Gospel Holiness: Elements, Part 1 (negative)

Introduction to Gospel Holiness and Review of Previous Sessions

0:06 May we pause for just a moment of prayer together.

0:17 Our Father, we thank you that there is that place under the shadow of the Almighty,

0:24 and we would consciously take our place there tonight for grace needed in this hour.

0:34 As we look into your word, it may come to us, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, that those who listen may have ears anointed by the Spirit, that he who speaks may speak in the power and demonstration of the Spirit, that we may profit from this exposure to your truth. Hear us, O Lord, as we plead through Jesus Christ.

1:07 Amen.

1:10 The theme of the conference that I trust all of you are aware of by now, and even those who have just heard it, and those who have just come amongst us today, is gospel holiness.

1:30 The theme text, Hebrews 12 and verse 14, where the writer to the Hebrews commands us to strive after peace with all men, and that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Just briefly, to review what we've covered already, for the benefit of those who are with us for the first time this evening, and in order to refresh, the memories of those who have been here for the previous sessions,

2:01 we introduced the whole theme of gospel holiness by considering some of the tremendously weighty principles stated in Hebrews 12 and verse 14.

2:15 In order that his readers would not regard this exhortation lightly, he reminds them that holiness is an essential element of true salvation. For he said, without it, no man shall see the Lord, which is but another way of saying, without it, no man will go to heaven, which is simply stating positively the negative truth, without it, men will perish in hell.

2:43 And so this is an essential element of true salvation. Our Lord Jesus made this very clear when he said in Matthew 7, enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, but straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. You see, men do not attain life simply by coming to a gate. Life is at the other end of a way.

3:16 The gate of true conversion, the way of gospel holiness, these lead to life. And so holiness is an essential element of our salvation. It is not foundational. Christ is the foundation.

3:33 It's part of the superstructure, but it is an essential element of that superstructure, and without it, no man shall see the Lord. And in the light of this, then the second principle that is obvious in the text is that all true believers are to pursue this holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Then we spend some time the following night seeking to grasp something of the biblical teaching concerning the source, the source of this gospel holiness. And we saw that Christ is its source, the Holy Spirit is its agent, and we concluded by considering the principle that this holiness of which Christ is the source, He is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, of which the Holy Spirit is the agent, it comes to the believer and comes to expression in his life in the Holy Spirit. It is the whole-souled activity of that believer. It comes to life in the activity and conscious effort of the whole man, indwelt by the Spirit, drawing upon the fullness of Jesus Christ. Now tonight, we want to begin to consider the actual substance of this holiness.

Defining the Substance of Gospel Holiness: The Negative Aspect

4:54 What are the factors that actually comprise this holiness? Having looked at the source, the agent, and then the manner in which it comes to light in the life of the believer, how may I know, this is the practical issue, how may I know if I am pursuing that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord? How will this pursuit manifest itself in my life? How can I know if I am pursuing that holiness?

5:24 These are very practical questions. And for them, the Word of God gives us some very clear answers. And the answer is, basically, both a negative and a positive one. And as I seek to describe the substance of this gospel holiness, I will attempt to follow the biblical pattern, stating first the negative and then the positive.

5:47 And you will find this pattern going throughout the Word of God. Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, Flee youthful lust. Negative. But follow after righteousness.

5:59 There is the positive. The Apostle Paul says in Colossians 3 and verse 8, Put off all of these, anger, wrath, malice, filthy communication out of your mouth. Then he says in verse 12, Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, etc. Verse 8, put on.

6:22 Verse 12, put on. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He called men to Himself, said, If any man will come after me, let him, here's the negative, deny himself, the positive, take up his cross and follow me. In Philippians chapter 3, the portion we were looking at this morning when Mr. Adams was preaching, the Apostle Paul said, Forgetting the things that are behind, there's the negative.

6:51 And pressing or stretching out to the things that are before, there's the positive. How do you find this negative, positive acting of the Christian in the realm of the attainment of gospel holiness throughout the entire scriptures? And so tonight, I want us to consider, first of all, the negative. Now the statement that I'm going to give you, which I feel is an embodiment of the scriptural teaching, is not inspiring.

7:22 And yet we're going to exegete the statement simply for the reason that I've tried to embody in one sentence or statement the whole spectrum of what the scripture teaches on this subject of the substance of gospel holiness considered from its negative aspect. And this is what I've come up with after, I believe we could say, many hours of actually trying to work and perfect this in a very simplified form. Holiness will manifest itself in a heart, rooted desire, and a serious effort to be cleansed and delivered from all sin. How can I know if I am pursuing that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord? If I am pursuing that holiness, then this will be true of me. There will be found in me a heart-rooted desire and a serious effort to be cleansed and delivered from all sin.

Explaining 'Heart-Rooted Desire' and 'Serious Effort'

8:41 Now let's go back over that definition and explain it in some detail. Gospel holiness involves something that touches what I have described a heart-rooted desire. The scripture tells us in the book of Proverbs, chapter 4 and verse 23, that we should guard our hearts above all that we guard, for out of it are the issues of life. As the heart is, so is the man.

