What It Means To Be Holy

Turn tonight, if you will, in
your Bibles to the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John, John 6. I want us to read beginning with verse
38 through verse 40. Jesus here speaking. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up,
at the last day. Now just to recap briefly what
we talked about this morning. We started out in our message
this morning out of the fifth chapter of the book of Romans
talking about how that we as the enemies of God had been reconciled
to God by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we explained
the atonement or the atonement that we have with God Those of
us that have been reconciled to God through that atonement,
that we're at one with God. And we also showed that in regards
to what it means to be saved, we showed that it involved not
only our being saved from the penalty of our sin, Not only
are being given everlasting life in that that we would escape
that place of judgment Which is described in the bible as
being hell Hellfire, but also that it involved our knowing
the will of god and our doing the will of god because we read
out of matthew 7 21 where it says there that that not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. And then we read many verses
that would help us to see the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ
toward the will of the Father. We pointed out that Jesus in
his example in absolute obedience and surrender To the will of
God was a perfect example of what we ought to be in that that
we too Should submit ourselves as the Lord's people to the will
of God and we should have and seek no will of our own and should
never have a will of our own and if we're ever given a choice
of If we ever put in a position where it looks as though we have
a choice as to what we might do with our lives, we would immediately
get on our knees and refer it all and put it all back into
his hands and deliberately put it in his hands and say, Lord,
I would not choose if I could. I have no will of my own. I have
no choice. I will not make a choice. You
make the choice. The will is yours. And this is
the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had no will of his
own. Now we read here tonight, and we want to go on and talk
about holiness. We tried to show this morning
that to be saved is not only just to be saved from hell fire
and to have fire insurance from hell, the expression is but that
it is also connected with service that you can't separate salvation
from doing the will of God that God when he chooses a man as
he has chosen his people in Christ from before all worlds that he
chose them and that it is the purpose of God that he would
show his will to them, lead them in his will and plan and purpose,
and that he would deposit with them his truth, the knowledge
of himself, and that they will be his witnesses. Now, beloved,
you know I always looked upon the Jehovah's Witnesses those
who claim to be Jehovah's witnesses. I always thought that was Blasphemy
to talk about being Jehovah's witness But it is true and beloved. It's true that every child of
god is is an anointed witness Of the lords if you be chosen
of god Saved in time called effectually and if you be justified through
the merits of jesus christ And if you be filled with the holy
spirit, you're his witness and as you traverse that way in which
God leads you, you're his witness of the things which you've seen
and heard, the things that you've experienced, the things that
God has shown you. And the verse in the book of
Job, Job said, we've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear.
Now, he says, mine eyes have seen thee and I repent in sackcloth
and ashes. But he said my my ears heard
of you and my eyes seen you and the child of God Salvation is
a both a hearing and a seeing of Christ It's a hearing the
voice of his mouth and it's the seeing the just one through faith
and we read this scripture tonight here verse 40 and this is the
will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the son
and I tell you that that cannot be a physical sight it cannot
be a There is no way that you and I on this side are ever going
to look upon Christ with a physical eye We're not going to and all
of those that looked upon him in the day in which he ministered
on earth They were not saved many of them were not saved I
would venture to say and I think you would agree with me that
the majority of them were never saved and They saw him with a
physical eye But Jesus says, this is the will of Him that
sent me. This is the will of God, that everyone which seeth
the Son. And that's by the revelation
of the Spirit. We've heard of Him by the hearing of the ear.
