"Holiness & Purity" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

blessed and i just praise the lord for his blessing in the way that his work is going forward well i've picked an impossible task this morning and hopefully you are able to figure that out just from the sermon title i'm going to attempt to talk about the holiness of god and right at the outset you need to explain that that word holiness is something that really explains something that can't be explained uh it's beyond our comprehension and so my task to you is to talk about someone and a life that is almost beyond comprehension so pray for me because you really are attempting the impossible to help people get a concept of the holiness of god because anything that i might say the english language is too feeble and is certainly going to fall short but i'm going to try god has called us to lives of holiness and purity i suppose you caught it in the scripture reading we just had peter's actually quote in the old testament when he said be holy for i am holy the encouraging thing about what peter said is whenever you find the word be in a statement of god there's creative power in that it's like when god said let there be a heavens let there be light when he said let there be something that means it's entirely possible for it to happen because there is creative power in god's word and so when god says be ye holy for i am holy it's like when jesus said to the leper be clean and he was and so the very fact that god is calling us to be something means that there is creative dynamics in the word itself you know there is a spider that lives in europe and asia that is called the diving bell spider an interesting creature evolutionists can't figure out how this happened but um it's a spider now you know insects breathe through their skin and insects will drown when they're plunged in water um but this spider lives underwater it has fine hairs all over its body so that when it goes up to the surface it captures air in its hairs and then when it goes underneath the water the hairs hold the oxygen bubble around its body it weaves a web on some of the plants and here's an example of one that grow in the rivers and the lakes and then it scrapes the hairs off of its body and begins to fill up this bell of air and then it goes back to the surface and it gets more and it continues through the day to refresh its supply of air and that spider lives in this bubble under the water surrounded by another world and it it feeds and it mates and it does it lives its life and it eats there in this bubble it's its home but it has to constantly be returning to the surface for the atmosphere from above in order to live in the world below you know jesus has called us to be in the world but not of the world christians have an interesting challenge he's asking us to be holy in an unholy environment and the only way you can do that is by making frequent trips to the surface and getting that heavenly atmosphere and bringing it with you and you need to continue to return and so right here at the beginning i'm sharing with you what i think is the secret to living a holy life it's it's by staying in touch with heaven now i don't know about you but when i travel i like going to see some of the great sites you know you go and a see the statue of liberty if you go to new york or you know you go to some of the natural wonders but what i really like when i travel is i like to go to the places where very few people go i like going to see things that very few people have seen and when we were just in fiji it was fun because we you land on the main island and we went to a smaller on and took a boat to another island then we took a truck and we drove to a road and then we hiked up a trail and we saw the most beautiful waterfall i think i showed a picture to you last week to see these beautiful places you have to go a little further it's a little harder to get there but you see things that is wondrous and i like adventure now frankly it's it's a little disappointing to me when you come to church and you only hear about the introduction of christianity which is a holiness that you receive through justification but it's really it's the starting point the lord primes your pump in the christian life by justifying you when you come to him just like you are the thief on the cross who turned to jesus was forgiven and justified and jesus when when he said lord remember me and he confessed that he was a sinner he said you'll be with me in paradise jesus forgave him he was justified he was declared to be holy enough for heaven even though he didn't do any good works i mean other than believing in christ that was the work he did he witnessed for christ from the cross which is more than some others were doing that day but he's going to be in heaven he was justified he was saved based on his justification he did not have long enough to then try to prove that he had been justified by faith by now living and i always wonder what would have happened if by some cork of fate pontius pilate had said you know i'm going to let that guy off before he dies instead of telling the soldier to break his legs get a crowbar pull the nails out heal up his hands and let him go how would he have lived after he heard jesus say i'm declaring you forgiven would he have been and would he have gone back to stealing would he have continued to be a rebel would have been different now so when we talk about holiness the very first thing i need to establish is i'm not talking about something that begins outside of christ any real holiness has to begin with jesus if you don't get the center right on a wheel it rolls out of balance and the center of any real christian success is going to be the cross but once you come to christ and you accept the holiness that he offers through justification you come to him just like you are and