#2 in Holiness Series
May 11, 2003
The Case For Holiness
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
There is not a major main line Christian denomination in existence that does not believe in holiness. Everyone who believes in God believes in the ultimate holiness of God.
Almost every denomination and theological persuasion also believes that there will be no sin in heaven. Every main-line Christian denomination believes that somewhere between heaven and earth, the sin that was introduced onto this earth in the Garden of Eden will be purged from existence.
The disagreement is in the process and the “when. “ Some believe that we cannot be free from sin in this life and somehow, in the moment of death, the grace of God sanctifies us and we are translated from the sin in this life to the holiness of heaven.
Even the Catholics believe in holiness. However their process of holiness is different. When you are “confirmed,” you are initially sanctified, and then your work out your salvation in this life. Entire sanctification is achieved in purgatory, where we pay the final penalty for sin, and sin is “purged” from us before our entrance in heaven.
However, every scripture reference to the sanctification of the believer is about living the sanctified life now on this earth. Much is written in the scriptures that is the prescription of living out holiness in everyday life.
Everything in the Bible points to the fact that God expects His people to life a holy life. It is:
I. A PROMISE.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 says, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, `Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
Ezekiel 11:19-20 says, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”
It has been God’s intention all along that His people live a life of holiness.
II. A POSSIBILITY.
Christians, who are convinced that we cannot escape sin in this life, in my opinion, lead defeated lives. They are convinced that since we cannot escape sin, we are condemned live in it. That is a misconception has led to much misery in their lives.
They live in Romans chapter 7. Their lives mirror what Paul is talking about there.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 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.” (Romans 7:15-20)
So, day after day, they struggle with sin. They have the desire to follow the Lord, but are enslaved by the sin in their life.
But thank God that the book of Romans doesn’t end there! We don’t have to live in Romans chapter 7; we can go on to chapter 8, which says,
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
God’s prescription is that we live a holy life. It is His desire, His call, and His expectation.
III. A POTENTIALITY.
I Thessalonians 4:1-2 says, “ 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.”
Because Paul states that in verse 1 that they are now living to please God, we can assume that they are already sanctified. So you think, “Well, that’s done.” But then he goes on to urge them to do it, “more and more.”
We must understand that sanctification is both a process and a crisis. When we are saved, God sets us apart from the world for himself. This is called “initial sanctification.” It’s just the beginning.
There reaches a point, however, when our own selfish natures begin to battle with the will of God. This will go on for a time.
At some point, however, we will be brought to a crisis decision point. God has been pulling us to yield our entire will to His will and we have been resisting. We are so used to being in control that it is hard to give it up.
But because we love Him so, we reach a point where we say, finally, “Not my will, but Thine.”
At that point, the Holy Spirit comes in His fullness and cleanses us from inbred sin, and fills our heart with perfect love.
We are now sanctified wholly. This is called “entire sanctification.” At this point, we might be tempted to say, “Well, that’s done.”
But it’s not! It is just the beginning. There begins at that point a new journey of discovery that will lead us to a development of our person, our personality and our spirit beyond anything that we can think or imagine.
Philippians 1:9-11 says, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.”
What happens after the crisis experience of entire sanctification is a continual growth. Our love continues to grow, “to abound more and more.”
CONCLUSION
John is a young man just out of college working his first job. He’s had some casual dates with several young ladies and has some interest in, well, all of them. But one day, while he is eating lunch in a little cafe` just down the street from his office, he meets a dazzling young lady named Mary. Something down in his heart rings when he sees her, and, being the bold young man he is, he asks her out. She accepts and they start on that hazardous journey called courtship.
John still has some interest in the other young ladies in his life and, in the beginning, still has a relationship with them. But as the days pass, he sees less and less of them until one day he realizes that Mary has captured his heart. On a momentous romantic evening he states his love for her and asks her marry him. She accepts and begins to plan their wedding day.
During this time of engagement, John severs his relationships with the other young ladies in his life.
In a storybook romance the young man has no doubts as to his choice and marches resolutely to the altar.
But this is real life. Everyone knows how stormy engagements can be. There are times of doubt and uncertainty. Even though the couple sees each other regularly, there is still a lot about each other they don’t know. They are in the process of getting to know each other and as everyone knows that if love is “grand” it can also be painful. It sometimes is an “up and down” relationship.
But one day the couple meet at the church altar. They are in their finest attire. Before God, family and the church, they seal their vows together, forsaking all others, for a lifetime of living, loving and sharing their existence with each other. John carries Mary over the threshold and says, “Well, that’s done.” Little does he know. Mary is just starting.
As a lot of us know, marriage is a whole ‘nother ball game. Before, John could drop Mary off at her house and go home to his own “space.” He could have his own routines, do his own “thing.”
But after marriage, they are now “joined together” in more ways than one. If you think they spent a lot of time together before, marriage is a lifetime of togetherness, day after day after day. They now live in each other’s “space.” Their relationship takes on another dimension. Mary has a lot of work on her hands. And it is just the beginning. Over a lifetime, they continue to grow and change each other. It’s amazing how you can see two young people, who look nothing alike, act nothing alike; get married, and fifty years later, they look alike and act alike.
This is similar to our relationship with God. He has wooed us from the beginning. We had relationships with other “gods.” But one day, something about Jesus captured our heart, and we felt His call to come to Him and vow our love to Him, as He has vowed His love for us.
This is what is known as being “saved.” We start out on a relationship that begins to grow and develop. But it is not easy. A lot of our former life keeps intruding. There are lots of temptations. We are used to living our own way, and sometimes our relationship with Jesus gets “stormy.”
But one day, we come to the altar. We are tired of the battle of living our own way. We are tired of this “long distance” relationship with Jesus. We kneel at this altar and before God and the church and declare Jesus as the master of our life.
His precious Holy Spirit comes in and takes the winnowing fork of fire, which is pure love, and sweeps it through our heart and cleanses us from all other loves, and we vow purity of love and intent toward Him for the rest of eternity.
His precious Holy Spirit now moves in with us. We are inseparably bound together in a way that we never had before. It is a whole ‘nother ball game. We begin a life of loving, living together, with the Holy Spirit filling our “space.” It is a 24-7 relationship.
And it is just the beginning. For over a lifetime, the Holy Spirit is going to make changes in us. Over our lifetime we are going to be changed so much, that we are going to begin to look and act just like the one who has lived in our heart all these years. He is going to lead us to do things we never thought we were capable of doing and He is going to help us fulfill our greatest potential as a servant of Jesus Christ.