We've seen Him by the revelation of God's Spirit. God has shown
us Christ in our hearts and made us to so see Him that we've hoped
in Him eternally and embraced Him with an everlasting faith. a God-given faith, which has
saved us and secured for us eternal life. So it's a hearing and a
seeing of Christ. It's a knowing of his will. It's
a being his witness. Can't separate salvation and
service. All right, now, tonight we want to talk about what it
means to be holy, and we'll connect all these things by the grace
of God. And I want to say at the outset that I believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely holy. He was absolutely holy. Now the Bible says in the book
of Hebrews, I think it's chapter 12, verse
14, it says that without holiness shall no man see the Lord. Without
holiness shall no man see the Lord. So what Jesus was in perfection,
you and I must have or we shall never see the Lord. Now why I
say that, I say that in order to stimulate your heart and challenge
you to listen to what I have to say about the Lord Jesus Christ
and about the holiness of Christ and the power of that holiness.
Because if you and I are not holy we cannot expect to see
the Lord now, there's been so much said about holiness Well
by the Assembly of God people and by the Pentecostal people
and by the Nazarene people There's been so much said about holiness.
There's and by the Methodist the second work of grace people
Who have so confused the minds of men and women about holiness?
That we think now that holiness is wearing a long-sleeved dress
That's what a holiness is to some people Some people think
that holiness is is is when a woman when a woman never cuts her hair
that that's holiness Some people think that holiness is whenever
you don't chew tobacco. And if you do, you don't ever
spit in public. That's holiness to some people.
And some people think, well, now, if you chew snuff, that's
all right, but tobacco, you better not chew that. You could be holy
and have, you know, dip snuff and things like that. But now
you see, this is, of course, foreign to what the Bible talks
about and what the scriptures teaches when they talk about
holiness. Now, the Lord Jesus, we said, was absolutely holy.
Now, the reason that Jesus Christ was perfectly holy was because
he was absolutely in full submission and surrender to the will of
God. There was no self in him. There
was no self in him. He did not he said I come listen
to what verse 38 says I came down from heaven not to do mine
own Will why are you here? Why are you here in this world?
Why are you here now? That's a good question Jesus
said I came down from heaven not to do mine own will I've
come all the way from heaven and I've come all the way from
the Father's courts. I've come out of that place of
blessing and bliss, all the way to this world of sin and woe,
this world of sorrow. And I've come down here for a
purpose, and that is not to do my own will. Now, I tell you
tonight, we might each one of us say to ourselves, Well, I'm
not here to do my own will either. But I want to say to you tonight
that there is self in every one of us. And in every one of us,
There is a sinful nature which you do not find in the Son of
Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in every one of us, there
is self-will, there is self-confidence, there's self-righteousness. Oh,
I know that you believe in sovereign mercy and sovereign grace and
free grace and justification through the merit of Christ,
but there's some self-righteousness in every one of us. And then
there's this selfishness which is bred in us by our connection
with that first man, Adam, who just had to have his own way.
He had to have his own way. He had to do what he wanted to
do. Come what would if it plunged the whole human race into misery,
sin, and death. And that experience and that
day in the Garden of Eden is the blackest day in the history
of humanity. That day when Adam said, I will,
self will. And every one of us has been
contaminated, polluted by that to the point where that you and
I still are filled with it. Self. Glory seeking people. Seeking glory ourselves. We want
self-glorification. We want to be honored ourselves.
We want to make a name for ourselves. We want to be respected in this
world and we want to makes no difference even if it's in good
works. We want a planet and we want everything. Even if God
calls us to preach, we know what kind of preacher we want to be.
