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Light Of His Word The Sermons of Pastor Mike Walls Freedom Baptist Church Used By Permission Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. |
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Light Of His Word The Sermons of Pastor Mike Walls Freedom Baptist Church Used By Permission Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. |
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PLAIN,
PRACTICAL PREACHING ON BIBLE HOLINESS Message
#4 THE
DIVIDENDS OF HOLINESS Romans
6:22 2nd
Corinthians 5:17-18 Introduction: In
the previous three messages, I tried to bring to mind
that God demands that we live holy lives.
1st Thessalonians 4:7 “For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto holiness.” “But as he which hath called you
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” I
read this correctly that the Lord is holy. He expects
the same out of His children. Since people cannot
see the Lord except though us, then we ought to be like
He is. This holiness is not a prideful arrogancy.
I have seen people and know people who want you to know
how holy they are. Our Saviour warned the scribes
and the Pharisees of this behavior over and over again
in His preaching. When He preached on the subject,
it was almost like they figured that the message was for
that person behind or beside them and not themselves.
Before getting into a mode spiritual pride ourselves,
that is the image that we try to project many times.
God forbid that we think of ourselves in that matter.
I quoted Martin Luther last week and it fits once again.
He said, “God took this world that was nothing and made
it something. It behooves us to think of ourselves
in the same matter as the world before God changed it
and ask the Lord to make us into something.” John
McCormick made this statement at a revival while I was
in Bible Institute. “The Lord is more interested
in molding and make you than He is molding making things
for you.” We need to have the garment of humility to wrap our holiness.
Holiness without humility is nothing less than what Paul
described a life without charity. “Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become
as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I
have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries,
and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that
I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and
though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity,
it profiteth me nothing.” If we could not have true humility, then we would have never had
these words recorded for our exhortation. James
4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” “Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” “If my people, which are called by
my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my
face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear
from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal
their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears
attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.” In the previous messages, I tried to show you that you ought to desire
holiness. We also saw the definition of holiness.
We learned what it is and is not. In the last message, I gave the directives to gain holiness.
As I have pointed out in previous messages, you don’t
grow from carnality into holiness or spirituality.
You have to take steps of faith in order to go in that
direction. As I was studying these past few weeks on this subject and meditating
on the subject matter, I know that I fall short of this.
I was thinking that I am basically in preschool in this
area. But with the continuing help of the Holy Spirit
to guide me and the Word of God to instruct me, I can
make the changes necessary to glorify God in a greater
way. More and more it is my desire to hear those
words “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”.
Maybe it is that I am growing older. Whatever the
reason, I want Jesus to make my life a vessel of honor
and holiness. What is the difference between the man I am to become and the man
of the past life? Paul shows us. 2nd
Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new.” This is not a renewal of the old man. This is not renovation
of the old man. It is not remolded or refurbished
or remaking of the old man. It is a brand new man
that is born on the day you are saved. I have said
this and have heard it said. “Give your heart to
Jesus.” He does not want your old heart. He
wants to give you a new heart. “And I will give them one heart,
and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take
the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them
an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes,
and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall
be my people, and I will be their God.” Before getting into the message about the dividends of holiness,
I feel I should give you some characteristics of a person
who is spiritual and is walking in the path of holiness.
This life is notable because the Holy Spirit controls
his or her life. What a true blessing this person
is to those around them! So what are these characteristics?
Remember I have mentioned in a previous message that is
the person is seen as a type of the persons that crossed
the Jordan River under the leadership of Joshua. “But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law.” There is more to holiness than theory. It is my intention with
these messages to encourage you to move away from theory
to experience. We read of men and women in the past
that had true Bible holiness in their lives. Sometimes
when we read, we draw a false conclusion that this life
is absolutely unobtainable by us. If this was true,
then God has lied. He is not a respecter of persons.
He does not desire that one be greater than others.
Holiness is not the privilege of the few. It is
possible for all that name the name of Christ as Saviour
to live this way. Part of the reason why we do not
live the life of holiness is that we are unwilling to
do so. In a later message, I will explore this further.
Holiness is normal life for a Christian. If you
are living a life that is unholy, you are living the abnormal
Christian life. Holiness is not perfection.
There is only one way to be perfect. You have to
die and be in heaven. Holiness is health in the
spiritual life. Let’s look at some of the dividends of the life of holiness. “Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation” Even
though you have gotten saved, you still have the same
body, you live in the same city, are with the same people.
