1 - Holiness without it I will not see God

Transcription

1 1 - Holiness without it I will not see God We have been engaged with the Lord in His Word for a couple of months now seeking to fully understand the message of Isaiah 6:1-8 when he saw the Lord in all His glory. That experience for Isaiah was transformational. His life hinged on that vision. When he saw God in all His holiness, Isaiah saw himself in all his sin and shame. He cried out in his fear of being obliterated by Holy God, Woe is me! Then God miraculously intervened, cleansed Isaiah, and made him useable. Then Isaiah responded in love and devotion, Here am I! Send me! After all God had done in cleansing him, Isaiah s only response was to put himself totally before God for His purposes. I have to say, that is what happened to me. I knew the person I was and how absolutely I deserved God s wrath. So when He saved me, redeemed me, and called me to Himself my unhesitating response was just like Isaiah s Here am I! Do what you will! I am yours! God calls each of us to Himself in an experience of His grace. That call to salvation is a multidimensional calling. We are called to be saved, indeed! When we are saved, God marks us as justified before him. The holiness of Christ is ascribed to us. Halleluiah! The big theological word for that is justification. As an act of grace, we are so intimately united with Christ that we are pronounced justified before the Throne of God. We call this our position in Christ. Justification is positional. But we are also called to grow, to mature in our faith. The word for that is sanctification. We call this progressive. We progress in our sanctification. That is a very important word for us to know. Sometimes we get so absorbed in our position in Christ we neglect the process of sanctification whereby we are made more and more like Jesus here and now. The word comes from the old Hebrew and Greek words that both mean sacred, holy, set apart for God s exclusive use and pleasure. When applied to the Children of God, it means that they are to be sacred, holy, and set apart exclusively for God s use and pleasure. Paul wrote, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God s. (1 Cor. 6:19-20) Jesus paid the price for our sins. But that ultimate sacrifice also was the means by which God bought us as His own unique possession. We must see ourselves as no longer our own. We are God s private possession. Because God is holy, then it is only natural that He requires all those who are His to likewise be holy. Six times in the Bible God says, You shall be holy because I am holy. This is the matter we will be pursuing for the next few weeks. I believe the whole notion of the command in Scripture to pursue holiness and its critical importance to the Christian life is not preached, taught, or emphasized sufficiently, if at all, in our churches today. The doctrine of holiness and all it entails is one of the most essential and practical in application to the daily life of the believer. I pray God will use this series of sermons in the life of those it touches to enrich and deepen their walk with God. READ with me from Heb. 12:14. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord Let s ask the Lord to help us know what it means to pursue holiness and why that is so important. PRAY The writer of Hebrews gives a specific, pointed, and direct command. Pursue holiness. What follows is a simple but powerful, strait forward statement: without being holy we will not see the Lord. This short compelling verse is one that communicates a clear warning while at the same time confidence and hope.