We want to be this kind of a preacher, that kind of a preacher, and
we know what we want to preach. We want to preach that which
will call men's attention to us, and we want to preach doctrines
that men will applaud, and we want to preach that which men
will be satisfied with, that which will tickle the ears of
men and women, and cause them to respect us and lift us up
and hold us in high esteem. We know just what we want, even
in the realm of religion. Glory seekers, that's what we
are. Selfish people, self-willed people. You see, but the Lord
Jesus, he came down from heaven not to do his own will. He was absolutely holy. Now listen
to me. You and I are only holy. I don't make any difference about
them long-sleeved dresses. It don't make any difference
about whether you've gotten over the tobacco habit. Doesn't make any
difference about that. Now what I'm saying, now you
listen to what I'm saying now. That's not the issue. The issue
is, is how much have we been able to dethrone self in us? How much have we been able to
come to the place where that we could just absolutely abandon
all of it into God's hands and surrender all of it in absolute
submission and meekness into the hands of the Lord, our lives? How much have we been able to
take it all and lay it down at His feet and walk off from it
and leave it there? How much have we been able to
do that? You see, that's what it's all about. Jesus Christ
kept his hands off of his own life, and he had no will of his
own. I come down here not to do my own will. I didn't come
down here to do that. And you and I have been born
on purpose. We were born on purpose. We were
newborn on purpose. God's purpose. His elective purpose. We must recognize that God has
us right now in this world, and we're sustained by him. Sustained
by a sovereign God. Woke up every morning by a sovereign
God. Every breath you breathe, God
gives it to you. He knows about every breath.
He knows every breath you've took since you've been in this
world. Because he had to give you every
one of them. And he's got them timed and he's got them planned.
And he knows exactly how many errors is on your head. He knows
all about this. It's all known to him. You're here on purpose.
You're in God's world. This is God's world that you're
in. No accident you're here. Now this is serious business.
How holy are we? Well, we're just as holy as we
have no will but His will. If we're able just to have no
will of our own, now listen to me now. I've wrestled with this
a long time. I've had a lot of battles right
here on this ground. I've had lots of battles. And
I thought that I had the battle won many, many a time. I thought
that I was one to do the will of God many times. And then,
of course, through God's workings and through providences which
was mysterious to me at the time, it was discovered over and over,
I've discovered in my heart that there was murmuring, that there
was some complaining, that there was not the absolute trust in
God that ought to be in the heart of a believer, and that every
time you open your mouth to complain or murmur about anything, it's
evident that you yourself would change things in your life if
you could, which shows that you're still full of self, that you're
just not willing for God's will only to be done. And then when
you're not able to thank God for everything that comes into
your life, you just can't do it. You say, well, I don't know
how this business is. Paul said, give thanks and everything
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Well, how in the world can you do that? How can you do that? Well, the reason why you can't
do that is because you're a little God yourself and because the
big God interferes with your plans and with that which you
want done in your life to the point where that you're not about
to give thanks because your will's been crossed by providence and
things not working out like you wanted to. Now, that's your problem,
see? I'm showing you you're not holy.
I'm showing you that when you're not able to rejoice, the scripture
says rejoice always. Again I say, in case you missed
it the first time, Paul said rejoice in the Lord. Now there's
no reason for a child of God not to rejoice in the Lord. Not
if he's trusting in the Lord. Not if he's trusting in the Lord
with all of his heart. Now you see, a believer is someone
who believes God. That's what a believer is. A
believer is not someone who doubts God. A believer is not someone
who distrusts God. A believer is someone who believes
fully in his God. Trust the hand of the Lord. Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not to thine own understanding,
but in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
path." You see, that's the confidence that I'm talking about. I'm talking
about trust fully in the Lord. Now, it's impossible to be holy
without faith. It's impossible to lay everything
down and leave it in God's hands without absolute confidence in
God. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, that he's everything he said he was, that he's the
sovereign God of the universe, and that he's a God that is our
personal God. This God, David said, is our
God. He's my God, my own personal
God. The Lord is my shepherd, my. He's our personal God. We must
believe that He is when we come to Him. And now when we believe
that He is all that He said He was, and he can be trusted. He that keepeth Israel shall
not slumber nor sleep. The God of the Bible is one who
