Old Path of Gospel Holiness, Part 1

Introduction: Review of Session 1 and Introduction to Gospel Holiness

0:05 I read the text that forms the basis and framework from the Scriptures for our theme of this brief time of ministry together, Jeremiah 6 and verse 16.

0:23 God, speaking through His young prophet Jeremiah, says these words, Thus says the Lord, Stand in the waves and see or look, and ask for the old paths wherein is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls. Walking in the old paths. Language taken right out of this text, and in our first session last week, I took enough time, I trust, to consider briefly the prophet who was the instrument, the instrument to speak these words, the people to whom they were spoken, an apostate people ripe for judgment, and yet a people to whom God continues to set forth the offers of His mercy. And then we looked more particularly at the text itself, particularly the one who speaks these words. It is the living God, whose word comes across the centuries to us in this place, again, in this hour as a living word from this living God, Jehovah, Yahweh, the Great I Am. And it comes in terms of three imperatives.

1:48 It comes under the image of a traveler who has lost his way, and he's not certain whether to go forward, backward, left or right, and God calls him to a halt. Don't go on in the way in which you are presently going. It is bringing you to the brink of death, to the brink of disaster. Judgment is coming.

2:07 Stop, stand, look, consider. And then he says in that posture of reflection, I want you to inquire and ask. And what are they to ask for? They are to ask for the old paths wherein is the good way, the old paths of God's revealed will, of God's law, of God's revelation of His salvation and of His grace, and then having stood, having asked, then they are commanded to walk in that way, to give themselves up to the path that is marked out by the changeless, eternal, infallible Word of the living God.

2:53 And then after those three imperatives, there is the wonderful promise, in so doing, you shall find rest to your souls. The rest of the, knowledge of sins forgiven, the rest of the knowledge that the yoke and the tyranny of sin has been broken. The ways of God are paths of pleasantness and of peace. So having looked at that text then that forms the basis of our theme, Walking in the Old Paths, I then took up with you the first of the old paths, namely the old path of a heart and life transforming conversion unto God. And then we parked on 1 Thessalonians 1 verses 9 and 10 in which that wonderful change that grace works in the hearts of men is described as a decisive turning. Positive you turn. To God. Negative. From your idols. A decisive submitting to serve this living and true God

4:06 and a decisive refocusing of the entirety of life. There's a fixation upon the person of Christ. We love him and therefore long for his return. And there is this refocusing of the whole orientation of life from creatures of this world.

4:27 To pilgrims and sojourners whose hope and aspirations are all fixed on the best that is yet to come when our blessed Lord returns. Now this morning in the two sessions that we have, we're going to take up the second of the old paths. And I'm describing that path in this way. We're to consider together the old path of gospel holiness.

Defining Gospel Holiness: Contrasted with Pharisaism and Legalism

4:57 Now let me explain very briefly what I mean by that term gospel holiness and the rest of the message will really be a flowering out and an expansion of that. But for some the terminology may seem a bit strange and I just want to disaffect your mind of wondering gospel holiness, what in the world is that all about? When I use the word holiness, I'm simply referring to a heart and life set in the spirit of God. But when I use the word holiness, I'm simply referring to a heart and life set in the spirit of God.

5:27 When I use the word holiness, I'm simply referring to a heart and life set in the spirit of God. Holiness is not a halo around the head, a hair shirt, folded hands and an upward glance, walking around, not even considering where I may stumble because I want a heavenly look. No, no, that's not holiness. Holiness, sanctification, is God's mighty work by which he breaks the dominion of God.

5:57 Sin takes us out of the realm of our voluntary attachment to sin as our master and brings us into a realm where our path is a path of increasing conformity to the revealed will of God from the heart to the very greatest external aspects of life. That's what I mean by holiness. And by gospel holiness, I'm speaking of a holiness that is produced only by the truth of the gospel. It is the truth of the gospel that forms the basis of this holiness.

6:35 It is the provisions of the gospel that provides the power for this holiness. And it is the gospel that provides the motives for this holiness. And so gospel holiness. Gospel holiness stands in direct contrast to what we might call mere external holiness. The Pharisees had lots of that. Jesus said, you Pharisees are like whitewashed sepulchers.

7:03 Every three months you go by with a bucket of whitewash and you splash it on there and the sun shines upon it and it's as brilliant as new-fallen snow and it almost blinds you and you say, oh, look at A.B. Sepulcher, isn't it beautiful? Jesus said, go over, roll away the stone.

7:19 Go over, roll away the stone and stick your head in. And the stench of rotting flesh will make your flesh crawl. You are full of dead men's bones and uncleanness within. He said, you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter. And you take a cup and it's all shiny and say, oh, I'd like a cup of coffee.

7:39 And you put it out and look in and there's nothing but maggots and crud and everything else on the inside. He says, that's you Pharisees. You outwardly appear. But you inwardly are.

7:52 You see, gospel holiness has no affinity for that kind of Pharisaic holiness which is only concerned with externals. And it's different from legalistic holiness. That's a holiness where people are striving to deal with sin and to conform their lives to God. But they have no understanding of the gospel.

8:18 And that it's only through. The gospel and the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit that we will have the power to live a holy life. So we're speaking of gospel holiness in this second concern of the old paths. And what I propose to do in the session this morning and then in the next session is to take up three major categories opening up this matter of the old path of gospel holiness.

8:49 First of all I want to show the absolute necessity for gospel holiness. Then secondly the essential elements of gospel holiness and then in the next hour the gracious provisions for gospel holiness. So the necessity, the nature and the provisions for gospel holiness. So then we take up our first head, the absolute necessity for gospel holiness.

