining, I'd like to focus on two aspects of holiness. Holiness, it's not a very popular word today. Really even it's kind of scary to some Christians to think about holiness. Holiness means to be separate from, distinct or unique. That's the essential meaning of holiness. It comes from an ancient word that meant to cut or to separate one thing from another. You ever hear the expression, well that's a cut above everything else. Which means it's different, it's distinct, it's unique, it's a cut above everything else. That's really the meaning of the word holy. The Hebrew word is Kadosh. And it's the opposite of something common or ordinary. Something holy is something that has been set apart from other things. Let me give you a biblical example found in the commandments in Exodus 20. Remember the Sabbath day. To keep it what? Holy. Set apart. Sabbath means seventh day. It's the day of rest. Six days God said you will labor to the Israelites and do all of your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. In it, you shall do no work." In other words, God said to the Israelites, six days are your ordinary days for work. In the seventh, the seventh day is holy. It's set apart from all those six days, and on that day, you will do no work. What you ordinarily do. And that's an idea, a picture of the word holy. Separation. Uniqueness. God is holy. Just think about that. God is holy. In Isaiah 5.24, He's described as the Holy One of Israel. He is completely set apart from all other created things. He brought all created things into existence. He sustains their existence. He is dependent on no one and nothing. Everything and everyone is dependent upon Him. By Him all things consist, Paul says in Colossians, and that literally means held together. Everything. The whole universe is held together by the power of God. The chair you're sitting on, This whole atomic structure is held together by the power of God. One day, He's just going to break it all apart. It's going to all dissolve. In Him, we live and move and have our being. Every breath we breathe, we breathe by the grace of God. Exodus 15.11, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? That's a statement about the distinctness, the uniqueness of God. There's none like Him. Who is like thee? Glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Glorious in holiness. That's why Moses, who desired to just catch a glimpse of the glory of God, didn't know what he was asking for. No man can see the glory of God and live. He's too holy. His holiness would consume us in this state. John Piper says, if we ask His holiness is unique in what or incomparable in what, the answer would be in moral perfection. His goodness is holy goodness because it is absolutely unique and incomparable in divine moral perfection. His grace is holy grace because it is absolutely unique and incomparable in divine moral perfection. His wisdom is holy wisdom because it is absolutely unique and incomparable in divine moral perfection. That means there is not a hint of evil intent or wickedness in the will of God, in the wisdom of God. Listen, everyone here this morning has at one time or another questioned the will of God. His will is infinitely holy. At times I've questioned the wisdom of God. Why? What are you doing? His wisdom is infinitely holy. That means it's morally perfection. Perfect. It always accomplishes what He desires it to accomplish. We, we who know nothing about the holiness of God, are in no position to question. Rest assured, we may not see it this side of heaven, but it's perfect because He is infinitely holy and perfect. His love is not like human love. Our love is always tainted with something, with some degree of selfishness, with some degree of expectation in return, but His love is a holy love. It's absolutely unique and incomparable in divine moral perfection. He loves as none other can love. God called Israel to be a holy nation. They were separated from all the nations on the face of the earth. And God's purpose in doing that was to make them a channel of blessing to the whole world. Many of the places In Israel's history, we're holy. When Moses came up to the holy mount, God says, take your shoes off, because the place where you're standing is holy ground. You're in my presence. And even the very dirt of the ground that your feet will rest upon has been set apart. It is holy. The tabernacle in the wilderness, the tent of His dwelling was holy. The temple was holy. The Shekinah glory of God came down and filled the temple with His glory. The Ark of the Covenant was holy and you dare not touch it lest you die. If you go into the holy of holies to minister, you better be the one God appointed to go in there to minister. You better do everything that God told you to do, exactly as He told you to do it. So they would tie a rope with bells around the ankle of the high priest, and he would go into the holy of holies to minister before the Lord. And as long as those bells were tingling, They knew that he was still ministering. But if he died, they dare not go in there to take his body out. They'd have to pull him out. Because if they went in, they would die. They would be struck dead by the glory of God, by the holiness of God. The Ark of the Covenant was holy. God's law was holy. The garments of the high priest were holy. All these things were separated. from ordinary use. Jesus was holy. That means He was completely set apart from sin. He was the only begotten Son of God, is the terminology, and it means the unique Son of God, the only one of His kind. The only one completely set apart from sin. Remember when Gabriel came to Mary and she was pondering the great mystery of how she, who knew no man, would be the mother of the Messiah? And the angel said to her, the power of the highest will overshadow you. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. And the one who will be born to you, that holy offspring, holy offspring, will be the Son of God. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things saith he that is holy. He that is true. The church is holy. And I'm not speaking of a particular denomination. I'm not speaking about this building. But about the body of Christ composed of all genuine believers. We have been called to be distinct or separate from the world of the unsaved around us. The world of the unsaved around us is pictured as darkness and death. The believer is pictured as light and life. We're a source of light. We're a source of light. We're to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify God. In his intercessory prayer in John, chapter 17, Jesus, speaking of his disciples, said this, and it's true of all of us. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Why is it we look around and we see a very worldly church? Very worldly Christians. Jesus says they're not of the world. We're not of the world. He's called us out of the world. He's made us distinct. He's separated us. Why go back? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Or as God says, I will dwell in you and walk in. I will dwell in them and walk in them. Wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. First John 2 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Second Corinthians 7 1. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves. from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. J.C. Ryle is a great devotional writer. He said this, a holy man, you could say a holy woman. The Bible calls Christians holy brethren. Holy men, will endeavor to shun every known sin and to keep every known commandment. He will have a decided bent of mind toward God, a hearty desire to do his will, a greater fear of displeasing him than of displeasing the world, and a love to all his ways. He will feel what Paul felt when he said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. And what David said, In Psalm 119 verse 128, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. And I hate every false way. I mean, can I say that about myself? Can you say that about you? That you delight in the law of God in the inward man? In doing the will of God? Do we esteem his precepts concerning all things? To be right? Do we hate every false way? Every evil thing? C.H. Macintosh was another godly Christian. He wrote, our citizenship is in heaven. We are only pilgrims and strangers in this world. Now listen up, here's what he said. The cross of our Lord has broken every link between us and this world. The resurrection has introduced us into a new world altogether. In the death of Christ, we cleared the shores of the old world. In his resurrection, we have landed on the shores of the new. You are dead, Paul said. You are dead. And your life is hid with Christ in God. Therefore, set your affection on things above, not on the things of earth. Colossians 3. And then he says, O to know the formative, sanctifying power of that line of truth, that you are dead. What did Paul say in Galatians 2.20? Anyone know it? Galatians 2.20? I am what? Crucified with Christ. Therefore I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The cross of the Lord has broken every link between us and this world. That's really what, when we think about the picture in Romans chapter 6, of dying with Christ and rising in newness of life. I believe that holiness in all manner of life is the greatest need of the church in our day, as wicked men get worse and worse, and we await the return of our Lord. We're told in John, if we have that hope in us, then we will live godly lives, holy lives. I would say to the elders, to their wives, to the deacons, to their wives, to the young people, to everyone else who is here this morning, your greatest need this morning, your greatest need is holiness. Not something we really think about. The lack of holiness among God's people is the result of a diminished view of sin. This is why today, even in Christian circles, we have a therapeutic approach to sin. We don't have a confessional approach to sin. We have a diminished view of sin because, as David Wells wrote, God's holiness weighs lightly upon us. It weighs lightly upon us. It hardly affects us or impacts us at all. See, even today, the church has a pop culture view of God. It's noticeable in its songs. Jesus is their buddy. God is their pal. God understands. God is tolerant of all things. God excuses a multitude of things because He knows how weak we are. It's reflected in our songs. We have a pop culture view of God. That's our vision of God today. We don't have the vision that Isaiah had in Isaiah 6 when he saw the seraphim and the angels of God and the glory of God filling the temple and that angelic host singing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The heaven and earth are filled with his glory. He had a vision, not of a pop culture God, but of a thrice holy God. Not holy, but holy, holy, holy. And immediately when he caught that vision of God, he said, I am finished. I am done. My lips are unclean. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And he caught it. He got the message. He saw the vision. And God touched his tongue with a burning fire and purified his tongue. And then said, Go for me. The first aspect of holiness is to be separate from. The second is to be set apart unto. Separate from sin. Set apart unto God. Colson said, the worthiest, most complete separation from anything or everything says nothing in and of itself about our separation to God. He says, in fact, separation from things, sin, pleasures, movies, drinking, you name it. Separation from things, he says, in its worst form, he says, or in its best form, is at best healthy self-discipline. Right? I mean, you could separate from things for a lot of reasons that are just very selfish. Right? I mean, I'm a drink. Because I've seen what alcohol has done in my family. So I could say, I'm not going to drink, because I don't want bad things to come. I don't want to do drugs, because it wrecks my body, and it wrecks my mind, and it destroys so many things, or whatever it might be. He says, at its best, it's just a form of self-discipline. At its worst, it's self-delusional. It's deadening. It's legalistic. It's hypocritical and has been responsible for more children raised in Christian families, rebelling and leaving the faith than any other single cause. And, you know, I've witnessed that. I've witnessed that, I can give you many examples of that. Holiness is more than separation from evil things and sinful pleasures and all of those things. Holiness means to draw near to God. In an intimate dependent personal relationship. We must learn the great truth that Jesus expressed in John chapter 15 in verse 4. It's the simplest theology that I know. Abide in me. Abide in me and I in you. Draw near to me and I will draw near to you. Can anything be any simpler than that? As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abides in the vine, no more can you, except you, abide in me. We must follow the example, I believe, of Mary. You know Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus. You know Mary. I like the word. One translation has, she was busy. One has, she was encumbered. Don't you like that word? Do you ever feel that way? I'll be honest with you. Do you ever feel that you are encumbered with many things? And you just like to just go off somewhere to a desert island. I mean, I feel that way sometimes. You're busy with so many things. Your life is encumbered. We are the Martha of the story. We are. You know what Jesus said, and you have to love it. When he saw Mary, oh, he said to Martha, you're so busy. Yeah, Martha, you just want everything just right. Mary, she's chosen the good thing. She was at the feet of Jesus. That's where she wanted to be. That's where we need to be. And through fellowship with Him, listen up, through abiding with Him, we will draw spiritual nourishment. You can't escape the world, you can't escape the cares of the world and the anxieties of the world, but you can find rest at His feet, in fellowship with Him. When you abide with Him, you catch a vision. of His passion. And you draw on the power of His resurrection to live for His glory. And let me say this to you this morning, if you've ever thought about what is the fundamental purpose of our existence? Stop and think about it. What is the fundamental purpose of your existence? What is the fundamental purpose of the church? We have a lot of purposes. Worship, missions, evangelism. The fundamental purpose for your existence and the fundamental purpose for the church is the glory of God. Everything we do, missions, evangelism, worship, is to have that as its ultimate goal. The glory of God. Whether you live or whether you die is not important. What's important is that in living or in dying, God receives the glory. You're going to live for eternity. Alright, so if your days are shortened, don't gripe, don't complain. We've got an eternity in front of us. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." Everything that exists, exists for God's delight and His pleasure and His glory. He allows us. He allows us to share in what He has done, in His creation. And we have pleasure and we take delight in it. We're even partakers of His glory. Let me close with this final thought, which echoes what I just said. To separate ourselves from the sinful world around us is imperative. You're not free to sin all you want, under the grace of God. But we must go much further than separating from We must separate from sin unto Christ himself. We must have personal dealings and communion with the risen Lord, because without that, everything else is of little value. I love the Apostle Paul. I've said it to you so many times. Apart from the Lord Jesus, I don't know of anyone who gave himself from the moment of his salvation completely to Jesus Christ. Totally. Who was willing to bear in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was willing to live entirely for Christ and die for Christ. I don't know of anyone. You know what his heartbeat was? He caught a vision of heaven. Caught up into the third heavens. Spent time in the desert. And yet, you know what his heartbeat was? That I might know Him. Is that mine? Is that yours? That I might know Him. That doesn't happen by chance. We must have personal dealings with Him, communion with Him, time with Him. Do you know what you would have if Christians everywhere would separate from sin unto Christ? You would have revival. You would have the greatest movement of God in the history of the Christian Church. Father, we thank you this morning for your word. Lord, we haven't made it complicated in any way. You've made us distinct, separate, We belong to you. We are your possession. We are your peculiar treasure. We're not to live like the world. We know that. Lord, we would pray that we would understand our calling and that we would draw near to you. And that Lord, through that drawing near to you, the power of Christ to live a godly life will rest upon us. It's not something that we can work up ourselves, or ever accomplish. Lord, may we learn, in the busyness of life, to abide with you. In Jesus' name, Amen.