Leviticus 20:26 NKJV

You shall be HOLY TO ME, FOR I THE LORD AM HOLY, and have SEPARATED YOU from the peoples, that YOU SHOULD BE MINE.

Hebrews 12:10–15 NKJV

For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that WE MAY BE PARTAKERS OF HIS HOLINESS. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.

1 Thessalonians 4:7–8 NKJV

For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:14 NKJV

Therefore He says: ‘AWAKE, YOU WHO SLEEP, ARISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL GIVE YOU LIGHT.’

Revelation 3:1–6 NLT

Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that YOU HAVE A REPUTATION FOR BEING ALIVE—BUT YOU ARE DEAD. WAKE UP!Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before My Father and His angels that they are Mine. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.”

Romans 13:11–14 NLT

THIS IS ALL THE MORE URGENT, FOR YOU KNOW HOW LATE IT IS; TIME IS RUNNING OUT. WAKE UP, FOR OUR SALVATION IS NEARER NOW THAN WHEN WE FIRST BELIEVED.The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see.Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. INSTEAD, CLOTHE YOURSELF WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

Romans 13:11–14 MSG

But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you LOSE TRACK OF THE TIME AND DOZE OFF, OBLIVIOUS TO GOD.The night is about over, dawn is about to break. BE UP AND AWAKE TO WHAT GOD IS DOING!God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work He began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 NKJV

But concerning the TIMES AND THE SEASONS, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. YOU ARE ALL SONS OF LIGHT AND SONS OF THE DAY. WE ARE NOT OF THE NIGHT NOR OF DARKNESS. THEREFORE LET US NOT SLEEP, AS OTHERS DO, BUT LET US WATCH AND BE SOBER.For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

1 Corinthians 6:9–20 NKJV

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, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were WASHED, but you were SANCTIFIED, but you were JUSTIFIED in the NAME OF THE LORD JESUS and by the SPIRIT OF OUR GOD. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” BUT HE WHO IS JOINED TO THE LORD IS ONE SPIRIT WITH HIM.Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. OR DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS IN YOU, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

2 Corinthians 6:14–18 NLT

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? WHAT HARMONY CAN THERE BE BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE DEVIL?How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? AND WHAT UNION CAN THERE BE BETWEEN GOD’S TEMPLE AND IDOLS?For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, Therefore, COME OUT from among unbelievers, and SEPARATE YOURSELVES from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.And I will be your Father, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”

Colossians 1:9–14 NKJV

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may WALK WORTHY of the Lord, FULLY PLEASING HIM, being FRUITFUL IN EVERY GOOD WORK and INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD;strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to THE FATHER WHO HAS QUALIFIED US TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN THE LIGHT. HE HAS DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS AND CONVEYED US INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE SON OF HIS LOVE, in whom we have REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

1 Peter 1:14–16 ESV

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

1 Peter 1:13–16 NLT

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control.Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. SO YOU MUST LIVE AS GOD’S OBEDIENT CHILDREN.Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. FOR THE SCRIPTURES SAY, “YOU MUST BE HOLY BECAUSE I AM HOLY.”

EXHORTATION: AWAKE TO HOLINESS

Awake to What the Bible Says About God and His Holiness

The Bible is the final authority concerning God, His kingdom, and everything about God. Any teaching that does not align with God’s word is a lie and must be rejected no matter how christianly, appealing, or right it sounds. Only the word of God is eternal, infallible, and unerringly trustworthy. All who believe and live by the word of God are wise and will always overcome and be saved to the end. This is what the Bible says concerning God’s word:

• “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.”
  —Psalm 119:89 NIV
• “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” —Isaiah 40:8 NIV
• “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.” —Matthew 24:35 NIV

Jesus was hungry after forty days of fasting when satan tempted Him to make bread out of stones. He overcame satan by trusting and depending on the word of God. In Matthew 4:4 NKJV, He rebuked the devil, saying, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” The Church must be on guard that we trust, obey, live and stand fast by the word of God in everything, then we will overcome, thrive and be rewarded. It is through the Bible we learn and know God and His holiness. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and so is His word. Man’s thinking, beliefs, culture, and trends change over time, but not God or His word.