Necessity 1: No Holiness, No Heaven

9:23 Now let me put it as bluntly as I know how. Why in the world should you, every one of you men, young and old, some of you boys, some of you men in the very flower and vigor of your young manhood, some of you, you haven't quite crossed the line, but you're getting there, and some of you know you're on the other side of the hill on the way down. From a whole bunch of us, from those of us in our seventies and maybe more, to those of you only in your teens, why in the world should you be seriously concerned to stand and consider and think and ask for the old path of gospel holiness? Why should you be concerned?

10:09 Well, I want to lay before you four very clear and compelling reasons that you should be concerned. That you need to be passionately concerned about gospel holiness. Number one, very basic, gospel holiness is essential if we would go to heaven and not to hell when we die.

10:33 Anybody here indifferent to that question? No, I don't care. Go to heaven, go to hell. Schmeldel, what's the difference?

10:41 I don't think so. You wouldn't be here if that's your attitude. And if you're serious, about ending up in heaven rather than hell, you've got to be seriously concerned about and committed to a life of gospel holiness. Now, on what basis do I dare to make such a blunt statement?

11:05 Well, in Hebrews 12 and verse 14, we read these words, Follow after peace with all men, and the holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. The word follow is a very strong and vigorous word. The Greek word dioko is the word translated for persecuted throughout the New Testament. Jesus said, persecute peace with all men.

11:37 Pursue it with an intensity and a diligence and a vigor and an energy. But also pursue with a diligence, vigor, and energy this matter of gospel holiness. Pursue holiness, sanctification, and it's as though the writer pauses and says, now you ask me, why should you persecute, track down, diligently seek after holiness? I'll tell you why.

12:07 Without it, you won't see God with joy and delight. You'll see him as a dreaded judge and a fierce and angry monarch, on a throne, who will cast you into hell. We need to be concerned about gospel holiness, because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And perhaps the writer to the Hebrews had in mind one of the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, 8.

12:36 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Not blessed are the pure in external appearance, but blessed are the pure in heart. That's what I said. Gospel holiness starts with the heart and works its way out into the entirety of life.

12:58 As Jesus said, make the tree good and its fruit good. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. The good fruit of gospel holiness cannot come forth from the corrupt tree of a heart and life devoid of the influence of the gospel. No holiness, no heaven.

13:22 And then in Romans chapter 6, and here I would ask you to turn with me in your Bibles, because I want you to get this through the eye gate as well as the ear gate. The whole subject of this chapter, and that's why I asked Pastor Deacon to read the chapter in its entirety, is the answer to the question, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Since God's salvation comes to us, we must continue in sin. We must continue in sin based on the work of another.

13:51 The doing and the dying of Jesus, the last Adam. And since where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Then isn't it reasonable, let sin all the more, that grace can be multiplied all the more. Paul says, may it never be.

14:08 And the whole chapter is an answer to this question. Does salvation by grace in any way lead people to be careless about gospel holiness? And Paul is demonstrating in this chapter through two major blocks of truth. The first being our union with Christ means we were united with him in his death and burial and resurrection.

14:32 And that has moral implications for us. In union with Christ, we died to the dominion and reign of sin. And we've been raised to newness of life, a life unto holiness. And then he uses the imagery of sin.

14:47 The imagery of all men being somebody's slaves. Slaves of sin or slaves of God and of righteousness. And then in his summary statement, I want you to look now at verse 22. But now, having been made free from sin, that is from sin's dominion, from a life lived under the lordship of sin in which you presented your members, your eyes, your ears, your mouth, your feet, your affections, your desires, your imaginations, your fantasies, all that you have and possess was presented to the service of sin.

15:25 That has been broken. You are free from the dominion and the mastery of sin. Having now been made free from sin and become slaves to God. Now notice, you have, present tense, you are having your fruit unto holiness or sanctification and the end eternal life.

15:51 Now look at the three things that the spirit of God is joined together. Number one, free from sin and become slaves to God. That's true conversion. You turn to God from your idols to serve the living and true God.

16:09 It's a commentary on that phrase. Now, having been made free from sin and become slaves to God, you are having your fruit unto holiness. That's the pattern of the life of everyone who's been made free from sin and become a servant to God. He, she, 10 years old, 12, 20, 50, 80 years old has fruit unto holiness.

16:38 And to what does it lead? And the end eternal life. Eternal life for those who come into the possession of eternal life in all of its consummate glory along the pathway of gospel holiness. And if you don't come to heaven by way of the pathway of godly holiness, it's because you're going to end up in hell.

17:05 No holiness, no heaven, is the clear teaching of these passages and many others could be brought to bear. You take the words of the Lord Jesus, which are a pictorial commentary on this text in Romans 6. Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, having shown the nature of his kingdom and the character traits of all the members of his kingdom in the Beatitudes, now he says this, Enter in by the narrow door. There's another alternative.

17:40 There's a wide door and a wide way. Now he comes back and says, For narrow is the door and compressed, restricted, constricted is the way that leads unto life and few there be that find it. There's a gate and it's narrow. There's a way that is compressed and restrictive but it leads unto life.

18:09 Nobody comes to life in its ultimate consummate blessing in the presence of God if they don't get through the gate. And nobody gets through the gate that isn't found on the way. And nobody's on the way unless they get through the gate. It's the gate and the way that lead to life.

18:31 Do you want life? Do you want heaven at the end? Then you've come through the gate, the gate of true biblical conversion. But if you've come through the gate of true conversion, you will be found on the narrow, the restricted, the pressured way of gospel holiness.