2 So what does this verse mean? One question that obviously comes to mind is, Does my salvation depend on my attaining some level of personal holiness? The short answer is, No. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our righteous deeds are like filthy garments in the light of God s holy law. Our best efforts are like filthy rages sowed together with the thread of sin. Second, Scripture is clear that it is Christ s righteousness on our behalf that gives us audience before God clothed in His righteousness. 19 For as by one man s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man s obedience many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19) 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, (1 Peter 3:18) 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10) Based on the above verses we see that our holiness before God depends entirely on the work of Jesus Christ for us, in us and through us, all by God s will. Now we can ask the question, Does Hebrews 12:14 refer to this holiness that we have in Christ? Simple answer: No Because the writer of Hebrews says that the holiness referred to here is to be pursued, strived for and without this effort no one will see the Lord. The Bible then speaks of both a holiness that we have in Christ before God (our positional holiness through justification), and a holiness that we are to strive after (progressive holiness, spiritual growth, sanctification). These two aspects complement one another, for our salvation is a salvation unto holiness. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. (1 Thessalonians 4:7) 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified (made holy) in Christ Jesus, called to be saints (to be holy) (added words are mine). (1 Corinthians 1:2) So we are made holy in Christ in our standing before God, and at the same time God is making us holy in our daily lives. When we are saved and Jesus comes into our heart, we are declared holy in our standing before God. When the Holy Spirit comes in our lives at salvation, He comes to make us holy in practice. If there is no desire to pursue holiness, at least a yearning in our hearts to live a holy life pleasing to God, we need to seriously question whether our faith in Christ is genuine. This does not mean that when we are saved this desire is automatically a blazing fire for God, but there should be a recognizable spark. But this spark will grow into a flame when God works in your life and places the desire to live a life wholly pleasing to Him in you (Phil 2:13). If that does not happen, we must question our decision to follow Christ. We are saved not only from the penalty of sin, but its dominion, its hold on us in our Christian walk. Holiness, then, is not necessary as a condition of salvation that would be salvation by works but the absolute result of salvation that is received by faith in Christ. As stated above, this does not mean the desire for holiness must be a conscious desire at the time a person comes to Christ, but rather it means that the Holy Spirit who creates within us saving faith also creates within us the desire for holiness. He simply does not create one without the other. 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, (Titus 2:11-12) 1 - Holiness in the life of a Christian is demanded by God s nature. God s nature demands holiness in the life of a Christian. Holiness is required for fellowship with God. David asked the question, Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? (Ps 15:1). Essentially this is asking who may live in fellowship with God? The answer that is summarized in the next four verses is he who leads a holy life.

3 God does not require a perfect, sinless life to have fellowship with Him, but He does require that we be serious about holiness, that we grieve over sin in our lives instead of justifying it, and that we earnestly pursue holiness as a way of life. 2 - Holiness is required for spiritual health. Romans 12:1-2 / 1 Cor. 11:30; 6:18-20 Often times in my life, the need for holiness calls for God to bring discipline into my life. When I am not living as I should, God loves me enough to get my attention. Scripture says, The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son (Hebrews 12:6). He disciplines us because we need discipline. To persist in disobedience is to increase our necessity for discipline. Some of the Corinthian Christians persisted in disobedience to the point where God had to take their lives (1 Corinthians 11:30). Holy Spirit makes this clear to me when I read from Romans 12:1-2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Good, healthy, growing disciples pursue holiness as a lifestyle. When God speaks to us about some sin we need to listen and take action. To fail to deal with that sin is to risk incurring His hand of discipline. Peter said, Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear (1 Peter 1:17). God is serious about holiness in the lives of His people, and He will discipline us to attain it. 3 - Holiness is necessary for effective service to God. Paul wrote to Timothy, If a man cleanses himself from these [ignoble purposes], he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work (2 Timothy 2:21). Holiness and usefulness are linked together. We cannot bring our service to God that is done merely in the power of our flesh. The One who makes our service effective and Who empowers us for service is the Holy Spirit. Note well that He is called the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Holiness. When we indulge our sinful natures and dwell in unholiness, the Spirit of God is grieved (Ephesians 4:30) and His work in us is quenched like a fire is snuffed out. (1 Thess. 5:19) He cannot and will not prosper our service if done in sin and the flesh. This is not referring to times when we fall into temptation and immediately seek God s forgiveness and cleansing, but lives that are characterized by unholy living. 4 - Holiness is necessary for the assurance of salvation. True faith will always show itself by its fruits. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). James tells us that for the body without the spirit is death, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:26) Is there evidence in your life that you are a new creation a changed life that is growing to become more like Christ? The only clear evidence that we are in Christ is a holy life. John said everyone who has within him the hope of eternal life purifies himself just as Christ is pure (1John 3:3). That is an obvious reverence to pursuing holiness. Paul said, Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Romans 8:14). If we know nothing of holiness, we may flatter ourselves that we are Christians but we do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. 5 - Holiness is the only clear evidence we are in Christ.