is absolutely faithful, dependable, trustworthy. He's not about. He has never failed one who believed
on him, never failed one who trusted in him, never, never
has he made a mistake in dealing with the lives of men and women,
not once. Has there been anyone who ever could say God made a
mistake in dealing with me? Anytime anybody says and utter
such blasphemy as that it's evident that they are absolutely unholy
and holy full of self Full of self you say well, I'm just not
happy. Well, if you if you were holy,
you'd be happy If you come down from heaven like Jesus did not
to do your own will you'd be happy with the will of God if
you trusted him, you'd be happy you would You'd have peace if
you trusted and if you laid all at his feet. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ had no desire but to accomplish the mission he received from
the Father. He had no other plan than to
enter into the Father's plan. That was his purpose. Now, with
his eyes fixed then on the Father, his only concern is to hear his
voice. in order that he might follow
him and to discover his will in order that he might carry
it out. Now, this is exactly what you and I must do. We must
have exactly that same view. Now, the good works which Jesus
Christ performed while he was here in this world were all given
to him, one after another, each one placed before him by the
hand of God upon his way. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ
unfolded before him. God Unfolded Jesus said in John
chapter 5 and I think it's the verse 15 of John 5 Let me see
if that's the verse I'm looking for. No, that's not the verse
I'm looking for but in John 15 In verse 20 it is for the father
or in verse 19 and 20 He said that then answered Jesus and
said to him verily or truly truly I say to you the Son can do nothing
of himself and The Son can do nothing of Himself. Here He is
in the world, He came not to do His own will, and He says
the Son can do nothing of Himself. In other words, I'm in a position
where everything must be given to me from God. My life must
be laid out before me. It must be given to me. The orders,
the marching orders of the day must be given to me by the Father.
He said, I can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the
Father do. For what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise. Now what he means here is that
what the Father in his plan and will for him as he reveals it
to him and as the Father through him works, then the Son is working. You see, the will of God's being
done. The will of God's being executed
on earth in the person of Christ. The Son can do nothing of himself. So then the life of Christ, the
will of God for Christ just unfolded before him. It unfolded now. We'll talk a little bit more
about this activity business in a minute and i'll show you
how active jesus was And how active you and i'll be that is
if our will is his will and if we're absolutely in submission
to what he's bringing into our lives how active we'll be but
now let me say to you that the lord jesus christ as we have
explained, was without any self. There was no self in him. He
was altogether given over to the will of God. Now we shall
only be that in a state of true holiness when we have no other
plan than God's plan and no other will than His will. Now then,
when we have no other plan but God's plan, no other will but
His will, then of course our lives will take on the outward
appearance as well as the inward character of holiness, because
we will be selfless and our lives will be completely laid at His
feet. Now, Christ was governed by the
principle of constant abandonment. to the will of the Father. And
this will was manifested to him inwardly by the Holy Spirit. And you know the Bible says the
Spirit of God, he had it without measure. the Spirit of God, without
measure. And the will of God was manifested
to him inwardly by the Holy Spirit, outwardly by the Word of God,
by the Scriptures, and this is the way it must be in us, by
the inward motions of the Spirit, by the revealed Word of God,
and by providence. which hymns us in, shuts us up,
and moves us about in the way God wants us to go. Now, this
is the way the will of God is revealed. By the Spirit, by the
Word, and by providential circumstances. This is the way God would govern
his people, and you and I must be abandoned entirely to that
will that's revealed in those three ways. By the inward motions
of the Spirit, by this book, and by Providence. All right,
then Now Jesus Christ is holy Because he only desires what
God wills Because he seeks not his own glory, but that of the
Father and therein lies the power of true holiness Now I want you
if you would to look at Ephesians chapter 2 and I want to read
verse 10 to you and Because now, probably some of you are saying
in your mind, Jesus had no will of his own because he knew the
Father had a will for him. He knew the Father had a plan
for him. Now what about us, you say? Well,
we've tried to tell you that God has a will for his people. and a purpose for them. But in
Ephesians 2.10, this is one of the most blessed verses, if you
rightly interpret it and understand it, to the believer that you're
going to find in the Bible. This will feed your faith. This
is good for you. Now listen to it. For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. which God hath before prepared
that we should walk Them that we should walk in them.