18:52 Not the broad way of a mere decision for Jesus that leaves you still wedded to the world, wedded to your sin, wedded to a self-centered life. No. If you get through the narrow gate, the proof you've come through the gate is you're on the narrow way. That pressured, constricted, restricted way in which sin is so odious to you that if they find a sin so precious as a right hand and a right eye, you're ready to hack off the hand, gouge out the eye, rather than perish and go to hell.

19:29 Men, you better believe with every fiber of your being. As surely as the Bible teaches, no one goes to heaven without the virtue of Christ, perfect life and perfect death being put to His account. That's justification. No one goes to heaven without the personal, indwelling work of God in sanctification.

Necessity 2: Gospel Holiness Validates Professed Faith

19:57 No holiness, no heaven. So, in trying to convince you of the absolute necessity for gospel holiness, reason number one, gospel holiness is essential. If we would go to heaven and not to hell. Secondly, gospel holiness is essential if we would validate our professed faith to ourselves and to others.

20:26 Unvalidated profession of faith is worth nothing. But if I'm to validate my professed faith to my own conscience, biblically, and to the consciences of others, biblically, I cannot do so without a life of gospel holiness. Now let's look at several texts. Under all of these, I could bring literally some of them, dozens, but since the Scripture says at the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established, I'm going to seek to give you two or three key texts.

21:01 The first one is 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19. Howbeit the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, the Lord knows them that are his. The only one who infallibly knows all of his own is God himself.

21:29 The Lord knows them that are his. But do you profess to be one of his? Look at the next line. Let every one that names the name of the Lord, you say, yes, I am his.

21:43 I've taken his name upon me in public confession of my attachment to him. I've declared to the world, to men, to angels, I belong to Christ, he belongs to me. Let every one that names the name of the Lord do what? Depart from unrighteousness.

22:05 The negative side of gospel holiness. You name the name of the Lord, you want to validate, that he owns you as his? Then you be one whose life is marked by departing from unrighteousness. Or take the testimony of John in 1 John chapter 3.

22:26 You know that John sees only two kinds of people. Children of God, children of the devil. No middle class, no hybrid between the two. And here John is going to tell us what is the distinguishing difference between the two.

22:44 Verse 9 of 1 John 3. And I'll read it giving the sense of the Greek tenses. Whoever is begotten of God does not make a practice of sin. Why?

22:58 Because his seed, the principle of divine life, abides in him and he cannot make a practice of sin because he is begotten of God. Gospel dynamics have entered his life. And because he has been born of God and the Spirit of God dwells within him, he cannot be at home in a lifestyle of sin. Yes, John had said in the second chapter, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.

23:30 In the first chapter, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous. He's not talking about sinless perfection. But he is talking about an overall pattern of life. And then he says in verse 10, In this the children of God are manifested and the children of the devil.

23:50 How are the true children of God and the true children of the devil made known to themselves and to others? Here it is. Whosoever does not practice righteousness as a way of life is not of God, neither he, that does not love his brother. There's the positive side of gospel holiness.

24:16 Paul says, Be one who departs from iniquity. But it's not a mere negation. John says, Whoever does not practice righteousness, whose life is not conformed from the heart outward to the norms of God's law and God's revelation in the perfect example of His Son, he's not of God. The absolute necessity of gospel holiness, if you and I would validate our professed faith to ourselves and to others, gospel holiness must be the dominant characteristic of our lives.

24:59 And then a third text in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. In this marvelous section in Romans 8, Paul is describing the work of the Spirit in the lives of the people of God. And he says in verse 12, So then, brethren, we're debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

25:22 For if you live after the flesh, you must die. And that's not physical death. The most spiritual saints die physically. If you live after the flesh, you'll die eternal death, hell, the lake of fire, weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth.

25:40 If you live after the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. You're in that narrow, constricted way that leads to life in the language of Matthew 7. You are having fruit unto holiness in the language of Romans 6.22.

26:01 If you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God. And led by the Spirit of God in this context does not mean I've got a direct pipeline to heaven. The Lord led me to do this.

26:22 The Lord told me... No, no, that's a bunch of nonsense that has no basis in biblical knowledge and understanding.

26:30 Being led by the Spirit in this context means having gospel dynamics and powers at work in me by the Spirit. I'm putting to death the deeds of the body. I'm in the way of gospel holiness. I'm in the narrow road that leads unto life.

26:51 I am having my fruit unto holiness. Any professed assurance of sins forgiven, divorced from a life of holiness, is a damning delusion. Let me repeat that. It's a critical statement.

27:11 Any professed assurance of sins forgiven, divorced from a life of holiness, is a damning delusion. Ah, but I know...

27:25 No, you don't know. You have no biblical grounds to know you are a child of God. The Holy Spirit never bears witness to the sonship of an ungodly, and wicked, and sin-loving, sin-practicing man. Some other spirit may give him an assurance, but it's not the Holy Spirit.

27:47 And it's frightening when the Scripture says God shall send them a strong delusion that they shall believe a lie. It's possible to believe a lie. And for you to say you have assurance of salvation while not being as a pattern of life, in the way of gospel holiness, is a horrible and damning delusion. To claim to be born of the Spirit without evidently producing the fruit of the Spirit is utterly without foundation in the Word of God.

28:27 William Bernal, the old Puritan, stated it so quaintly and beautifully, and this statement has lived with me for years. He said this, Say not that thou art born of God and hast royal blood in thy veins, unless thou can show thy pedigree by daring to be holy. Say not you're born of God and have royal blood in your veins, unless you can show your pedigree by daring to be holy. If we would validate our professed assurance as a test assurance scripturally, it must be in the path of gospel holiness. Thirdly, the necessity of gospel holiness is rooted in this. Gospel holiness is essential if we would be as the people of God what we are called to be before an onlooking world. What are we called to be before an onlooking world?

