Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Battle for Holiness – The Heart \\ Mark 7:21-7:23* \\ \\

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Introduction \\ \\ *

Today we will continue our look at holiness, which is very near and dear to the heart of God, and should, therefore, be near and dear to us as well.

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Before we get into today’s specific area of holiness, allow me to briefly review what we covered two weeks ago.

First, we saw that *holiness refers to being morally blameless*.

And while that may seem like an unreachable ideal, God commands it and expects it.

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We also looked at the fact that we pursue holiness not only because Scripture commands it, but more importantly, because God Himself is holy.

God said that we are to be holy because He is holy.

Therefore we are to reflect His holiness in our lives.

You may remember that in that message I said that one of the areas where the “Battle for Holiness” is fought is in . . .

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*The Mind \\ \\ *

Remember the computer term I used, GIGO?    Garbage In – Garbage Out

 

Holiness begins in your mind –

 

If you want to act holy, you have to learn to think holy.

This is a biblical principle –

 

Paul said, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom.

12:2).

Transformation--the process of becoming holy--begins in your mind.

To win this battle I called our attention to *THREE IMPORTANT ELEMENTS *which we must pursue:

 

The first is an element of...

 

*1.

PREPARATION*

           

*A.

(v.

13) “Therefore, prepare your minds for action...”*

 

The KJV renders this “gird up the loins of your mind.”

*Peter is saying "Prepare yourself for strenuous mental activity.*

Your mind has become a battlefield; get ready to fight."

*2.

SEPARATION*

           

*A.

Peter says "prepare your minds," then goes on to say, “be self-controlled”*

 

The KJV says "Be sober".

The word translated /sober/ can have two meanings, "not intoxicated", or it can mean "clear-headed, discreet."

Peter is saying that if you are going to live a holy life, you have to keep your head on straight.

He says, we must remain sober--not just free from intoxicating beverages, but free from intoxicating thoughts and emotions.

If we live by our emotions we will not be able to make good decisions.

Holiness begins in the mind, and for us to live holy lives there has to be that element of separation where we detach ourselves from our emotions, so that they don't have the power to control us--just as we detach ourselves from our possessions and the things of this world.

The first element of holiness is preparation; the second is separation; the third element of holiness is...

 

*3.

CONCENTRATION*

 

*A.

**This kind of concentration should characterize our approach to living.

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Peter said, (v.

13) “...set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

The word translated grace means “kindness shown to one who is undeserving.”

In NT days this word was used to describe the kindness a master might show to a slave.

It also describes the kindness that God shows to us.

He is certainly not compelled to show kindness; He does it because He wants to.

God shows kindness to us not because we are good, but because He is good.

Our hope is in His goodness, not our own.

But we concluded by noting that GOD makes us holy, and as we allow Him to work in our lives, He enables us to reflect that work in our everyday living.

However, it is important for us to understand that what we allow into our minds is picked up by the desires of our heart.

That is why the Battlefield of the Mind is an important battle that we must win!

If it stays in the mind it will take hold of our heart and we will fall.

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Today I want us to look again at where the Battle for Holiness is fought.

My purpose this morning is to identify a second battle GROUND of holiness, and then the battle PLAN of holiness.

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*II.

The Second Battle Ground \\ \\ *

Again, the first area we looked at was the mind, now I want to turn our attention to - -

* *

*A.

The Heart.

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I had originally intended to focus on our thought life, but as I began to work on this message, I became convinced that the issue goes much deeper than just our thought life, though it certainly includes it.

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It starts in the heart.

YOUR heart.

*And our mind – our thought life – and yes, everything else is a reflection of our heart.

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*Turn with me to Mark 7:21-23 \\ \\ *

21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, \\ 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.

23 All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.’"

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You see?

It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

But Paul adds another dimension when he describes the struggle for holiness in our hearts in Romans chapter 7, starting in verse 14.

 

Please turn with me there.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

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.

[1] 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.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

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Let me take a moment to smash a real popular misconception: that if it feels right, it must be okay.

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WRONG!

 

Listen to Jeremiah 17:9-10.

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The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

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The current trend in our society to live lives that our parents and grandparents would find shocking is based on the question, */“How can something that feels so right be so wrong?"/*”

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The error comes from the fact that this the wrong question entirely.

It misses the point that we make decisions based on objective standards of right and wrong, not fickle emotions.

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Folks, we are foolish to think that our feelings and emotions are reliable guides to distinguish wrong from right.

Our emotions are about as stable as a leaf blowing in the wind.

A number of things affect our emotions, such as a bad day at the office, illness, hormonal changes, or news that your mother-in-law is coming to stay for the holidays – all of them – Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Labor Day – all of them.

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See?

Some of you got into a bad mood just thinking about some of that stuff.

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Let me ask you a question: if you can’t control the fluctuation of your emotions, do you really think you can depend on them to make rational judgements of right and wrong, truth and error?

We need something outside ourselves – something that doesn’t fluctuate with the moods in our personal life or the trends of society.