you trust in him he forgives you he declares you to be holy then you must go from there and live a sanctified life you need to start living differently for me i frankly get bored with people that stop talking they just they go as far as grace they talk about justification and they never go on to the real adventure of christianity where a person lives a holy life and i'm convinced the eyes of the lord run to and fro through the earth looking for christians that really want to be christians that want to live like christ and be holy cf lewis said how little people know who think that holiness is dull when someone meets the real thing it is irresistible one reason that a message about holiness and purity is not very popular is because it's frightening you're you're delving in a realm that is unnatural now if you want i can talk about how to sin i can tell you all how to sin but the truth be known none of you need any instruction we're all really good at it some are better than others but most of you are naturals right and there's a lot of churches that will talk to you about the grace of god that will cover your sin and you just come next week and we'll talk more about justification but they're not really talking to you about doing something unnatural which is live a holy life next week try and live like jesus would ask god to change your thinking so that you're pure now that's crucial because the bible says the pure in heart will see god and i want to see him someday i like going where people don't go the reason that karen and i study scuba diving you got to take classes and you got to get certified is because it is dangerous to live underwater you're not normally designed to do that but you can do it but it takes some study yesterday i went for a flight with pastor john q and emma emma's getting her pilot's license and she got it oh yeah well she she got more hours yesterday anyway we went up because he helped me do my annual i said i'll take you up and so we went we went for a flight but we normally don't live up there it takes some effort to get the understanding and the equipment to be able to live in that environment you and i are not equipped to live in heaven it's a foreign environment without holiness so if you want to live there then you've got to develop the skill through walking with christ now to be able to live in a holy environment god is holy the reason the devil was cast out of heaven is because of his unholiness we are not going in doing what the devil was cast out for so jesus forgives us but he saves us from our sins god is a holy god oswald chambers said something that i think needs repeating he said the destined end of man is not happiness nor health but holiness god's one aim into production of saint god's one aim is the production of saints he is not an eternal blessing machine for men he did not come to save them out of pity he came to save men because he's created them to be holy we think the way some preachers portray it is that god is a big heavenly slot machine we pray and you pull the handle and out the gumball comes or whatever it is you need and he exists that if you follow a few rules he's just gonna pour all these blessings on you the ultimate purpose for our existence is to glorify god through holiness he's called us to holiness now you'll never be happy unless you are holy and so you will end up having an abundant life but if you seek happiness as the end you won't have either jesus said if you lose your life you'll find it but if you seek just to live for your own happiness you lose everything it's all about holiness god is holy he's called us to be holy because he knows that's where you're going to find real happiness in living that that outrageous adventurous life that is so rare yes even among christians maybe i should begin with a definition i know i'm beyond my beginning but let's look at a definition the hebrew word for holy is kadash the greek word hagios the definition means something belonging to or associated with a divine power sacred or more specifically separate when you talk about holy matrimony these people are now separated from the general population and they are uh making a covenant that separates them the bible is called the holy bible because it is it is separate from other books it's unique it stands apart and when we try to describe the holiness of god all we can do in greek and hebrew is to say he is separate he is so far out and different from anything we understand it means belonging to or associated with a divine power sacred regarded as worthy of worship or veneration to be revered specified or set apart for religious purpose regarded or deserving special respect or reverence you can have a holy place a holy book a holy person oh can i share something with you this was a warehouse it was an office building i saw it before the old carpet was torn up right after it was purchased and there were workstation spaces drilled in the and many things have happened here and someday it may be another warehouse but it's been dedicated for a holy purpose now in worshiping god and i know other things happen in here but like when we church is over and we have potluck or when we're visiting out in the foyer the kids should not be running around in here and jumping off the stage and and you know why not just to protect them and protect us from a lawsuit but because you will be teaching them that there are places that are holy and there is something that happens here because we meet with god here and you treat it different from other places and so parents hey i we had to tell our kids so we're all in this together make sure and herd them out and you know where they are because there's a lot of times pastor doug and karen and others are having to tell the kids don't run around this is not a playground this is a holy place we meet with god in here this is a holy book in