Holiness our Responsibility
Notes
Transcript
Prayer Rally June 15 via Zoom
Pray for unsaved in CBS, make a list and be in prayer for that list daily.
Introduction:
With all our talk on holiness today we are going to talk about it being our responsibility.
If we are going to pursue holiness we need to take action. It is something we need to get behind in our behavior.
I have had conversations with people who have said I am praying that God would motivate me to stop doing a particular action.
I have been haunted by this sentence, motivated to stop? Hasn’t God done enough for us already? We need to face up to our level of responsibility here.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
There is a phrase here that I would like to note - Put to death - the misdeeds of the body.
Paul uses this same phrase in Col. 3:5
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
This verse brings up a phrase that I would like to spend time talking about - Putting Sin to Death.
What does the expression put to death mean?
In the King James the term mortify is used.
According to the dictionary mortify means “to destroy the strength, vitality or functioning of; to subdue or deaden.
To put to death the misdeeds of the body then means to destroy the strength and vitality of sin as it tries to reign over us.
We need to know that putting something to death is something we do but it cannot be carried out in our own strength.
It must be done by the strength and under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the one who gives life and strength to our efforts.
Without the Holy Spirit’s strength there will be no death, but without our working in His strength there will also be no death to sin.
How do we destroy the strength and vitality of sin?
There are a couple of things that we need to have to accomplish this:
Conviction
Committment
Conviction
Conviction
We must be convinced that a holy life is God’s will for every Christian is important. We must believe that the pursuit of holiness is worth the effort and pain required to kill the misdeeds of the body.
We must be convinced that “without holiness no one will see the Lord”.
Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
We must also develop convictions in specific areas of obedience.
These convictions are developed through exposure to the Word of God.
Too often we are consumed by the laws and values of the world or our society. Even after we have committed our lives to Christ the world around us constantly influences us and tries to get us to conform to its value system.
We are bombarded on every side by temptation to indulge in sin and sinful things. That is why Paul said this in Rom. 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
It is through God’s Word our minds are remolded and our values renewed.
God gave instructions to the Kings of Israel in Deut.
It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees
The kings were told to read God’s law all the days of their lives and to learn to fear the Lord. This was the way to learn the necessity of holiness and how these leaders might know God’s specific will in various situations.
Jesus furthers this message in the book of John.
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Obedience is the pathway to holiness but it is only as we have His commands that we can obey them.
We need to know what to do in order to do it.
God’s Word must be so strongly fixed in our minds that it becomes the dominant voice or influence in our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions.
One of the most effectve ways to influence our minds is through memorizing scripture.
This was something that I was taught through childhood and right into Bible College but the emphasis on this has slackened but I believe we need to revisit it because it is something that will continue to live on in our lives when we hide God’s word in our heart.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
To memorize scripture effectively you need a plan. This should include verses that are well chosen with systematic meaning to keep them fresh in your mind.
Why should we memorize scripture?
We need to memorize it to apply it to your life.
It is through the application of scripture specific life situations that we then develop the kind of conviction to see us through the temptations that trip us up so easily.
Conviction
Conviction
God gives us conviction which is His influences on our lives and actions.
How do we develop conviction?
By bringing God’s Word to weigh in on specific situations that arise in our lives and determine God’s will in that situation from the Word.
Many issues in life are clearly addressed in the Word of God and we need to memorize verses that speak to those issues. It would serve us well to do that.
For example:
God’s will concerning honesty is plainly spelled out.
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
His will concerning abstinence from sexual immorality:
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;
These are clearly states issues where we should have no problem developing convictions as to God’s will if we are willing to obey His Word.
But what about things that are not specifically mentioned in scripture?
How do we determine God’s will and develop convictions for those things?
Here is a tip from 1 Corinthians that is a formula for four questions to ask yourself when in doubt on how to react scripturally:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
Is it helpful physically, spiritually, and mentally? Everything is permissible for me - but everything is not beneficial
You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
2. Does it bring under its power? Everything is permissible for me - but I will not be mastered by anything.
3. Does it hurt others?
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.
4. Does it Glorify God?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
This may seem too simple for words but it is something to use that certainly will not harm your relationship with God. Because anytime you measure your life to the standard of God’s Word it is a good day in my opinion.
What about those areas where Christians differ in their convictions as to God’s will?
Paul talks about this also in Rom. 14:1-8 then verse 23
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone,
v. 1-4 here Paul is talking about the problem of eating certain foods. The first part is where we should not judge those who’s convictions are different from ours. This alone would help our world right now if we followed this perspective, don’t you think?
The second thing is found in Verse 5-8 where is says whatever our convictions are they must be to the Lord, which means they should be developed out of obedience to Him.
Then the third principle is found in verse 23 - whatever convictions we have developed to the Lord we must be true to them.
If we go against our convictions, we are sinning, even though others may have perfect freedom in that particular thing.
What we need to ask ourselves in the pursuit of holiness is this:
Am I willing to live by these convictions?
This is often where we find out what we are ade of. We hesitate to face up to God’s standard of holiness in a specific area of life. We know that to do so will require obedience that we are not willing to give.
This leads to the second part of committment. The quality of commitment.
In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
We must honestly face the question: “Am I willing to give up a certain practice or habit that is keeping me from holiness?”
It is at this point where we see possible failure.
Because we all may say there is a limit to our obedience. Or we don’t want to answer that question right now. We know we need to but not right now.
We prefer to dabble with sin to try to play around with it without getting too deeply involved.
We have the “just one more time” syndrome.
In all we are just postponing the day of commitment, the day when we say to sin “enough”!
Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
and neither are human eyes.
Solomon tells us that the eyes of man are never satisfied. Everytime we say yes to temptation we make it harder to say no the next time.
God speaks to us about our sin and there comes a point where we get on board with that conviction and commit to change.
We must recognize that we have developed habit patterns of sin. We have developed the habit of shading the facts a little but when it is to our advantage. These habits must be broken, but they never will till we make a basic commitment to a life of holiness without exceptions.
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
The whole purpose of this letter is that we not sin. He was saying in effect “Make it your aim not to sin”.
But let’s be honest with ourselves do we honestly make it our aim not to sin?
Or do we make it our aim not to sin very much?
Do we find it hard to say Yes God from here on I will make it my aim not to sin.
God is calling us to a deeper level of commitment to holiness that we have had previously. What will you do with that call?
Can you imagine a soldier going into battle with the aim of not getting hit very much? That very thought seems nuts.
His aim is not to get hit at all!
Yet if we have not made a commitment to holiness without exception we are like a soldier going into battle with the aim of not getting hit very much. We can be sure if that is our aim we will be hit - not with bullets but with temptation over and over again.
Jonathan Edwards said this “Resolved, never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life?”
There is no point in praying for victory over temptation if we are not willing to make a commitment to say no to it.
Learning is ususally slow and painful process, lined with much failure. Our sinful habits are not easy to shake and to break them requires persistence. But it is a path we need to be on even though it is not an easy road.