4 Holiness is about transformation, not behavior modification. Our ministers have been studying a book entitled Transformational Discipleship. It has deeply impressed us with biblical truth. One critical truth we have learned is that discipleship is not about gaining more knowledge. That is basically philosophy. Discipleship is not about behavior modification. That is basically being saved by works. Rather, biblical discipleship is about lives being transformed by abiding in Christ. A transformed life is hungry for knowledge of Christ. A transformed life will radically change our behavior. But the motivation for both is the heart change, the transformation caused by abiding in Christ. So what sort of persons are those whom God calls holy. A man may go great lengths, and yet never reach true holiness. Holiness is not knowledge Balaam had that: - nor great profession Judas Iscariot had that: - nor doing many things Herod had that: - nor zeal for certain matters in religion the Pharisees had that: - nor morality and outward respectability of conduct the young ruler had that: - nor keeping company with godly people Demas had that. Yet none of these was holy! These things alone are not holiness. A man may have any one or all of them, and yet never see the Lord. Holiness is not information or intellect, though we grow in our knowledge of Christ. Holiness is not behavior modification, though our behavior does change was we exchange our life for His. Holiness is transformation: a total recreation, metamorphosis of heart and attitude that results in change in behavior. Everyone, then, who professes to be a Christian should ask himself, Is there evidence of practical holiness in my life? Do I desire and strive after holiness? Do I grieve over my lack of it and earnestly seek the help of God to be holy? It is not those who profess to know Christ who will enter heaven, but those whose lives are transformed and result in holy living. Even those who do great Christian works will not enter heaven unless they also do the will of God. Jesus said, (Matthew 7:21-23) 21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? 23 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! If a person is genuinely transformed by God s grace, what might some of the characteristics be of someone who is earnestly pursing holiness? How can we have confidence when we stand before Jesus that He will say, Well done good and faithful servant? In the end the key determinate is a genuinely changed life, a new creation, a life well lived in the pursuit of holiness. The following is a short list of how you might know you are pursing holiness. DO NOT look at these truths as a list of dos and don ts to be achieved. That is behavior modification and is a counterfeit of true holiness. Rather, these truths are fruit of a transformed life, not a checklist for behavior modification. You know you are pursing holiness when you turn away from every known sin and endeavor to keep all God s commands (Rom. 7:22;Ps 119:128) have a willingness to submit and surrender all to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Luke 14:27, 33) strive earnestly to be Christ-like (Rom. 8:29)

5 exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, manage your tongue and bear, forbear, overlook much (Gal. 5:22-23) are of one mind with Christ, loving and hating what He loves and hates (Phil 2:5) follow after humility and desire to esteem others better than yourself (Phil. 2:3-4) follow after a spirit of mercy and benevolence toward others continually trying to do good (Rom 8:8) follow after purity of heart, self-denial, avoiding all things that draw away from God (1 Cor. 9:27) have a Holy Spirit compelled desire to seek and know God (Ps 25:4, 27:11;Jer. 31:34) endeavor to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh (Gal 5:16) have a fear and reverence for God wishing to please Him in every aspect of your life (Eccl. 12:13;1 Peter 1:17) crave time with God in prayer and Bible study (1 Peter 2:2;Joshua 1:9) So, let me ask you to be very perceptive of your own life right now. Let me ask you; is your spiritual life a matter of doing this and not doing that? Is it summed up in a list of rules you keep and expect others to keep if they are really saved? Or has something happened in your that has transformed you heart at such a basic level that you can t help but pursue the Christ life? You have been so radically changed in your core that you are living that out in a whole new way of life? The difference between these two is the difference between heaven and hell, between being truly saved or fooling yourself. Only you can determine this with Holy Spirit s help. All I can do is look at your behavior. I can t see your motives. I can t se your heart. Only you and Holy Spirit can do that. What I want for you what Holy Spirit wants from you is to be transformed in your heart to such a degree that it is reflected in the way you behave. The change of heart has to be the reason for the change in behavior. The attitude must precede the action. So have you been transformed like that? Or have you chosen to change your behavior in the hopes of getting to heaven? If you are not pursuing a holy life out of a transformed heart like our passage today states, you will not see God.