Pataskala Church of the Nazarene
May 2, 2010
May God Make You Holy Through and Through
Scripture Reading: I Peter 1:13-25
I Thessalonians 5:16-24
"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
Introduction:
(Credit for the main points of this sermon are given to Steve Shepherd of the Christian Church in Jonesboro, TN.)
Why is Holiness so important?
Why pay so much attention to this doctrinal stance on living the Holy life?
Simply because God's Word has so much to say about it.
When I was a student at Wesley Biblical Seminary, in Jackson, Mississippi, I was the Senior Pastor at the Yazoo City Independent Methodist Church for two years.
We had some of the greatest people in that little congregation.
I recall preaching a sermon on the Spirit-filled life in which I referred to it as being sanctified holy.
The chairman of the board at that time, his first name was Durwood, a wonderful friend, came to me and said, "Dan, the church board would like to meet with you about the subject of Holiness you have been preaching. Could you present to us Scripture on this?"
And I said, "Certainly, so I went to work and prepared a thesis on Sanctification and the life of Holiness.
As I remember I presented a paper to the church board of around 14 pages where the Word of God presented this and why the Methodist church had it in their articles of faith.
After the presentation of the paper, I gave time for questions.
The Church board had never had this doctrine preached and there response to me was very positive all except one board member.
The chairman of the board said, "Well, board it's in the Word and we can't argue with that! Therefore I move we accept the Pastor's preaching on Holiness." And the board voted with only one dissenting vote.
I have experienced quite a number of Christian leaders who have questioned our stance on Holiness as a denomination.
They feel we are preaching sinless perfection.
I want to make it clear, we are not preaching sinless perfection. Only Jesus Christ the Son of God ever lived a life free of sin.
Many have been confused by wrong understandings of John Wesley because they have come to the conclusion that Wesley came up with this teaching on holiness.
Nothing could be further than the truth.
And sadly there are some pastors who have completely stopped preaching on this Biblical truth because they didn't want to lose any one from their church.
You see biblical holiness holds us to a higher spiritual standard.
And there are others who look at it as an option in their spiritual life, but I'm going to show you this morning that this is not an option, because God's word says clearly, "...without holiness(the same Greek word for Sanctify) no one will see the Lord."
To be honest about it, there are quite a few things in life that we think we just have-to-have and find out later that they are not as important or needed as we thought.
All of us would probably be better off if we’d simplify our lives and focus more on what is really important in life.
AND WHAT’S THAT?
Our relationship to God and holiness, I might add.
Peter said in his Epistle,
I Peter 1:13 "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed (future event). As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance (Sin nature) 15. But just as He who called you is holy, so you be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
In the original Greek this is a command. "So you be holy in all you do."
God desires that we be like Him, holy like Him.
It says, "BE HOLY , BECAUSE I AM HOLY."
Actually our spiritual goal should be to be like Jesus. Amen!
In this series of sermons: The Believers Walk with God, I preached to you on the importance of coming to this service on Sunday morning prepared to Worship (Are you doing that - Are you coming with a heart ready to worship?) and worshipping God through the rest of the week individually.
Last week we dwelt on the extreme importance of prayer and came to this conclusion that prayer is the power we need to move our personal relationship with God to higher levels and to move PCN forward and upward as a church body.
Today I come to you on the Third sermon that deals with the Believers Walk with God, Living the Life of Holiness.
Our text tells how God can make us holy.
It tells what we must recognize for this to take place.
1- Holiness is desirable
2- Holiness is continual
3- Holiness is God-produced
I. HOLINESS IS DESIRABLE I Thess 5:23
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me take you to Hebrews 13:12, "And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood."
You see - now get this - I want to show the Biblical proof for this doctrine of Sanctification and being Filled with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, our Savior suffered and died on the cross so that we might achieve the life of holiness.
So whenever we would reject this truth of living the Holy life we actually reject His death upon the cross.
Someone might say, "Well, I can't live that life!"
But I want to say to you that if God says we are to live the life of Holiness, then we can't doubt a God who will also provide a way to live it.
One of the richest men in the world, oil tycoon Paul Getty, was being interviewed in London.
“If you retired now,” asked a reporter, “would you say your holdings would be worth a billion dollars?” Getty paced up and down the room, mentally adding. “I suppose so,” he said, “but remember, a billion dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to.”
What’s your greatest desire in life?
To make money?