Now what this verse of Scripture is telling us is that God has
a plan for each one of our lives as his people that he He will
his workmanship. He created us anew in the Lord
Jesus Christ and he has a plan Already prepared. He already
has a life of good works Already ordered and planned out for us
as his people As individuals he already has it and it is not
our business To make this Way or make the way ourselves and
to figure out our the good works and to figure out the way we're
to walk. That's not our business as believers. Our business is
to have the same attitude Jesus had and just to abandon ourselves
to God's good plan and to his program, to his way, to his will,
just lay ourselves down at the feet of the Lord and abandon
ourselves to God's will and the Lord which, that plan which he
has before prepared Ordained you like that word. I do ordained
Then the Lord will just unfold that in your life as you abandon
yourself to that will Now that's what that verse of Scripture
says Yeah, his workmanship he Created you in order that your
life Could fit to that plan that he has made for you In Christ
Jesus, he's created you so your life could fulfill that plan
which he's before ordered for you. A lost person couldn't fit
in that. Couldn't fit in it. But you're
his workmanship. He's got a plan for you. And
your business, if you're holy, is a complete, continual abandonment
every day of your own self-will to that will. Seeking it only
making plans, but always remembering Always subjecting those plans
to God's will always begging God to overrule. Yeah Get that
phrase in your prayer Lord rule and overrule get that in your
prayer rule and overrule You want God to overrule you if you're
heading in the wrong direction? You want him to overrule you?
Do you want him to cross your will? Do you want him to? Do
you want him to turn you about? Do you want him to hedge you
in? I mean, if you having your pockets full of money would cause
you to go in the wrong direction, you want the Lord just to break
you financially in order to keep you from doing what you ought
to do? In order to just do his will? You want to do the will
of God. Do you really want to? He said, well, preacher, that
gets down to serious business. This holiness business, it is
serious. It is serious. You see, you got
no problem with a man. If he's got no will of his own,
you got no problem with him about the law, about the holy will
of God, about the holy law of God. You got no problem with
him. You won't find a man that has got no will of his own. You
won't find him going out and committing adultery. You won't find him
committing adultery. Why? Because that's, that's just
self. That's loving yourself. That's
what that is. When a man will commit adultery,
just loving his self. Selfish. And so he'd break the
law of God. He would destroy a good marriage.
He would break up his own home. Selfishness. See that? The essence of sin is self. And the essence of holiness is
selflessness, is what it is. You wanna be holy? Just keep
workin' on mortifying the flesh and mortifying self, killin'
off self. Keep workin' on it. See, you
got no problems with a man about anything if he just don't have
no will but God's will. You can trust a fella that's
just got no will but God's will. He just wants to do God's will,
that's all. Whatever it is, he just wants to do God's will.
Lord, I'll be satisfied with your will. Rule and overrule.
Can you pray that way? Now, I'll just tell you the truth
about it. I've got to stand before God one of these days like you
will. As the preacher said, I will and you shortly must stand before
God. And I want to tell you something
right now. I know that what I'm talking about tonight is right.
I know it's right. There ain't no question about
what is right. That the essence of sin is self and the essence
of holiness is selflessness. Get yourself out of it, and the
more yourself is out of this thing, the more you're gonna
be holy. The more you're gonna be holy. Now you just ask yourself
this question. What is it that I'm trying to
do? What is it that I want in life that is contrary to the
good plan and will and purpose of God? What do I want in life
that's contrary to his will? Now if you don't have anything
in life that you desire except His will, then you, this frustration's
gonna leave you. This frustration's gonna leave
you. And whenever things cross you, you're just gonna say, praise
God, the will of God be done. And you say, well, I've suffered
a back set. Well, you're not suffering a back set if all you
want's the will of God. If all you want's the plan of
God, you've suffered no back set. Just because you lost today's
work or this happened or that happened, something else happened.
