Let's turn our Bible to 2 Timothy chapter one, 2 Timothy and the chapter one. Let's go and read some verses here from the verse number eight of 2 Timothy chapter one. Paul speaking to Timothy of course here, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord And nor of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which has given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." We're on to, I'm appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Again, this is God's word and we trust that a blessing to our hearts today. We're in the middle of a section of our studies on the attributes of God, considering the holiness of our God. And again, I did mention, I'm not gonna take more time on this now, that theologically this is often looked at from two perspectives. On the one hand, God's holiness refers to his supreme majesty, his supreme separateness from all that is created. He is glorious and splendor. It's also true, though, that holiness refers to God's sinless morality. He is impeccable. Again, a God without sin, divine purity. And so sometimes the words, the language used regarding holiness are words that would speak to purity. Again, the absence of any defilement, the absence of any sin in the being and the character of our God. And so we began to consider how this is revealed in the word of God. And we see it in various ways. We saw it certainly in terms of the person of Christ Jesus. The holiness of God is seen as the Son of God comes into the world. And again, we're not going through the details here. God's holiness is revealed in Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Then last time before the Lord's table, last Lord's day, We saw how the holiness of God revealed further in terms of creation. All that God made was very good in terms of the angels. And then in terms of scripture and the scriptures in different ways generally. The pure words of God, the law of God being holy and righteous and good. And again the gospel being the holy commandment. But I want to go back to And the third area in which the holiness of God is further revealed, and that is in the area of salvation applied. Again, sometimes we think about salvation or redemption in those terms. Planned before the foundation of the world, promised in the covenants of promise, then accomplished in Christ, and then applied to the sinner. And so if God is the one who applies redemption, applies salvation, then as a holy God, we should expect to see features of holiness in connection with the application of salvation. Salvation applied. It's not your work. It's not my work. It's God's work. And if it's God's work, then it's a holy work. And there are features in salvation applied that points to God's personal, his own holiness, and his commitment to holiness. So those two things keep in mind. On the one hand, God acts in a holy fashion and thus reveals himself as he acts holily. But also his purpose is to pursue holiness, to see holiness wrought in those he redeems. So let's think of those things together really under three separate categories and we'll see how far we get today. We'll take one at a time. To begin with, we see, if you like, the holiness of God revealed in the area of calling. We're going to be on the realm of calling itself. But the text, of course, is here in verse number 9 of 2 Timothy chapter 1, where it says, You saved us and called us with an holy calling. Holy calling. The word calling that's used by Paul refers to the internal workings of the Spirit of God upon the heart of the sinner. So you will know that sometimes in the Bible, the calling, the word calling is used in different ways. There's an external call. The call of the gospel, come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden. There's that external call of the gospel that goes indiscriminately to all who are under the hearing of the word of God. There's that external calling. But then there is that internal calling. Now those who are predestined are also called and thus are justified. It's this internal call that we're looking at here. We talk about the effectual call, or the irresistible call. It's the work of God that changes the heart of the sinner. Their eyes are opened to understand the gospel. Their wills are moved that they gladly choose Christ. Their hearts are warmed. They come to love Christ Jesus. All of these things worked in in the calling by which God saves sinners. Now, when you have the adjective holy attached to it here, well, what might that mean? In what sense is it a holy calling? I'll let you warm your minds up with this question at this time. In what ways may the calling be a holy calling? Any thoughts on how you might describe it? You read this in your Bible, it says a holy calling. Yep, Daniel, go ahead. Okay. So, so there you're making the points, calling us out of sin. So if I put it this way, it's a calling unto holiness. So the end or the aim of the calling is onto the life of holiness. And so we'll come back. That's one aspect. Yep. There's another aspect as well. I ask, is it a holy calling? The word calling has got three separate adjectives used in the Scripture. Sometimes it's a holy calling, it's a heavenly calling, it's a high calling. Let's take the heavenly calling. What might be true of the heavenly calling? Yes, so it's a revelation of the purpose and the grace of God and the character of God. So, if a calling is heavenly, well, in a sense, it originates in heaven. You see that? You know, we are those who are