Sermon #8 of Sermon the Mount Series
preached April 21, 2002
Parkview Church of the Nazarene
Mobile, AL
J. Richard Lord, Jr.
Holiness Glasses
Matthew 5:8
Intro
Since I was about twelve years old, I have had to wear corrective lenses of some kind. If, for some reason, I could not wear glasses or contacts, I could classed as legally blind. Between myopia and astigmatism, I can’t even see the big “E” on the eye chart without vision correction. Amazingly, with good vision correction, I have perfectly good 20-20 vision.
A couple of times since I have started wearing glasses, I have found myself in the situation of having to have eyeglass repair done without the benefit of having a spare pair of glasses. It is incredible how much a sighted person depends upon their sight for the simplest of things. All of your reactions, your movements and your reflexes depend on being able to see. You are accustomed to looking at where you are going, looking for what you are reaching for, looking at the job you are performing at the time, even watching where you are walking. All of this depends on your sight.
When you are temporarily blinded, you feel helpless. Even in my condition, when all I can see is just vague shapes and blurs of colors, you very quickly develop a sense of being lost. You can’t watch television, you can’t read and it’s very disconcerting to carry on a conversation with someone or a group of people that are only just blobs that move around. You can’t see facial expressions, you can’t even tell sometimes if they are talking to you or someone else.
I discovered something else. It is very hard for me to even play the piano without looking at it. I am so accustomed to watching where my hands go that if I try to play the piano without looking at it from time to time, I get lost. I have to give blind people a lot of credit. They have made an incredible adjustment to having lost their sight.
When you are in that condition for any length of time, you do find yourself beginning to adapt. Instead of turning your head to look for something, you reach out with your hand and feel for it. You find yourself walking down a hall way with your hand on the wall, feeling for doorways. You find yourself, when filling a glass, just sticking your finger in the top so you can tell when the glass is full. When you are in conversation with someone, you don’t feel a need to turn and face them. You are more likely to turn your ear to them rather than your face.
You find yourself developing a whole new set of reactions and reflexes. You move slower. You don’t take as large a step as you once did. You feel your way through doorways. Staircases are a challenge. You move differently, think differently and even act differently.
It is a completely different world you find yourself in. You feel trapped, left out and sometimes, ignored. You begin to sense that horror you would feel if, for some reason, you were to lose your sight permanently.
But let’s reverse that for a moment. Let’s pretend that from birth, you have been blind. You do not know what it is to see a sunset, to look at the majesty of mountains, or the beauty of the ocean.
The only conception you have of your parents is by how they feel. You have no picture in your mind of what they look like. Indeed, you don’t even have a concept of what a picture is. Because you have never seen, you have no concept of what vision is. It would be much like us trying to conceive of what radio waves look like.
All the reactions and reflexes you have are the ones you have developed through touch. You don’t know what it means to be able to see an object and walk toward to pick it up or touch it. Who you are and what your are is limited by the lack of this one sense. You have no conception of many things, because you can’t see them.
This is much like what sin is. We are born outside a relationship to God. We have no concept of God, because we have never seen him. All we know is what our physical senses tell us.
A teacher sent a boy outside the class with the instructions to make some observations and come back in and report what we saw. When he came back in, the teacher asked him, “Did you see the sky?” “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “What color was it?” “Blue,” he replied. “Were there clouds?” “Yes, ma’am.” “What color were they?” she asked. “Well, there some white and some gray,” he said. “Did you see the ground?” she asked. “Yes, ma’am, it was green in some places and brown in other places.” he answered. “Did you see God?” she asked. “No, ma’am, I didn’t,” he said. “Then, he must not exist,” declared the teacher.
A girl raised her hand and asked, “May I ask him some questions?” “Yes, you may,” said the teacher. The girl said, “Look around this room and tell me what you see.” The boy said, “Well, I see students, desks, papers, and the teacher.” “What color dress is the teacher wearing?” asked the girl. “Blue,” he replied. “Do you see her brain?” she asked. “No,” he replied. “Then it must not exist.” declared the girl.
But God has revealed himself to us. By the prophets and by Jesus himself, God has not only revealed Himself to us, but has paid the price of redemption by the blood of His only Son, Jesus.
But, you say, we still can’t see Him. Yes, you can. God has revealed himself to us. The only reason we can’t see him is because we don’t have on our holiness glasses.
