1 Peter 1:13-16

J. C. Ryle was the 1st Anglican Bishop of Liverpool.  In his classic book titled, “Holiness”, he wrote the words.  “He who supposes that Jesus Christ only lived and died and rose again in order to provide justification and forgiveness of sins for His people, has yet much to learn. Whether he knows it or not, he is dishonouring our blessed Lord, and making Him only a half Saviour. The Lord Jesus has undertaken everything that His people’s souls require; not only to deliver them from the guilt of their sins by His atoning death, but from the dominion of their sins, by placing in their hearts the Holy Spirit; not only to justify them, but also to sanctify them”. 

In this second and final sermon part, we examine the command to holiness and the means to holiness.  As we move from the classroom of theory onto the field of experience, may the Lord bless you!

Exodus 39:30-31

Whenever the topic of holiness is brought up in the company of Christians, it is guaranteed to provoke one of two responses, either uneasiness or delight!  Now granted, those feelings of uneasiness may be down to the fact that a professing believer is not living as they ought; maybe they are living in secret sin and know that by preaching such a topic as holiness, they will be disturbed.  Then, there are those who love Jesus dearly, but have been scarred by those who preached to them a form of holiness “so-called” which was nothing more than evangelical legalism! 

As we approach this sacred subject, rather than jump straight into the practical, I want to begin with the concept!  So many err in their understanding of holiness because they fail to comprehend what holiness even is. Let us then first understand what holiness is. 

Luke 15:1-2

If one was to stop you and to ask, “What is God like?”, I wonder what answer you’d give?  What attribute would come first to mind?  Would it be God’s holiness or omnipotence?  His omniscience or His omnipresence?  You ask me, “What is God like?”. What attribute comes first to mind when thinking about His person?  I return my answer at once; GOD IS LOVE!   Without question, this is His crowning attribute without which we would all be damned forever.

In this sermon, we look at the heart of God our heavenly Father.  May the Lord bless and encourage you.

Romans 8:14

There’s one feature of the Holy Spirit’s leading that I’ve learned from experience, one that is widely attested to in the Sacred record, and that is the spontaneity of His leading!!! When the Holy Spirit speaks to His people and desires to lead them, it will always require faith to respond!!   In the moment of suddenness, we are given a window of time to obey.  #1. We must recognise the voice of the Holy Spirit, #2. We must be willing to sacrifice, #3. We must step out in faith!! 

1 Corinthians 15:42-44

It is the earnest desire, to lay before you the certain and definite hope of the Christian. Assurances like this cannot be found in this world due to its transient state of temporariness. Search high and low, with diligence and scrutiny, but O man, your search will be in vain. When Adam fell through willful disobedience, mankind was plunged into sin and death. God in His infinite love and mercy has sought to reverse this curse in redeeming a people back unto Himself through His beloved Son.

In this sermon, we set forth the first and second installment of this most glorious work and consider what will be when Our Blessed Saviour appears in glory to change these vile bodies so as to be fashioned like unto His!

1 Kings 17:1-6

It’s not until you step out of a situation, that looking back, you’re able to see it really for it was! When you’re in a smoke-filled room, it’s hard to see the smoke, but exit the room and peer back in through the glass and you’ll be astonished at how you ever could have been in such an environment and not have. As I look around and survey the spiritual landscape of the nation, I have to conclude that we are living in the midst of a spiritual famine that few are even aware we’re in. Churches are closing by the week of and the British landscape is changing. Brethren, it is my conviction that unless God in His mercy sends another revival —an awakening, the likes of which this nation has not witnessed since the days of Wesley, the flickering light of present-day Christianity may soon be extinguished from these British Isles. Now I acknowledge that God will always have a remnant—7000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal, but Brother/Sister, where is the grief over the fact that the city once set on a hill has been removed, and the candle which once stood on a candlestick has been placed under a bushel!

This sermon is a heart-cry, for another heaven-sent revival and a warning to those who have been placed in sound fellowships at this present time of famine, to not forsake where God has placed them, but to be grateful for the bread He has provided.

Psalm 32:1-5

If we are to move forward in our walk with Jesus in the year ahead, we must learn to deal honestly with God as His Spirit comes in searching power to discover the true nature of our hearts. William Gurnall that old Puritan put it well when he said, “Sincerity is that property to which pardoning mercy is annexed.  True, indeed, it is that Christ covers all our sins and failings; but it is only the sincere soul over which he will cast his skirt”. C.H. Spurgeon said, “The lesson from the whole is this: be honest. Sinner, may God make you honest. Do not deceive yourself. Make a clean breast of it before God. Have an honest religion, or have none at all. Have a religion of the heart, or else have none. Put aside the mere vestment and garment of piety, and let your soul be right within. Be honest”. 

This sermon calls for a frank and full confession so that we might receive full forgiveness! 

Proverbs 22:3

It’s one thing for an unsaved man to be a fool, but for a Christian to be counted as a fool?  It’s a great shame and a reproach and ought never to be!  He has the internal light of the Holy Spirit and the external light of the Word! 

This sermon is an exhortation to the acquisition of wisdom. “O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart” (Prov. 8:5). 

Judges 8:29-35

If there’s one thing to take away from history, it’s that good things never last!!  If this is true of history in general, it is certainly true of revival history.  Where the blessing of God has been poured out upon a people in special seasons of refreshing, it seems only ever to be short-lived before alas the tide of evil comes back in and the people return to bathe again in the insidious waters of iniquity.  While the man of God was alive, the people served the LORD, but when Gideon was taken out of the way, the “...children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god” (vs. 33).  They went from revival to ruin in a single generation!  They went back to the pool of vomit from which God delivered them.  My dear people, I wish I could say that this was an isolated phenomenon never to be repeated, but even in my short life as a Christian, I have seen so many return again to feast upon the mess from which Christ delivered them only years prior!  They forget what life was like in the prison of sin, they forget the chains that bound them and the cruelties that attended their path! 

In this final sermon part, looking at the life of Gideon, a warning is sounded for God’s children to keep themselves from idols!

Part 13

Every cult without exception denies the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  Although they may utilise concepts such as grace and faith, what is written outside the box is never what’s inside.  In the world of cults, grace becomes synonymous with payment because when everything has been said and done, the cult member is working to earn salvation.  At the very best Jesus died on the cross to give mankind the possibility of obtaining salvation.  He has merely opened the narrow gate but now it’s left to those who would obtain it to labour.  It is for this reason that whether Jehovah’s Witness or Seventh-day Adventist; whether Mormon or Roman Catholic, when the question is put to them; “If you die tonight, do you have 100% assurance that you are saved”?  The answer that one will be met with again and again is; “I can’t say for sure, it’s up to God”.  With this one simple question and the answer returned, the futility of the cult's works-based system of salvation is revealed for what it is, vanity of vanities!!  

There is a world of difference between what the Bible teaches about how a man is saved, and what the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society teaches.  In this final teaching part, these differences shall be discovered and the way of truth exposed.

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