born again. And the language there that's used in the Greek has this idea of being born from above. And so a heavenly calling has its origin again in heaven itself. It's God's work. It's emphasizing again the sovereignty of God. Look at the text. He has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, as Shannon says. So it's a heavenly calling from heaven, but yet also unto heaven, where we become citizens of a heavenly realm. We are seated with Christ in heaven, in that sense. So heavenly calling from heaven unto heaven, a holy calling from holiness. unto holiness. The first aspect referring of course to the character of God. It is genuinely a holy calling in that it is a work of God's. It's a work of course by the Spirit of God referred to as the Holy Spirit. And so what you're seeing here is, what does God do in respect to human sinfulness? Well, those he has determined to save, he works upon their hearts with a holy calling. It's all of God. It's all of grace. It's not of man. And therefore the word holy is used almost synonymously with God. It's God's calling. But the God who calls us is a holy God. And therefore, because he's a holy God, then the end of that, as Daniel says, is a calling away from sin. Not into sin, but a way out of sin. Again, it comes back to something we often deal with, this idea that was prevalent perhaps in the 80s and 90s of the last century. Hard to believe we lived in those days, didn't we? If that was the last century, And some of the language there was that you could be saved, forgiven of your sins, and yet still live in your sins and still be okay. Denying the very essence of the work of God and the life of the sinner, which is a holy calling. And so you can turn across to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. You have the verse number 20 and following, but you have not so learned Christ. If so be that you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Christ, that you put off concerning the former conversation of the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. This is a call in Ephesians 4 that is akin to the language of Romans chapter 6. Romans 6, you've been set free from sin. Here in Ephesians 4, there's the old man and the new man. The new man has been created in our effectual calling. It's been created after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness. Does that mean that every single person born again is now absolutely righteous and absolutely holy? No. No, it doesn't mean that. So Pence, he says in verse 25, wherefore put away lying? If you're not righteous and holy, and then you're told to put away lying, well, what's the sense of that? Well, that is because in your holy calling, you're a different person. You've been set apart by God's grace, sins powered and broken in your life. You now have this new nature and the new nature essentially is righteous and holy. And therefore the call is that you be who you are. That you live like the new man, not the old man. It's not so much as scribing, again, with two nectars. With a new nectar, a redeemed nectar, but it's a holy nectar. And we're to live that out in our lives. Again, that sometimes confuses people. I understand that. I remember discussing, we were working through Romans 6, 7, and 8, and trying to work through those details in our series on Romans. And again, the question is, well, how does 6 and 7 work together? If sin doesn't dominion over us, well, how can we still wrestle with sin in chapter 7? Am I a chapter 7 Christian or a chapter 6 Christian? The answer is yes, you're both. Sin does not have power over you. It doesn't reign over you, but it does remain. until, as we'll come to see later on, the spirits of just men made perfect. So there is this issue. Yeah, George, go ahead. Yeah, that's a great, we're gonna see that in a minute or two as well, that aspect of the purpose of the calling. Yeah, absolutely, man. Yeah, Jim. Yeah, we're in Ephesians. I'm going to turn here tonight, but to turn back to chapter one of Ephesians. We're going to come to this tonight. That's a really, so just making the point that this holy calling is absolutely necessary. And so chapter one of Ephesians verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ is blessed with all spiritual blessings and heavenly place in Christ. According to the chosen us and him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy. Okay, so the purpose of our election is unto holiness. That, in the final sense, is our glorified state and resurrected bodies. That's the ultimate aim, that we're conformed to Christ's likeness. And so if our election is by a holy God unto holiness, then the calling itself must, if you like, impart within us a holy nature. And so it's necessary in that sense, it's got to be characteristically holy. And again, so you come back to this idea that it is so unthinkable to have this idea that we can be saved from the penalty of our sin without there being a radical change in our character. We are new creations, new creatures in Christ Jesus. And so this really is a very, very important principle regarding the very nature of the gospel in our modern age. This is kind of cultural in some circles. You know, you can profess to know the Lord and love the Lord, and yet not know this change, this radical change in your heart. And so I think, yeah, I imagine it's a necessary aspect of connecting, again, the purpose of God in election all the way through to glorification. And so in the middle of that, there