When I was twelve years old, I finally had come to the realization that I could not see the chalkboard in school. I was having difficulty in participating in the class because I couldn’t see. So my parents, after having seen a drop in my grades, and after my complaining about not being able to see, finally took me to the optometrist. After an examination, I was fitted with a pair of glasses.
It was wonderful! I remember that all the way home I was reading billboards, license plates and signs to my parents. I could see! I marveled at the clarity of a line of trees off in the distant. I could almost see every leaf! I was ecstatic!
There comes a point in our life when we realized that something is missing. We have a hunger for something, but we don’t know how to fill it. Some try drugs, alcohol, promiscuity. Others try hedonism or mysticism.
Jesus has come to us and told us that we are blind. He has written a prescription in His own blood to correct that blindness. It is a prescription for “Holiness Glasses.”
These Holiness Glasses are what we receive when we receive the Spirit of God in His fullness. The condition of man is such that we cannot see God. We have no concept of Him. Our lives are marked by the devastating impurity of sin. It has destroyed our spiritual sight and has cast darkness into our soul.
This condition is called carnality. Instead of living according to the light of God by the presence of His Spirit in our life, we are blinded by sin’s darkness, we are lost, unaware of our condition and unaware of God.
When God’s Spirit speaks to us in conviction, and we answer His call, he saves us from our sin, and He strips the blindfold of sin from our eyes. We now begin to see God and catch a vision of His glory.
But there is still a problem. Carnality still remains. Our vision is still somewhat blurred. But there is a remedy. It is called Holiness. The prescription that Jesus writes for us is the sanctifying power of the fullness of His Spirit. It is as if, by giving us a set of “Holiness Glasses,” the vision of God cleanses us from the carnality within.
When we have had all the darkness cleansed from our soul, several things happen:
I. WE ARE SEPARATED
In the Old Testament when something was declared holy, it was separated from the rest of the common things.
In the same way God calls to come out from the world. "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." (2 Corinthians 6:17)
When we answer the call of Jesus on our life, we renounce the claim of the world on us. We may live in the world, but we are no longer of it. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” (John 17:15-16)
We no longer subscribe to the ideas and philosophies of this world. When we put on our Holiness Glasses, we begin to see the world in a different light, a different perspective.
II. WE ARE CLEANSED.
Have you ever tried to clean a dirty house in the dark? No matter how thoroughly you think you’ve cleaned it, when you open up the house to the light of day, you will find places you’ve missed. It’s because you can’t see all the dirt.
Before God comes in sanctifying power, we may realized our spiritual house is dirty, be we can’t see clearly enough to clean it. But when we receive our Holiness Glasses, with the light of God shining in our heart, the dirt is revealed, and it can be cleansed.
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22)
“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14)
III. WE ARE CONSECRATED
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)
In Yorkshire, England, during the early 1800s, two sons were born to a family named Taylor. The older one set out to make a name for himself by entering Parliament and gaining public prestige. But the younger son chose to give his life to Christ. He later recalled, “Well do I remember, as in unreserved consecration I put myself, my life, my friends, my all, upon the altar. I felt I was in the presence of God, entering into covenant with the Almighty.” With that commitment, Hudson Taylor turned his face toward China and obscurity. As a result, he is known and honored on every continent as a faithful missionary and the founder of the China Inland Mission (now known as Overseas Missionary Fellowship). For the other son, however, there is no lasting monument. When you look in the encyclopedia to see what the other son has done, you find these words, “the brother of Hudson Taylor.” “. . . he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17).
When we receive our Holiness Glasses, we are able to see the loving God who has done so much for us. What that compels us to do is to dedicate our life in service to Him.
We no longer care about the goals and ambitions of this life. The course our life is set upon is the course of serving a living Lord who has set us free from the law of sin and death.
Our priorities change. We now have a vision of something that is beyond this life. The only things of this earth that matter are those things that we can use to further the Kingdom of God.
CONCLUSION
The world takes on a new perspective when we get our Holiness Glasses. We see it as it really is.
We also notice a change in our reactions and reflexes. Where we had groped around, trying to find our way, not knowing where to go and how to get there, we now understand, because we can see! Life is much more exciting, fulfilling and happy, because we where we were once blind, now we can see!
In the early days of space exploration, a Soviet cosmonaut went into space. When he came back, he declared, “I have searched the heavens, and found no God.”
The only reason he couldn’t see Him was because he did not have on his Holiness Glasses!
We can only see God if we allow Him to purify our hearts, cleansing our hearts from all unrighteousness, putting our faith, our life totally in His control.