But you will see things differently. Why?
You are under new management. Many times when
we read 2nd Corinthians chapter five and
verse seventeen, we tend to overlook the first six words
of verse eighteen. It says, “And all things
are of God”. To
see this difference, you have to make a side-by-side
comparison the old man. What dominants the consciousness
of an unsaved man? There are basically four areas
that dominants the mind of unsaved persons. They
are love of self, admiration of the world, passion for
ownership of goods and a great love for kindred and
friends. If these seem to be the main areas of
your life as a Christian, it is possible that you are
so carnal that your love for the love is so small that
you are allowing the old nature to have control.
It is possible that you were never saved also.
Let me explain these areas from the lost man’s point
of view. This
is the root principle of all godless lives. It
shows a passion for something that is in control other
than Christ. It is self. It can be seen
in these areas of self. Some people including some Christians would argue that some of these
self-areas are okay. In the prospective of the
new management of Christ, these are nothing less than
self in control. I don’t have the time to go into
how each of these is wrong for the child of God.
I do want to address the last one- self-confidence.
There is that part of human nature is legitimate.
Let me illustrate. If you was my patient, you
would not be feel that if you was getting good nursing
care if I walked in your room acting like I did not
know what I was doing. But there is a self-confidence
that springs from pride. Once again I take you
back to your room as a patient. If I walk in like
I was a super nurse, you might start to think that I
have a red “S” on my tee shirt. This type of self-confidence
is nothing less than pride. When I think I can
do anything, then I have allowed pride to stick his
ugly head to swell my head. Self-confidence is confident of its own unaided ability and good
judgment. Whatever may happen to others, it will
not fall out of the race. Let me give you a Bible
example. Matthew 26:33 “Peter answered and said unto him,
Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet
will I never be offended.” I
found this old hymn that was written in the late 1800s.
It perfectly describes the problems of self and the
solution. By Theodore Monod That
a time could ever be, When
I let the Savior’s pity Plead
in vain, and proudly answered, “All
of self, and none of Thee!” Yet
He found me; I beheld Him Bleedi Heard
Him pray, “Forgive them, Father!” And
my wistful heart said faintly, “Some
of self, and some of Thee!” Day
by day His tender mercy, Healin Sweet
and strong, and ah! So patient, Brough “Less
of self, and more of Thee!” Higher
than the highest heavens, Deeper
than the deepest sea, Lord,
Thy love at last hath conquered: Grant
me now my supplication, “None
of self, and all of Thee!” Peter boasted before Calvary. Self feels like no need of someone
wiser or more experienced, for it is satisfied with
itself. To self-confidence, our Lord’s words in
John 15:5, “without me ye can do nothing,”
are just poetic license and hardly the exactly truth. How unlike our Saviour that is! What did the Omnipotent Son
say in His ministry? John
5:30 “I can of mine own self do nothing.” This
is that admiration of that is a little out of reach.
It is like the man living on the wrong of the tracks
looking across the tracks at the riches and luxury of
the man on the other side of the tracks. It
is not difficult to admire the things that the world
has. I have caught myself looking at the fine
cars that some drive and get jealousy. After all,
I am a preacher of the Gospel and serving God.
How is it that I cannot have that kind of car?
There is nothing wrong with new cars but that ought
not main goal in life. In the life of the
unsaved, this is a constant goal. This
is a drive force of many people. It has to bigger
and better. This can be a reason why some countries
go to war. It was this reason that Iraq invaded
Kuwait in 1990. This
is manifested in how place these folks before God.
We are to love folks but not before God. Some
people will stay home from church because friends and
family are coming over. When friends and family
is more important than God, then we have placed an idol
in our lives. 1st John 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Amen.” II. THERE
IS A CHANGE OF WHO IS IN THE CENTER OF OUR LIVES. “I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Let
me answer the charges of carnal man that is the center
of most of our problems. This is what I just covered. A. The
charge of the Love of self is answered. When
we allow the Lord to be the center of our lives, we
will no longer be self-centered. You don’t lose
your identity but it will be changed. Your personality
will not ceased but it is made anew by Christ.
