Christian Holiness part 1 Holiness is Examined

Thank you Keith. I really think that so many songs about Christ and the cross was very fitting for where we're going this morning. And not just this morning, but next week as well. Now, you know where we will be in our scriptures this morning. So if you've not turned there, go ahead and turn to 2 Corinthians. Our scripture reading was in chapter 7, but we will be in chapter 6 and in chapter 7. So 2 Corinthians 6 and 7. Now this morning, the subject which we will explore is holiness. And not just holiness, but holiness in the life of a Christian. Now this is part of the message series, Messages from the Pastors Heart.

And if you've been keeping up with where we are, this is the second subject that we have dealt with. We just started with holiness, but last week we concluded 3 messages dealing with prayer. I would encourage you that if you've not listened to those, go back and listen. And familiarize yourself with what the Lord gave us as we looked at prayer and studied prayer. Now, as I have studied this week, there truthfully have been 2 thoughts on my mind in dealing with this subject. First of all, I do not think that I've ever preached a message quite like this on holiness.

Now I've dealt with holiness in various places in the scriptures, but I really don't think I've ever preached, especially here at NOLA, messages like this on holiness. And then second, what's come to my mind is I really feel like I'm standing in front of the Himalayas with a shovel. I feel like I'm standing at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico and I have a bucket in my hand. I feel very overwhelmed. As a matter of fact, I even feel frustrated. How do you preach on Christian holiness and do it justice? Many great preachers have preached great messages on this subject. Many great authors have written great books on this subject.

So my disclaimer is this. I will not be exhaustive. It will simply be what has come to my mind as I've studied the Word and I discern the needs that we have before us today. Now teaching on holiness has been on my mind specifically since the fall. As I have said many times, I have been studying some of these subjects since the end of the summer and the fall. And some of my notes I noticed that I began to take notes on holiness back in September. But the subject of Christian holiness comes to my mind from time to time. And I'm sad to say it.

Usually when negative things go on in the lives of people, sometimes people I know, sometimes people I know of, and sometimes people that I hear of. And when these things take place, it causes me to say, "Where is Christian holiness today?" A couple of examples that will help you understand my thoughts. Every now and then we will hear about immorality, sexual immorality, and the lives of people in other churches. Sometimes we will hear about immorality, the lives of leaders in the church. And it always interests me at how others in the lives of those churches respond.

Many times it causes me to look at my wife and say, "Where is Christian holiness today?" Now I know that people fall and I know that those types of calamities happen in the church. But you will see how people react. And many times it's not in a holy way. When we begin to see questionable lifestyles and choices in the lives of people in the church today, maybe you hear of people engaging in what we would call worldly entertainments in certain Christian circles. And I use that term loosely. There are people who claim to have freedoms in certain areas.

It's become very popular for lots of "Christians" to engage in drinking and even cigar smoking. I was in the home of a friend several years back and I noticed his cigars in his home. I questioned him, confronted him boldly. I looked at him and I told him it was a sin. And I even said, "When you get cancer, don't expect me to pray over you.

I'll pray for you, but not over you." He calls me to say, "Where is Christian holiness today?" And when I see people make poor choices in life, maybe with money and family and associations and business, sometimes he calls us to ask, or it should, "Where is Christian holiness?" Well, this morning we're going to explore the subject of Christian holiness from Paul. As he writes to this Corinthian church, now we know that Paul founded this church in Corinth. We learned that in our New Year's Eve message when we went through Acts chapter 18 verses 1 through 11. Those verses are really a quick synopsis of what takes place here in Corinth.

Paul had a successful ministry there. It was during his second missionary journey. If you keep up with Paul's timeline, even though the city was exceedingly wicked, God did enable Paul to labor in Corinth for 18 months. If you take these letters, we know that he labored even longer. Now, there were only two places in Paul's ministry that he stayed longer, Roman Ephesus. So that shows us that Corinth was one of Paul's greatest ministry points. But Paul wrote back to this church to address major problems in the church. And that is why we have these two letters.

