by Frank Luke
The Holy Spirit enables us to be holy.
Introduction
God states several times in the Bible that we are to be holy just as He is holy. Due to our sin nature, which we have both inherited and chosen to embrace, we cannot be holy on our own. Then how can we be holy as God calls us to be?
In the early centuries of the church, Pelagius, an off-balance teacher in Roman Britain proclaimed that one could be holy under his own power. “God would not command us to do what we cannot do.” Sounds like a nice sentiment, but it falls flat.
I don’t blame Pelagius for wanting strict rules and codes of conduct. It is said that the character of his students was unassailable due to his strict moral teaching. Compared to the moral laxity in most Christian circles, he was a breath of fresh air in that regard. In many situations, the best lies in balance. However, Pelagius placed too much emphasis on the human effort of salvation. He believed that man was basically good and should choose poor lifestyles as a way of attaining spiritual advancement.
Pelagius had many run ins with the authorities of the church until he was finally excommunicated and his writings condemned.
What did the church have against Pelagius’ teachings? The biggest problem was that he denied original sin. Original sin says that we all have a sin mark in us from choices made by Adam and Eve. Pelagius also denies total depravity. The doctrine of total depravity, which we as Pentecostals do hold, says that all parts of mankind were broken in the Fall. Our mind leans toward bad thoughts. Our eyes turn toward things we should not see. Our hands yearn to commit evil acts. Body, soul, and spirit were all marred by Adam and Eve’s choice in the garden. Paul’s statement, “Wretched man that I am!” shows the impossibility of being clean in our own power. Surely, Paul did not want to sin, yet he did.
The biggest problem with Pelagius and those who tried to moderate his teachings to be more palatable to the church was the denial of the necessity of grace. Pelagius and his students, in effect, taught that one could be good without God and attain salvation without God’s grace being upon us.
On a usual Pentecost Sunday, we would read Acts 2, about the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Christians. The Spirit came with the sound of a rushing wind, tongues of flame, and speaking in tongues. Believers changed. Today, I want to talk about how the Spirit works in us in relation to our holiness.
As you turn to Ezekiel 36:23-27, remember that Ezekiel is one of the Major Prophets. God gave him more than 40 chapters of Scripture. Ezekiel was a priest, and one of those carried away in the Exile. The state of the nation and especially the temple shamed him greatly.
Ezekiel 36:23-27 “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
We have here a picture of salvation. Believers today will be drawn from all nations, be cleansed from filthiness, and be given a new heart and spirit.
Drawn From all Nations
“I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24 For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.”
God calls us to be a peculiar people, set apart from the world. In those ancient times, both New and Old Testaments, people frequently wore their devotion on their clothing. Something on their clothes, a bit of jewelry or hair piece told which god they devoted themselves to.
In the Scandinavian countries, the missionaries saw the worshipers of Thor wearing necklaces with tiny hammers. As the people converted, they would remove such relics and begin wearing crosses.
Today, in countries that practice Voodoo, new Christians have a party at the church where they burn all of their voodoo artifacts. I have heard you have not seen a party until you have been to one of those.
Throughout history, the majority of inhabitants of a nation have worshiped the same god. It’s only recently that such has not been true. Christians are called to change the world! We are called out of the world; to live in it but not of it.
On that first, Christian Pentecost, the church brought salvation to thousands. Those thousands went home and preached the life changing message of Jesus’ death and resurrection to their own lands. They were changed and they changed others.
The change is holiness. All people are unholy until they come to Jesus. Many think they are moral, and many people, at least around here, are moral. However, holiness is more than morality. We often say you can be a good person and never see heaven. You can even believe in God and never see heaven. James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe there is one God, yet they tremble in fear.
Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that our good works are like filthy rags compared to what God expects. We are like withering leaves, blowing away on the wind. As God calls out to the people, they turn away, and He gives them over to their iniquities. The cities lie desolate.
Ezekiel would be preaching about 150 years later, just as the people’s sins have filled up and God prepares to turn them over to Babylon. The sins of those who are supposed to be God’s own has risen to Heaven. It must be dealt with.
When the people repent and call out for God’s holiness, He will answer and redeem them. The scattered people will be drawn from the nations they were taken to and returned to the land God gave them. Then, his holiness will shine to all the nations.
It is not for their sake He does this, but because of His own reputation which has been spoiled by the people’s sins. God will prove himself holy in the sight of those who don’t believe.
Cleansed From Filthiness
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.”