our house the only thing we put on the bible is another bible and um you know it's a stack on the shelf that's different but i'm just saying treat it differently i i cringe i've been to people's house for a bible study and i see them set a coffee cup on their bible i oh please don't do that people died for this book it's a holy book so when things are holy now what makes this a holy book god because god is holy what makes us a holy place god because we meet with god here what makes you a holy person god because you invite jesus into your life what don't you know that your body is the temple of god that the almighty think of the most powerful thing you can think of whatever that is if it's not god he made it he's more powerful think about the biggest thing you can think of whatever that is it's not bigger than god and so that's why i said what i'm doing is attempting the impossible because god is more powerful he's more holy he's he's bigger he's stronger he's more beautiful than anything you can imagine and that individual says i am willing to live in your life you know i used to wonder why do we bury people why don't we just cremate everybody now i'm not making a statement on cremation opposed to burial and i read one pastor say the reason that most christians bury as opposed to cremation which is what most of the pagans do if you go to india is because they figure that man being made in the image of god even the form was to be respected and that was the argument i heard and so they laid the body in the grave because made in the image of god even made in the image of god there's something super sacred about that well we are holy jesus is holy which is what makes us holy because we invite christ into our lives now this time of year you're going to start hearing more messages on the first coming of christ luke 1 35 and the angel and said to her the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you therefore also that holy one who will be born will be called the son of god the holy spirit he's conceived of the holy spirit he's called the holy one you know even the devils when they identify jesus they said luke 4 34 i know who you are the holy one of god even the devils know that jesus was the holy one of god that was before his incarnation acts 3 verse 14 peter said but you denied the holy one in the just and you asked for a murderer to be granted to you that's why the people said what was us hebrews 7 26 for such a high priest christ for us was fitting for us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners what is the word holy mean separate he was separate from sinners and he has become higher than the heavens his law is holy he's asked us to keep a holy law that seems impossible unless he keeps it in us romans 7 12 therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good and you know the word holy how many times does it appear in the ten commandments one time come on good adventist some of you here what commandment remember the sabbath day to keep it holy and it's amazing to me that some christians want to get rid of the one commandment where you find the word holy in the ten commandments it identifies that he is also a holy god and there's holy time there's something different about this time why only god can make a book holy and he makes the place holy and he can make time holy he said i have set this time apart separate and distinct from other time and if i have recognized it this way i want you to remember what i have done and so he has every right to ask us to keep a specific time holy and he says i want the seventh day to be holy we really have no right to say well you may want it to be the seventh time but i want it to be the third day you know god tells us he's holy he he makes the rules his law is holy so he set that aside second peter 2 21 it would have been better for them not to know the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment that was delivered to them god in giving us the ten commandments he's given us a holy truth you know his name is holy thomas watson said holiness is the most sparkling jewel in his crown it is the name by which he is known above the head of the high priest there was a little placard that he would wear what did it say holiness to the lord the name of the lord is holy exodus 39 30 they made this plate they put an engraving on the signet holiness to the lord psalm 111 verse 9 holy and awesome is his name now i could stop right here and take a detour and i could launch onto therm sermon number 46 talking about the name of god and people want to know what name do you use when you address god and you'll see in the bible some are going to say capital l small ord some will say capital l capital o capital r capital d those typically are a translation of yahweh or jehovah we're not even exactly sure what the ancient pronunciation was because the ancient jews were afraid to say it because the name of god was so holy they would not utter it and when they were writing out the scriptures they had a separate pen so whenever they came to the name of god they would put down the regular pen and they would pick up the holy pen and they would write the name of god without the the uh the vowels in there yahweh and then they'd say a prayer and they'd pick up the regular pen i mean just such treatment for the name of god that they were afraid to even write it and so you see the word capital lord and that's because we didn't really have a word to put in there but his name is not just yahweh or jehovah or el shaddai it's the way the truth the life the bread i mean god has many names he goes by these are like all facets that reflect different parts of his character in the bible he's called the mighty one of israel the lord of hosts his wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father so that the names of god are many in the bible but when you speak