If you ever want to know why Paul writes these letters, it was because of negative circumstances and problems in Corinth. Now, in our passages this morning, Paul is addressing a specific theological problem in the church. Some false teachers have come in behind Paul. When Paul left, they slipped in the side door of the church. And they began propagating a bad view of sanctification. Specifically, this teaching that they propagated was legalistic, which affected true Christian sanctification, which in turn affected personal holiness.

Now, that is a basic overview of the problem at hand, but that is enough background to help us as we dive into these verses and the message. Now, I'll give you the title of the message and how we're going to break these down. It's a simple title. It's Christian Holiness Part 1. Because we will have a Part 2, obviously, next week. You see how we will divide the chapter. It's quite a bit of Scripture. But you see we will have holiness is described, and then holiness is expected. Holiness is described, and holiness is expected. So let's look at our first major truth. Holiness is described. And you see that it comes out of verses 1 through 10.

Primarily, this lengthy portion of Scripture that Paul gives about himself. Now, the backdrop of these verses is a two-fold picture that we need to see. First, Paul is defending himself as a true apostle. The church that should have honored Paul for what he had done for them was not giving honor where it was due. Now, let me pause there. That's why Paul says so much about himself here. It wasn't that he was hung up on himself. It was a purpose. Instead of giving Paul the honor that was due him, the Corinthians were honoring the false teachers who had slipped in behind Paul. These were called Judaizers.

And so Paul begins his teaching on holiness through his defense. Now, there are several observations that I want to make here. I want to examine these passages. First of all, I want us to see that Paul shows us that holiness begins in salvation. You need to see this. Holiness begins in salvation. That's out of verses 1 and 2. And working together with him, we also urge you to receive the grace, not to receive the grace of God in vain. Verse 2, for he says, "At the acceptable time I listen to you, and on the day of salvation I beheld you. Behold, now is the acceptable time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation." Here, Paul goes back to the beginning. He goes back to their salvation. Many of the Corinthians had truly been saved, while many, even some, were not truly converted. Now, remember the context. They had been affected by false teaching. And this teaching was a works-based form of Judaism. They had a flawed view of the law of Moses and grace. So what is Paul doing here? First, he is reminding those who were truly saved that their personal holiness started with their conversion and not with their performance. It started with grace. Go back to verse 1.

And working together with him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. He is reminding those who were truly converted that it is by grace. It starts with grace. Then second, he is calling those who had received the grace of God in vain, those are the ones who were not converted. He is calling them to repentance. He is calling them to true salvation. And in so doing, he quotes Isaiah 49.8. And he is calling them to Christ. Now, how can Paul make such a bold and definite statement? What is he saying? Now is the day, now is the time for those of you who have believed in vain to be converted. How can he do that?

Paul knew that God had sent him to evangelize. Paul knew that this was after Christ and the gift of Christ on the cross. So in Paul's quest to bring about true holiness instead of works holiness, which is no holiness at all, Paul wisely starts with salvation. It begins and it ends with conversion. That's why Paul starts there. So first we saw holiness begins in salvation. Second, holiness begins in life's purpose. Holiness begins in life's purpose. Now, you notice there is a transition in verse 3, giving no calls for offense in anything in order that the ministry be not discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants to God.

And then the rest of the verses all the way down to verse 10, it's about Paul. It's all about Paul. Here Paul is giving two things. First, he is defending himself to the Corinthians. He is reminding them of all he has done and all he has been to them, like they needed to be reminded because they knew him well. For many, they would have seen this as redundant because many said, Paul, we know you. But again, he is cutting through this false teaching. Second, by his example, he is proving holiness in life's purpose, and that was serving Christ and serving the church. Let me repeat that.

In bringing himself as an example, he is proving that holiness comes from life's purpose, and that is serving Christ and serving the church. Go back to verse 4. "But in everything commending ourselves as servants of God." And all that does is describe Paul's commitment to the church and Christ. But a few specifics quickly here. This shows you how Paul served the church. He did this through difficult externals or trials, verses 4 and 5. Paul is describing how he lived. Great difficulties. He did this through personal purity and godliness. Look at verse 6.