The positive comes after the affirming of the negative
in Galatians chapter two and verse twenty. It
is not I but Christ that lives in me. This is
the center of holiness. When this becomes true,
the words of Christ found in Luke chapter nine and verse
twenty-three will take more meaning. “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow
me.” The Christian man is a man who at the center of his own being is
no longer enthroned, having dominion over his own life,
but a man who has put Christ on the throne. That is
the fundamental difference. B. The
change of the admiration of the world is answered. This does not mean that lost interest in the world around him and
the affairs of this life. This man sees the world
in a different light. You will be seeing it from
the eyes and ears of the Saviour. Here, then,
is the difference. Holiness of character means, first
of all, the circumferencing of the life around the center,
Christ, and then that the world is seen as it really
is. You will not looking at the tinsel of this
world. You will be looking at the eternal. 2nd
Corinthians 4:18 “While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are temporal; but the
things which are not seen are eternal.” You will see the beauty yet it will not call to you as it once did.
The Christian man does not withdraw himself from the
world, has not lost his sense of beauty in the world;
but he sees the world’s agony, and is so busy attempting
to deal with it that he has no admiration for the glitter
and tinsel of the things wherewith the men of the world,
hungry all the time for God, are attempting to satisfy
themselves. His admiration for the world is over. C. The
charge of the ownership of goods is answered. You
understand more fully the words of our Saviour. “Lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The
Christian man has lost his passion to own goods for
the sake of the power such possession gives him, because
the possession of Christ gives him a new and beneficent
power. The Christian man will no longer devote himself
wholly, absolutely, utterly, to the work of amassing
wealth simply to possess it. That does not mean for
a single moment that the Christian man will not be a
successful man of business but that is the driving force
for life. To
put the whole thought into a sentence, the man of the
world amasses wealth until wealth holds him; the Christian
man may be successful in business, but he forevermore
holds his wealth in trust for his Lord. That is the
difference. Does
this mean that the life of holiness is a life of hardness,
a life out of which all human affection passes?
Look at the life of Christ. One of the last words
uttered while He was on the cross of Calvary were words
in regards to His mother. This
does not mean that we cease to love our family and friends.
It means that the Christian man will not allow love
of father or mother, wife or child, to make him disloyal
to his Lord and to truth. That is the difference. III. THERE
IS A CHANGE IN PROGRESSION OF OUR LIVES. Some
may ask what does this have to do with holiness.
It has everything to do with holiness. It is because
it has to do with righteousness. There will be
no righteousness in our dealing with men unless there
be this holiness of character, the tides of the Christ
life surging through the life of His child, creating
His consciousness in the presence of all these things.
The old things are passed away. No longer self-centered
but Christ-centered, therefore the master passion of
the life not to please self but to please Him.
You
will be progressing to that life that pleases God.
It is the life of holiness. It is that inward
grace of character, which is not weak, soft, anemic,
and able only to sing songs of spiritual experience
and to see visions of the heaven, which is not yet.
It is not being so heavenly minded that you are no earthly
good. It is that inner refinement of heart and
life and soul, which comes from the indwelling Christ,
and makes the life strong in its relationship to the
world. That
leads me to my final word. Holiness is a life of usefulness.
The unalterable and unchanging purpose of God is the
accomplishment of His purposes through His people. That
is rendered possible through holiness of character.
Cleansed vessels are the vessels that Jehovah makes
use of. Isaiah 52:11 “Depart
ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean
thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that
bear the vessels of the LORD.” “Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you” It
is through holiness of character that I become a vessel
ready to the hand of God for the accomplishment of His
will. Surrendered instruments are those, which He employs.
Not only is it true that clay cannot say to the potter,
What formest thou? It is true that the instrument through
which he will form and fashion the clay must be plastic
in his hand even as the clay is. Believing souls He
trusts. The measure of my confidence in Him is the measure
of His confidence in me. Let me put that in this form.
Are you a man that God can trust? You are if you are
a man who can trust God. Trust, again let me remind
you, is not merely singing the song that declares your
confidence, but it is the life of obedience that relies
on God. Conclusion: Holiness is the work
of the Spirit. When I am willing, He baptizes me into
union with the life of Christ. He seals me as the property
of God. He anoints me for all service. The ultimate argument
for the holy life is not the perfection of life, but the
fact that life being rendered perfect and becomes God’s
instrument in the world. That, I think, is the final appeal.
In the light of that appeal my heart says, Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole, I want Thee forever to live in my soul; Break down every idol, cast out every
foe: Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. What are you going to do? Are you going to live a life of self
or for the Saviour who died for you and saved you from
the penalty of hell?
O
THE BITTER SHAME AND SORROW
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