To Be Set Apart
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To Be Set Apart
Isaiah 7:10-14
Psalm 40:5-10
Hebrews 10:4-10
Luke 1:26-38
We are coming upon a special time in the Church. This is a time of victory for the Church and for those who believe in Jesus Christ. It is a time in which we recognize His holiness. It is a time in which we remember and celebrate a victory over sin in the world. We recognize the final sacrifice for sin and the only true pathway to redemption. We also recognize that it is a blessing and gift that is available to all who may believe and not just to a select few though there may only be few who will choose to believe. Within our scripture messages today we continue to see God’s desire and goal for us which is Christian holiness. The question though is what does it mean to be holy as He is holy and what does it mean to be sanctified through and through? To be holy and to be sanctified is to be set apart. It is to be set apart for something special. It is to be set apart to be different. It is to be set apart for the Lord, for His purpose, for His desire.
In our reading from Isaiah this morning we read about a sign foretold hundreds of years before it is to take place. We see a prophecy of a virgin giving birth to a son who will be called Immanuel for he will be God in the flesh living among us. From this very time, before she was even born, she was set apart by God for this purpose. She was set apart to be pure and blameless, to carry God’s only son in her whom. God made her holy for his holy child. She is told by the angel in Luke 1 that she is highly favored and will conceive a child to be the Son of God. She asks how this will be as she has not done what is usually done to conceive a child. That is a reasonable question to ask because it is not normal to conceive in this world without intercourse taking place. However, with God all things are possible and she is told that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of God will overshadow her. Something to not here is that she is not set apart by her own doing but by God’s choosing. He has planned this all out perfectly for her and for her husband as Joseph and Mary both are of David’s offspring. Only God could and can set one apart. Only God can make one holy and sanctified. And he has done so with this young girl of his choosing.
Within our reading of Hebrews 10 and the Psalm 40, we see that God was really not pleased with the sacrifices of bulls and goats. We are told that they really do not take away sins. Yet it seems that the tradition of sacrifice has overtaken the people and they just do so just because it is tradition or they believe that this allows them to enjoy the pleasures of sin without the punishment of doing so. It seems that it had kind of turned into this thing where one could sin all they want because all they had to do was let a bull or goat take their place so that they would be forgiven. However, this is not what the Lord desired. In fact, he wishes that there would be no death at all. That is why he gave his first commandment to Adam and Eve so that they might remain perfect and that there may not be death in the world. However, they chose sin and death. The heart of such people though is not of someone living in holiness or being set apart and entirely sanctified. There are Christians even today who live their lives in a way that is unholy believing that because they believe in Jesus then there is no ramifications for their sin. However, scripture tells us that even the demons know and believe in Jesus but they are unholy and will not have access to the kingdom of God.
We are told that it is His desire that we be sanctified. That we be set apart for His perfect love and will. Hebrews tells us in 10:8-10, “First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” – though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” One sacrifice made for all with a purpose that we would be set apart and living holy lives without sin. Psalm 40:8-10 tells us what this looks like. “I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart. I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.”
To me Psalm 40:8 is key here. In such few words it describes what holiness is all about. “I desire to do your will, My God; your law is within my heart.” To be sanctified by God, to be set apart for his love and purpose is to transformed by him with a desire to do his will. His law will not just be in our minds for the knowledge of it but we will obey his law because it will be written on our hearts. This means that if we are set apart and living in Christian holiness then we cease to have the desire to continue on sinning because our desire is to please Him and obey Him. This being set apart is an act of grace given by him alone that brings us back into the perfect relationship with God that Adam and Eve had in the Garden. Because we are born with a sinful nature it is therefore, unnatural for us to live our lives to please the Lord. It is only natural for us to please ourselves. However, with holiness he transforms our desire to please him and to grow in Christian character. It is this desire to do his will and obey his commands that makes us a friend of God. Jesus told his disciples in John 15:14, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” We are called to obey even when it is not easy and even when it hurts us and even when it does not make any sense. It is for this reason that Abraham was called a friend of God. Even though it did not make sense for God to ask for Isaac to be a sacrifice and even though it was the most difficult decision for Abraham to make, he chose to obey God and chose to set him apart as the one he most loved and to make the Lord’s will his own will. This made him a friend of God. This love and friendship is what God desires from all of us. This is what he desires as we grow in Christian character. This does not mean that we do not make mistakes for we are not yet made perfect in character. However, our desire will be for perfection and we will grow in character in time. For this reason, we must all also give grace to those who are still on their journey into Christlikeness. One day though God will bring us into his glory and we then will be made perfect as he created us to be. Until that time we are called to live a life that is set apart from the rest of the world. Living in this world but not as the world lives. We are called to Christian holiness.