Necessity 3: Fulfilling Our Calling as Salt and Light

29:38 We'll go to the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus focused on two things. Remember them? Matthew 5, 13 to 16. You are the light of the world.

29:49 You are the salt of the world. And when he said you, he's talking about the kind of people he's described in the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are a divine portrait of the features of every true son and daughter of the kingdom. Everyone in the kingdom is poor in spirit, mourns over his sin, hungers and thirsts for righteousness, is pure of heart.

30:20 And such people, true sons and daughters of the kingdom, they are salt and light to an onlooking world. Now, if we would be in reality what we are called to be, we will only be in the pathway of gospel holiness. For Paul picks up that theme of our Lord from the Sermon on the Mount, and he probably had become acquainted with it by some of the oral tradition. And notice how he employs it in Philippians chapter 2.

30:55 Philippians chapter 2. We'll look at verses 12 and 13 in one of the other messages, but now verse 14 of Philippians 2. Do all things without murmurings and questionings. That is, live a lifestyle free of the grousing and the complaining and the whining that marks the unconverted world.

31:24 Never satisfied, always discontent. He says to the community of believers at Philippi, do all things in every relationship of life, in every activity of life, do everything without murmurings and questionings. Why? That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish.

31:53 Where? In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen as lights in the world. And what makes our light shine brightly before a world so that we are indeed what Jesus says we are to be, the light of the world? It's gospel holiness.

32:19 In the practical areas when everybody else in the shop is grousing and complaining about their benefits and their wage scales and the hours they have to work, grouse, grouse, grouse, complain, complain, complain! By your workbench, day after day, you're a man full of joy and of the Holy Spirit and the peace of God with a thankful heart. And your thank-filled, grouseless life brightly shines and says, this man is different. He's made different not by some artificial plastic pie-in-the-sky kind of holiness, but by one that means in a crooked and perverse generation marked by self-centered grousing and complaining. You're a thankful, joyful man full of the Holy Spirit living to the praise of God. That's what Peter meant when he said in 1 Peter 2.9, you are an elect race, a holy nation, a people of God's own possession to what end?

33:29 That you should show forth or declare the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. And when it is as the holy nation that we are marked by clear, definitive, unmistakable lives of gospel holiness, that we are declaring by life and lip the mighty virtues of our gracious saving God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see, evangelicalism today is crippled by a false and wretchedly perverse notion that the way you win the world is to become so much like it that the world does not feel uncomfortable around you. And when they feel comfortable around you, you win them to yourself that you might win them to the Lord. And so in everything from styles of evangelism to styles of worship and all of those things, here's the assumed in truth, be like them to win them. The Bible says, no, the less you are like them, the more likely you are to win them.

34:48 You are to be seen as lights shining in the darkness, exposing the darkness, but you're also to be salt wetting the appetite. What is it that makes you tick, that makes you not so much like us, but different from us? Isn't that what Peter had in mind when he said in 1 Peter 3.15, sanctify Christ as Lord always in your heart.

35:16 In other words, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, whoever I'm relating to, I think I am Christ's servant. Christ is set apart in my heart as Lord. What jokes will I laugh at and which ones will I rebuke and frown at? What aspects of overall lifestyle will I reject as a Christian?

35:38 Peter says, sanctify Christ as Lord always in your heart, ready always to give what? To give an answer to Him who asks you concerning the hope that is in you. After a while they see that every facet of your life you march to the beat of a different drum, you dance to a different tune, until finally they say, I can't hold it in any longer. John, what in the world makes you tick?

36:09 We come in here Monday morning hungover, strung out, and talk about the good time we had getting drunk and getting high and partying all weekend. You come in having been in church all day and you're full of joy and thankfulness. John, in God's name, what makes you tick? It's when you're unlike them that you're likely to win them.

36:32 That's what Peter said. That's what Paul said. That's what Jesus said. And without gospel holiness, without gospel holiness, we as the people of God are not in our experience what Christ says we are to be.

Necessity 4: Gospel Holiness Fulfills a Purpose of Christ's Death

36:49 And then the fourth thing that underscores the absolute necessity for gospel holiness, and this undergirds all of the others, gospel holiness fulfills a major purpose for which Christ died and rose again. Notice I didn't say the major purpose, but gospel holiness in your life and in mine fulfills a major purpose for which Christ died and rose again. And I want you to look with me now at two texts, Titus chapter 2. Titus and chapter 2.

37:34 Paul has given some very, very detailed instructions to Titus as to what he is to speak to the Christians in the Isle of Crete. He talks about chapter 2, 1. This is what you need to tell that is sound doctrine to the older men, to the older women, to the younger women, to the younger men, to slaves, etc. All of this detailed ethical instruction as to how Christians are to behave, in other words, this is practical holiness 101.

38:10 Now, what lies beneath Paul's passionate concern that Titus conduct practical holiness 101 in the church at Crete or the churches of Crete? Well, verse 11 gives the explanation. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent here is what grace teaches, that having trusted in Jesus and being saved by grace, it doesn't matter how you live. No, that's not what grace teaches.

