CG recap/summary

Pursuit of Holiness - Foundations for Holy Living

Opening question:
What's sin?
- big sin vs little sin

- sin is rebellion against God: ignoring Him, disobeying His commands

1. What is holiness?
- to be without sin

- God is without sin - He is Holy. Lev 11:45

- God in turn commands us to be holy Heb 12:14 "without holiness no one will see the Lord"

- But we know we are not holy- because we all sin. Rom 3:10-12

- Something must be done about the problem of sin before we can be holy.

2. What has Jesus done for us?
- Acts 20:21 - if we repent of our sins and have faith in Jesus; our sins are forgiven and our relationship with God is restored, through his death on the Cross

- 2 Cor 5:21 - we are accepted by God because of Christ's righteousness on our behalf

3. What does it mean to repent?
- Involves two things: one - To turn away from our sin and our former way of life. Two - to start living God's way as chosen and saved people of God.

- Rom 6:6-7 - we have died to sin, Eph 1:4 - purpose of salvation is to be holy and blameless

- Titus 2:11-12 - the same grace by which we have been saved also teaches us to be holy and godly.

- 1 John 1:5-7 - we cannot have a relationship with God if we continue to sin, but as we live holy lives, we experience true Christian fellowship and understand the need for Christ's redeeming death in providing forgiveness.

4. Jesus as Saviour AND Lord:
- Matthew 7:21-23 - only those who do God's will ie are obedient ie are HOLY are true Christians. On the last day- will Jesus recognise you?

- Just because you do things that make you look like a Christian eg prophesy, drive out demons, perform miracles = go to church, do quiet times, pray - doesn't mean you are saved. True faith brings with it a desire to be holy, a desire to be obedient to God, all out of overflowing thankfulness for God's mercy and love through Jesus' death on the Cross.

- Jesus is also our example of how to be holy: "I always do what pleases Him" (Jn 8:29) Can we honestly say that? That everything we do is to please God?

5. Work hard at your holiness:
- Gal 5:17 - Though we have died to sin ie been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light; we still struggle with our sinful natures.

- Gal 5:16 - what does it mean to live by the Spirit? It means to live in both obedience TO and dependence ON the Holy Spirit.

- How to depend on the Spirit: one - read your Bibles daily to allow the HS to convict us of our sin. Two - pray daily for help from HS to live in holiness.

- We have to be committed and serious about getting rid of sin in our lives.

Read Col 3:1-17 for next time =)