Christian Living Lesson 2

2 Corinthians 6:17

17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.”

I. THE SANCTUARY OF GOD

A. More than a hundred times in the Old Testament, the temple of God is referred to as a sanctuary.

• Exodus 25:8 “8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”

1. The word, “sanctuary” means a consecrated or “set apart” place, reserved for an exclusive, limited purpose. It denotes separation and disconnection from common things or ordinary places.

2. For example, in an animal sanctuary, the creatures inside the sanctuary have been separated from the outside world and separated for a special purpose inside the reserve.

B. As Spirit-filled Christians, our bodies are now the temple of God, the sanctuary of God. This designates us as consecrated and dedicated treasures of God, called into a holy life of separation.

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II. THE TWO SIDES OF SEPARATION

A. The New Testament confirms that Christians are to be a people who are “separated from the world” and “separated unto God.”

• 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 “14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

B. Throughout history, God’s people have always been a separated people – separated from the world and separated unto God.

• Leviticus 20:26 “26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.”

C. As fleshly beings, we must live in this world, but we must be completely separated and removed from its attitudes – we must be severed from its philosophies and lifestyles. We are “in” the world, but we are not “of” the world.

• John 15:19 “19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

• James 4:4 “4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

• 1 John 2:15 “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

D. The Biblical principle of “separation” is not isolation from the world, but rather insulation against the world.

• John 17:15 “15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”

• James 1:27 “27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

E. The world constantly attempts to mold us into its image. There are pressures every day, both subtle and deliberate, to influence us to be like the world around us.

• Romans 12:2 “2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Conformed – Greek: suschematizo, meaning to fashion alike, to follow the same pattern (figurative), to fashion oneself according to something.

Transformed – Greek: metamorphoo, meaning to transform (literal or figurative “metamorphose”), to change, to transfigure, to make over.

1. We must decide whether we are going to be “conformed” or “transformed.”

a. Conformed to the world; fashioned like our culture around us, following the same patterns as the societies of our sinful world.

b. Transformed to the image of God; metamorphosed and transfigured to be like Jesus Christ, to be made over again in His image.

F. The New Testament declares that we must separate ourselves from the ungodly thinking and actions of this world if we are to fulfill the will of God.

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III. SERVANTS

A. All human beings live in servitude to one master or another. Whether we like it or not, we are all servants – either servants of sin unto death, or servants of obedience unto righteousness.

• Joshua 24:15 “15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.””

• Romans 6:16–20 “16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”

1. Being servants of God means devoting ourselves to doing what He asks of us:

a. taking up our cross (Matthew 16:24)

b. separating ourselves from a sinful world (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1)

c. bearing the burden and yoke of the Lord (Matthew 11:29)

d. presenting our bodies as living sacrifices unto God (Romans 12:1)

2. Being a submitted and obedient servant of God is the highest calling a man or woman can ever receive.

B. Some have mistakenly assumed that being “free in Christ” means that we have no obligations, no responsibilities, no boundaries, no restrictions, no regulations or need for self control.

1. Some have even gone so far as to label any restrictions of any kind as “bondage.”

2. It is crucial that we understand that whenever the New Testament refers to bondage it refers either to the ceremonial law of Moses, the bondage of sin, the bondage of unrighteousness and corruption, or the bondage of the spirit of fear – it never refers to obeying the commands of the epistles as bondage.

3. The Christian lifestyle can never be referred to as bondage – God has set us free from the bondage of the ceremonial law of Moses, the bondage of sin, and the bondage of fear.

4. But we have been set free and delivered to serve and obey!

• Romans 7:6 “6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

C. Holiness and righteousness is not bondage unto the Mosaic Law, but rather obedience unto Apostolic Doctrine.

• Acts 2:42 “42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

1. A holy lifestyle is not digression into an obsolete lifestyle, but instead it is a progression into a new liberty – the liberty to serve and obey God!

2. Even after we have been “set free” in Christ, as Christians, we are still servants.

• Romans 6:17–20 “17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”

3. This is the paradox of the Christian life that the world cannot understand – living in Jesus Christ is liberty but is also servanthood unto Jesus Christ and His Word.

• 1 Corinthians 7:22 “22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.”

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IV. THE PARAMETERS OF A “HOLY LIFE”

A. The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are written as testimonies or accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

B. The book of Acts gives us a record of how the apostles obeyed those teachings of Jesus Christ and established the church.

C. The epistles (Romans through Jude) are the teachings of the apostles to those who are already believers.

1. The epistles do not instruct us on how to receive salvation, but rather how to continue in salvation, how we ought to live – how we should “walk.”

2. Therefore, as believers who have already received salvation, we need to look very closely at the instructions the Apostles recorded in the epistles to teach us how we should live in this world.

• 2 Peter 3:11 “11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,”

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V. SEPARATED UNTO

A. As holy children of a holy God, we are called to be separated unto many things. The following are some of the things (but not necessarily all the things) unto which the Bible says we are to separate ourselves.