has to be this change, this holy calling. And that's again, Romans 8, isn't it? He knows to be predestined, he also called. and then justified and glorified. So it's holy in that aspect, and it's calling unto this holy life. And again, just a passing comment of encouragement. Again, sometimes the struggle with remaining sin in our hearts is very, very intense, and we feel that there is no victory and no power. But for the child of God, they need to be encouraged. They have a new nature. Sin does not need to reign over them. Wrecking yourself dead to sin and alive unto righteousness. And so going back to the nature of the gospel is very, very important in empowering people in terms of their holy living. And so they're called to it. And so when you see this calling, therefore it's not surprising then to see the writers in the New Testament then applying that in a very particular way. So you'll remember Romans chapter 12, And the word is used there as well, isn't it? Romans chapter 12, verse number one. And so here's the essence of, again, what George is saying that the outcome of this holiness is a life of service, like the furniture is set apart by God in the Old Testament. And so we, as New Testament sacrifices, are set apart for God's use. And again, you remember the context, Romans 12 is really highlighting the service of God by the saints in the church. That we're set apart, sin's been broken, therefore we are made suitable for the master's use. God's not using unclean vessels. He uses those who are cleansed by Christ, like Isaiah, whose lips are touched with the coal from off the altar. He's holy, acceptable unto God, able to serve the Lord. Again, there's real dignity. The child of God is marked by dignity, not sinlessness. And none of the Roman believers were sinless. The essence here is holiness. Not sinless holiness, but essential holiness. We're changed, we're set apart by God, and therefore we have a right to serve God, and we're called to that holy service. Or take 1 Peter 2. See what Peter says. 1 Peter 2, in the verse number five. He also has lively stones. A different metaphor now. The metaphor here of the building of the church or lively living stones. Build up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And so the change in our hearts then is used to encourage us to live lives pleasing to God in the household of God, these spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable because of this holy calling. The holy calling radically changes the status and the service of the sinner. They're no longer barred from God's presence, but they're now acceptable in God's presence. They're no longer unclean and unsuitable for service. They're now clean, purified, made for the master's use. And so there is this call that comes, a call to holy living. So in this calling, we're just analyzing different aspects of this. It's of God. It's holy in essence. It's, again, the work of the Spirit of God. It's holy in outcome. And it sets in motion the work of God to promote, if you like, increasing holiness. So not so much the essence now, but the outworkings of it. So you think of the Corinthian church. And again, turn to 1 Corinthians 1. I often turn to this text when we're thinking about the issue of sanctification. Remember, the word groups here. So in the Greek, we have different English words translating the Greek concepts about holiness here. And we have holy and holiness. We also sanctify and sanctified. The same understanding, same word grouping. And so Paul writes the church in Corinth, verse number two, to them that are sanctified. There's that essential change. Well, we know the Corinthian church is marked by many, many flaws, but it's essentially sanctified, essentially set apart. And so they're sanctified. The same is true over in chapter six. after the listing of the various sins, whereby someone cannot inherit the kingdom of God, verse number 11, and such where some of you, but you're washed, but you're sanctified. But yet, as we've said, this holy calling that sets us apart unto God, We still have this issue of remaining sin. And so God's commitment to holiness that is seen in the act of calling is also seen in his ongoing work of confirmation. So conforming us, but it starts here. That's why I haven't made a separate heading here. Calling continues. The work of calling in our lives that sets apart unto God then continues in us. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and the verse number 10. This of course is dealing with the issue of chastisement from God. I'm just using this as an illustration. There are various things. We'll refer to his teaching to the Galatians as he labors for them that Christ be formed in them. That's unto holiness, isn't it? Christ is holy, therefore Christ being formed, they're being informed of holiness. But here, about chastisement, verse number 10, For they verily for a few days chastened us, that is our fathers, chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. The work of chastisement. deals with us in such a way that we are made more like unto the holiness of God, or our sins are burned up. I use that refining imagery deliberately because you have that, of course, in Job chapter 23. Job 23, let me just read, you know the verse, let me read it to you at this time. He knoweth the way that I take, when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. What are we looking at here? We're looking at the application of redemption. God comes by the Spirit of God