"In purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love." That all speaks about his personal godliness. And also through or in the Word of God in verse 7. And then through great persecution starting in verse 8 and going to verse 10. Verse 8 and verse 10 seem to be related to verses 4 and 5, but it's a little different. So in Paul's quest to bring about true godliness in their life's purpose, he used himself as an example. Remember, they were not serving Christ in this doctrine, and they were not serving the church. They were destroying the church by following this false work-based doctrine.

So what do we see here? True holiness is described. Now you might not see that right away. Many of the Corinthians were floundering, and many were false. They thought that they were living exceedingly holy lives because of this doctrine of works. But Paul starts to set them straight. He says true holiness starts with grace and the grace of God in salvation. And it continues by serving Christ and the church. And those two are inseparable. They were in Paul's life. Now, how might verses 1 through 10 apply to us? How might this holiness described apply to us? What can we say from these passages that relate to us?

We must see that those who are not converted cannot take comfort in any religious activities. We must see that if we have a husband or a wife, a son or a daughter, if you are here and you know that you are not converted, do not take comfort in your religious activities. Do not take comfort in your church membership. Do not take comfort in your church attendance or even sound doctrine. Listen, you can take a pig to the water hose, but that does not mean he is clean. You can even put good clothes on a pig, but he's still a dirty pig.

Now you might say, "Pastor, that's a pretty harsh example." Well, if you study the Scriptures, God's worse than that. He doesn't call you a pig. He calls you an enemy. What am I trying to show you? If you're not converted, you are an enemy of God. You are dirty and vile in your sin. Paul says if you want true holiness, it starts with conversion. And then we move on past conversion and we move into our commitment to Christ and then our commitment to the church. And I'm sad to say I've seen so many people in the past few years, they claim to be godly. They claim to love the Lord.

They claim to love sound doctrine, but they're not committed to the church. They're not committed to the Lord's bride. Now that is contradictory to everything that Paul taught, everything Paul was. Nowhere can you find a true Christian and they are divorced from the church. Listen, Paul's holiness was bound up in his purpose and his purpose was Christ and the church. And if you run across any people who claim to be godly, but they flounder in their commitment to the church, it's a flawed holiness. I've seen more and more of those people today. Grieves me. I've had conversations with them. They will use spiritual language like this.

Well, we hated to miss, but oh, we had great church with our family at the lake. They'll use language like that. Oh, we hated to miss, but we had great church in our home. It's not in the scriptures. Now, what am I trying to show you? Holiness is described in these verses. Paul says to the Corinthians, if you want to be holy, you must first know that you've experienced grace. And second, your holiness must be like mine. Because he says, I am the example that God has put before you and my holiness is bound up in Christ and is bound up in you, the church. And what is he saying? Mimic me. Follow me. Be like I am.

Holiness is described in these verses. Let's move on and I want us to notice holiness is expected. Holiness is expected. So slight transition in verse 11. Our mouth has spoken freely to you. Oh Corinthians, our heart is open wide. He's beginning to get a lot more personal. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your affections. And then he goes on to say now in exchange I speak as to children. And then he goes on to give instructions starting in verse 14. So now we see Paul moves from his call to remember God's grace and salvation and his example. And now he moves to what he expects of them.

Now here is where the example comes into play. Where some can see Paul's example as pride. That is not the case. He was reminded, he was reminding them of his position as an apostle. He had the authority to examine them, to correct them, and to call them to the true Christian life. And he was exposing their works based holiness and calling them the true holiness that is expected out of these verses. The three ways I want to divide these verses. First we see Paul's tender call. I mentioned it, but now go back to verse 11. Our mouth has spoken freely to you. Oh Corinthians, our heart is open wide.

You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your affections. Now in like exchange I speak as to children open wide to us also. Here Paul's love for this church can be plainly seen. In verse 11 he states that their hearts have been opened to them. Now who is the them? Those who have ministered with Paul. And we know there are others who traveled with him. But in contrast here Paul says they are restrained in their affections. Go back to verse 12. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. This word can mean inward parts. That's why the King James uses the word bowels.