38:46 The grace of God that has appeared brings salvation, instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ, waiting for His Son from heaven, see the parallel with 1 Thessalonians, now notice, who gave Himself for us. What's that referring to? It's referring to our Lord laying down His life upon the cross, who gave Himself for us, that we might be redeemed from hell. That's true. And Paul emphasized that in the Thessalonian passage, that Jesus, whom we wait to come out of the heavens, is the one who delivers us from the wrath to come. That's one of His major purposes in dying for us, is to deliver us from the coming wrath.

39:57 But that's not what Paul says here. He gave Himself for us in order that. This is a statement of purpose, in order that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous, boiling with a passion for good works. Jesus died to have a people marked by zealous pursuit of gospel holiness.

40:38 When you and I are indifferent in any way to gospel holiness, we show we have a low view of the death of Christ. The Scripture says in Isaiah that the suffering servant will see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Well, if he died to have a people redeemed from all iniquity, purified unto himself, zealous of good works, and he's going to be satisfied, with the sufferings under which he bore the wrath of God, then in all his true people, if he's to be satisfied, he's going to see the fruit of the purpose for which he died. He's going to have a people redeemed from iniquity, purified to himself, zealous of good works. And then you take 2 Corinthians 5. I made reference to this briefly last night, but we look at it in this context this morning. 2 Corinthians 5.

41:38 Verses 14 and 15. For the love of Christ constrains us. That is, Christ's love for us holds us in its grip, because we thus judge. It doesn't do this mystically.

41:54 It does it in terms of understanding some fundamental issues. The love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that one died for all, therefore all died. That is, all for whom he died died in him. He was their representative and their head.

42:13 And that he died for all in order that... Here's another purpose clause.

42:20 He died for them in order that... What?

42:28 They that live, who have spiritual life on the basis of his death, should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sake died and rose again. He died to have a people whose whole lifestyle is characterized by this simple phrase, living unto him. And anything that goes into the hopper of living, it's all unto him. In the language of Romans 14, Paul says of all Christians, no man lives to himself, no man dies to himself.

43:10 Whether we live, whether we die, we are the Lord's. He assumes that's fundamental Christianity, not living unto self, but living unto Christ in the concrete specifics of life and all that is involved in living. So I trust, my brethren, that I've persuaded your judgment that gospel holiness is an absolutely essential matter. I leave that head by just giving you this brief quote out of Ryle's Holiness.

43:45 This is one of the jewels. Let me try in the next place to show some reasons why practical holiness is important. Can holiness save us? Can holiness put away sin, cover our iniquities, make satisfaction for our transgression, pay our debts to God?

44:07 No, not a whit. He could not state it more plainly. God forbid that I should ever say so. Holiness can do none of these things.

44:19 The brightest saints are all unprofitable servants. Our purest works are no better than filthy rags when tried by the light of God's holy law. The white robe which Jesus offers and faith puts on must be our only righteousness. The name of Christ, our only confidence, the Lamb's book of life, our only title to heaven.

44:46 But then he goes on to say, though no one holds that truth more firmly did the good old bishop. The Bible teaches with equal clarity that though Christ alone in His righteousness is the ground of our acceptance, our righteousness in practical gospel holiness is the pattern of life that marks every single one who has the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. The absolute necessity for gospel holiness. Now, in the time that remains I want us to take up the second heading and that is what are the essential elements of gospel holiness?

Essential Elements Introduced: The Aircraft Analogy

45:31 In what does it actually consist? Now when I say essential elements I mean the things without which you ain't got. If I say the essential components in a functioning aircraft are a fuselage, wings, a tail, a rudder, and engines. Take away any one of those and you ain't got a functioning airplane.

45:59 You've got something sitting on the ground or something crashing out of heaven into the ground. Take away the engines, take away the rudder, take away the tail, take away the wings. Those are the essential components of a functioning aircraft. So when I talk about what are the essential elements of gospel holiness I have neither the time nor the opportunity to be extensive but I want us to focus on those essential elements without which gospel holiness doesn't fly.

46:33 It doesn't exist. What are they? Number one. The first and foundational element of gospel holiness I'm describing as a radical break with the dominion of sin.

Element 1: A Radical Break with Sin's Dominion

46:51 A radical break with the dominion of sin. And that is again why I had Pastor Diekema read Romans 6 to us. Because this chapter not the only place in the New Testament but more than any other makes this truth as clear as the noonday sun in a cloudless sky in Fort Lauderdale. Romans 6.

47:20 Here's the question. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. And now he's going to tell us why it can never be.

47:29 And I'm going to render the text in a way the Greek warrants it. We who are such as have died to sin how shall we any longer live therein? The apostle is saying our essential identity of Christians is we are the people who are such as have died to sin. Now he nowhere says sin has died to us.

47:57 But we have died to sin. And then he goes on to explain what that means. Because of our union with Jesus Christ we have experienced this radical break with the dominion of sin. So Paul concludes this section in verse 14 by saying sin shall not exercise a lordship over you.

48:20 Why? Because you are no longer under law. That is you do not stand before God with his thou shalt and thou shalt not exposing you condemning you calling you but you've come within the orbit of God's grace in which convicted stripped of all hope of saving yourself you've cast yourself upon the mercy of God in Christ you've been united to Christ and in your union with Christ you've died with Christ you've been buried with Christ you've been raised with Christ and one of the clear fruits of that is sin's dominion over you has been broken. Sin shall not exercise lordship over you.

49:03 Notice he doesn't say sin should not ought not he says it will not. Sin shall not exercise lordship over you if you're within the orbit of grace. You and I have experienced a radical break with the dominion of sin. That concept is captured in these words we who are such as have died to sin.