1. A Total, Unconditional Love for God

• Matthew 22:37–40 “37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.””

2. A Love for God’s People, the True Church of God

• John 13:35 “35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.””

• 1 Peter 1:22 “22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,”

3. A Love for Those Who Consider Themselves Our Enemies

• Matthew 5:44 “44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”

• Romans 12:17–21 “17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

4. A Forgiving Spirit Toward All Men

• Ephesians 4:32 “32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

• Matthew 18:21–22 “21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

• Mark 11:25–26 “25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.””

5. A Peace-Making Spirit

• Matthew 5:9 “9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.”

• Romans 12:18 “18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

• Romans 14:19 “19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.”

6. A Teachable Attitude

• Hebrews 13:7 “7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.”

• James 1:22–25 “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

7. A Spiritual Mind

• Romans 12:2 “2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

• Romans 8:6–7 “6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”

8. A Cooperative Attitude

• 1 Corinthians 1:10 “10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

• Romans 12:16 “16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”

9. Honesty

• Romans 12:17 “17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”

• 1 Timothy 2:2 “2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”

10. Humility

• Colossians 3:12 “12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;”

• James 4:10 “10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

• 1 Peter 5:5 “5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.””

11. Temperance (Moderation, Self-restraint)

• 2 Peter 1:5–6 “5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,”

• 1 Corinthians 9:25 “25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”

• Philippians 4:5 “5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.”

12. Contentment

• 1 Timothy 6:7–8 “7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”

• 1 Timothy 6:6 “6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”

• Philippians 4:11 “11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:”

• Hebrews 13:5 “5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

13. Patience

• 1 Thessalonians 5:14 “14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.”

• 1 Timothy 6:11 “11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”

• James 1:4 “4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

14. A Pure Heart

• Matthew 5:8 “8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

• 2 Timothy 2:22 “22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

15. Most of the above qualities and characteristics are embodied in the Fruit of the Spirit.

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VI. SEPARATION FROM

A. The New Testament also reveals that the children of God must be separated from the following things:

1. All Sin

• Romans 6:1–2 “1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

• Romans 6:12 “12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”

2. Bitterness and Hatred

• Ephesians 4:31 “31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”

• Romans 13:10 “10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

3. Gossip and Evil Speaking

• 1 Peter 4:15 “15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.”

• James 1:26 “26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.”

• 1 Peter 3:10 “10 For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit.”

• 1 Corinthians 15:33 “33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.””

4. Offenses (causing others to stumble)

• 1 Corinthians 10:32 “32 Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,”

• Romans 14:13 “13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.”

5. The Appearance of Evil

• 1 Thessalonians 5:22 “22 Abstain from every form of evil.”

6. Fleshly Lusts

• 1 Peter 2:11 “11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,”

• Matthew 5:28 “28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

7. Drunkenness

(Drunkenness designates intoxication, inebriation; a state where the control of the senses is lost. This refers to any type of substance abuse that causes loss of control and judgment.)

• Romans 13:13 “13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.”

• Ephesians 5:18 “18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,”

• 1 Corinthians 5:11 “11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”

The following New Testament scriptures contain lists of behaviors and activities from which Christians are to separate themselves. After the scriptures, the individual behaviors are defined and examined.

• Galatians 5:19–21 “19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

• Revelation 21:8 “8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.””

• Romans 1:21-32 – “…Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

• Ephesians 4:31 “31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”

• 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 “9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

• Mark 7:21–23 “21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.””

• Ephesians 5:3–6 “3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

8. Adultery: sexual infidelity of a married individual.

9. Lasciviousness: expressing lust or lewdness; wanton; inciting lustful desires; involving oneself in an activities or environments that excite the lustful senses.

10. Hatred: strong dislike or ill will toward others.

11. Wrath: strong, intense anger to the point of wanting to act upon that anger; rage; fury; any action of vengeance.

12. Heresies: false doctrines of any kind.

13. Fornication: sexual impurity, illicit sexual relations; any sexual activity outside marriage.

14. Idolatry: the worship of false gods; excessive devotion to or reverence for some person or thing. Idols can be wealth, careers, pleasures, people, possessions, etc., etc.

15. Variance: disagreement; argument, quarrel, discord; dispute, a disagreeable attitude or spirit.

16. Strife: contention; conflict, clash, ill-feelings between people.

17. Contention: dispute; disagreement; quarrel.

18. Envyings: jealousy over another person’s advantages, possessions, etc.; the desire for something that belongs to someone else; to feel envy toward someone; covetousness; rivalry.

19. Revelings: to make merry; to take pleasure in obsessive merrymaking. A revel was a nocturnal and riotous procession of half-drunken and rowdy individuals who, after dinner, paraded through the streets with torches and music in honor of Bacchus (the Greek and Roman god of wine and revelry), or some other deity. They would sing and play before the houses of their friends. Therefore, the word “revelings” is used generally to indicate gluttonous feasts and drinking parties that are protracted to late at night resulting in rowdy or unseemly conduct.