of god does it make you cringe if you hear a friend use god's name in vain it should um and i don't mean that you should reprove them whenever this happens if they're close friends you might give them an elbow and say you know just because we're friends i ought to tell you that that really troubles me because his name is so precious to me and they'll probably respect you and be more conscious and you might even bring a little conviction into their life when you exalt that which is holy but it is so common and then people text each other you know what is that texting they all do omg everybody's omg and everybody and television programs everybody says god's name in vain i won't repeat it and not good people innocent people they don't even realize what they're doing but he says my name is holy if there is any name if there is any word that is holy what would it be other than the one that identifies the holiest being that's why he says thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain the lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain a serious business and then i hear christians kids they say gosh i had to say just so you know what i'm saying that's a derivative of god's name but they didn't want to say it so they say it a little different or they say gee whiz that's a derivative of saying jesus name i don't think you should say anything that even has the flavor of uttering the name of god or any of its forms or derivatives it's a holy name do you mind by telling me the truth like this i've got to make him happy i want to make you happy too but he's more important luke 1 49. for he who is mighty has done great things for me and his holy is his name revelation 15 4 who shall not fear you o lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy isaiah 57 5 for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity whose name is holy jesus said john 17 11 holy father keep them through your name those who you have given me that they may be one as we are now why is it important to talk about the holy name of god what are the 144 thousand known by let me read it revelation because we are called to holiness revelation 14 1 then i looked and behold a lamb standing on mount zion and and with him thousand having his father's name written on their foreheads and what did the priest have holiness to the lord and the name of god is holy that means we've got the ones who are saved when jesus comes have a concept of the holiness of god you know one of the signs that there's revival in the church is there will be a growing appreciation for the sinfulness of sin and the holiness of god when we understand the sinfulness of sin and in the light of the cross when you see what jesus suffered for our sins it helps sin appear exceedingly sinful as paul says and we don't just start a it all the times oh you know it's a little thing don't take yourself too serious you can't have a thorough repentance if you don't understand sin is deadly that it's that it's toxic that it will kill that we can't enter heaven unless he has cleansed us from our sins now i'm not saying this to scare you i'm saying this because i wish it would excite you like it does me i'd like to see the most beautiful sights but you got to go a long way if you want to see him and i want to really get a picture of god i want to really see god someday the pure in heart will see god and so god's calling us to holiness but it doesn't scare me because god will never ask you to do something you cannot do and i can do all things through christ it strengthens me and so i don't get discouraged because it's sanctification and that takes time we are called to holiness let me give you some more verses on that first thessalonians 4 7 for god did not call us to uncleanness but in holiness he called us to holiness therefore he who rejects this does not reject man but god who has also given us his holy spirit there is no real holiness without christ second timothy 1 8-9 by the power of god he has saved us and called us to a holy life these are the writings of paul people always turn to paul to emphasize justification that paul is also the one who talks about sanctification god has called us to a holy life luke 1 74. this is when zechariah said when his mouth was open and he's praising god in this great spirit-filled prayer he says to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies that's the devil might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life through the coming of the messiah we might serve god be delivered from our enemy the devil and serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life can we do that that's exciting i want to do that because it's not the norm but i don't want to be normal you already knew that i want to be supernatural through god i want the holy spirit and this is our verse that we started with first peter 1 14 as obedient children not conforming yourself to the former lusts now is that clear that god doesn't just justify us but he does not want us to any longer conform ourselves to the former lusts that means there's a former before christian and there's an after you come to christ and you become a new creature old things are passed away all things are made new do you have things in your life that you are consciously striving for to be more like christ to be more holy in your thinking in your the way you spend your time your means what you eat in every area of my life god is calling us to lives of holiness and that means you're doing things differently than the world does them in an attractive way so that you can win others to that holy life oh i didn't finish first peter four as obedient children not conforming yourself to the former lust as in your ignorance but as he that has called you is holy you also be holy in all of your conduct because it is written be holy for i am holy now don't be discouraged some of