9:16 The Lord Jesus said, A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good fruit. And an evil man, out of the evil treasure of the heart, bringeth forth evil things. God is concerned with our hearts, for the heart is the fountainhead of the whole man. And so, gospel holiness involves a heart-rooted desire after this matter of deliverance from sin.

9:50 It is something that has its roots in the deep inner recesses of the human being. Now, when you have your heart set upon something, you cannot relinquish it. Or see that heart desire unrealized without experiencing deep inward pain. Here's a young man, and he says his heart is set upon winning the hand of a certain young woman.

10:19 And so he courts her for a while, or I should say, he dates her for a while, gets to know her, and would like it to be considered courtship. And so one night, he's going to pop the question. And so I'll leave to your imagination the beautiful setting of this tender little scene of when the moon is shining just right, and she is dressed just right, and he is poised and posed just right on that knee. And he pops the question.

10:49 And the young lady turns and says to him, well, John, I think you're a wonderful fellow, and I admire you and all the rest. But, John, the answer is no. And what would you think if the fellow got up off his knees and said, well, it was worth trying, and glad to know how you feel about this thing. Good night.

11:12 And so he goes home, and his mother says, well, John, how did you make out? Well, she turned me down, Mom. One of the way I hope things went, but that's all right. There'll always be another girl.

11:22 And he just throws it off, acts as though nothing really happened. Well, if you saw such actions on behalf of this young man, you would immediately know something. You know it was a blessing that the girl turned him down, because he really didn't have his heart set upon her. You see, if his heart was really set upon her, he would have been grief-stricken if she turned him down, and he would not have given up that easily.

11:48 He would have pursued the issue again and again until it was obvious that there was absolutely no hope, and he would give up and then steel himself to let his heart bleed out in secret. But if his heart was set upon that young woman, he could not relinquish the object of his heart's desire without experiencing some inward pain. And if your heart is set upon holiness, you will not be able to relinquish that desire without inner pain. You will not be able to say, as so many professing Christians glibly say, oh, well, I know I should be holy, but you know, we're in the flesh, and there's not much we can do about it. All that God has his heart set on being holy is the God who called him as holy. When he realizes that his heart's desire is not fully attained and fully realized, he experiences inner grief. For wherever there is a heart-rooted desire, one of the evidences of it is that that desire cannot be frustrated without experiencing inner pain.

13:05 And then the second thing about this kind of heart-rooted desire, you know when you've got it. This kind of desire is not something that resides in the subconscious. You take that young fellow who's determined that he's going to make first-string half-backs. He knows it and everybody else knows it.

13:22 Mom and Dad know it. He comes home and the whole house stinks of Bengay, and the whole house has got to be operated according to his schedule. He's got to be in bed at a certain hour. He's got to eat certain food.

13:33 His whole life revolves around one thing. When the coach announces the starting line-up for the fall and the fall and the fall and the fall team of 1967, he wants his name there as starting half-back. His heart's set upon it and it's a conscious goal. So whatever is a heart-rooted desire is that kind of desire that you cannot relinquish without pain or fail to realize without pain and it's a desire of which you are conscious.

14:07 Now, a heart-rooted desire and serious effort frame and mold the life. It'll involve the whole man. Here's a man who's in a building and the building is burning and he looks at the first avenue of escape out the door and down the stairs and he says, well, I can't do that. The flames are belching up the stairs.

14:44 And he says, well, it was nice trying and it looks like that way is blocked for me so I just have to burn again. You say, ridiculous. That's right, ridiculous. Because you see, if he's really in earnest about getting out of that building, if his heart-desire is to spare his hide, he's going to put forth some serious effort.

15:05 And when he finds that avenue of escape that's blocked out to him, he'll go to the window and if he finds it's too far down, he looks around, he sees that he can find some drapes, he tears them into pieces, ties them together, tries to make a rope. When the heart is set upon something, it will bring into play all of the faculties of the whole man in order to realize its object. What is gospel holiness? It is a heart-rooted desire which will always give expression in the serious effort to be cleansed and delivered from all sin.

15:35 Back when I was in grade school, I don't know if they have this in any of your schools around here, we've got two marks for every subject. The first mark is that the heart is set upon something that is not meant to be an object. The first mark, and that was the big one, it was A, B, C, or D, or F, whatever else, or X, I forgot what they gave for flunking, that would go in the main block, but then it would always be a little number after that. It was A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, and that little number was an expression of the effort. You see, the second in terms of effort. And you know, my parents never looked, first of all, at the big letter A, B, C, D. You know what they looked at?

16:32 They looked at the little ones on effort. And we'd get spanked if we got As if they had a 3F, or B if they had a 3F. Generally, you wouldn't get an A with a 3, you might get it with a 2. But if we came home with Bs, good grades, but had 3, we got a lecture because we didn't have a 3F.