Paul is calling out their misplaced affections. Someone else has stolen their love. Notice Paul's appeal in verse 13. What does he say? Now in like exchange I speak as to children. He is speaking as a father as to children and imploring them to open their hearts to them as he has opened up his heart to them. He has to be heartbroken here. So what we see is a tender call from Paul. He loves them and he is calling for their love in return. You see that tender call? Then second notice Paul's appeal for separation becomes more bold. Look at verse 14.

"Do not be bound together with unbelievers for what partnership have righteousness with lawlessness." And he goes on down to contrast between living godly lives and worldly lives. And then we see a transition again. Look at the end of verse 16. "Just as God said." And then he begins to quote Old Testament passages. And this is an appeal for separation. Here Paul deals with their associations. We see this right away in verse 14. Go back to the verse. "Do not be bound together with unbelievers." So those are their associations. Now here we have a picture. We have a teaching example. And that is the yoke.

"Do not be bound together." The King James yoked together. The principle here comes from specific teaching out of Deuteronomy chapter 22. The Deuteronomy passages say that they were not to plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. The oxen was considered a clean animal. While the donkey was considered an unclean animal according to Deuteronomy 14 verses 1 through 9. So this is more than just practical teaching here. Therefore it was wrong to yoke them up together. So there is a command. "Do not be yoked." And he uses a teaching tool here. So notice the command. And then notice the teaching.

Or you might call it preaching because he goes a little further. Look at the end or the second portion of verse 14. "For what partnership have righteousness with lawlessness?" Or what fellowship with light and darkness? Or what harmony as Christ with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? Paul is making his case. He asks this series of contrasting questions. And these are meant to expose their behavior. Notice the words that he used. Now I'm reading from the New American. Partnership, fellowship, harmony, common, agreement.

All of these words speak of having something in common. And no matter what translation you study, they are easy for you to find. This is that teaching. Contrasting questions. Then notice the opposite sides if I can use that language. Righteousness versus lawlessness. Light versus darkness. Christ versus serving wickedness. Or Satan, that's what that word means. Believer versus unbeliever. Temple of God versus idols. See, these are opposite sides. Then notice the appeal to the church. Look at verse 16. "For what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we," notice that language, "are the temple of the living God." We, here Paul is referring to the church as a whole and this local church, and he puts himself in this group. So Paul is making a strong plea for separation. It comes out of a tender call. He loves them, and he's calling them to separation. And he is exposing them through these contrasting questions, and they should have seen themselves in these questions. And then third, Paul appeals from the Scriptures. Now, I don't know how your English Bible notes it. A lot of translations will have either an italics or an all-bolds or they will be indented over.

But starting in verse 16 all the way down to verse 18, we see that Paul quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. So here we see that Paul is continuing to examine them, but he examines them in light of the Scriptures. Now, when examined, these portions of Scripture, you can see that Paul is quoting many, many Old Testament passages. But I want you to notice that there are four promises that can easily be seen out of these verses. Verse 16, just as God said, "I will dwell with them and walk among them." First promise. Second promise, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Second promise.

On down to end of verse 17, "And I will come to you," the third promise. And then, "I will," verse 18, "be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and my daughters." The fourth promise. And these are easily seen. Now, what's the point? This is separation and fellowship. They are to be God's people, and he is making promises that if they will separate, they will walk in high fellowship with him. But then notice there are two commands. They're both seen in verse 17. "Therefore come out from their midst and be separate, and do not touch what is unclean." Again, this is separation.

So Paul here is making an appeal from his position and calling them by the authority of the Scripture for separation. So what do we see here in these verses, verses 11 through 18? Tenderly, lovingly, but with great authority, Paul is calling this church to be what is expected. He makes a strong appeal for separation. This is not Paul's opinion, but what has been expected of God's people from the beginning. That is why he goes back to the Old Testament Scriptures. And from verse 14 to verse 18, Paul's teaching is saturated with the Word of God.