you have been in the church for years and you just don't feel like you're making any progress be concerned but don't be discouraged you ought to make progress although we become christians instantaneously by faith in christ sanctification is a gradual process there are no shortcuts it takes time to be holy from the book acts of the apostles page 560 sanctification is not the work of a moment an hour a day but of a lifetime you are justified just like you are when you come to jesus but then the greatest yearning of your life will be to be like christ and there ought to be a radical transformation of holiness usually it begins with a very clear prominent outward things the the big more visible things i mean if you're a thief all stealing should be done if you're a drug addict you need to get the victory over those things i mean there's this dramatic changes ought to happen right away but then when you come to christ you start noticing that sometimes there's hypocrisy in the heart there's pride there's selfishness it's also natural for us it's the carnal man it's the flesh and you're going to be striving against that as long as you have flesh but you can live a holy life in the flesh you know what they call john the baptist a holy man elijah the holy prophets and then the bible tells us these were people that had the same natures that we have and yet they live these kind of lives hebrews 12 14 pursue peace now this is one that you ought to make a note of if you're making any notes this is a very important verse pursue peace pursuing is something you go after right pursue isn't like that pursue is like this okay now not only you're pursuing peace let's read the rest of the verse pursue peace with all people and holiness pursue holiness that's what this message is all about a life where you are in the pursuit of holiness pursue peace with all people and holiness notice this without which no one how many no one will see the lord no one will see the lord unless we experience the holiness that christ is offering us amen i just don't want to fool your friends i think that you need to be straight that god is calling us the lives of holiness you'll get it instantly when you come to jesus but then if you really love him you're going to claim that power every day and want to be continually transformed into his image the pure and heart are the ones that will see god without holiness no one will see god these are the words of christ first thessalonians 4 3-5 for this is the will of god your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality that each one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor not in passions of lust like the gentiles who do not know god you know what one of the best tools is one of the best tricks powers to holiness is holiness when you realize that the lord has given you the gift of holiness through justification he declares you holy it makes you want to hang on to it you heard about king arthur's knights of the round table i'm starting to lose you i need to tell a story i can look at your faces and you you've heard of like sir lancelot you know he had the torah affair with gwynevere who was married to arthur now i've really got you but there was another one of the knights of the round table according to this ancient lord his name was galahad and he said i've got the strength of ten men because my heart is pure and there's something about when you know you have eternal life and when you know what your salvation has cost and that jesus has declared you holy you don't want to squander that experience the attraction of most sin is lost because you think i have so much more i have eternal life but the reason we so quickly fall is people don't really get the the original when they come to christ in justification the way that we're called to walk is a holy walk it's a holy way isaiah 35 8 a highway shall be there and a road and it shall be called the highway of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it this is the straight narrow way that god has called us to heaven it's a different walk we're called to walk even as he walked the bible says and how did jesus walk who did no sin he lived a holy life john 14 6 and what is that walk jesus said i am the way this is the highway of holiness i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me he is the road itself now one reason this is an exciting message for me is the world is longing to see real christianity you will see you know why the gospel went so far so fast in one generation because the early church understood the concept of what it meant to be holy they understood the concept of what the high callings because they had jesus they had exhibit a of jesus living among them for years they saw him living it out and when he left they wanted to live his kind of life and so the early church the apostles and the disciples back then they were living a different kind of life and it was so attractive that the church just went like wildfire because christians lived like huh christians they loved each other they were genesis generous they lived differently they were holy there was a purity in the way they lived and all the pagans said wow you know they've got something that's exciting they've got something that's attractive and it was evangelistic in what it did everybody thought it's real all these other gods and some of their worship was extremely degrading but the god that they worshipped was a pure and a holy god there was something lofty about it dwight moody said a holy life will produce the deepest impression lighthouses blow horns lighthouses blow no horns they only shine and so when you really have a holy life your light will be shining now think about for a moment some of the greatest witnesses in history daniel in babylon lived a holy life do you agree can you tell me about any big fall or sin of daniel's no i'm sure he