Made to Be Holy
1 Peter 1:13-16
September 22, 2013
Morning Service
A businessman was in the process of selling an old warehouse. The building had sat vacant for several months and had fallen prey to vandalism. Doors were damaged, windows were smashed, trash was thrown throughout the place and graffiti had been painted on the walls. As the prospective buyer examined the building, the owner explained that he would repair all of the doors, replace the broken windows, remove the trash and repaint all of the walls in the building. The buyer explained that there would be no need for any of those things. In fact, he planned to buy the building as it was because his plan was to tear down the building and replace it with something new. The interest was not in the building but instead it was in the site itself.
The same is true of God. He looks at the condition of the human heart and understands that we carry a great deal of brokenness and garbage. The goal of God is not to come in and remodel our existing life. Instead, God wants to do a complete removal of the old life and construct a new life in its place.
The holy person is not one who cannot sin. The holy person is one who will not sin. A.W. Tozer
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. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
God sets the standard for holiness and it is higher than we can ever imagine. God is completely and absolutely holy. This is a concept that we often have a difficult time grasping.
What is the problem?
When it comes to the matter of holiness, we have an incredible problem. God is completely and absolutely holy and He expects us to be holy. Our problem is that we are not holy, not even close. The Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy rags. When we compare ourselves to God, we come across as unholy.
There must be a way for us to make ourselves holy. We can do extra things to help the church. We can live our lives trying to not do anything wrong. We can make the attempt to obey everything we find in the Bible. In the end, we will never be able to do it. No matter who you are or what stage of spiritual development you are in; there is always something that you struggle with.
The bad news is simple: we will never be able to be holy through our own efforts. No matter what you and I do, we cannot make ourselves holy in the eyes of God. We cannot raise our own level of holiness to match that of God. God expects us to be holy but we cannot do it.
There is a similar problem in the issue of salvation; there is no way to be good enough to get into heaven. God cannot and will not allow sin to enter heaven. There is nothing that we can do to make ourselves right with God. The only way that we can be made right with God is through His divine plan. This is where Jesus comes in. God knew that we could not overcome the results or the penalty of sin, so He sent Jesus to do it for us. Jesus paid the price for sin on the cross and overcame death through the resurrection. Jesus is the one who makes us right with God. We understand this and we accept it.
Why do we not admit that we cannot be holy without help?
We cannot live up to God’s level of holiness. Our lives have been stained by the reality of sin. We may be forgiven but the stains remain. We bear the scars of our sinful nature. The question is what do we do? We depend on God because He never leaves us hopeless.
God sent Jesus to save us from the penalty of sin. God sends the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from the satins of our sin.
Salvation is a free gift through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Sanctification is free grace through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God fills the life of the believer with the abundance of His personal blessing by filling you with the Holy Spirit. How much more blessed can we get, than to have the presence of Christ in our hearts and the presence of the Spirit within our souls? It is a double portion of God’s power and presence.
Salvation is the work of Jesus that gets us into heaven and allows us to spend eternity with God. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit that makes us more like Jesus and brings heaven into our character. We are not meant to just be saved, we are meant to become like Jesus. Jesus doesn’t just want to bring us to heaven, He also wants to bring heaven into our lives.
Holiness is the process that we become increasingly like Jesus. It is Christlikeness. Many times, children get their appearance and their mannerisms from their parents. People should see the family resemblance of Christ in our lives.
We can only be as strong as our greatest weakness. It is only when we admit our weakness before God that we can receive His divine strength. We will never be able to be strong until we first admit the fact that we are weak.
I have heard it said many times by godly people that they sin in word thought and deed every day. What defeated way to look at the Christian life. If God has the power to create the universe in six days, can He give you the power to live a holy life? Absolutely! If God had the ability to part the Red Sea, make the walls of Jericho fall and knock down a giant with a stone, can He give you the power to live a holy life? Yes! If God had the strength to raise Jesus from the dead, canHe help you live a holy life? Yes!
The Process of Sanctification
Step One: Leading Grace
The work: Conviction of sin
The Goal: Confession
Step Two: Saving Grace
The work: conversion from sin
The goal: Conversion
Step Three: Sanctifying Grace
The work: cleansing from sin
The goal: Consecration
Step Four: Glorifying Grace
The work: completion of perfection
The goal: Change
A consecrated life is one that seeks to bring honor to the name of Christ.
• Identified with Christ: Do people know you are a Christian?
• Imitation of Christ: Do you seek to become more and more like Jesus?
• Inauguration of the Holy Spirit: Does the Holy Spirit reside within your life? Does He have control of how you live? Sanctification is inaugurated in a moment but experienced over a lifetime. Too many people get focused on the moment and forget that it is meant to be a daily experience. When was the last time that the Holy Spirit moved you to change something in your life?
Our church is in a desperate need for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
* We need to see the power of God poured into our midst
* We need to see God doing what only He can do
* We need to see God bring His solutions to our problems
* We need to see God bring His strength and ability into the church
Conclusion
Are you ready for more of God than you curerently have? Are you ready to take the next step in your journey with Him? What must you do to receive the Holy Spirit?
1. You must be saved - salvation is a requirement
2. You must want it - desire it from the depths of your heart
3. You must seek it - pray for it
4. You must surrender - empty yourself of you
