Are You Living a Life of Holiness?

Second Peter 3:11 and 12:

“Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ‘ought’ you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?”

We'll stop there.

Peter asks a very sensible question. And he asks the right question. The question is not first and foremost, what shall we do, but what kind of persons ought we to be? What we are is more important than what we do.

And he gives a very simple outline answer, which contains three elements. He says, first of all, in all holy conduct and godliness. Secondly, he says, looking for, and thirdly, hastening the coming of the day of God.

So there are three things that he speaks about: holy conduct and godliness, looking for the coming of the day of God, and hastening the coming of the day of God. That should be our basic response: holiness, looking for the coming of the day of God, and hastening the coming of the day of God.

And I will deal briefly with those. First of all, with regard to holiness, I’ll just turn to one scripture, which is Second Corinthians chapter 6, beginning at verse 17, and continuing on into chapter 7 verse 1. And you need to bear in mind, the chapter divisions were not in the original text. They were put in many, many centuries later by translators, and sometimes they obscure the sense.

So we're going to start now with Second Corinthians 6:17. And most of it is a quotation from the Old Testament.

“Therefore, ‘come out from among them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ ‘And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

So God makes a promise to be a father to all of us who fulfill His conditions. But bear in mind, there are conditions stated. And the first one is, “‘Come out from among them,’” that's the unbelievers, not the other Christians, but the unbelievers. “‘And be separate,’” be set apart to God. “‘Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’”

Now, there are many different ways we can touch what is unclean. But one very common way, which is a problem for nearly all of us, is by our mental attitudes and the things we entertain in our minds. And also the things we look at.

Particularly, I would have to say, by my standards, a lot of television programs are unclean. And if we deliberately expose ourselves to them, we are touching what is unclean. If we can't help it, that's another matter. I don't say, by no means, that we never go to movies, but very seldom can Ruth and I go to movies because they're unclean.

There was a movie some years back which was really excellent. It was called Frisco Kid. I don't suppose most of you will remember it. Some of you do? Yeah. All right. Well, it was really hilarious. I mean, it was so good, and it was based on the life of a young Jewish man who was due to become a rabbi and had to go to Los Angeles from Poland. I mean, it was so exact to the thinking of Jewish people. The story was excellent, and the acting was outstanding. But in the middle of it, for no necessary reason at all, there was some absolutely filthy language. It had nothing to do with the plot.

And Ruth and I said, “Well, I'd like to see that again.” And incidentally, we saw it in Florida, and I think 80% of the congregation, or the audience, not congregation, but it was like a congregation in a way, was, was at least 80% was Jewish, ‘cause we live in a thickly populated area by Jewish people. But eventually, we said to one another, “I don't feel free to expose the Holy Spirit in me to the kind of language that comes from that movie.”

That's a personal decision. But it's an example of what can mean, be meant by touching what is unclean. You don't have to. Do not expose yourself to things that will defile you.