The machinery broke down. All you are here for is do God's
will. I mean, can you see Jesus complaining about things? Murmuring
about things? Can you see Jesus Christ frustrated?
I don't believe Jesus Christ was ever frustrated. I don't!
I do not believe he's frustrated. This business of these preachers
talking like Jesus Christ was a frustrated Jesus, I don't believe
it. You can't be frustrated if you've got no will but God's
will and you've got a firm belief and faith that the God of the
Bible is the kind of God that come hell or high water, what
he purposes, he will accomplish. If you've got that kind of confidence,
you can't be frustrated. But you and I will be tomorrow.
We will be. That's because we're not completely
holy. Now, Jesus was more holy than anyone that ever lived.
Now, they sometimes mention Luther. I guess Luther was a godly man.
I believe he was. Calvin? Sure, I believe he was
a godly man. Moses? Sure, Moses was the meekest
man. One of the meekest men that ever
lived on the face of the earth. David? Sure, all these great
men of God. Absolutely holy men. But they
were not as holy as Jesus. And the reason why they were
not was because every one of them had some self in them. Every
one of them. They just wasn't completely abandoned
to the will of God. Well, somebody said, Preacher,
if I was just to take that attitude that God had a plan for me and
that he'd work his will in me, if all I got to do is just give
up all this frustration and all this business of trying and trying
and all this business of helter-skelter and round and trying to make
this go and that go and make something else go, if I just
lay it all down and just leave it to God's will, well, I'd just
absolutely, there'd be nothing done. I'm gonna show you that
ain't so. I'm gonna show you that that's
not so. All right, now, the thing I want us to do is talk a little
bit about the activity that's in the holy life. The life of
Jesus Christ, first of all, was a condition of holiness, and
the second, it was a condition of activity. There was some activity
that went on in the life of the Lord Jesus, and I want you to
see this. Now, there's a tremendous amount
of time that may be lost in seeking our own self-interest, even in
what is good. If a man, you know, there is
no limit to activity which is founded upon the perfect harmony
that we have. If we be in perfect harmony with
the will of God, there's no limit. But we can lose a lot of time
if we have self-interest and if we're self-seeking people.
And if when we're trying to do good, we also try to get some
glory for ourself. And if we're trying to do good
and trying to preach and trying to serve the Lord, but all the
time we got our own self-interest and we got our ideas about how
this whole thing ought Work out so that we're gonna set well
and so that when we get old, you know We'll have our pension
and so when we get old this will be all everything will be worked
out for us in our old days and so that you know, we'll have
the respect of people as we go along and and everything will
be alright with us when we get old and grow ahead and Everything
will be alright with us when we get old and grow ahead. I
mean, you know Self-interest now listen to me we can lose
a lot of time now if God's gonna own you and If you're His child
and you want God to own you, now it's a wonderful thing to
have a God, to have a God, a sovereign God, and Him to own you. That's a wonderful thing. But
I'm going to tell you something. There's one thing about it. God
Almighty will never own you publicly. He'll never own you and own what
you're doing publicly until self is out of it. He just won't,
he'll not bless self, he'll not bless flesh, he'll not do it.
He'll not do it. And activity, gonna be plenty
of it when you're in perfect harmony with his will, that plan
of his. And you just abandon yourself
to it, and you believe that whatever God sends into your life, That
it's God that sent it. Meekness. Have you ever heard
that word? Have you ever read that word in the Bible? Meekness?
Well, what that word means is that when everything that comes
in, that your attitude toward it is one of submission to it.
One of submitting yourself to it. Now you lay hands off your
life and you turn it over to God. You submit it to him. Lord,
I don't know much how to do this, but Lord, here it is. I lay it
down. You work that good plan which
you before ordained, you work it in my life and help me to
be satisfied with it. And just believe that from that
time on, I mean, even if you get laid up for a month in the
bed, Even if you get laid up permanently and that last bed
that's made for you I mean that bed that you languish in that
bed that you are in for a number of years is your deathbed Just
believe that God sent it and that that's his will for you.