17:00 You see, this matter of gospel holiness is something that brings into play the conscious deliberate effort of the child of God. And because it is a heart-rooted desire, it will always find expression in that effort that involves the whole man and is also a conscious thing. And then I use the term, a heart-rooted desire and serious effort of the child of God. Now, what do I mean by cleansing?

Explaining 'Cleansed and Delivered from All Sin'

17:33 I mean that which is expressed in 1 John 1-9 where the scripture says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm speaking of that which is involved when having sinned, we cry to God and there is a forgiving of the sin, a blotting out of the sin and a cleansing of our hearts and lives. But not only does gospel holiness involve that heart-rooted desire and serious effort to be cleansed from sin, but to be delivered from sin, to be cleansed and delivered from sin. For the true child of God is not just concerned about the guilt that smarts his conscience but the sin itself. For he shall save his people from their sins. And the Lord Jesus is set forth in the scriptures as a savior from sin and its consequences. Not just from the guilt and the penalty of sin, but from the defilement in the actual practice of sin.

18:53 Thou shalt call his name and save his people from their sins. When I have seen my sin in the light of God's holy demands, when I have seen my sin in the light of the cross of Christ as that foul, ugly thing that opened up the wounds of the Son of God, when I have seen my sin as that which caused him to groan and cry out beneath me, I will have a desire for something more than a mere release and relief from the smarting conscience that comes from guilt. I so long to be delivered from the defilement of this thing that is such an offense to a holy God and that caused such grief to my Savior to be cleansed and delivered from all sin. And I have chosen those words carefully. Now, what do I mean when I say sin?

20:11 Well, I trust I mean what the Scripture means. And let me give you four or five Scriptures which form a very adequate definition of sin. The first thing that I want to say is that the Holy Law of God has been set by the Holy Law of God. Any lack of conformity unto or transgression of that Holy Law is sin. Gospel holiness is that heart-rooted desire of God to be cleansed and delivered from that sin. Transgression of the Law says all unrighteousness is sin. Everything that fails to come up to God's perfect sin is sin.

21:27 Everything that fails to come up to God's perfect standard of what is right embodied in the Ten Commandments but fully developed in places like the Sermon on the Mount and in all the exhortation passages in the Epistles where you have duty upon duty laid out for the child of God and the right duties laid upon us. What is sin? Any failure to do what is right. You mean if I as a husband have not loved my wife with that tender condescending self-sacrificing love where with Christ loved His church I am guilty of sin? Precisely. All unrighteousness is sin. It is right for me to love my wife as Christ loved the church is sin.

22:36 You mean if I have not been subject to my husband's God-given authority if I have subtly undermined that authority and refuse to be subject to him that's sin? Precisely for the Scripture says wives be subject unto your husbands do not take in the chastity of their wives and not to pluck them out of their man-power. This verse is not just about the sin that you have to say that I love my wife but that you that could have been done, but which through indifference to the duty, or which through being turned aside for other things I have failed to do, that failure is sin. To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And the Christian is the one of a heart-rooted desire to be cleansed and delivered from even those sins of omission.

24:05 Romans 14 and verse 23 says, For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Here is the man contemplating whether or not he should eat that meat that has been offered to the idol. And his own conscience, though he is a weak brother and conscience is a very imperfect guy, nonetheless Paul says that conscience, which is a poor reflection, but a reflection nonetheless of the standard of God, if he transgresses, he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that meat. And he will not be able to eat that

25:07 As you're about to utter them, you have doubts. Well, are they really in keeping with what the Scripture says? Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice? Are they really in keeping with the spirit of Christian love?

25:26 But you say they're in sin. You could not speak to them in faith that they fall within the framework of the revealed will of God for your speech. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister in grace. Yet we say them anyway.

25:45 Those words are sin. They're sin. They're sin. You're sitting there watching the Leaven the Crop News on your television.

25:55 And you just don't get to the set quite quick enough and the late show comes on. You say, oh, this is such hypocrisy. Here I've told my children not to freak with the theater because of its defiling influence. And I sit here.

26:09 I'm watching the very thing that was down on Main Street three years ago. But, but, I'm really not supporting the industry. I just pay the power and light company. And you begin to rationalize.

26:23 But there's the twinge of conscience. You could not sit and watch that. In good faith it was pleasing to God. What was that?

26:30 Sin.

26:44 So the Bible gives us this adequate definition of sin. Transgression of the law. All unrighteousness. The omission of known duties.

26:52 Indulgence in the doubtful. And then the Apostle calls his very indwelling corruption, he calls it sin. He says there in Romans 7 that when I would do good I find another law within my members. When I would do good, evil is present with me.

