Pull Up!

(Call to Holiness)

INTRODUCTION — The Great Danger of Drifting

Every pilot knows that you don’t have to crash to die.

Sometimes you just drift.

A degree off-course here.

A little neglect there.

The gauges still look fine.

Engines hum.

Wings steady.

But gradually…

quietly…

you descend.

Until a mountain appears where you never expected one.

And the cockpit erupts with the warning:

Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!

The call is urgent because life is at stake.

There is a spiritual version of that alarm in Scripture. It echoes from the prophets to Jesus to the apostles:

“Be holy.”

“Walk in the Spirit.”

“Set your minds on things above.”

“Come out from among them.”

“Do not love the world.”

It isn’t God nagging.

It’s God rescuing.

When the heart begins descending into compromise and we think we’re flying just fine… God, in love, speaks:

Pull up.

Holiness is not a cold requirement.

Holiness is God saving us from the crash.

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HOLINESS IS GOD’S DESIRE FOR HIS FAMILY

Peter writes:

> “Be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:16

God’s children carry the family resemblance.

Not because we’re trying to impress Him.

But because His character rubs off on everyone who walks closely with Him.

Holiness means:

• God changes how we think

• God changes what we love

• God changes who we are becoming

Holiness isn’t the price of salvation.

Holiness is the product of salvation.

The world says:

“Live your truth.”

Jesus says:

“I am the Truth. Live Mine.”

Holiness is God’s love refusing to leave you how He found you.

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THE MISUNDERSTANDING THAT STEALS OUR JOY

Some believers hear “holiness” and immediately brace for impact.

Rules. Pressure. Performance. Shame.

White-knuckled righteousness.

We picture holiness like God is standing over us with a clipboard:

• “Did you read enough?”

• “Did you resist enough?”

• “Did you sin less than yesterday?”

Holiness becomes a treadmill.

We run harder… but stay in the same place.

The enemy loves that version of holiness because it is: • exhausting but fruitless

• loud but loveless

• busy but powerless

• full of rules but empty of relationship

That’s not holiness. That’s fear of disappointing God dressed up in religious clothes.

Holiness is not earning God’s love.

Holiness is responding to God’s love.

Holiness is what happens when grace gets inside you and starts tossing out the junk that was killing you anyway.

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GRACE TEACHES HOLINESS

Titus 2:11–12 says:

> “The grace of God… teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness.”

Not guilt.

Not embarrassment.

Not fear.

Grace.

Grace not only pardons.

Grace mentors.

Grace whispers:

“You are made for more than this.”

“Come with Me.”

“I will help you.”

“You can be free.”

Sin doesn’t care about you.

Sin uses you then discards you.

Holiness is God refusing to let sin have you.

Holiness is God freeing what sin enslaved.

Holiness is God healing what sin damaged.

Holiness is God restoring what sin twisted.

Holiness is not punishment.

Holiness is rescue.

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THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES THE HEAVY LIFTING

Philippians 2:13 says:

> “It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

God doesn’t just give commands.

He gives power.

Before salvation, sin felt natural and righteousness felt impossible.

After salvation, righteousness begins to feel like home.

There is a Spirit within you who: • changes appetites

• rewrites instincts

• strengthens resolve

• convicts gently

• comforts immediately

• never gives up on you

Holiness is not “fake it till you make it.”

Holiness is “yield and be changed.”

Whenever you feel the nudge to forgive…

whenever you feel the urge to pray…

whenever you feel convicted about a habit…

That’s the Spirit saying:

“I’m pulling you upward.”

Holiness is God rewiring your heart for joy.

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THE COST OF IGNORING THE WARNING

Drifting always begins quietly.

No one wakes up and says: “I think I’ll fall away from Jesus today.”

We drift by: • small compromises

• neglected prayer

• secret sin

• bitterness we feed

• voices we shouldn’t trust

• comfort replacing commitment

• leisure replacing worship

We drift when the cross becomes a memory instead of a miracle.

We drift when holiness feels optional.

We drift when love for Jesus is replaced by habit about Jesus.

God’s voice grows faint not because He stopped speaking…

but because we stopped listening.

Every descent feels safe…

until the ground rushes up beneath the wings.

That’s when grace shouts again:

Pull up!

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HOLINESS IS NOT JUST AVOIDING SIN

If holiness were only “don’t do that,” we could achieve it by moving into a cave and cancelling the internet.

Jesus didn’t call His people to isolation.

He called them to transformation.

Holiness is not just avoiding evil.