The Bible, from front to back, deals with sin. Only the first two chapters and last two show a world without sin. In Genesis, it is a world that has never known sin. In Revelation, it is a world that no longer has sin.
What is sin? Sin is whatever keeps you from your calling. No matter how good it is otherwise, if it stops you from fulfilling God’s purpose in you, it is a sin. Sin is when we do not do what we ought to do or do what we ought not do. Some of them are easy to see as being a sin. Some of them we know are sins but do them anyway. Some, we talk ourselves into doing. A Southern baptist deacon used to say that if you have to ask yourself “should I be doing this?” you know better. And he’s right—we do.
The worst part about sin is how it always, and I mean always, takes you further than you want to go, keeps you there longer than you intend to stay, and costs you more than you are willing to pay. Every time.
Sin, we know, comes from Satan, and there is no one he hates more than those who follow him. He uses them, abuses them, and then tosses them aside, like thrash from his dark horse. They are left with nothing but regrets.
But God does not work in regrets. He promises to wipe every tear from every eye and cleanse. Ezekiel spoke of this cleansing. When they are called back to His own place, they will be cleansed by pure water. Cleansed of every filth and all idolatry.
We like to look back at the ancient world and laugh at the idols they worshiped. Really? That carved stone is your god? It cannot speak or eat, yet you worship it. But we have our own idols. We make things more important than they are, while the most important thing, the thing given to us by God goes to waste.
It’s possible that what we make an idol isn’t necessarily sinful. It is not a sin to work hard for your family. It becomes an idol when you put it in front of God. It isn’t wrong to want to be the best at something. It is wrong if that something is not what God has called you to. 1 Peter 2:9 says, we are “A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
Out of darkness, for that’s what it is to live in sin. Everything is shrouded in shadow. You can’t see far enough ahead to plan well. But, remember, that’s what God has called you from. Look to where He has called you to.
Having been cleansed by pure water of all your filth and idolatry, you are chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, part of God’s very own possession.
Given a New Heart and Spirit
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
This is a beautiful promise. CS Lewis said that in Heaven, we will not want anything wrong anymore. I imagine all of us long for that even now. To be free from the sins that weigh us down. We don’t want to sin; yet we do. Every part of our self has been compromised. We hate this part of ourselves, yet we must love it, too, for sin so easily besets us.
God knows our hatred of sin and how we are sickened by it. He has given us strength in the Holy Spirit. In one of JRR Tolkein’s novels, he explains a character trapped in his sin this way, “He loves it, and he hates it, just as he loves and hates himself.”
We can relate to that. I know several former addicts. That’s how they explain how they felt in their time of addiction. They loved the feeling even while loathing themselves for being weak.
What breaks it? Nothing but the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord tells us this through Ezekiel. When He puts His Holy Spirit within us, we become enabled walk in His statutes and obey His rules.
We see immediately here that man cannot walk in holiness in his own strength. Only the power of God makes it possible. The Spirit gives new life to all who believe.
The Spirit doesn’t just come and go from modern believers. According to Ezekiel here, the Spirit will be put into the believer. In the Old Testament, the Spirit came and went from most believers; only a couple are said to have been continually filled with the Spirit. However, believers in the New Testament era find the Spirit within them always.
The Spirit is not just available, waiting nearby for the believer to ask for help. The Spirit is within the believer, ruling and guiding those inclinations (Galatians 5:17). He makes all parts of us new. That total depravity I mentioned earlier is wiped away. We are no longer broken when we take in the Holy Spirit’s holiness. His grace moves within us from the inside out.
Finally, I want you to notice that the Holy Spirit guides us this way after salvation. The believer does not walk in holiness in order to be cleansed. The believer walks in holiness after being cleansed by God.
We call this sanctification, continually being made more in the image of God’s holiness. The rough edges are removed and then ground down until smooth. This guidance He gives us does not overwhelm us. He gives us the grace we need to overcome the sin nature that will try to come back into us. We are told “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit,” (Gal 5:25).
Conclusion
Have you experienced this? Has God called you out from among those who don’t believe? Have you been cleansed? Have you been given the Spirit? Do you long for sanctification?
I know I do. I yearn for the time when I will no longer want anything wrong.
Holiness. This is what God intends us to have. He intends it so much that one member of the Trinity is named the Holy Spirit. Even though we cannot say we are without sin (1 John 1:8), by the Spirit, we become more and more holy.
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Please visit Frank Luke’s Blog where this sermon is also posted.