49:31 Then the New Testament is rich in its terminology in Colossians chapter 3 we are informed that we have put off the old man and have put on the new man. Look at Colossians chapter 3 and I pick up the reading in verse 9 Lie not one to another why seeing not you ought to you may eventually but seeing you have put off the old man with his doings and have put on the new man that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him. You have put off the old man. What's the old man? The old man is everything that I was in Adam apart from the grace of God. That's the old man.

50:27 What's the new man? Everything that I was in Adam apart from the grace of God. Everything I am now in union with Jesus Christ and in my union with Christ I have put off the old man. I am not old man and new man I'm a new man in Christ if any be in Christ he is a new creation he's entered into the dynamics of the age to come.

50:58 There's been this definitive radical break of the old man into a new relationship with the new child. Now when you look at the old man and the new son and the new son you'll see that they are in a new relationship with the new Son and I'm not in a new relationship with They that are of Christ Jesus, that is, those who are true believers, those who are true children of God, united by faith to Christ, they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts thereof. There's been such a fundamental, radical break with the dominion of sin that Paul can describe us as those who have put that stuff on the cross. We've driven the nails into it. We've hoisted it up in the place of death.

52:16 That's a different nuance from Romans 6 in which we are said in union with Christ that we have been crucified with Christ. That's an operation. That's an operation of God upon us. But here in the conscious experience of the believer, he has looked at the totality of a life governed by his sinful passions and appetites and said, I'm done with you.

52:39 I'm nailing you to a cross.

52:43 That's pretty definitive.

52:46 That's not coddling it. That's not nursing it. That's not excusing it. That's looking upon it like a horrible, stinking, buzzard-eaten cadaver.

52:58 Hanging on a Roman chippet.

53:03 Pretty strong language. But it's underscoring, my brethren, that this is where gospel holiness starts. And without this, there is no gospel holiness. This is the starting point.

Element 2: Continuous Mortification of Remaining Sin

53:17 But then second component and element of gospel holiness is this. The continuous killing of our remaining sin. While the dominion of sin has been broken, sin no longer reigns to our grief and tragedy. It yet remains.

53:39 It does not reign, but it remains. And that's why we come to Romans chapter 8 again, where the apostle describes this continuous activity of seeking to put sin to death as a Christian. Romans 8 and verse 12. So then, brethren, We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh.

54:08 For if you live after the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are continually putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. There's the description of a true Christian. He is continually putting to death the deeds of the body.

54:29 That is, those sinful deeds. That use our bodily appetites and passions as a conduit. This is not teaching that the body is essentially sinful, but our bodies in the condition of remaining sin become the conduits by which the sin of our hearts find expression. Your eyes are bodily organs.

54:53 It's through the inlet of the eye that you look at that thing you ought not to look at on the internet, on the television. In the news, you'll see it. In the newspaper, these are organs of the body that become the conduits by which the indwelling remaining sin in the soul finds expression. When the hands touch objects, they ought not.

55:18 And the feet take us into places we ought not to be. That's what he's referring to. And he says, the true Christian, he is the one who is continually putting to death his sins. That's why Colossians 3 says, put to death, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.

55:39 And then he describes those members, and obviously they're not just physical members. He's using a metaphor because he describes sins that are sins of the heart and of the attitudes. Put to death your members upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness.

56:01 You don't covet with your fingers, or with your hands, or with your ears. You covet with your heart. But he says, that's one of your members on the earth that needs to be killed. This is an essential element of gospel holiness.

56:16 It begins with that definitive break with the dominion of sin. It is carried on by a continuous killing of remaining sin. So much so, as we saw earlier, sins is dear and precious and is much a part of us. As the organic connection between my hand and my forearm, Jesus said, if it offends, not just cut it off, lay it to one side and do some kind of spiritual microsurgery where you reattach it.

56:49 He said, cut it off and cast it. Cast it away. Gouge the eye out. Cast it away.

56:57 Vivid language to show that in this matter of putting sin to death, brethren, we are not guilty. We are not guilty. We are not guilty. We are actively and forcefully and energetically engaged.

57:11 If that means that you have had a chronic problem with the Internet, get rid of your stinking computer.

57:21 If you need to have your computer for business sake, then get every available good filter and make yourself accountable to a brother who will be objective with you. The filter. Filters are there. I've never had a problem with Internet pornography.

57:40 Not because my heart could not. But I've not. I've only had a computer since March. But lest there be a moan of a weakness when I would, I've got the best filter system I can purchase so that anything I should watch, the one to whom I am accountable at any time, can pull it up and name the site that I visited that I should not and call me to account.

58:04 The Bible says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. And some of you men, you're making provision for the flesh with that Internet and with that cable television. Stop it. Stop it.

58:26 It's time to stop confessing and whining and confessing and whining and confessing and whining and start hacking.

58:38 And start it today. Stop it. Leave this conference and say, no, that was just that old man got all worked up and I got emotionally carried away. No, no.

58:49 God's dealing with you. I hadn't planned to sit on this thing with such force, but I believe the Spirit of God is fingering somebody in this place. And this is the day to say, oh God, Jesus died that I wouldn't sit there drooling at the boobs of some silly bimbo.

59:12 Jesus died. Deliver me from Internet pornography. Jesus died to deliver me from watching those ads that are titillating and the commercials in the middle of a ballgame.

59:29 Jesus died to free me from the dominion of sin. He died to free me from being an irritable, short-tempered man with my wife. He died to make me a gentle, mirror of His own tender, sacrificial, nourishing love of His church. And I'm tired of coming to Ephesians 5 and just hanging my head in shame.

59:58 I don't love my wife as Christ loved the church. I don't love her as I love my old body. Lord, it's got to stop. And I'm determined by Your grace that I'm going to wage all-out warfare against my remainings.

