Holiness is Not an Option
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 497 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction:
How are you making out? It has been almost two months in this “new normal”. Today as we think about the things that we have to do currently in the guidelines laid out by our leaders. We must also align ourselves with the things that guide us in God’s Word regarding holiness.
Holiness is not an option.
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
We are called to make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Christians themselves can never be worthy of salvation through personal holiness.
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
Our actions are stained and polluted with imperfection and sin.
“Even our tears of repentence need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb”
Scripture repeatedly refers to the obedience and righteousness of Christ on our behalf.
Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
These verses talk about the two aspects of Christ’s work on our behalf. It talks about active and passive obedience.
Active Obedience - is known as Christ’s sinless life here on earth. His perfect obedience and absolute holiness.
Perfect life - those who trust Him for their salvation
Passive Obedience - His death on the cross which He paid penalty for our sins and placated the wrath of God towards us.
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’ ”
Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.
Christ came to do the will of the Father.
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Our holiness before God depends entirely on the work of Jesus Christ for us by God’s will.
In Heb. 12:14 the writer speaks of a holiness which we are to strive after, to make every effort to be holy because without holiness no one will see the Lord.
There are two aspects of holiness to keep in mind:
Stive after holiness - effort is needed to be holy we must strive toward holiness
We need holiness because without it no one will see the Lord
God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
Sactified means “made holy”.
We are made holy through Christ. Christ’s sacrifice made us holy.
Thank God for the saving power of Christ that allows sanctification for us.
We are called to be holy in our daily lives.
We must take this calling seriously and therefore personal holiness must be a priority.
The Holy Spirit comes in at salvation to make us holy in practice. If we have no yearning or desire in our hearts to live a holy life pleasing God we need to seriously question if our faith in Christ is genuine.
The desire for holiness might only be a spark at first when you begin your walk with God but it can and will grow into a flame if you pursue God with your heart.
True salvation brings desire to be made holy.
When God saves us through Christ we are saved from the penalty of sin and also from the dominion of sin.
The purpose of salvation is for us to be holy and blameless in his sight.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
When we have received Christ as our Lord and Savior we are known as Christians. Christians should live lives according to Biblical standards. As a Christian, if we continue to sin that is known as going against God’s purpose for salvation.
Holiness is not necessary as a condition of salvation - that would mean salvation comes from doing good deeds and we know it does not.
Holiness is as a part of salvation that is received by faith in Christ.
And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
You can’t trust in Jesus for true salvation unless you trust in Him for Holiness also.
Holiness is a desire that the Holy Spirit creates within us.
Saving faith also creates a desire for Holiness. God does not create one without the other.
For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,
The same grace that brings salvation teaches us to renounce ungodly living.
We cannot receive half of grace.
When we experience it all we experience:
Forgiveness from sin
Freedom from sins dominion
God’s nature demands holiness in the life of a Christian.
A Christian is Christ like
God has no unholiness in Him
Therefore Christians are to be like God we have to be holy because we are His image bearers.
When called to salvation - called to fellowship with God and His son Jesus.
We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
God is light in Him there is no darkness at all
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
How is fellowship possible if we continue walking in darkness?
2. Holiness is required for fellowship with God
Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
This is like saying who may have fellowship with you?
The answer is He who lives a holy life.
Fellowship with God is necessary and vital to that fellowship is prayer - talking to God.
If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
When we hold onto some sin we are not pursuing holiness and that means we cannot have fellowship with God.
God does not require a perfect, sinless life to have fellowship with Him. He does require us to be serious about holiness, to the point where we grieve over sin in our lives instead of justifying it. We need to earnestly pursue holiness as a way of life.
When we justify our actions we are making excuses or trying to rationalize them. This is a waste of time ask for His forgiveness and try harder to pursue holiness in the way we are supposed to.
3. Holiness is required for our well bring.
For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”
There is a need for discipline, we need to learn boundaries for our own well being. We need to learn that there are consequences for actions.
We would never want to raise our children without these values. This gets them to learn boundaries, discipline, good manners, good behvaior, helps teach limits and consequences.
God disciplines because we need discipline. To persist in disobedience is to increase our necessity for discipline.
For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
The Corinthian Christians persisted to disobey t0 the point where God took their lives.
David’s description of the discipline of the Lord is found in:
When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
When God speaks to us about sin we need to heed and take action. To fail to deal with sin is risking incuring His hand of discipline.
And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
God is serious about holiness in the lives of His people and He will discipline us to attain it.
4. Holiness is necessary for effective service to God
We want to be people that are useful especially to God. So therefore we need to pursue holiness!
Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
Holiness and usefulness are linked together. We cannot bring our service to God in an unclean vessel. It is like offering someone the use of a car that does not run.
Or food that is plastic, can’t be eaten or nourish you, it can’t fulfill the need for sustenance.
The Holy Spirit makes our service effective. He empowers us for service. He is the spirit of holiness!!!!
When we indulge in our sinful natures and dwell in unholiness the spirit of God is grieved and will not prosper our service.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
These are not times when we stumble or fall into temptation and immediately seek God for forgiveness and cleansing but lives that are characterized by unholy living.
5. Holiness is necessary for assurance of salvation
Holiness does not happen at the moment of salvation but over the course of our lives. True faith is shown by its fruits.
Fruit is the evidence of God in our lives. It is the evidence that God is in your life. Fruit is the determining factor that you live for God.
Fruit is the evidence that we are in Christ - living a holy life.
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
“Everyone who professes to be a Christian should ask themself this question: Is there evidence of practical holiness in my life? Do I live my life in a manner that shows others Christ lives within me?” - Jerry Bridges
Even those who do great Christian work or say all the right things will not enter heaven unless they also do the will of God.
“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. 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?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
This evening we need to be mindful of these things and realize that holiness is not an option and pursue it with all our heart.
We would never want to hear those words depart from me I never knew you. This would be the worst sentence ever uttered and the great loss that would be felt would never be descriable in my vocabulary. So tonight, hear my pleading, make sure you are right with God, do not allow one more moment to pass by without that peace and assurance in your soul. Know beyond the shadow of a doubt where you will spend eternity. I pray that it will be in heaven, I pray today that you will make that decision to follow Him with your whole heart.
Christians who are listening tonight heed the call to get things in order. We need not take a lax way about our walk with God. May we pursue His holiness and have the example of good fruit evident in our lives. May we ensure that we ask God to show us things that don’t belong and not make excuses to justify our sin. Let us ask for His forgiveness and move forward passionately serving and being useful to God in these days.
Jesus use me and dear Lord don’t refuse me. He has a work for each of us to do and must therefore pursue it with all our hearts. Won’t you do just that today?