27:11 And he acknowledges the presence of indwelling corruption to be nothing less than sin that he mourns about before his God. Now a Christian who is a Christian, who is a Christian, who is a Christian, who is a Christian, who is a Christian, who is a Christian, who is a Christian, who is a Christian, who is pursuing holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, is the man or woman, fellow or girl who has a heart rooted desire and a serious effort to be cleansed and delivered

Characteristic 1: Not at Home in the Realm of Sin

27:42 from all forms of sin. This is what the old writers meant when they spoke about universal holiness. Now don't anyone go out and say that preacher preach sin. Listen, the reason why I'm saying this is, I was drying my embarrassed face and I was really shine flying persona, and you don't know that's on demand, a long time ago, it was a celebrity who wrote this article at Liberty The Malưỡida, this is a guy called in this perfection. I didn't say that any Christian attains that which is his earnest desire and his serious attempt at preaching, but I think I'd lack chapter and verse to ever preach that. But just as clearly as the Bible reveals that no man attains that perfection, this side of glory, it also reveals that in the heart of every true child of God there is that longing and panting after that perfection of holiness. And so the Word of God describes the Christian under various headings in relationship to this aspect of holiness. Let me suggest

28:43 several as time permits. First of all, it describes him in 1 John chapter 3 as a person who cannot be at home in the realm of sin. Now, when I use the word sin, will you pack in mind that you are not at home in the realm of sin? Will you pack in mind that you are not at home in the realm of sin? Will you pack in mind that you are not at home in the realm of sin? Will you pack into it the biblical definition that we've culled together from these different passages? The gossip, the squandering of time, failure to cultivate an attitude of forgiveness, omitted duties. Put the biblical definition of sin into the context of 1 John chapter 3. And let's see what it says to us. 1 John chapter 3.

29:35 And ye know, verse 5, and ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him, and then as I'm sure most of you have been instructed, because this is in the present tense in the original we could translate it rightly so, whosoever abideth in him does not make a practice of sin. Whosoever practiseth sin hath not seen him. Whosoever practiseth sin hath not seen him. Whosoever practiseth sin hath neither known him. He who can be at home in the realm of sin, whether it's overt transgression of the law, whether it's failure to comply with one of the righteous requirements of God, whether it's the deliberate and perpetual omission of known duty, whether it's the deliberate perpetual indulgence in the doubtful, he who practises sin hath never seen him. No, no. This is the clear declaration of the Apostle. Little children,

30:45 let no man deceive. That it can be otherwise in the purpose of grace. He that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that practiseth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning, and for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the world.

31:12 It's the work of the devil, and how does he do it? It's the devil's work to sin, and to have all of his children bear the family likeness, and to practise sin as he practises sin. And so God is on a work of destroying, is in the business of destroying the work of the devil, and how does he do it? When, as we saw the other night in regeneration, there is the change of masters, and the principle of rebellion is replaced by a principle of submission, and the heart is turned.

31:42 In the direction of holiness, and we find the explanation of this in verse 9, whosoever is born of God does not make a practice of sin, for his seed remaineth in him. That principle of divine life, that seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin. He cannot practise sin. He cannot be at home in the realm of sin, because he is born of God. And the life of God in him is a life of sin. And the life of God in him is a life of sin. And the life of sin is a life that is reaching out and upward and in the direction of holiness and perfection. You say, what is the difference between living in sin and falling in sin? For certainly the Scripture teaches that the child of God may fall into sin, he may fall into grievous sin, and he may even lie beneath the power of that sin for some time. May I use a very homey illustration to help show the difference? A little John, just about two years old, and his dad is in his middle middleiquephew, and he has two children. His daddy is in the middle of the family, and he has two young children. He has six children and their father is a

32:45 30s, they live in a commuter town, and Johnny's daddy has to catch the 805 bus every morning to go to his place of work. Little Johnny's had his breakfast, and his mommy has sent him outside to play, and she's just doing some last-minute things to get daddy ready and get him off her second little boy. She's straightening out his tie and making sure he's got the same color socks on both feet, and that his handkerchief's in his pocket and all the other nice little things that all you wives do for us husbands.

33:20 And little Johnny, then, is outside playing, and he gets outside, and he hasn't been out long, and he notices that from the night before, the good rain they had, there's just a lovely little puddle in that little indented part in the front lawn. There's been some settling since they moved into their new home, and there's a nice little puddle about three, four inches deep, and it's been a rather dry summer. Not this summer, another summer, and the grass is kind of scrubby there, so there's a lot of dirt, and it just has made a beautiful little mud puddle about eight feet across and three, four inches deep. And so when little Johnny spies that mud puddle, all the wheels begin to go. He thinks of what a wonderful time he could have making his own little baby out of twigs and sticks, and so he proceeds to do that. And so he pops himself right smack down in the middle of the mud puddle, and he's breaking off his little sticks, and he's got his destroyer. He's got his destroyer here. He's got his submarines here, and he's just having the best time playing in this puddle, when just about that time, Mummy has come to the front window, the picture window, to see her husband off to work, see little Johnny right there.