Element 3: Continuous Cultivation of Christ-like Graces

60:16 But then the third component of real gospel holiness, a definitive break with the dominion of sin, continual killing of remaining sin, but here's the positive side, the continuous cultivation of Christ-like graces. The continuous cultivation of Christ-like graces. What is God's ultimate purpose in salvation? If I were to pass out a piece of paper and say,

60:51 gentlemen, write down the ultimate purpose of God in salvation is. Well, I hope many of you would put the manifestation of His own glory. That's right. That's the ultimate purpose in everything God does.

61:07 But how is He going to secure that glory in our salvation?

61:13 In that sense, the ultimate purpose in God's salvation is clear. It's clearly revealed in Romans chapter 8 and verse 29. Romans 8 and verse 29.

61:27 For whom He foreknew. It doesn't say what He foreknew. Foreknowledge here is not something God knows in His omniscience, i.e. He knows who's going to believe because He gives them the faith. But whom He foreknew. It's people He foreknew. That is, that He knows ahead of time with a distinguishing, sovereign love and purpose to save them.

61:53 For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He, that is Jesus, might be the firstborn, the one in the place of preeminence among many brethren. And because His great purpose in redemption is to conform all of the redeemed to the moral life, to the likeness of His Son, what does He do? Whom He foreordained, He calls. Whom He calls, He justifies.

62:27 Whom He justifies, He also glorified. And glorification is when that purpose has reached its fulfillment. Sinless spirits will inhabit deathless, totally conformed to the moral likeness of Christ in our spirits. And, of course, according to Philippians 3.20, bodies conform to the body of His glory. Sinless spirits inhabiting glorified bodies and that forever with the Lord. Now, if that's God's purpose,

63:10 to conform us to the likeness of His Son, should we not be passionate to cultivate those graces of likeness to Christ here, and now, so that what God began when He broke the dominion of sin, that work is being carried on until when we enter the door of death and our spirits join the spirits of just men made perfect, our bodies go into the ground, the worms eat them. In the day of resurrection, He gathers up their dust, transforms them into the likeness of His Son, and the glorified Spirit, is now joined to the resurrected body. And Christ will be what? The chief one in the family, the firstborn, and all around Him will be the family members. And they'll say, huh, all the children have a family likeness.

64:11 And the pattern for all of them is the glorified Jesus. That's what God's marked you out for. That's what God is committed to do. The whole triune Godhead is engaged in that.

64:25 A marvelous rescue operation. And if your heart is committed to that God, then you take His goal to make you like Christ, and it becomes your passionate goal to be like Christ. That's why John could say in 1 John 2.6, He that says he abides in Him ought himself so to walk even as He walked.

64:54 Peter could say to lowly slaves in Asia Minor, you slaves are suffering even when you're doing good. Take it patiently. Why? Because hereunto will you call to follow in His steps, who when He was reviled, reviled not again.

65:13 When He suffered, He threatened not, but committed His cause to Him who judges righteously. Cultivating Christ-like graces and how to do it. And how to do it. And how to do it.

65:25 And how to do it. And how to do it. And how to do it. And how to do it.

65:25 And how to do it. And how to do it. And how is it actually done? And God's given us the answer in 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18.

65:32 And I want you to turn there for a moment. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18.

65:39 But we all, Paul is speaking of himself, his companions, and all the believers at Corinth, but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are beholding being transformed into the same image from one stage of glory to another, even as from the Lord, the Spirit. It's as we behold Christ in the Scriptures that beholding Him, we adore Him, we worship Him, we praise Him, we trace out how He related to those around Him, His enemies, His friends, how He related to His parents, how He related to those who were hungry for His teaching, those who were despising His teaching. And as we behold Him in the full display of the glory of God in the face of Christ, the Holy Spirit is at work in us, in the deepest recesses of our beings, shaping us and molding us into the very image of the Lord to whom we are attached in love, and faith, and admiration, and adoration, and praise. That's how God does that. You see, He doesn't do it.

67:04 When you're sitting there obsessed with some called male thing on the television, I hope there's nobody here wasting time watching that wretched charade of so-called professional wrestling. Find another legitimate conduit for your machoism, but don't find it in that vile stuff. I hope you don't find it in watching action movies where human bodies are blown to bits because the Bible says His soul hates the one who loves violence. If you love violence, God's soul hates you.

67:40 You can't imagine the Lord Jesus who tenderly ministered to the broken and the bruised and the downcast and the marginalized, finding entertainment in watching human beings abused and blown to bits and cursed at and, something sick, brother, in your soul if you need something to satisfy you at that kind of pig slop.

68:09 No, we become like Christ when beholding Him in the Scriptures, beholding Him in the preaching of the Word, beholding Him in others who have made more progress in likeness to Christ than we have. That's why Paul could say be followers of me, even as I am of Christ. And he could say to the Philippians, mark those which so walk as you have us for an example and follow them. Look at those who have more likeness to Christ than you do and say, Lord, help me to be like John in that area.

68:43 I noticed when I arrived at church, he goes around and opens the car door.

68:50 He's mirroring the tender, sensitive, compassionate love of Christ to his wife. Lord, I'm going to do what John does. And when my wife starts opening the door tomorrow, I'm going to say, dear, keep your hand off the door. What are you talking about?

69:06 I said, keep your hand off the door. There's a gentleman who's going to go around and open the door for you. You say you're serious. You bet your boots I'm serious.

69:17 My wife had been a widow for four years. She got in the bad habit of opening her car door.

69:25 I had to break her.