Concerning holiness, the world’s views, values, standards, and trends have been faulty from the beginning, and they have degenerated for the worse over the ages. Unless we have a sound, solid, and steadfast knowledge and conviction of holiness according to the Bible, the Church will conform to the world’s ideologies and standards of holiness and will be destroyed. If the Church conforms to the world, it cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. A.W. Tozer, an American pastor, author, and spiritual mentor, with a holy passion for God, urged the Church through his preaching and writing to give their utmost to God and to live holy and without compromise. He declared that nothing else but God was the only and true standard for holiness.

Holy is the way God is. TO BE HOLY HE [God] DOES NOT CONFORM TO A STANDARD. HE IS THAT STANDARD. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, all His attributes are holy; whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.

The Church must be holy as God is holy for without holiness no man can see God. We must have a passion for the holy God and an all-consuming hatred for sin. Charles Spurgeon, a powerful preacher in the 1800s, said,

Christ will be master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. IF YOUR LIFE IS UNHOLY, THEN YOUR HEART IS UNCHANGED, AND YOU ARE AN UNSAVED PERSON. The Savior will sanctify His people, renew them, give them a hatred of sin, and a love of holiness. The grace that does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people, not IN their sins, but FROM their sins. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

The Church must strive to live holy as God is holy. GOD IS THE STANDARD OF HOLINESS—His character, ways, attributes, and everything about Him is holy. HE IS THE ETERNAL, DIVINE, AND UNBREACHABLE STANDARD. Satan attacks both the knowledge of God and His holiness by offering demonic alternatives. Although subject to aggressive attacks, the Church must know God and His holiness through the Bible. George Whitefield, who was greatly used in the 18th-century Great Awakening, said, “It is an undoubted truth that EVERY DOCTRINE THAT COMES FROM GOD, LEADS TO GOD; AND THAT WHICH DOTH NOT TEND TO PROMOTE HOLINESS IS NOT OF GOD.”

God commands His Church to be holy. As the Bible tells us who God is, it also reveals His holiness. There is no room or need to philosophize, rationalize or debate about what holiness or the standards of holiness are because the Holy Scriptures are inerrant. The Holy Spirit in 1 Peter 1:13–16 NLT commands the Church, saying,

SO PREPARE YOUR MINDS FOR ACTION AND EXERCISE SELF-CONTROL. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. SO YOU MUST LIVE AS GOD’S OBEDIENT CHILDREN. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. BUT NOW YOU MUST BE HOLY IN EVERYTHING YOU DO, JUST AS GOD WHO CHOSE YOU IS HOLY. FOR THE SCRIPTURES SAY, “YOU MUST BE HOLY BECAUSE I AM HOLY.”

We are to be holy in who we are and everything we do just as Christ, who chose and saved us, is holy. GOD IS THE ONLY TRUE SOURCE OF HOLINESS, AND HE IS THE ETERNAL, IMMUTABLE, AND TRUE DEFINITION AND STANDARD OF HOLINESS.The Church does not need to look elsewhere for the meaning or benchmark of holiness. We must look at the God of the Holy Scriptures. In knowing God and His holiness, the Church must be holy, living and walking in His holiness. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. As He is unchangeable, so is His holiness. Everything else in the whole universe may change, but not God. It is to the well-being and eternal security of the Church that we hold fast, stand firm, and be immovable in our conviction of God and His holiness.

Many followers of Christ have fallen away from God and holiness because of failing to hold true to the Holy Scriptures. The Church must allow the Bible to reveal God and the things of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The world cannot teach who God is, what His holiness is, or what is unacceptable to God. The world is in darkness, and they cannot receive the Holy Spirit; how can the Church lend our ears to their explanation and coaching of God, love, holiness, or anything concerning God and His kingdom? IF WE LISTEN TO AND FOLLOW THE WORLD, WE WILL SHIPWRECK OUR FAITH AND BE REJECTED BY GOD. We must awaken to God and His holiness according to His Holy Scriptures. We must study and obey the Bible, not wavering from or compromising the truth. The world will always have a different spirit and speak a different language. WHAT HAS LIGHT GOT TO DO WITH DARKNESS?Darkness can never comprehend or explain light. WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. ONLY THE CHURCH CAN MANIFEST THE TRUE GOD AND SHINE HIS HOLINESS FOR THE WORLD TO SEE.