34:31 And the minute she does, she throws her hands up in horror. She runs out the front door, and she says, Johnny, what have you done? And she goes over to him, and she grabs him and picks him up, and as she starts to carry him back in the house, mud splattering every which way, Johnny begins to whoop and holler and cry and scream and throw a regular old temper tantrum, because Mummy had the nerve to take him out of that mud puddle when he was right in his element. He loved it. He was delighting in it, having the best time he could stay in it all day if she let him. Well, just about that time, Daddy's coming out of the house, because the 805 is going to be coming by pretty soon. It's about 804 and a half, and so rather than going down the walk and making the L, he thought he'd take a little shortcut. So he starts across this corner of the yard, and as he does, he turns around behind him to wave goodbye to his sweet wife, and when he does, he flips the watch. The light smacks

35:25 down, and the same mud puddle. The same mud puddle that Johnny was in. He got the same mud on his trousers. He gets up, and he looks at his watch, and he says, well, dear, I don't have time to go back and change. I'll miss it. It'll be late for work. I'll have to let it dry off, and when I get to work, I'll brush it off. So he takes off, and he goes, and he just catches the bus. It's sort of like Dagwood style in the funny strips. Now, what's the basic difference between Johnny and his daddy? Well, you say about 30 years.

35:55 Yes, there is about 30 years difference, but there's also something else very different. Now, follow closely. They both fell in the same, were both in the same mud. Both had the same mud on them. Daddy's mud was no less mud than Johnny's mud, but the basic difference is this. Daddy had his sights set on the mud, and when he got in the mud, he was in his element, and he didn't want to be taken out of the mud. Daddy had his sights set on the 805. In the pursuit of that gold, he was tripped up and fell in the mud. But the puddle was not his gold. It was not his age. The 805 was. So he picked himself up, and even though he still had the mud on him, his gold was the 805, and he pressed to his gold, and when he got to work in the mud, it dried. He was able to brush it off from his trousers.

36:52 Now, that basically is the difference between someone who's the child of God, whose gold is what? Not the mud. You see, how much mud he can get on him and still be considered an adult, still be considered a Christian? His gold is holiness. His seed remains in him, so that the mud puddle is not his gold. He set his sights to be like the mud, and he set his sights to be like Christ, to be holy, to be pure, to be cleansed and delivered from sin. And in the pursuit of that gold, he does, and often is, be spattered by the mud. He stumbles and falls, and sometimes may be so intrigued by the mud that he actually lets it drip through his fingers with glee for a period of time. But as long as he's

37:43 in the mud, he's out in his element, in the spirit of God, and the rod of God is still with him until he's once again running for the 805. But Johnny's heart was in the mud puddle, and when his body got where his heart was, he was content, he was happy, and he was so disturbed when anyone tried to get him out. You see, Johnny loved the mud. He had a heart for the mud. The mud was his element. There's the difference between the child of God and the child of the devil. The child of God may be be spattered and overcome, but his heart's set upon holiness. And listen carefully. When somebody comes in love to try to help him up out of the mud, he's thankful. I have

38:36 no sympathy for this idea couched in the little cliché of preachers left preaching and gone to meddling. What people mean by that is, he's showing you your mud, and he's trying to help you get clean. If you don't like your mud, you're a child of God. Earlier in this chapter, we read, every man that hath his hope in Christ purifieth himself, even as he is pure. What is gospel, homies? It involves, in the first place, a heart-rooted desire and an honest effort to be cleansed and delivered from all sin. That's what it is.

39:33 That's why the child of God is not at home in the realm of sin. And remember, I'm not just talking about immorality and murder and thievery. If you can be at home in the realm of continually indulging in the doubtful, you've no grounds to claim you're a Christian. Listen to the statement of one of the greatest theologians, if not the greatest that America's ever produced, Jonathan Edwards. It is therefore extremely absurd for anyone to believe that he has a good heart while he lives a wicked life, or does not bring forth the fruit of universal holiness in his practice, for it is proved in fact that such men do not love God supremely. Men who live in the indulgence of sin, and yet flatter themselves that they shall go to heaven, act as though they hoped to make a fool of their judge. And he says, further, the indulgence in one known sin, perpetually and truthfully, leaves a man no

40:42 grounds to claim he is a child of God. If we take seriously the teaching of 1 John chapter 3, we can come to no other conclusion. He that is born of God does not practice sin. What sin? Why, if you saw a man making the profession of Christianity, who prior to that profession was involved in harming the world, he would not practice sin. Why, if you saw a man who was involved in harlotry and whoredom, made his profession and went on with his paramours and his girlfriends, you would say the man never was converted, and rightly so, for the Scripture says, no adulterer shall enter the kingdom of heaven. If there was a man who was a murderer, his hire, or he was hired by gangs to shoot people, and he makes a profession of Christianity and goes on in his business, you would say his profession is insincere, and rightly so, for the Scripture says no murderer shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

41:39 What about the person whose characteristic is that of an angry, proud, undisciplined, railing spirit, given over to anger and wrath? They make a profession of faith. There is no evidence that this has been even partly subdued, let alone basically subdued, and what do we say? Oh, we say it is just a faith.