and changes us. And if your experience of salvation doesn't include that, or your heart is inclined to holiness and not to sin, if your initial work of salvation doesn't include that, there's concerns to be raised. The initial work happens and that continues and we're conformed more and more to Christ's likeness. There's an ongoing work of this that includes the chastening purposes of God. And so you have here in verse, again, verse number 10 of Job 23. He knoweth the way that I take, that he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. It's language of the refiner's fire. The gold being put to extreme heats that the dross is burned up and all that remains is the gold. Hebrews chapter 12, that we might be made partakers of his holiness. So what are you seeing here? You're seeing that salvation from sin shows us God's commitment to holiness. He saves us in a fashion that is consistent with his nature. or salvation should reflect the character of God, and it does. Probably I should do it with you. Yeah, I wasn't sure if you were. Yeah, so you've got to look at those two terms separately. They overlap. So righteousness refers to a standard, a law. So someone is righteous in comparison with a certain law. So we know in the scriptures that's God's law. So God's law makes us unrighteous. We see our unrighteousness. Christ's righteousness covers that. That's righteousness in comparison to a standard in God's law. Holiness has more, in terms of the essence of the word, has to do with separateness, set-apartness. And so it's not so much describing what we are in comparison to a law, but in some ways what we are in comparison to God himself. Now you see tremendous overlaps there, but the two terms are used not interchangeably. They're different in the very basic meaning of the words. So when we think about our justification, we're declared righteous in that sense. And yet in our sanctification, we become more righteous. So think of what we're talking about. We're talking about law. So we're declared righteous. What's the standard? God's law. How are we righteous? Because of Christ's perfect righteousness, not within ourselves, but Christ. But yet in our sanctification, we become more righteous. We sin less. We do right more often. There's that increasing righteousness in our moral experience. When it comes to holiness, Well, the language of Corinthians here in sanctification, we are essentially set apart. It's almost like there's this mass of humanity, and God reaches in and plucks us out. We're part of a sinful, defiled community, and we're set apart and put here. And I'm going to come back to that in a minute or two. There's that set apartness. But as we're set apart, there's still the internal issues of sin. And so we become more and more like unto God, more and more separate from sin in our moral experience. So you see, they overlap, Joe. You can see why they're often looked at side by side in the scriptures, but yet there are differences in the terminology. And I think for a full picture of Christian life, we should try to see all of those things together, compared to God's law, but then also compared to God and purity and sinfulness and morality. Yeah, George. So for me, my experience is, I have a background. Hmm. Yeah, no, amen. And that's it. I think this is such a, we've, I've certainly preached this many times since I've been here over the years, these kinds of concepts of radical change and renewal in the work of the Spirit of God. And we're looking at holiness today and we're looking at the holy calling. And part of the, when it comes to our assurance, our only hope of heaven is Christ. So we can come back to this. How do I know I'm going to go to be with the Lord? It's not in my holiness, it's in what Christ has done for me. But yet, James 2, the entire book of 1 John, highlights the change in the individual's life that confirms what God has done in them. So holiness is used to supplement or assurance. George says, you look back and you say, I'm not what I was. I have new desires, new interests, new inclinations. God has certainly changed my soul." Now, you may not be able to look back and pinpoint that to a particular moment in the day. It happened in a moment. But our knowledge of what's happening in our lives can take some time to think through. John Edwards had talked about the confusion that occurs sometimes in and around a man's regeneration. Your head's all scrambled, your world's upside down, and sometimes it can take some time for you to figure out what happened. What just happened to me? And then some months later you go, ah! God saved me. My life has changed. And so you see that change, but this understanding of the work of God in our hearts is really, really fundamental. to understanding the nature of the gospel and the nature of assurance, the nature of sanctification, all of these things. This is such a fundamental truth that we're looking at today in this matter of holy calling. And again, so before the time is moving on, let me just get one more thing finished today and then we'll come back to this next Lord's day. I mentioned to you this idea of holiness being a set of partners. So what God does for the individual, in taking us out of sin, our own sin, but also sin in the general sense, and then transferring us into a new community. So because the holy calling is true for individuals, it is then also true for the collective. So the calling that an individual believer experiences is the same calling that all