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Holiness: Worship in Spirit and Truth

“But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:16).

John 4:23-24 says, “But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Yeshua/Jesus tells us in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.” Quite clearly Yeshua tells us that His Word is truth. In John 14:6, Yeshua answers this way: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Yeshua is the Word of God made flesh, and He is truth. That means every jot and tittle of God’s Word is truth and all of God’s Word is inspired by the Holy Spirit. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16). Our lives are an act of worship unto God. They are to be living sacrifices offered up to Him every day of our lives. This means that we need to remain in a state of holiness. We can not offer a sacrifice to God that is blemished. If God tells us to be holy then that means we can be holy. We must start by repenting of our sins daily. Even every time we sin we must allow the conviction of the Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance. Galatians 5:16-17 tells us, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” So then how do we live in the truth? By walking in the Spirit. Ephesians 6:17 tells us that the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. At Mt. Sinai the Ten Commandments were given on the same day, Pentecost, when many years later the Apostles received the Holy Spirit. So God’s Word and the Holy Spirit go together. You can’t have one without the other because it is the Holy Spirit that helps us to walk in the truth of God’s Word. God told Moses to place the Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Testimony to show man that the way to holiness is through obedience to His Word.

1). Exodus 20:1-3: “Then God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.’” Every one of us has been delivered from the house of slavery. Let’s look at what the Apostolic Scriptures tell us about this first commandment. John 8:34-36 tells us, “Truly I (Yeshua) say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son does remain forever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Galatians 5:1 says, “It was for freedom that Messiah set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Colossians 1:13 says, “For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

2). Exodus 20:4-5: “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, or likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:14, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” Paul mentions idolatry as one of the deeds of the flesh versus walking in the Spirit of God in Galatians 5:20. Revelation 21:8 speaks about the new heaven and earth and those who will not enter it: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” This covers many of the commandments.

3). Exodus 20:7: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” Because people have filled their minds and hearts with everything but the Word of God, people have turned to the futility of their minds. Yeshua (Jesus) tells us in Matthew 12:36-37, “And I say to you that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.” Yeshua tells us in Matthew 5:34-37, “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King, nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; and anything beyond these is of evil.” God’s name is holy and we are to be holy. Our lives are to be for the glory of God, and so, “our speech always should be with grace.”

4). Exodus 20:8-11: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant nor your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” We see that this commandment has to do with the creation of the world when God created the Sabbath day and called it holy (set apart). Genesis 2:2-3 says, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” This day is for everyone! In fact, Yeshua tells us that He is the Lord of the Sabbath in Matthew 12:8, and says in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath.” When we keep the seventh day Sabbath, we bear witness to the world that God is the Creator and Yeshua is the Lord of the Sabbath, which also testifies to the Jewish people that He is the Messiah.

5). Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” Our relationship with God begins with the family unit, because our parents represent God in an earthly manner. God has a chain of command in the family. Ephesians 6:1-9 tells us what a godly family should look like: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: “That it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.” Could this be one of the reasons why there is so much teen suicide?

6). Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder.” It is natural that this should follow next, for the opposite of love is hate, and that is what murder is. In Matthew 5:21, Yeshua expounds on this commandment. He tells us that if we are even angry with our brother or even call someone a fool, we will be liable. Yeshua tells us that we must go make things right with a person before He will even accept our sacrifice at His altar. We see this is true with a man’s prayers if he is not right with his wife (1 Peter 3:7), and now we see it with our neighbor.

7). Exodus 20:14: “You shall not commit adultery.” Adultery is not only a lack of faithfulness, but a problem with lust. Today too many people marry out of lust. Why do I say this? Because we have become lovers of self, and love is just the opposite. Yeshua said this about adultery in Matthew 5:27-28: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say, everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

8). Exodus 20:15: “You shall not steal.” Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:28, “Let him who steals steal no more; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has a need.” Paul saw that a person should be responsible for his own needs and work, but if he cannot because of illness or infirmity then those who do work should share with him who is in need.

9). Exodus 20:16: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” It only seems right for the next two commandments to follow stealing, because we can steal a person’s reputation and even his life by lying against him falsely. In Revelation 21:8, we see that all liars will be part of those thrown into the lake of fire. Lying is a serious matter, and how much more so when we lie and someone’s life is ruined because of it. We ruin people’s reputations and even friendships and at times break up families. Like the thief, the person who lies must make restitution by telling the truth and restoring that person back to good standing with his family or boss or even the law. He needs to be responsible for helping his neighbor get back on his feet by helping with lost wages so he will not have to resort to stealing. You see, everything has consequences, and every bad consequence has to be undone.

10). Exodus 20:17: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant nor his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” This last commandment tells all. If we truly love one another like we are to love God and even our self, then we will not have feelings of hatred and anger and lust and jealousy and greed. These are all of the flesh, and God is all about the Spirit. We are able to live by God’s Word. We are able to walk in the Spirit and crucify the flesh. We are able because of Yeshua; we are now dead to sin (Romans 6). Today we have taken off the yoke of God’s kingdom and we have fallen for the lies of the devil and we walk in darkness because of it and so we stumble. But today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart, but quickly go back to the Father who loves you. Repent and He will forgive you. Return to His commandments and choose life, choose holiness.