42:00 Listen, the Scripture says in Galatians 5, 19-21, right alongside adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, uncleanness, it mentions anger and wrath as the works of the flesh, and says, they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The person who gives himself over to the indulgence of an angry, undisciplined spirit will perish just as surely as the man who gives himself over to a lustful, passionate spirit. Yet we are very conveniently relegated to one of these. Relegated to one man, to a false professor, and conveniently called the other man a babe or a carnal Christian. Whereas the Scripture says, he that practises sin is of the devil. That's the statement of the Word of God, people, and we cannot evade it. Now what is the sin that you willfully, deliberately, perpetually indulge? What is it? Let your conscience answer.

43:14 What is it? Oh, if it were adultery, if it were thievery, you would give up your hope that you were a Christian, wouldn't you? What right have you to entertain those hopes when that sin that you entertain and indulge comes under the same indictment of the Word of God? The child of God is not at home in the realm of sin.

Characteristic 2: Continual Warfare with Sin

43:51 The second thing that's true of him, and this flows out of the verse, the child of God is one who is in continual war. Continual warfare with his sin. Hebrews 12 and verse 4 uses some very vivid words. The writer to the Hebrews is trying to encourage these people to go on in the midst of persecution and problems, and he says, he has not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

44:22 He pictures these people as those who've set themselves in a hand-to-hand conflict with sin, and he says, you've not yet resisted unto blood in this strife against sin. The Christian is described in Romans 8, 13 as one who by the Spirit is continually mortifying, putting to death the deeds of the flesh. He is pictured in Romans 7 as the one who's in continual conflict, and again in Galatians 5, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. The thing that gives me some of the greatest comfort that I belong to the Lord is that I think I know a little something of Romans 7 and Galatians 5. Do you know what it is to set yourself to pray, and then find that you have no heart to pray? To set yourself to read the Word of God, and suddenly everything goes cold and dead within you, and you find that indisposition of the flesh to any spiritual activity. If you had set yourself to read the evening paper, the mind would go to hell.

45:29 If you had set yourself to read the evening paper, the mind would go to hell. If you had set yourself to read the evening paper, the mind would go to hell. Then count the flesh, and you'll be alarmed, and the Spirit would be interested. Set yourself to read the Word of God, and redness and dryness and parreness comes to the minds of the Spirit, and since that conflict, that glory in that conflict, you're no stranger to what the apostle says when he cries out in Romans 7, Oh wretched man that I am!

45:54 Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our God! associate qualities with the value of life other than the weight, the tipo and the馬 aspect. home. He looks forward to that day when full release will come. You see, what creates the conflict is this. When God regenerates a man, he puts in his heart a longing for what he's ultimately going to be. Now, what is he ultimately going to be? He's ultimately going to be perfect.

46:21 Isn't that what the Scripture teaches? We shall be like him. We shall see him as he is. Now, here's where the conflict comes. He has the seeds of perfection within him in that there is this longing to be like him, to be holy, to be fully conformed to his image. But God, for a multitude of reasons, has not ordained to bring that perfection in experience here and now. He gives, by degrees, a greater and greater likeness to Christ. And that's where the conflict comes. You see, if the seeds of grace within us were such that we could be content with just some kind of imperfect holiness, there'd be no conflict. We'd just accept the status quo and learn to live with it. The grace of God working in a man always puts within him those longings after perfection. And that's why there's conflict. That's why the Christian is described in the Beatitudes as a man who mourns. Jesus

47:22 said, blessed are they who mourn. Present tense. Not those who mourned something in the past, but those who do. One of the characteristics of the true son of the kingdom, he's a holy mourner. Oh, he doesn't wear a black veil, put a wooden cross upon his back, and walk through the streets as they do in some of the South American countries. But he knows what it's like, even in the happy fellowship of other believers, at times to have a bleeding heart, because he knows he's grieved his Lord by some untoward word. By some lustful thought, by some carnal thought of pride, he knows what it is to have an inner heaviness over his sin. That's what caused McShane to pen those beautiful words in that

48:21 wonderful hymn of his. It's in our Trinity hymnal. I'm sure many of us are familiar with it. Chosen not for good in me, wakened up from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's side by the Spirit's hand.

48:36 Sanctified, help me here on earth to show by my love how much I owe. And in the chorus of that hymn, he says these words. When I see thee as thou art, love me with an unsinning heart. Then, Lord, shall I fully know, not till then, how much I owe. Why did he long for heaven? He longed for heaven because there he could love his God with an unsinning heart. He got weary of the conflict. Are you? If you can just sail through life day after day, only getting upset when the bills aren't paid and when the kids aren't behaving and when the wife is nasty or when your husband's churlish, only getting upset by the things that upset fleshly, natural men. If you don't know what it is to be conscious of a conflict warring against sin, it's probable that you're a stranger to grace. You're a child of God. You're a child of God.