sinned because all have sinned other than jesus but he lived a holy life the angels came and said daniel you are greatly beloved because of daniel's consistent holy life the king of persia made a decree that went to the then known world to worship the god of heaven and daniel just lived his life and prayed his prayer and because he prayed and he opened his window and he lived that life he survived the lions then and the whole world saw daniel on the front page of saying now here's a real god because he lived a holy life shadrach meshach and abednego were in babylon surrounded by pagans all bowing down to a false image they decided to put god first and live a holy life because they did king nebuchadnezzar sent out the headlines around the empire around the world that said there is no god like the god of shadrach meshach and abednego they said very little but they didn't bow down when everyone else bowed down and what did it do evangelistically it did more to spread the gospel because god was looking for people that would stand up for him and he did wonderful things i think we're going to see opportunities to stand up for god in the future first peter 2 9 you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation now this is a message from god to you the church isn't that who he's talking to you are a holy nation what kind of nation a holy nation his own special people we are separate set apart that you might proclaim the praises of him who has called you out of darkness the sins of the world into his marvelous light it's a new kind of life it's it's the exciting life that's the kind of life that's attractive to me it's why i wanted to be a christian i tried all these different religions it all seemed so empty and vain and hypocritical and i'd met so many counterfeit christians when i saw jesus i said wow here's the real thing it's evangelistic billy graham said when revival comes i expect to see two things that i've not seen yet first a new sense of the holiness of god on the part of christians and secondly a new sense of the sinfulness of sin on the part of christians job feared god and he hated evil and god did wonderful things through him psalm 51 listen to david's prayer verse 10 do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me restore unto me the joy of your salvation uphold me with your generous spirit then i will teach transgressors your ways sinners will be converted to you notice he says the holy spirit twice he calls it the generous spirit the holy spirit he said do not cast me away from your presence restore to me the joy so you get the holy spirit twice and joy then sinners will be converted if god's people had the holy spirit if we were living holy lives forgiven from our sins david had just committed a terrible sin and yet he says lord if you will forgive me if you will cleanse me do not cast me away give me your holy spirit sinners will be converted to you you will never be able to send out enough hand bills for an evangelistic meeting to convert as many people as will be converted by a holy life there's nothing that's going to send the gospel faster there's all these machines that people are saying oh if i had this new duquesne machine i could do evangelism any of you remember the duquesne machine this no one remembers the duquesne machine and some of you have no idea what i'm talking about i know there's some thank you luke you remember the duquesne they cost 300 i thought how can i afford this but it'll win souls better machine it was a slide machine with the audio tape you put in it that did an evangelistic meeting they were great i spent a lot of money on evangelistic equipment i had one time nine projectors no no i had three projectors yeah i had three projectors and a computer and i had a carousel three carousels of slides for every evangelistic presentation and they all intersperse and all this equipment and screens and ken cox he had like 12 projectors behind and people will come to his meetings maybe what we need is more machines and we could do better evangelism maybe if we had more money amazing facts we send out appeal letters every month because we know if we had more money we could broadcast the message more and theoretically have more baptisms and those things do help don't misunderstand why do we make offering appeals here we take up evangelism it does make a difference none of it comes near the money the machines the methods do not come near the evangelism you will see if you had better men and women if they were there was a holiness in the lives of god's people the gospel would just it would explode it would take off and go like crazy so what's going to make the difference how do we live holy lives well very simply turn your eyes on jesus walking with christ being in communion with christ you know it's hard to sin if jesus is standing right next to you now by the way he is you just forget it's hard to sin when you know and you remember if you could see him he says i'll never leave you but we all with unveiled faith second corinthians 3 18 but we all with unveiled faith beholding us in a mirror the glory of the lord are being transformed i like he said our being it's a process but as we continue to look upon the lord to study the life of jesus you become like what you look at our souls are all something like a photographic plate you ever seen any of those old black and white pictures i just was looking at this thing on the civil war and you see all these civil war pictures and they used to stand they would actually prop people up because they would open the aperture and if the people moved it all it was blurry and they had to freeze and that's why they're all frowning because they couldn't hold a smile that long those old pictures they were probably happier than they look but they'd freeze and they'd take this picture and they'd actually burn gunpowder for a while to