To become rich?
This is true for many people.
All the popular TV shows today is how to win a million dollars.
Greed is good to them and money is their goal.
For most of us, however, just being able to make a decent living and enjoy life is good enough.
Still, is this enough?
Shouldn’t we desire something more or something greater in life?
C.S. Lewis gave us the following insight: "Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
INTERESTING INSIGHT. Isn't it?
We could have a lot or be a lot more if we only desired it.
Of course, Lewis is referring to great spirituality.
I’m not sure most people want this, because people prefer what the world offers.
And we fear that if we get more of God we won’t get to enjoy the things of this world.
WHICH MEANS THIS:
Which means we don’t see the things of God as being greater than what the world offers!
Now I don't want to hurry over that statement, think about it:
All we know is this world and it's lures and tempta-tions.
That's what brought Adam and Eve down in the Garden at the beginning.
The serpent tempted Eve and said, "Has God really said you couldn't have the fruit of the tree?"
We often choose the least instead of the best!
I Peter 2:1-3 "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."
Have we truly tasted of the Lord’s goodness?
If so, we should want more. Amen!
There’s a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge.
He walked up to the philosopher and said, "O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge."
Socrates recognized a numbskull when he saw one.
He led the young man through the streets, to the sea, and chest deep into water.
Then he asked, "What do you want?" "Knowledge, O wise Socrates," said the young man with a smile.
Socrates put his strong hands on the man’s shoulders and pushed him under.
Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up.
"What do you want?" he asked again.
"Wisdom," the young man sputtered, "O great and wise Socrates."
Socrates crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty.
Socrates let him up.
The man was gasping. "What do you want, young man?"
Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, "Knowledge, O wise and wonderful..."
Socrates jammed him under again Forty seconds passed. Fifty.
"What do you want?"
"Air!" he screeched. "I need air!"
Socrates said, "When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge."
And Brothers and Sisters, listen does it make sense that when we want God’s holiness as much as we want air or perhaps some other things in life, we will seek after it.
God’s holiness should be a very desirable goal in life.
II. HOLINESS IS CONTINUAL I Thess 5:23
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you desire to make heaven your eternal home then you must be sanctified.
You see - "Sanctification" is the crisis experience and "Holiness" is the walk of the Christian believer.
Holiness is a lifestyle that prepares us for heaven.
The writer to the Hebrews said, "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy, without holiness no man will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
I remember in the little country church in Erie, Ohio where I grew up with a very strong and powerful preacher by the name of Newt Wickline.
Newt Wickline would preach Holiness of Heart and we had one man in the congregation who wouldn't accept this Biblical truth.
And when Newt Wickline confronted Brother Roberts with Hebrews 12:14, his answer was, "Well, I'll get to heaven, but I just won't get to see the Lord."
Folks, I mean think about how ridiculous his reasoning was.
Getting to heaven and not seeing God.
It would have been so much easier for Brother Roberts to just accept this doctrine of Holiness instead of being … Well!!!.
Actually, this is true for us all.
We are often slow to learn and especially, when it comes to the spiritual realm of life.
We can't just take some parts of the Word and then just leave other parts.
And when we do hear Word of God, we just need to get serious enough about it that we pursue it with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Sanctification is the Crisis Experience we need after we become a Christian believer.
This is what happened to the 120 disciples who were in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost when the tongues of fire, the sound of a mighty rushing wind and it says, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4a
After we are saved which is the first Crisis experience that makes us a believer, then we must go on to seek this second work of Grace.
And then when we have this experience, we begin our pilgrimage in a life of Holiness.
Holiness then becomes a process of spiritual growth.
Illustration:
In this fact there is nothing instant about it.
We love the microwave for what it can do.
I can cook a sweet potato in a matter of 7 or 8 minutes.
In about two minutes I can pop my popcorn.
We can do quick wonders with the microwave, but there is no spiritual microwave to speed up the holiness process.
We will continue this process of living the life of Holiness until the day we meet Jesus face to face.
23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.
"Sanctify you through and through."
These words sound like we need to be saturated, through and through with holiness, which may take some time.
We all need holy minds, which leads to holy bodies and holy living.
The problem is: some people just don’t care.
Some people don’t care whether they get better or not. Some believers are just satisfied with where they are in their spiritual walk with God.
Paul confronted one group and said, "Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit, since you believed?"