Now this is an incomplete list, but right here in these verses, he quotes Deuteronomy, he quotes Exodus, he quotes Leviticus, he quotes Jeremiah, he quotes Ezekiel, he quotes 2 Samuel, he quotes 1 Chronicles, he quotes Isaiah, and then Hosea, and I'm sure I missed one or two. And his call for them was back to the Word. So what do we see here? What do we see out of these verses that can be applied to us? We see Paul's tender yet authoritative call, and they had moved away from being under his authority. And this always, always reminds me of my call and my job, and my call and my job come straight out of the Word.

Now you know that I refer to myself as an elder. I understand, I've taught through the Scriptures, that I am called to be an elder. One of my life verses is 1 Peter 5, verses 1 through 3. Peter functioned as an elder and an apostle, and what does he say? "So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed." In verse 2, notice what he says. "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you.

Not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock." Oh, that verse describes Paul, and that is my call. That is what God has called me to do. And I urge you to accept the authority that God has given me. I urge you not to look past what God would say to you through me, just like those Corinthians needed a reminder of Paul's authority. Now I say this humbly. Could some of you need to be reminded of the authority from this pulpit? I'm not here by happenstance or coincidence, or just because I want to be here.

This is God's call on my life, and they moved away from his authority, and I've seen it when people move out from under the authority of the pulpit, and when they move out from under the authority of God's people who are over them, oh, they wander into a whole world of worldliness and sin. Also an application we must understand and strive for separation. We cannot live like everyone else. We cannot live like the world. We cannot live like the world. The Corinthians, they were in two ditches.

Now when you get in your car and you leave this church and you go home, you either keep it between the ditches, or you get in a right-hand ditch, or you get in the left-hand ditch. Either way, you're in a ditch. You know, it really doesn't matter if you get in the driver's side ditch or the passenger's side ditch, you're in a ditch. And they had two ditches. Two areas of worldliness. First, religious worldliness. They were engrossed in religious worldliness. Now some of you might say, "What? Religious worldliness? Yes." That is what all of this Gnosticism was, this blending of the Mosaic law and grace.

They were saying, "Yes, you're saved by grace, but you've got to keep the law, the law of Moses." And that was wordless. And the second ditch was the world of Corinth. Corinth was an immoral city, a wicked city, a city of excess living. And some of Corinth had slipped under the door of the church. And those were the two ditches of worldliness that was plaguing them. And that's what he's dealing with. Now you have to study more of the book to see more of what he's dealing with. But that's primarily what he is dealing with. Now, I'll be honest with you right here. All of chapter 6 is truthfully just the introduction to the message.

Now some of you are probably saying, "Oh, wow, here we go. We're going to have a long message." Right now my wife might be saying, "Oh, no, you don't. You better not do this." Listen, it seems that in this chapter, chapter 6, Paul is teaching, he's correcting, he's working in their lives, but he is working his way to chapter 7, verse 1. Go back to the verse. "Therefore having these promises." Therefore, what does that mean? He's going back to these promises from the Old Testament, but it's all tied together. He said all that he said, taught all that he taught, did all that he did in chapter 6 just to get to verse 1.

And it seems that chapter 6 is really the introduction to the real message that he wants to give them. I like what the Bible commentator Warren Wiersby says of chapter 6. He says that Paul is dealing with the symptoms while starting in chapter 7, verse 1, he begins to deal with the cause. You see that? And I add to what Wiersby says, he begins to deal with the cause of the disease because I'm going to tell you, this disease was disastrous to the church and the people. And yes, I do see chapter 7, verse 1 really is the application. Now what I mean by application is, this is a question that many of us ask. Well, what do we need to do?

See, it's inevitable when we begin to study a subject like this, some of you will say, well, what do I need to do? Show me worldliness here. Now all of us have a list. Our list, my list might be different than yours. And if we're humble at all, we will automatically say, okay, pastor, you've gone through the text, but tell me what's worldliness, tell me what's not worldliness, and then I can adjust my life. Now, I do not mean to de-emphasize chapter 6. Chapter 6 is very important to the overall message of Christian holiness.