get it bright enough and they knew that they would impress that image on the plate well you know our souls are like those plates in that you become like what you look at and that's that's why one of the most important things i could say to you if you want to have holiness and purity be really careful what you look at because you are going to be transformed into what you look at that's why god was so down on idolatry because it lowered the conception of who he was by making the lord look like a little plastic figurine or a fish or a cow or the things that they would worship totally destroy the concept of the holiness the lofty exalted nature of who god is think about how big space is it's mind-boggling you can't comprehend how you reach the end of eternity if you could fly a billion times the speed of light like a missile straight out into space you never reach the end of god's dominion and he said i'm willing to abide with you what a privilege that's holy he's separate he's beyond our comprehension so when you start looking at the frivolous goofy ugly things in the world and you continue to gaze upon those things it just degrades the calling of god in your life and you and i are surrounded by screens right now probably got a computer screen most of you some of you got tv screens many of them you got phone screens how many have a phone screen i was at the gas station not long ago pumping gas and i heard this noise and there was again there was a tv screen it was playing a commercial i couldn't even pump my gas without a commercial plane so we're just surrounded but you know we're just absolutely drowning in messages unlike any other generation the devil is so afraid that god would raise up a last generation that would want to be holy that he is bombarding us with a blizzard of wicked messages and some of it you can't control because it's just around you everywhere i got on the phone the other day and had to apologize for the background music in the restaurant i was in because i thought they're going to wonder where is pastor doug and i said i know this music's awful i said i can't help it i'm ordering here in line and but so it's everywhere but there's a lot of it that we welcome into our lives we invite it into our lives and that's something we can make a difference with and it's affecting us and a lot of that time that we waste on the gobbledygook of the world we could be filling our minds with the word of god surrounding ourselves with the messages of christ and you need to work really hard to compensate for the bombardment that you know what that you do now when you conquer an enemy you just bombard them until they just they get shell-shocked and they come out with their hands up and that's what the devil is doing to our culture right now is the christians in the world are being so bombarded by these diabolical messages that we're just throwing up our hands he said i'm glad i'm justified forget about sanctification it is such a wicked world but we've got to learn christ is calling us yes even in this wicked last generation to live holy lives you know there's a promise where sin abounds grace abounds things are worse than they've ever been as far as sin they really are i mean oh maybe as bad as the days of sodom or lot and noah but yeah that's how jesus said it would be but where sin abounds grace abounds that means that yes it is worse than it's ever been and jesus said i will give you more grace than you've ever needed to live holy lives in this generation but christ has to be the middle of our focus transformed by beholding you may have heard me share the story before about this old guy wilbur that would he he was retired bachelor never married lived by himself and uh he'd go once a day he'd walk downtown he'd meet with his friends at the coffee shop they'd have lunch together and that was sort of his ritual but one day he noticed as he walked by the antique store on his way to the coffee shop they had put this beautiful vaz in the window and it's hard to explain but it was just sort of it was like blown glass with all the colors of a rainbow kind of like a hummingbird's throat all these different colors and it it kind of shimmered and shined and it was very carefully designed and it had exquisite patterns and the glass shapes they put on it and he saw that it just struck him as the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen he just stopped he stared at it and he went on the coffee shop and hit with his friends on the way home he stopped a guinea look this went on for several weeks finally the prior to the antique store came out and knew him said wilbur you stop every day and you stare at the vas says you live by yourself you don't have a lot of expenses why don't you buy it you can look at it every day i said look i'll make you a deal i said i'd never consider it's all right i'll buy it so he bought the vas and he brings it home now he'd been living by himself for a long time he hadn't changed or redecorated his house in 50 years it's a bachelor there's no need to right and everything was dusty and frumpy and the faded curtains and he's got little papers laying everywhere and so he cleared a spot on the mantle above the fireplace and he put the vas there and he sat back in his chair and he looked at it and he thought wow you know it is beautiful but i had no idea how bad the paint was on that wall behind it and all the dust and so he said i got it he took it down and he decided to paint the wall and clean the shelf off and then he put it there and he sat down so that thing is spectacular when the light comes through the window and he looked at the window and he thought why this windows i have never i didn't realize i haven't cleaned those things in 20 years and the curtains were fading so i got i guess i better do something about that i wonder what people think so he got out and he cleaned