Five weeks ago we began a series on Holiness. We looked at ideas and methods we can use to help us work towards that life of Holiness. If you remember, we first found the definition of Holiness, which means, “To be like God”. It didn’t mean to be God, or to be A God, but to be LIKE God. And we explained that God doesn’t do anything wrong. He doesn’t lie, cheat, steal, murder, have envy, unrighteous anger, or be deceitful. And what He does do… is love. He loves His children, every single one. So, that’s it. 1st Peter 1:16 told us, “for it is written, Be holy as I am Holy.” That was and still is an instruction for us. It turns out, once we believe that we have a Savior, once we know who Jesus Christ is and what HE has done for us, the next logical step is to work towards holiness. If we don’t, what are we? If we say we have a Savior but don’t believe in His words or His instruction, do we truly have faith? It is a question that affects each one of us, even eternally.
The next week we looked into the most important tool in our walk towards holiness, and that was walking in the Word. Which actually means spending time reading God’s Word. Because when it really comes down to it, how can we know what is and isn’t holy? As we pointed out, we could always get lucky and just happen onto a scripture verse that talks about holiness. You know the ones, the ones about not lying, cheating, slandering, having any kind of immorality in our lives. Or, we can do even better. We can know. What I mean is, when we study something enough, we end up knowing it. We don’t need to go look it up every time, we already know what God is telling us. Sometimes we even get good enough to memorize it. Which by the way is actually the goal. We found that scripture verse we hear in Sunday School, Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” or as Paul tells us in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom”. There is a reason those verses are taught to us over and over. Those words can leave an impression on our hearts and minds and some day when we really need the help, we might remember where the strongest help comes from. Our Father in Heaven.
And after we found out exactly what holiness was, and then where we can read about holiness, and how to get there, what to do, or not to do. We spoke about the importance of that book, God’s Word. Remember the quotes we heard? Abraham Lincoln stating in a response to an African American group giving him a Bible as a gift in 1864, “In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book." And our first president George Washington when he said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” And even the great Napoleon had an amazing respect for God’s Word when he told others, “The Bible is no mere book, but it's a living creature with a power that conquers all who oppose it.” It is the power of great leaders, it is the strength men and women need and use that gets us through the tough times. It is the map, we use to get to Heaven.
As we continued on we found some important guidelines in His Word. In chapter 3 of Colossians we found the heading before verse 1 that actually says “Rules for Holy Living”. It says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.” And the next chapter continues with the “Rules for Christian Households”. You see we never had to look far to find instructions or advice on how to live a holy life. The directions are still right here! They are easy to find, if we open the book and take a look.
We even went so far as to find examples of holiness that we can look towards for guidance. We spoke about people like Polycarp who was burned at the stake when he was 86 years old, singing and praising God until his last second on earth. And then we found the ultimate example. Jesus Christ himself.
Remember, He did not just die that we could be saved from our committed sins, but he died so that we may be free from all of sin. He suffered outside the gate of heaven, so that he may sanctify the people. We also found in God’s Word that by rejecting holiness we are in fact rejecting his death upon the cross. The reason he died was that we might be sanctified. If we reject this gift, we are rejecting him. Hebrews 6:1 had a message for each of us, “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” The point here was, once you know the truth, you need to move on. Forward not backwards. By knowing and understanding what Christ did for you, and not continuing on towards holiness, we are rejecting Him openly. You see there is no middle ground here. By being stagnant, or doing nothing or not trying to change your life towards holiness, we actively disobey His teachings. Verse 6 goes on to lay it out pretty plainly. It tells us that if we don’t go on into perfection we crucify Christ again. So as we explored why Holiness is so important we found the answer. Holiness is that important because Christ died for it. Not to give us a choice of working towards holiness or staying in our sinful ways, but actually laying out the path that we are expected to follow. 1st Thessalonians 4 verses 1 to 7 show us what the will of God is, sanctification. It is written, “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”
We found other reasons why it is so important. We found that without it, our Carnal Nature that means our sinful flesh and desires drives us from within. Paul wrote Romans 7:20-24 just for us, as he too was surprised that he while he wanted to do right, his body always wanted to do wrong. Another reason was that the Heaven we look forward to, demands it. Hebrews 12:14 reads, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” That too is pretty plain. Holiness is not just another option. If Heaven is the goal, Holiness is the only way.
And today we find ourselves with all this information. We have the tools, God’s Word, the examples, and even the door was unlocked for us by our Savior who went ahead and made it possible for us to be reunited with our Creator in Heaven. We have the guidelines, we have the strength of God behind us if we ask for it. We even have others that went before us, following the same words they read in God’s map to heaven (hold up the bible) that we have in front of us. And now we are only missing the one thing. The motivation. That is the strength behind a real decision. You see 5 weeks of sermons, or 50 weeks of sermons and a stack of Bibles 500 feet high cannot get you to make the decision to change your life, to follow the person who saved it from a sure death. The only thing you may still need, is motivation. Maybe hell is a motivation for you, maybe being in paradise with God is a motivation, maybe even loving others and being a person after God’s own heart is your motivation. I pray all those things add to your decision. However if you still haven’t, the only person that can motivate you, the only person who can push you forward and sustain that drive towards holiness, wants to live inside you, the Holy Spirit. But He can’t, until you invite Him in.
In Matthew chapter 12 verse 24 the Pharisees are saying that Christ is using the power of the devil when he casts out demons. He answers telling them that a divided house cannot stand. That lesson continues on today. The Holy Spirit will not reside in a heart inhabited by evil. God and sin will not inhabit the same body. The decision then, if we want the Holy Spirits help in our walk towards holiness, is telling the devil, to hit the road. That sin we just don’t want to give up, has to go. The Spirit wants to help, He has the power and the willingness to help, but we have to kick out those horrible things that drag us down first. And when we do, when we do kick out the enemy who holds us captive, He is waiting, He is waiting to help, waiting to guide, waiting to strengthen us and our resolve. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just want to live in us, He wants to help us help others, He wants to love us so we love others. We read in 1st Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” The same body we abuse was made by God as a temple, a place of worship a holy place designed to be kept holy. We can see it again in 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 1 verse 13, where it explains that we are chosen by God to be “saved through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.” Well that can’t happen if we don’t make a place for Him. He can’t set us apart from the rest of world, or for that matter even tell us apart from the rest of the world, until we invite Him in, not to visit, but to stay. Not to come and go but to make His home here (point to my heart) inside of us. Then we have all we need, then we have the Word of God, the Son of God, our Savior and especially the Spirit of God, our strength, our Counselor, our guide to a life of holiness.
Our scripture verse told us to live by the Spirit, it said we should be led by the Spirit. And if we allow the Spirit to lead us, He will lead us into an amazing life of holiness. We should read the Word, listen to the Word, follow Christ’s example, Welcome the Holy Spirit and then we get to taste and touch and see why holiness is so important, because it leads right back to God. God bless each of you in your walk. Would you pray with me?
Pray.