believers experience. And so therefore the church is described as being holy. A company of those who have experienced a holy calling. So you see that Ephesians chapter two, let me just show you a few of these and we'll finish. Ephesians two. Because here we need to realize This is what gives the church dignity. So if the individual believer has this dignity set apart by God, well then we've got to value the importance of the church. And I want to use this really as a lead-in to this morning's message on Romans 16. Ephesians chapter 2. It is describing not so much a local church, but the church universal. Jews and Gentiles are reconciled together. They once were a far off, but now they're brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Verse number 18, I accept my one spirit under the Father, no more strangers and foreigners, but you're built together into an holy temple and habitation of God. And so you get to the eternal states and you have the holy temple and the Lamb of God dwells in the midst thereof. It's a holy place in which Christ the Holy One can dwell. That's the nature of the church, but in that universal, eternal sense. But then turn across to 1 Corinthians 3. So if the church is essentially holy, then it should be experientially holy also. Here we're referring to A local body. 1 Corinthians 3, and the verse number 16, Sometimes this is looked at as an individual belief. This is not referring to the individual believer. This is referring to the corporate body of believers together. You are together as a company, the temple of God. You as a company are set apart. The Spirit of God dwells in you as a company. Verse number 17. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Referring to the church, the dignity and the purity of the local church. And Paul is again, he's instructing believers who've been sanctified and yet sin remains. But though sin remains, he doesn't remove the essential holiness of the Corinthian church. Though there are problems. And though there are all these issues with signs, and wonders, and the Lord's table, and dealing with sin in chapter 5, there's all manner of troubles in Corinth, and yet it's still the temple of God that is holy. Hence the exhortation in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Again to the same church and the verse number 14. So hath he that believeth in infidel, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come ye out from among them, be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. So there's this application of this, that a church is to be separate from sin, separate from ungodliness, to be a holy place as a temple of the living God. So all of this comes from calling. I know I probably should have more slides today than just one slide on this big issue, but anyway. You've got this issue, God saves us with a holy calling. That then leads to us being suitable to serve God. It leads to us living a life of increasing holiness. But it also, it brings us together into community. A community of the church that is essentially holy, though marked by sin. And though still marked by the presence of sin, sorry, not marked by sin, but the presence of sin remains. The church is holy and must be honored and respected and preserved for the grace and honor of God's name. So I think that's a good place to stop. We'll come back to another couple of areas. Yeah, excuse me. Experientially holy. Yeah. So often the times when you're trying to understand the purpose of God in the now, you think about the purpose of God in the then. and work backwards. It's a really helpful way to understand the nature of salvation. So what is God's purpose eternally? It is a redeemed community, living in glorified bodies with every kindred, tribe, and tongue met together, worshiping the Lord. That's the ultimate aim. And so part of that's described as being a, it's a holy gathering, a holy temple unto God, and God's going to dwell in the midst, and you see that in Revelation. So that's, our duty now is to reflect that. imperfectly, in the same sense that we're to reflect what we should be individually, so we should reflect what we should be in a community. So we seek to deal with sin, to put sin away. We seek to be separate from sin. We don't allow, again, these things to live and abide in our church by the grace of our God. We're seeking to deal with these things. That's part and parcel of what it is to be a church. And so we're aiming towards that future aim of holiness in Christ Jesus. Amen. I use those terms essentially and then experientially. And in our experience as a church, we're aiming towards holiness. Okay. All right, let's pray and let's ask for God's help. as we continue these studies and then come to worship his name now in a few moments time. Eternal God and Father, we thank you again for the teaching we have in the scriptures. We thank you, God, that you save us in a manner consistent with your character. And the word of holy God, and we praise your name, oh Lord, that we see that worked in our own lives. And yet we do, we be more in the presence of remaining sin. And yet we're thankful that we're not what we once were. Thank you, dear Father, for the work of new creation, according to righteousness and true holiness. So grant us grace and help, we pray. Enable us to love you more and more, and to worship your great and holy name today. May our worship be pleasing in thy sight today. Give us grace to that end. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.