Characteristic 3: Deals with Sin at Any Cost

49:44 In the heart there resides this heart-rooted desire, attempt to be cleansed and delivered from sin. He's not only one who's not at home in the realm of sin, but he's one who's in continual warfare with sin. In the third place, he's described as a man who deals with sin at any cost. Some of the most forceful words ever spoken by our Lord are uttered four times in the Gospels. And just...

50:17 For the sake of turning to the most familiar passage, will you turn for a moment to the fifth of Matthew? Matthew, chapter 5. The Lord says, beginning with verse 29, And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. For it's profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. And if thy left hand offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. For it's profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Our Lord here speaks in very striking words. Now, there's not unanimity and perfect

51:21 agreement amongst the commentators and interpreters of the Bible as to just what kind of a figure of speech our Lord was using here. But upon this they're all agreed. And about this there's no question.

51:35 That must be radically dealt with. For notice the issue now. Amputation or retribution. Suppose I am caused to offend or stumble into sin because of the eye or the hand, and I do not pluck out the eye and cut off the hand. What are the consequences if I do not pursue holiness? He says the consequences are hell. That's the consequence. The indulgence of that sin. I don't know how we can affix any meaning to our sin. I don't know how we can

52:28 make it right. I don't know how we can make it right. We must muster our pride and be honest. And I think that's what our Lord's words are about.

52:35 In the third place, I said the Christian is one who will deal with sin at any cost. Is it a sin as dear as the right eye and as precious as the right hand that he'll part with it rather than part with his Lord and his salvation? Frankly, dear ones, I don't think we really believe this. For we have concocted all kinds of clever excuses to maintain the eye and the hand. And we've even devised cute little theological systems to justify it. But what do we do? We've made it clear that the eye and the hand are the same. And we've made holding on. The whole carnal Christian doctrine that says a man may be born of the Spirit and yet dominated by the flesh, not for a moment, a day, a week, or a short period of time or longer, but this may be a dominant characteristic through life, and when he goes to heaven, he'll get there, sure as shooting, he'll just lose a few rewards. And this whole

53:33 doctrine has been concocted in order to obey this issue, that shooting must be done with or out of touch. Fourth place, the child of God is described in the Scripture not only as one who's not at home in the realm of sin, one who's in continual warfare with sin, one who deals with sin at any cost, but one who actually aspires to perfection of holiness.

Characteristic 4: Aspires to Perfection of Holiness

54:08 First John 2.1 says, My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not, 1 Peter 15, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living. He is my goal, the perfect God, and I am to pursue that kind of holiness. 2 Corinthians 7.1, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves of all defilement of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Last week at a camp with some Presbyterian young people, Presbyterian young people, Presbyterian USA young people, by the way. I had a wonderful opportunity to speak to a number of almost a hundred young people. One of the young men who's really in earnest about this matter of being holy had this problem. He said, Now look, every preacher I talk to,

55:00 you included, tells me that we can't be perfect here on earth, and yet he said, Look, the Bible says, Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. The Scripture tells us that we're to have him as the standard of our holiness, and if we can't attain it, why does God say we should? He said, It seems a mockery to me. If we know we can't, we'll just throw up our hands and say, Well, if we can't, let's not try. Well, how would you answer a question like that? I got digging around and scratching for some answers, and I think I came up with an analogy that was helpful to him, I trust. It was to me. And I was thinking of it in terms of marriage, because about every summer I'm privileged to marry three or four couples. I just married off another one of my sisters right down here in the paradise in Lancaster County last Saturday. I had seven of them. I had seven of them and it's been my privilege to marry four of them. Not to marry them, but to perform the ceremony for four of them. And when the young man and the young woman stand in the

55:59 presence of God and their friends, and they say, I take thee to be my husband or wife, promising the love, the cherish, and the wife, the words obey, and I still have that in the order of marriage, and the wife saying to the husband or the husband to the wife his vows. When that young man says that and that young woman says that, if they really mean those vows, they have set their hearts to be the perfect husband, the perfect wife. If you love that woman, you say, by the grace of God, I'm going to aim at perfection as a husband. Now, if I sit you down and say, now look, Mac, you think you're going to make it? You say, no. I know I won't be a perfect husband, but because I love my wife, I shall set my heart to be that one of us. It's true on a human level. How much more true in the relationship of the redeemed man to his Lord. In the day of our spouses to him, we say, Lord Jesus, I do take thee to

57:08 be my sovereign and my savior. And with all my heart, I want to be a perfect child of yours. Now, we know from the scripture we won't be perfect until we see it. But the knowledge that we will not attain perfection does not keep us from the Lord.