his windows and he thought he got some lady in church to help me got some new curtains hung up some new curtains painted and sat down in his chair when he walked in the room though he noticed his chair the springs were sticking out of the chair he hadn't done anything about he just got used to the springs poking them and you know i probably need any chair bought a new chair new carpet when the inside got so clean cleaned up the kitchen i thought compared to that the weeds were grown where flowers once grew in the backyard and he fixed the broken over fence in the front and you get the point wilbur's whole house was completely renovated because he had introduced something that looked pure so that everything else was being condemned by the purity of the vas and when we invite christ into our lives it creates a total makeover all of a sudden he stands there and in his purity by contrast it makes every spot of defilement painfully distinct and you say oh that needs to go that needs to be cleaned that needs to be painted and little by little the whole life is transformed and it comes by keeping the focus on christ in our life so i've got a lot more i could say but i think that kind of gives you the idea uh god is calling us to lives of purity he's calling us to lives of holiness we cannot do it without keeping our eyes fixed on jesus i heard about these two guys that were visiting on the roof one day in st louis and one of the guys he i people don't do it much anymore they used to do it when i grew up in new york city they had homing pigeons carrier pigeons you know the um and they raise them you know they're not the regular new york city pigeons these are very expensive bread pigeons and they would tie little notes on them and they would transport them by vehicle and then their friend would let it go and they would fly back and they'd bring these messages they actually used them during the war in world war one and in world war ii believe it or not they used these pigeons and this guy was standing on his roof talking to his friend and right then this beautiful white pigeon and you know dove is really a pigeon flew in and his friend said well you look at that he said this bird just flew 500 miles and his friend said how in the world do you know that it flew 500 miles he said well i know that my partner that's 500 miles away in missouri he let it go from his coop and he said i can look at its feet i can look at its wings i can look at its tail and see it is not landed there's no pollen there's no dirt said all it could think about was getting to me and you know that's the key for us is when we keep our eyes fixed on jesus and we want to be with him it keeps us from landing and getting distracted with the things of the world and you can live in a new environment the lord is calling us the lives of holy god will not ask you to do something that cannot be done he says be holy you're going to have to take that up with the lord if you don't think it's possible because that'll mean you think your devil is bigger than your christ and our god calls you to do something i can do all things through jesus how many of you would like to say lord please sanctify me help me to live a holy life let's turn the number 500 in our hymnals and we're going to sing about it take time to be holy and we'll be standing as we sing thank you always is blessing to see takes time to be [Music] let's be [Music] is [Music] did you notice the words in that song oh was there another verse i'll tell you what since there's another verse i'll do an appeal as we sing the last verse there may be some of you who have never really surrendered your lives to jesus or you recognize the need for special prayer and you'd like to say lord i want to come to you and experience a miracle in my life i want to be holy i want to be transformed there might be some specific problem you're wrestling with and you're praying about receiving the victory for if you'd like to come as we sing the last verse come we'll sing verse four we need this let us [Music] there's few songs that um i think we've sung that are more perfectly adapted to what we've been talking about looking unto jesus like him we shall be and that's the key let's pray together father in heaven i really believe that if our ears have been opened to hear what the spirit is saying you've spoken to us all today you've called us to lives of holiness you've told us without holiness we will not see you and the pure in heart will see god oh lord we want to be with you we know that it's so different and so foreign to what we see around us in the world and often even in the church we don't want to be misguided by that we don't want to be have our thinking and our ideals corrupted by the values of the world and the culture i pray that we'll keep our eyes fixed on jesus and his word help us to have an appreciation and a respect a reverence for what is holy your name your book your place your day and lord then realizing that you are willing to live on us you promise that if we invite you into our lives that you will declare us to be holy and then empower us to live new lives help us to experience that as we go from this place lord we know the rubber is going to meet the road and whatever our particular challenges are we'll run into give us the holy spirit give us the power that we can turn to you and be transformed if we fall prevent us from being discouraged recognizing holiness is a process but i pray that we'll grow that you'll just completely renovate and redecorate our lives into your likeness we thank you bless us as we go from this place and we ask all these things in jesus name amen god bless you and have a good sabbath

Channel: Daily Hymns

Views: 11,930

Rating: 4.9133573 out of 5

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Id: Ngm-EGKQMHU

Length: 58min 9sec (3489 seconds)

Published: Sat May 22 2021