We are called to come out of the world and be separated. How can we then be in agreement with the world’s thinking about God and His holiness? The Church must seek to be faithful and true to God and not be troubled by being in conflict with the world’s beliefs and values. We are not of this world. The world cannot be won over to Christ through compromise. Seek to be relevant to God more than being concerned about being relevant to the world. When we are relevant to God, His Holy Spirit will draw the world to the light. We must not mistake compromise for compassion and love. True love never compromises the Truth.

Awake from Sleep, and Arise from the Dead and God will Give Us Light

In Leviticus 20:26 NKJV, God declares to His people, “You shall be HOLY TO ME, FOR I THE LORD AM HOLY, and have SEPARATED YOU from the peoples, that YOU SHOULD BE MINE.” Holiness is integral to our relationship with God, who has saved us by giving us His Son, Jesus Christ. He has separated us from the world unto Himself, for we are His. It is time to awaken to holiness. Unless we awake, we are dead, and have no light. Spiritual slumber is one of the battles that God’s people must overcome if we are to be more than conquerors, overcomers, and finishers of God’s will and work on this earth.The Church can be defeated not because God’s word is not true that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, but because the Church has fallen asleep, stays asleep, and is dead. The remedy is to awaken.

A sleeping Church is a spiritually dead Church according to the Holy Spirit’s sharp rebuke in Ephesians 5:14 NKJV, “AWAKE, YOU WHO SLEEP, ARISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL GIVE YOU LIGHT.” It is in a state of sleeping dead—alive and yet dead, breathing but unable to respond or engage in anything. When the Church falls asleep, it is in spiritual comatose, senselessness, and impotence. IT CANNOT HEAR, RESPOND, OBEY, AND DO THE WORK OF GOD AND IS TOTALLY VULNERABLE AS PREY TO SATAN, THE ROARING LION, WHO SEEKS TO DEVOUR. The spirit is no longer as sharp and sensitive to God. It is not as on fire and passionate as before. It has become dull and is in a spiritual stupor, yet there is no urgency and no sense of need to repent and change. There is also a lack of spiritual energy, urgency, and passion for God and His priorities. It is spiritually poor and yet not thirsty for God. There is a lack of first love and passion for God, leading to a compromised life and ministry. A sleeping church very easily blends loving God and the world, mixes the holy with the profane, is comfortable with lukewarmness, and oscillates between conviction and compromise. UNLESS A SLEEPING CHURCH AWAKES AND ARISES, THERE IS NO HOPE FOR SUCH A CHURCH.

In Revelation 3:1–6 NLT, the Holy Spirit rebuked the church of Sardis for having a reputation of being alive, but in truth, they were dead. God’s command to them was to wake up (v 1–2), “I know all the things you do, and that YOU HAVE A REPUTATION FOR BEING ALIVE—BUT YOU ARE DEAD. WAKE UP!”The church of Sardis had fallen away from God and His requirements, and they were in a spiritual coma. They looked alive and did good works, but they were dead toward God. They were backslidden and had lost their first love for God. Other things had taken the first place of God in their lives. They were more engaged with the world than with God. They had failed to hold on to what God had given them; they compromised, soiled their clothes, and had more of the world than God in them.

God Never Sleeps, and the Devil Is Not Asleep, But Is the Church Asleep?

Are we hearing God’s call to awaken? Are we heeding the Holy Spirit’s sharp warning to awake for the time is short? God never sleeps; the devil is not asleep, but is the Church asleep, especially at this late hour? God’s kairos moments are God-appointed times to act according to His plan and purpose, and these are God-given opportunities for the Church to fully seize according to His will. The window of these opportunities is not eternal. When the time is over, the opportunity has passed.

The devil is very much aware of times and seasons. He knows that his time is very short. Revelation 12:12 ESV warns of the devil, “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for THE DEVIL HAS COME DOWN TO YOU IN GREAT WRATH, BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT HIS TIME IS SHORT!” He understands that times and seasons are in God’s hands to determine and do according to His will and purpose. The devil knows that he has no control over time—he cannot create, extend, or borrow. The short time he has is his only window to try to attack, rob, and destroy the Church. He sleeplessly and ferociously wars to try to destroy the Church and prevent it from doing the will of God and finishing His work. God is never casual about His time and purpose in acting; the truth is neither is the devil. Has the Church become careless, casual, or fallen asleep? It is high time to awaken and arise. Romans 13:11–14 NLT calls for the people of God to awaken:

This is all the MORE URGENT, FOR YOU KNOW HOW LATE IT IS; TIME IS RUNNING OUT. WAKE UP, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. THE NIGHT IS ALMOST GONE; THE DAY OF SALVATION WILL SOON BE HERE.So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

We Must Fight to Awake and to Live Holy unto God

Do we hear the urgent call of the Holy Spirit to His Church to awake to holiness? If there ever is a time for the Church to awake to holiness, it is now. We must not only awaken but also fight sin unto bloodshed to overcome. Hebrews 12:3–4 NKJV declares, “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”

The Bible clearly commands all believers of Jesus Christ to live holy and worthy of our calling. The powers of darkness are fiercely fighting to lull and keep the Church in spiritual slumber so that we struggle to discern between holy and unholy.

The distinction between light and darkness, righteousness and unrighteousness, and holy and profane must never be compromised. We must understand the distinction of the Church, as redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, from the world. The Holy Spirit calls on His Church to be separated from all that is in the kingdom of darkness because we are in the kingdom of light. What does light have to do with darkness? We have been taken out of the kingdom of satan, delivered from the power of darkness, and conveyed into the kingdom of Jesus Christ—which is of light, righteousness, and love. Colossians 1:9–14 NKJV says,

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may WALK WORTHY of the Lord, FULLY PLEASING HIM, being FRUITFUL IN EVERY GOOD WORK and INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to THE FATHER WHO HAS QUALIFIED US TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN THE LIGHT. HE HAS DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS AND CONVEYED US INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE SON OF HIS LOVE, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

We must awaken to holiness, walk worthy of God, and understand that we are not our own. It is with a priceless sacrifice that God saves and separates us to Himself as His sons and daughters. We have been set apart to live unto God separated from the kingdom of darkness and of this world because THERE IS NO HARMONY BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE DEVIL. THERE IS NO UNION BETWEEN GOD’S TEMPLE AND IDOLS. Paul Washer said, “Holiness is not merely a feeling, state of mind, or good intention. IT INVOLVES PRACTICAL SEPARATION FROM SIN AND REAL SEPARATION UNTO GOD.” 2 Corinthians 6:14–18 NLT instructs all Christians concerning this separation:

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? WHAT HARMONY CAN THERE BE BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE DEVIL? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? AND WHAT UNION CAN THERE BE BETWEEN GOD’S TEMPLE AND IDOLS? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, Therefore, COME OUT from among unbelievers, and SEPARATE YOURSELVES from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”

As the Church lives separated unto God and from all that is of the kingdom of darkness, the Church is living in holiness. God promises that He will be a Father to His Church, and we will be His sons and daughters. We must awaken to the necessity of this separation to live holy lives. The kingdom of the devil knows that the hour is late and time is running out. He is relentlessly fighting to keep the Church from awakening to holiness (Romans 13:11). THIS SPIRITUAL SLEEP HAS TO BE BATTLED UNTIL WE OVERCOME. Awakening is a work of the Holy Spirit, and when we obey His call to awake and submit to His dealings and commands, He sets us free from the spirit of slumber, and we are awakened.

The Church must know what has put us to sleep concerning holiness. The devil does not always use suffering to put us to sleep; in fact, he uses the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life to seduce the Church into sleep. The devil capitalizes on the flesh and its desires to draw the Church first to taste and then to indulge in and feast on all the seemingly harmless things the world has to offer—pleasures, comforts, conveniences, entertainment, and possessions. Soon, we have lost our way, discernment, fear of God, and holiness. In the same way, he seduced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit they were commanded by God not to eat because the fruit looked good to eat and pleasing to the eye.

The most effective way to awaken to holiness is to REPENT, AND PURPOSE IN OUR HEART AND SET OUR MIND TO SEEK HIM UNTIL WE FIND HIM. Let us give our days and nights to seeking Him in prayer, fasting, and searching for Him in His word. TO AWAKE FROM SLEEP, WE MUST DENY OURSELVES, CRUCIFY OUR FLESH, AND PICK UP THE CROSS TO SEEK HIM UNTIL WE ARE AWAKENED AND REVIVED. If we do not falter, get weary, and stop seeking Him, He will come in power to shake us up, clean us up, and wake us up. HE WILL SEND US HIS SPIRIT OF AWAKENING AND REVIVAL. In holiness, God will restore and revive His Church.