And then there are a few rare souls who actually get frustrated because they are not better than they are.
One time a preacher asked a little boy, "Sonny, who made you?" He replied, "I don’t know. I ain’t done yet."
I do know and you know who made us and I also know that I’m not done yet. He's still working on me? Amen!
And we need to keep on growing in the faith and becoming more like our holy God.
Holiness is a continual process.
III. HOLINESS IS GOD-PRODUCED
24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
There’s nothing we can do on our own to do this.
It is God – produced.
Last week I had to take my brother home from the Mt. Carmel West Hospital and then pick up my dad and take him up to the same hospital from Circleville.
Before I went home I asked my dad if I could use his sidewalk edger. He said, Sure, take it and use it.
When I got home to use it, I found it wouldn't start.
If I poured a little gasoline down when the spark plug goes I would get a quick ignition and then died.
Finally I figured out that it wasn't getting gas.
So I took off the gas tank and looked intently at it and found that a bolt holding the carburetor on was missing.
So I got a bolt and put it on and tightened it down.
NO BIG DEAL?
You better believe it was a Big Deal for me. Willis will tell you I am just learning how to do this stuff.
I'm not blessed with mechanical ability but I'm learning.
Is there anything you can’t do?
Why of course!
Probably many things you can’t do and I can’t do.
Can you teach a Sunday School class?
Can you present a witness or give a testimony to someone for Christ?
Many Christians couldn’t do these things if their life depended on it.
If I were to ask some of you to teach a class, you'd would probably die on the spot.
They wouldn’t know how or else they’d be scared to death to try.
I’M SAYING THAT WE ALL NEED HELP IN OUR SPIRITUAL WALK WITH GOD!
Our Carnal Nature, many times referred to as the "OId Man". will take over and drive us if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit of God in sanctifying Grace.
It will bring out jealousy, covetousness, pride, gossip, critical spirit, self-centeredness, and the list goes on and on.
Paul wrote in Romans 7:20:24
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Paul wrote these verses describing his battle to do what was right.
Yet, he recognized his problem was the sin nature in his heart and he battled with the sin nature to overcome it.
So many of us get caught with this chapter in the book of Romans, but we don't go on the next chapter. Chapter 8.
Notice with me Paul’s final victory over the sin nature.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Paul was battling with the sin nature which was driving him to sin - to do things he knew was sin.
He was crying out for deliverance because he knew there had to be victory over the sinful lifestyle. And he was facing continual defeat and he knew it and the Holy Spirit convicted him of it.
The Word of God tells us to live the life of Holiness. The sanctified life.
Believer friends/Church family we need divine help here.
And here’s another way to look at this help business.
We need help in all areas of life.
What is there in your life that needs to cleaned up and/or put to death?
What is there in your life that could make you a better person and more importantly, make you a better servant of Christ?
Are you tired of spiritual defeat trying to live and yet finding yourself failing and going back to that same old sin?
There are some things in life that we just can’t do for ourselves.
We need divine help.
A pastor tells the story:
A young married woman come to him with a problem many years ago in Iberia, MO.
She said, "Please don’t tell my dad that I came to see you for help."
Her daddy was the town sheriff.
And he was one of those guys who believed in being self-reliant or self-sufficient.
Consequently, he didn’t need God or the church.
NOT SO FOR US.
We all need divine help and especially when it comes to holiness of heart and lifestyle.
Holiness is not self-produced.
It’s a divine thing, produced by the Spirit of God who is at work in us.
Sure, we must practice holiness the best we can, but ultimately, God is the one who produces holiness in us and makes us better than we could ever be by ourselves!
PRAISE HIS NAME!
CONCLUSION------------------------
Oswald Chambers said, “Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.”
Meaning holiness should be our goal in life, not happiness.
I realize, however, that this contradicts the thinking of most people and particularly Americans.
They want to be happy regardless of the cost, even if it means throwing God out of the picture of their lives.
THIS CANNOT BE FOR US WHO ARE IN CHRIST!
Col. 3:1-4 "1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
To me, this tells the story about holiness and seeking God.
If you have been raised with Christ to a new life then there is only one thing to do.
And we know that thing.
Invitation:
You are a saved. You have been born again.
However, you know God calls you to Holiness and yet you know that there is particular sin in your life you have not been able to get victory over.
Would you come and put that sin on the altar and ask God to begin a Sanctified walk with God that the end result is Holiness.