69:29 I broke her with kindness. I did exactly what I'm telling you. Her hand would reach me. I said, uh-uh, Dorothy.

69:36 There's a gentleman who loves you as Christ loves the church. Let me have the privilege of opening the door, giving honor to you as the weaker vessel.

69:49 I could give all kinds. Why don't I give you enough concrete to see what this is not? Airy, fairy, mystical stuff that floats around up here. Ooh, make me like Jesus.

70:00 You get your nose in the book and see him in the book and pray the Spirit of God will be fashioning you into his likeness. See him in the lives of others and follow their example. Well, oh my. Very quickly then, I'll just nail down these other two things, give you the heads.

Elements 4 and 5: Law-Conformity and Apostolic Obedience

70:22 Gospel holiness not only starts with the definitive break with the dominion of sin, moves on into the continuous mortification of remaining sin, moves further to the continuous cultivation of Christ-like graces, but then I'll just give you these heads with one text and then we'll be done. It involves the continuous and serious effort to conform heart and life to the spiritual demands of the law of God. That's what gospel holiness involves. And the Sermon on the Mount from chapter 5, 17 all the way through to chapter 7 in verse 12 underscores that very principle. Jesus said, look, you want to know something about the kingdom I came to establish? I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. To fulfill it in my own life of perfect righteousness.

71:22 I came to fulfill it by working in all the sons and daughters of my kingdom to love the standard of righteousness set by the law in its spiritual demands. You have heard that it was said by your teachers, this is what God meant when he said, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not, take the knife, plunge it into the breast. He said, no, no. That's what they've said.

71:46 I gave that law to the angels and through the angels to Moses. I spoke it with my own voice from Sinai. Here's the meaning of that law. Keep your heart free from all unrighteous anger which is the essence of murder.

72:04 Positively do everything possible to live at peace with your brethren. Therefore, if you come to bring your gifts, and remember your brother has a complaint against you, leave your gift before the altar, be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift, all that under the command, you shall do no murder. That's the meaning of the law in its spiritual length and breadth. And he said, in my kingdom, my subjects are committed to seek to obey the law, not in their own strength.

72:37 They are the ones who are poor in spirit. They know they have nothing. They are nothing. They can do nothing of themselves but sin.

72:45 But they've abandoned all hope in themselves and they look to me and to my grace. They hunger and thirst for the righteousness they know they do not have and cannot perform in themselves. But they are committed with all their hearts to seek to obey the law of God and all of its spiritual demands from the heart. That is an essential element of gospel holiness.

73:15 That's why Paul could say, I delight after the law of God with my inward part. Yes, I find another law working in me. There is the principle of remaining sin and it fights against me and it wars against me. But as it doesn't change my goal, I delight in that law.

73:39 I can pray with the psalmist, oh, that my way, my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. I pass over then to the final.

73:56 If indeed we're pursuing gospel holiness, there will be a continuous and serious effort to frame all of life by the precepts of our Lord and of his apostles. And maybe at another conference, we can have a time to talk about what God has commanded us to do. We're not New Testament Christians. We're whole Bible Christians.

74:20 We're whole Bible Christians. 2 Timothy 3.16. But in a distinctive way, we are to focus our attention upon Christ's demands of us and the fullest revelation of the will of God that comes to us through the apostles.

74:37 Jesus said, make disciples, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. And so we take seriously when we come to all of those sections in our Bibles where there are specific, clear directives to fathers, to husbands, to wives, to children, to masters, to servants, to citizens and subjects. We don't just read over that stuff. We say, Lord, I want to be a man marked by gospel holiness.

75:08 Help me to obey this precept. Lord, give me grace and strength and wisdom to be one who proves my love by my obedience. Well, I've just very hurriedly condensed those two heads, but you can work them out in your own time. I hope this has been helpful, brethren, that we've got a handle on what is this pursuit of gospel holiness.

Conclusion and Preview of the Next Session

75:33 Pastor Martin, you persuaded me from those four lines of argument. It's absolutely necessary. Without holiness, no heaven. But now what in the world is it?

75:43 I've tried to show the essential elements and components of gospel holiness. Then in the next hour it's going to be my wonderful privilege to lay before you what has God given us that we can actually pursue gospel holiness. He's not like Pharaoh. He said, make bricks, guys, and I'm not going to give you any straw.

76:06 Go gather your own straw. God isn't like an Egyptian taskmaster cracking the whip saying, Be holy! Be holy! Be holy! Be holy!

76:13 But Lord, I don't... It's your problem.

76:16 Go gather your straw. No, no, God says, I've got armfuls of straw. Here it is. Here it is.

76:22 And furthermore, I'll give you the strength to mold the bricks and take them off and put them under the sun and dry them. I'll work in you both to will and to work for my good pleasure. And we're going to consider together the marvelous provisions God has made for gospel holiness. Let's pray together.

76:40 Our Father, how we thank You for this time together. I thank You for gathering these men here on this Saturday morning to engage in serious Bible study. We thank You they haven't come to hear a clown make jokes. They haven't come for some half-baked would-be musician to sing his songs and plunk his guitar and amuse us.

77:08 We thank You You've gathered us here for serious business. Thank You for the attentiveness of these men and the encouragement they are to my heart to look into their faces. Lord, You did good to us. Thank You for helping Your old servant to open up Your Word and to preach with a measure we trust of Your felt presence and enabling grace.

77:33 Take whatever has had the mixture of the chaff of our own foolishness and bring it to naught. And whatever's been Your Word and the intention of Your Word, fill our mind in giving that Word. Seal it to our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.