Message of the Month by Pastor Paul May 2019
The Ancient Path of HOLINESS
“Stand in the ways and see
And ask for the ANCIENT PATHS where the good way is,
And walk in it.
Then you will find rest for your souls.”
Jeremiah 6v16
So far, we have looked at the Ancient Paths of WORSHIP, FAITH, INTERCESSORY PRAYER
and AGAPE LOVE now we will consider THE ANCIENT PATH OF HOLINESS
Only GOD is Holy – by Nature
1 Samuel 2v2 “No one is holy like the Lord”
Exodus 15v11 “Who is like unto You glorious in holiness”
So how is God holy - what does that mean?
God is absolutely separate from everything and everyone – even the angels, in His holiness.
He is a consuming fire.
There is none like Him in His supreme shimmering holiness
– it’s terrifying and glorious at the same time!
The fact that God is holy means that He is totally separate from sin and uncleanness. He knows all about all the unholy things that are going on in the world because He is omniscient. He is aware of it – but He does not touch it, He withdraws His immediate presence from it – He remains totally holy and separate from it.
God’s Holiness confronts our natural unholiness
When we really start to appreciate God in His holiness we realise just how unholy we really are. I’m sure that if we are honest with ourselves we can all identify with the Apostle Paul when he exclaimed:
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells”
(Romans 7:24 &18).
Isaiah felt the same when he was exposed to the holiness of God - he had a glimpse into the throne room of heaven and he reports:
“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”
When Isaiah was confronted with the glorious holiness of God his only response was how unholy he was:
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
(Isaiah 6v1-7).
Why did Isaiah express it as having “unclean lips”? (v5). Why not unclean hands, eyes, ears, thoughts or heart? The answer is “Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12v34). Sooner or later whatever is in our hearts comes out through our lips (Matthew 15v18).
You like me, may feel totally unholy and unworthy – well we are in good company – Isaiah did too and look at how much he accomplished when he was ready to admit his unholiness and commit himself to doing God’s bidding: “Here am I! Send me.” (6v8).
Let’s take a moment to notice here that both Isaiah and Paul felt totally miserable, wretched, unclean and unhappy when they were exposed to pure holiness. So we could say that unholiness makes us unhappy and therefore conversely the opposite is also true – that being holy is a source of happiness! Isn’t that a great motivation to be holy?!
However holy we are seeking to be, our natural unholiness is always lurking in the background therefore we need to be vigilant. The good news however is, God is committed to helping us to be holy – as He is holy – hence the purging of fire from off His altar for Isaiah – and for us.
As many of you know, John Wesley is one of my heroes – he was not only a very effective evangelist he was a great teacher and the major theme of his life and teaching was holiness. His goal, and the whole aim of the early Methodists in the 18th Century was:
“To spread scriptural holiness throughout the land.”
To a great degree this was achieved, not only in Great Britain but in America and many more nations also. To this day, the Nazarene denomination, the Salvation Army and the Pentecostal Holiness churches of America trace their roots back to John Wesley’s teaching on holiness. Wesley had two other terms that he used as well as holiness: Entire Sanctification and Perfect Love. Let’s look at these terms to gain more insight into this vital doctrine…
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION
“Sanctify yourselves”
Leviticus 11v44
According to the Old Testament law, places, ground, garments, meat, offerings, people and things could all be made holy. That is because they were set apart (sanctified) solely for God Himself. Wesley and his followers believed that they could reach a point in their Christian lives where they would be wholly set apart for God – where their whole lives were lived free from sin and they were fully consecrated to God. This is called “entire sanctification.” Even if we do not achieve that perfectly, it is certainly a wonderful goal to have.
Too few Christians, churches or denominations in the modern world seem to have the goal of holiness either for themselves or for their nation like Wesley had. Does that challenge you?
PERFECT LOVE
“As He is, so are we in this world”
1 John 4v12-18
God is Holy and at the same time, He is Love. Wesley and the early Methodists saw love and holiness as the perfect combination, that it is possible to come to a place in our walk with God where we are perfected in our love for God and this expresses itself in holiness.
Being loved by God, causes us to want to be holy. If we truly love God we will want be holy for Him. The early Pentecostal Holiness people very often tried to be holy by NOT doing many things that they considered to be worldly and that was all very good but it became very legalistic in the end. John Wesley got it right by starting with the desire to love God more and when we do that, we will want to be totally dedicated to Him – to please Him and not ourselves.
God wants us to be Holy – by Choice
When we were saved we were made holy by the cleansing of the blood of Jesus:
“You, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you HOLY, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight - if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel.”
(Colossians 1:22)
“We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
(Hebrews 10:10 & 14)
Having been made holy by the blood of Jesus it’s up to us to stay holy by the choices we make along the way:
“Pursue peace with all people, and HOLINESS, without which no one will see the Lord.”
(Hebrews 12:14)
The only way we can be holy is to learn from how God is holy and applying those principles to ourselves. We can be holy by:
1) CHOSING TO BE HOLY LIKE HE IS:
“Be holy for I am holy” Leviticus 11v44
All of the Old Testament laws are based directly or indirectly upon the fact of God’s holiness. God is a Holy God – totally separate from sin. To approach Him, to worship Him, to please Him, to be close to Him, to be blessed by Him, all necessitated His people being holy, like He is Holy.
See Psalm 15 for a practical listing of the things that the people of God needed to do to be eligible to dwell on His “holy hill.”:
He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbour,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honours those who fear the Lord;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
2) BEING WHOLLY GIVEN OVER TO GOD:
As we have observed, according to the Old Testament law things and people can become holy when they are totally dedicated to the Lord. Places, ground, garments, meat, offerings, people and things can all be holy. That is because they were set apart (sanctified) solely for God Himself, for His use, His presence, His glory, to please Him.
We can choose to be set apart for God by living to please Him and that includes having clean lips (remember Isaiah?) - not talking about unwholesome things:
“Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Ephesians 5:3-4)
3) BEING TOTALLY DISINTERESTED in anything sinful or unclean:
Although God is totally separate from sin and uncleanness - He is aware of it but he does not touch it.
“You are of purer eyes than to behold evil”
Habakkuk 1v18
So the way God remains separate is that He does not look at anything unholy and withdraws His presence from unwholesome situations.
We can do the same - we can avert our eyes, we can choose not to look at unholy things and that is not an easy thing to do in our modern world. Unwholesome things jump up in films and television all the time.
Burt we can choose to be totally separate from unholy/sinful things and that includes staying out of and certainly not participating in unholy situations.
A good test is: “Could I be here / do this if Jesus was in the room?”
4) DENYING SELF-DYING TO THE FLESH:
We don’t hear a lot about self-denial these days, in fact most people are like a very successful business woman who said on the radio some time ago “I don’t deny myself ANYTHING.”
When I was a boy the Baptist church we attended had a Self-Denial Week once a year which really meant members denying themselves some luxury like chocolate and giving the money they saved to missions instead. Well denying self is not a once a year project it’s a daily walk as Jesus said:
“If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Luke 9:23
We have noticed that Paul said “In me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18) and he goes on to say: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. (Romans 8:8-9)
This battle between the Spirit and the flesh is a battle for holiness but Paul gives us the key to success: “If you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live – put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts.” (Romans 8:13 & 13:14)
I’m not writing this from any point of arrival – in fact quite the opposite. What I have been looking at in this message speaks into my life and challenges me – so the question below is just as much for myself as for you, in fact those of us who teach others will be judged more strictly (James 3:1) but the rewards for holy living are – blessing in this life and glory in heaven.
Are we ready to come to that place of making HOLINESS,
entire sanctification and perfect love our goal?