20. Uncleanness: anything dirty; filthy; foul; morally impure; unchaste; obscene or vile; abominable; nasty; disgusting; loathsome; highly unpleasant; disagreeable; very bad in a moral sense; impure motives; doing things that please the carnal flesh; involving ourselves in things that are of an unclean nature.

21. Sorcerers: those who practice witchcraft: the worship of occult powers and occult gods.

22. Emulations: the desire or ambition to equal or surpass; ambitious rivalry; envious dislike.

23. Seditions: derived from the Latin word “sed” meaning apart, and “itio” meaning going: the stirring up of discontent; resistance or rebellion against the authorities of power; inciting revolt; rebellion, encouraging others to rebellious behavior.

24. Murders: the taking of human life. When we hate our brother or sister we are guilty of murder.

• 1 John 3:15 “15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

25. Bitterness: a sour spirit; resentful feelings, an unforgiving attitude, a hurt that turns into anger, cynical, hostile emotions.

26. Clamor: a cry, an outcry, a wailing of one in distress; the whining of one who is never satisfied.

27. Malice: intense hatred of someone, viciousness, animosity.

28. Whisperers: secret slanderers; detractors; to talk quietly or furtively as in gossiping, maligning, plotting; to tell something to someone privately or in a secret; a secret hint or rumor.

29. Inventors Of Evil Things: those who manufacture, or cause to be brought into being, ideas and actions of wickedness and evil.

30. Without Understanding: without spiritual sensitivity; oblivious to what God is doing; oblivious to spiritual things; spiritually ignorant.

31. Covenant-Breakers: treacherous, deceitful, untrustworthy, traitors, untruthful; one who does not honor his own word or promises.

32. Without Natural Affections: unnatural sexual lust: incest, bestiality, homosexuality, pedophilia, etc.

33. Implacable: unappeasable, one who cannot be satisfied; relentless; inexorable; one who cannot be appeased, pacified or settled down; relentless; dogged.

34. Effeminate: most commonly used to describe feminine behavior in men.

35. Despiteful: a spiteful spirit; malicious; an insulter; purposefully mistreating others.

36. Revilers: those who use abusive or offensive language in speaking; to slander, to call bad names.

37. Extortioners: those who receive monetary gain or advancement through blackmail or threats.

38. An Evil Eye: having eyes that can see only evil; to look for evil in everyone and everything, suspecting evil in everything.

39. Abusers of themselves with Mankind: those who commit unnatural sexual acts; sodomites; one who lies with male or with female.

40. Pride: haughtiness, arrogance, disdainfulness.

41. Foolishness: egotistic senselessness; reckless folly, silliness.

42. Blasphemy: vilification, defamation, detraction; to speak evil of someone or something.

43. Malignity: the quality of being very harmful or dangerous, ill-will that is acted upon; deadly, lethal; a desire to destroy someone or something.

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VII. THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION

A. As we have seen, the word holiness carries the connotation of purity, separation and perfection.

1. Perfection is not possible in human beings. Because we dwell in “vessels of clay” even Spirit-filled Christians are not perfect.

• 2 Corinthians 4:7 “7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

2. Several times in scripture we are instructed to be “perfect,” but in those instances the word “perfect” is translated from Greek words (artios, teleios, katartizo) which mean “complete or thoroughly furnished”; the words do not imply that we are faultless or without imperfection.

3. Even the Apostle Paul, perhaps the most successful Christian ever known, did not consider himself to be perfect.

• Philippians 3:12 “12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

B. Like Paul, our goal as obedient Christians should be the “pursuit of perfection.” We are to endeavor to be more like Jesus Christ every day.

• Hebrews 6:1 “1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,”

1. However, if we fail, if we sin, if we stumble – the Lord is quick to forgive us and restore us. If we repent of our weaknesses and ask for His help, it is readily available to us.

• 1 John 2:1 “1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

2. The word “advocate” means a mediator, an intercessor, an attorney, a defender.

3. Jesus Christ, the righteous (the perfect) is our attorney when we get in trouble – when we call Him to help us when we fail, His grace is available to us.

4. When we (the imperfect) call upon Jesus Christ (the perfect), as our defender (advocate) He covers us with His grace and through faith in Him the righteousness of God is imputed to us!

C. Never listen to Satan’s lies. He will magnify your faults and failures; he will tell you that it’s pointless to get up when you fall; he will tell you that you don’t have the ability to live a life that pleases God. Satan is a liar.

• John 8:44 “44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

D. Listen to God’s Word instead.

• 1 John 1:9 “9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

E. In the 136th Psalm, we are told twenty-six times that the mercy of the Lord endures forever!

Psalm 118:1 “1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”

F. We are instructed in scripture to do our very best to live a holy and separated life before God. However, if we stumble, the grace of God is there to pick us up. God’s grace is more than sufficient for any situation that we will ever encounter in our lives!

“No great and lasting revival of religion can be granted us till the professed lovers of Jesus prove their affection by coming out from an ungodly world, being separated, and touching not the unclean thing.”

~ Charles H. Spurgeon

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