But beginning in chapter 7, verse 1, and that's where we'll pick up next week, we will begin to flesh out what Christian holiness should look like in our life. Now, in the conclusion of the message, I want to give you a few statements to ponder, and then I want to give you an assignment, a few statements for, to be specific, four statements to ponder. Now, I'm going to read the statements, make a few comments that will help you see where I'm going, and then I'll give us the assignment. First statement, when there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life and in the church, Christian integrity is compromised.

When there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life and in the church, Christian integrity is compromised. I'll give you an example. There was a Christian minister friend of mine, he was telling me about a ministry associate, and he was telling me about how his friend would invite him over to talk about ministry things and said, "Why don't you come over a week and sit on our back porch, enjoy being outside, discuss ministry, and smoke cigars." Now, what was my friend saying? That bothers me. That perplexes me. I see a lack of integrity there.

You know, you will hear and see of how "Christians," they will enjoy a certain type of music and certain types of entertainments, and you know that sometimes you look at them and you question the integrity of their faith. You question the integrity of their Christian holiness. See, when there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life and in the church, Christian integrity is compromised. That's a great statement. When there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life, there is weakness and defeat. When there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life, there is weakness and defeat. I'll give you an example.

If you're truly born again and the Spirit lives within you, when you begin to worldly and quench the Spirit and your conscience is violated, you know that you become weak in your prayer life, weak in your devotion to the Word, weak in your commitment to the brothers and sisters, and you become dull, and if time goes on, that dullness becomes worse. That sensitivity begins to wane, and then what happens is weakness and defeat sets in. So when there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life, there is weakness and defeat. Third statement.

When there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life, there is a level of uselessness in the church and the advancement of the gospel. When there is a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life, there is a level of uselessness for the church and for the advancement of the gospel. Greatest example of these Corinthian Christians. Look how useless they were. What did Paul say at the beginning of the letter in 1 Corinthians? "I wanted to give you meat, but you were so weak I had to give you milk." What is he doing? He is saying that you were useless to the church and the advancement of the gospel.

He said, "I got to run back and take you by the hand like a little baby and help you alone because you're not where you should be." They had attained a level of uselessness. And then fourth, a lack of holiness at times can be attributed to worldly, legalistic religion. I'll give you an example. Years ago I remember ministering to a friend who came out of a horribly legalistic background. And as God the Holy Spirit had been working in his life and working in his life, he began to realize how useless his "holiness" was.

It was works, it was flesh, it was meanness, arrogance, dogmatic, legalistic religion that he used as a club to beat people over the head. And as God began to tear down those walls, he began to weep and cry and say, "Years, I have wasted years and I am not where I should be." What was he doing? He was weeping and lamenting over legalistic religion that he thought made him holy when actually it made him a carnal. So you see the four statements? When there's a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life and in the church, Christian integrity is compromised.

When there's a lack of holiness in a true Christian's life, there is weakness and defeat. And when there's a lack of holiness in the true Christian's life, there is a level of uselessness for the church in the advancement of the gospel. And then forth, a lack of holiness at times can be attributed to religion. Now here's your assignment. At least once a day, read chapter 6. You might say, "Oh, pastor, a chapter?" We're talking 19 verses. Once a day, read chapter 6 and verse 1. And I promise you, if you do this probably by the middle of the week, you will start looking at your reference system. You might look in your concordance.

You might find yourself studying ahead. Well, praise the Lord. And then also discuss this, maybe with your wife, your husband. Discuss this with your children. Listen, young people, you need to study these verses as well. And again, to pray, these are 19 verses. And then next week we will pick up in verse 1 of chapter 7, and we will continue with Christian holiness. So what have we looked at this morning? This sad example in Corinth. What a faithful minister of the gospel named Paul. And we had holiness described and holiness expected.

And I believe God wants to bring about a new level of holiness in your life, in my life, and in our church so that we would be useful for the church, for the advancement of the gospel, and for His glory. Let's pray.