BIBLICAL HOLINESS by George Crumbly
I Peter 1: 13-16
4/24/2005 Sunday AM
Sheridan, Arkansas
INTRO:
The bible tells us in Ephesians 5:27; “That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but rather it should be holy and without blemish.”
Paul is talking about the kind of church the Lord is looking for, a church that is WITHOUT spot, wrinkle or blemish. A church WITHOUT any Moral Flaw.
I don’t know how to stress the importance that it is not going to be hard to miss heaven. I’m not saying that it is going to be hard to make it to heaven, but I don’t think it is going to be a “drop in the bucket” as many folks think.
(Please don’t misunderstand me-I’m not saying it is going to be hard or too hard to make it to heaven)
I do believe though, we are going to have to get up each & every day with the attitude that we are going to make it thru this day victorious-REGARDLESS of what is thrown our way or what comes our way.
I personally think too much of the church today is “lollygagging’” around thinking they have got it made regardless of what they are doing or how they are living, they think they got it made. We need to get SERIOUS about going to heaven.
I Peter 1: verses 13-16
Peter is exhorting the church to set our hopes on an INWARD RESOLUTION. A personal relationship, a personal discipline and outward conduct. Salvation is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Products of salvation are: HOPE, HOLINESS, REVERENCE, and LOVE.
I was out at Hot Springs Arkansas a while back listening to a Holiness revival, the evangelist was stressing Holiness. There were a number of folks that showed up in support of this revival because they were interested in Holiness.
Holiness is not some goal we reach or a plateau we reach it is a LIFESTYLE we live. I thank God that on September 5, 1983 I was saved in a Holiness church during a Holiness revival. There are many churches out there that are not Holiness. Holiness is not set to any certain denomination. When I was in the Nazarene church I used to tell folks that we did not have a monopoly on Holiness-but Holiness should have a monopoly on us.
Wesley taught Biblical Holiness. The most important ingredient in Holiness is the Holy Spirit. The Holiness church believes in the POWER of the Holy Spirit.
(A good preacher friend of mine used to say: “It’s not how high you can jump but how straight you walk when you hit the ground.”)
WE believe in the Filling-Cleansing-Abiding POWER of the Holy Spirit. Just because someone say’s they are Holy doesn’t make them Holy.
Today I want to share with you 2 things I believe must happen in order for us to be Holy. You see Holy means: “To be set apart.” Another words you’ve got to BE DIFFERENT. ACT DIFFERENT. LOOK DIFFERENT. TALK DIFFERENT. THINK DIFFERENT. When the Lord saved me in 1983 I changed INSTANTANEOUS. Right then & there. Johnny on the spot. I walked out of that church that night differently than I walked in. Yet as I grew I wanted a deeper relationship with the Lord. I wanted everything that God had for me.
(How many of us on payday are satisfied with most of our pay? How about tax refund, are you ok with most of the refund? When you purchase something you want EVERYTHING you got coming back in change?)
Then why is the church so satisfied with most of what God wants you to have? We should want EVERYTHING God has for us!! The Lord filled me with His Spirit & EMPOWERED me to live like He wants me to live.
2 Things I believe we must do in order to be Holy:
I. TURN FROM SIN:
This isn’t complicated. You cannot be Holy and live in sin. You see we’ve seen first hand what sin will do to your life.
(I’ve pastored people that were living in sin-you could sit back & see sin destroying their lives, their children’s lives) Look at what Paul tells the Corinth church
II Corinthians 6: 14- 7:1
People today condone sin. They think because it is their kids’ living in sin it’s not as bad. I had a lady one time that had a son living with a woman; they talked about how God blessed her son (when he was having health problems). I heard later on she was tickled when he rededicated his life back to the Lord, yet………he continued to live with this woman in sin.
God DOES NOT BLESS SIN. Wake up. People accuse you of Judging others, they use the woman caught in adultery, when Jesus told her accusers for those without sin to cast the first stone. Yet they do not read on where Jesus also told the woman to QUIT SINNING. Get out of the sin business.
I John 3: 4-9
Sin is a willful transgression against a know law of God. In simple layman terms? When God says STOP and we continue to do: this is sin. When God say’s DO something and we don’t do it: this is sin. It is personal as God speaks to us individually about things, yet it is universal because it affects everyone.
Our world is in the mess it is in today because of sin. America has a sin problem. Wouldn’t it be nice if America was as SERIOUS about sin as they are: NASCAR? NFL? NBA? MLB? College football? Pro-choice? Saving the whale? Aides issues? All of these folks wasting their time protesting the war over in Crawford Texas today they should be protesting sin. GET OUT OF THE SIN BUSINESS. (The wages of sin? DEATH)
Now that we have turned from sin, we can’t just sit around waiting for Jesus to come back. WE were made to turn to something.
II. TURN TO GOD:
I Peter 1: 17-22
What good does it do to turn from sin and not turn to God? I think one of the reasons many fail today in their walk with god is at first they do turn from sin, but eventually they fall back into sin because they were POWERLESS because they did not turn to God.
(a retired minister in Alabama once said that many today in the church have let God in their vehicle, but they have not allowed Him to drive)
God has got to be in control. So many need to go ahead & fully TURN TO GOD. Folks today are weighed down, tired, burnt out, beat up, humiliated by Satan & sin, they wear a path down to the altar where they pray for God to take their sin away He does then they don’t turn to God. (If you fail to turn to God-YOU WILL BE BACK)
Go ahead now that you have let the Lord in the car, He may be in the front seat with you. If we don’t hand Him the keys & let Him behind the wheel we are going to have problems, struggles all along the way. Over the years I have seen what keeping the keys will do to folks.
Aren’t you tired today of living a semi-defeated life? Is God your STEERING wheel or your SPARE tire? I’ve seen folks crying & complaining about their lives. I knew a lady one time that was constantly asking folks ‘why am I having so many problems?” It was obvious by her lifestyle why.
I believe things happen to us because of one of two reasons:
1.) A circumstance that is beyond our control
2.) Because of the way we are living.
God expects the church to be Holy. This is not an option. It is a requirement.