Characteristic 5: Diligently Uses Means of Grace

57:24 It's the longing after perfection, or it's the spontaneous longing of genuine love. So if you've reached a plateau, and you think, well, I'm as holy as anybody else, and I think that's pretty good, I doubt you've got the root of the matter in you. For the man who's pursuing holiness, the more he draws into the likeness of his Lord, the more sharp and more painful are the revelations of his own imperfection. For the closer one draws to a light, the more wattage actually falls upon that object, and the more its imperfections are revealed. And the more we draw nigh to our Lord in loving communion and the knowledge of himself, the more we see our own imperfection and cry to him for grace. And then I close with this thought briefly, that the child of God is also described as one who, because he has this hard desire for holiness, is not a perfect person, and is making a serious attempt to be cleansed and delivered, is one who diligently uses the means that God has given for his holiness. Sanctify them through the Word.

58:43 Thy Word is truth. And so the child of God instinctively turns to the Word, because here is the sanctifying means. He's open to exhortation, lest he be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. He welcomes the rod of God, for the writer to Hebrews says, he chastens us that we might be partakers of his holiness, and we welcome his rod, though it stings. One of my deep personal convictions as a pastor is, that if there's a church where the Word of God is preached from a servant of God who's for real, I don't mean some religious fake, but with all his imperfections, he means business with God and with his people. And he's seeking to faithfully expound the Scripture. Follow me closely now. Where you've got a church like that, where the Word of God is preached by a servant of God who wants the blessing of God upon his life and his people,

59:48 these people that are content to come Sunday morning just to do their duty to God, and have no desire to come back Sunday night and be out Wednesday night exposing themselves to the means of sanctification, the greatest of which is the priest role! But if you don't believe they have the word of God, then I question whether they have the root of the matter. If you can be content with a half an hour of exposition, how deep is your desire for holiness? I'm the pastor of this church. I've got nothing to gain. Do you mean to tell me a fellow who really, really loves the girl, he's content to court her at his convenience, can only see her when it doesn't disturb the rest of his own schedule? No, no. I know what it's

60:57 like with me. driving all night to get home vacations to see my wife-to-be. Man, what was the loss of a night of sleep if I could see her? When the heart's set upon something, it brings into play all of the faculties in the pursuit of its object.

61:17 I think the curse in our evangelical circles of lopsided attendance Sunday morning is but the natural result of the defective gospel that's been preached for the past 30 or 40 years and we're reaping the fruits of it when we've come to just ease our conscience that we've gone and heard the word of God.

61:40 Whereas if there was a real hunger to be holy, what we've got Sunday morning would win our appetite to be back again that the means of grace might be offered to us.

61:55 Well, I hope you don't get angry with me for saying that.

61:59 But Shane said the man who loves you most is the man who tells you the most truth about yourself.

62:06 Never forget it. And I sought to tell you the truth lest some of you go down to the pit to see it. For without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And the first essential element, though it's the negative, it's an essential element of holiness, is that heart-rooted desire and that honest effort to be cleansed and delivered from all sin.

Call to Self-Examination and Prayer

62:35 Is that true of you? If it isn't, I trust that tonight you'll take seriously the exhortation of the scriptures and seek the Lord in earnest. Amen. Child of God, if you can say by His grace it is true, but oh Lord, that heart-rooted desire is at times so feeble, oh sanctifying spirit, come!

63:00 Make that desire a mighty flame within my breast, consuming all compromise, consuming all indulgence of the flesh, consuming all my rationalization. What would happen in this building tonight if every true Christian would face, every issue about which your conscience spoke to you just tonight, when I mentioned omitted duty, indulgence in the doubtful? What would happen if every one of you would go back from this place to your place of resting on your face before God, saying, Lord, by your grace, I'm done. I'm done with that thing, with that relationship.

63:40 I'm done with that attitude.

63:43 Oh, beloved, I believe spiritual energy would be created and would be felt in dozens of churches.

63:52 And I say these things not just to pound the poor, but I've got a full day ahead of me tomorrow. Three hour drive ahead of me yet tonight.

64:05 When I speak, I trust out of concern for God's glory in His church and us, His people. May God grant that we shall pursue that holiness without which no man shall see. Let us pray.

64:34 Our Father, we confess with shame our sin, our indulgence in the doubtful,

64:56 our omission out in accusation against us. We confess that we've lost and we've left undone the things we ought to have done.

65:08 We've allowed trifles to sack away energy and time. Have mercy upon us. For those in this building, O Lord, who are strangers to this pursuit after holiness,

65:22 who cannot find any traces in themselves of that heart-rooted desire to be holy, expressed in honest effort to be holy, O God, give them no rest, until they cry to You for mercy, and by Your Son be pleased to save them for His sake.

65:47 Seal Your Word to our hearts and give us grace to walk in its light, and be pleased to bless Your servants who minister to us tomorrow, and bless Your church across the world. O God, in this day, be pleased to visit us with a mighty bearing of Your arm for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ, we pray. Dismiss us with Your blessing. We plead, Our Father,

66:18 sanctify and hallow the fellowship that is yet to come.

66:25 Amen. We're dismissed.