I read a a book that really solidified, as I think the word is, my convictions
along these lines, and the name of the book was Adolphe Menard's
Last Farewell. Adolphe Menard was a French preacher,
and he got sick when he was about 50 years old, and he died in
about two years. But he started out here, and
he was quite a useful preacher. And he was converted under Robert
Haldane, who wrote the book on Romans, the commentary on Romans,
Haldane's commentary. And, excuse me, well, he preached
for about nine, 10 years. It was quite useful and God blessed
his ministry and owned his ministry and the doctors told him he got
sick and the doctors told him said you're gonna die you're
gonna die and so First thing, you know, he got so weak he had
to go to bed and he was in that bed till he died and God taught
him some truths and on his deathbed, taught him some truths about
this, to the point where that he said that if God restored
to him his life, one of the things that he would do, and that is
he'd just quit making plans for himself, and that he would be
more governed in his life by the will of God, and by just
giving himself over to God's, that plan which God has ordered
for his life, and that he would accept, and he come to accept
that sickness And his ultimate death, come to accept it and
have peace in his heart about it. Come to believe that that
was just God's will, God's way for him. Now, God has a way then
in everything he does, but now, Man's action, when we're in perfect
harmony with the will of God, to the point where that we say,
well, everything that comes in, I'm gonna submit to it, Lord.
I'm just gonna submit to it. If I don't ever preach, praise
God. If I don't ever preach a sermon
publicly, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And if I don't
do this, praise the Lord. If I'm not able to do that, praise
the Lord. I like to be a brain surgeon, but if I don't have
the smarts, praise the Lord. I mean, if this thing is cut
off and I've got my ideas about what I'd like to do in my life,
but if I don't get to do it, praise God. I know, Lord, that
if you shut me up and him me up so I can't do what I want
to do, I know that it's to show me that that's not what I'm supposed
to do, and it's to put me and send me in another direction
so I can do what you want me to do. I know that's what it's
for. And so, Lord, I'm just gonna submit to you. I'm in perfect
harmony with your will. I don't want any other will.
If I breathe tomorrow, let it be for the will of God. If I'm
tomorrow alive, able to walk the face of the earth, let it
be to the end that I'll magnify the Lord, glorify God, by the
working out of His will in me. And may it be said that when
I live out tomorrow that the will of God was done in me, even
if I sit somewhere on a bench in a park and never see a soul,
never say a word to anybody, or if I'm under an automobile
and I've got grease all over me from my head to my toes, or
wherever I'm at, if I'm sick in the bed, tomorrow when the
day is over, I'm gonna say the will of God's been done. I'm
in harmony with the will of God. I'm at one with the will of God
And if I'm working the woods or if I'm out down on Main Street
and the will of God be done whatever I'm doing All I want to know
is that when it's over with God's will has been done That's all
I want and brother if you believe and submit yourself trust yourself
in God's hands It will be done. It will be done and perfect harmony
with that will Man's action then becomes divine
action, and life becomes, as it were, divine life, because
the will of God is just being done. It's just unfolding. You
think a fellow can't do the will of God and cut trees, or he can't
do the will of God and split firewood, he can't do the will
of God and And whatever you do, you think a fella can't do that?
You know, some people say, well, you know, it just seems to me
like I'm just not accomplishing anything. You know, it don't
seem to me like I'm doing the will of God at all. It don't
seem to me like I'm getting anywhere. Well, where do you want to get?
What is it you want to do that God's not in? See, what is it
you want to do? You say, well, I just, you know,
I mean, I like to have a little attention. Well, that's your
problem. That's your problem. I thought we just wanted the
will of God to be done. So I'd like to have some recognition.
I mean if nobody wants to live without recognition well Jesus
plenty recognition But he was in God's way Now I want to show
you how busy he was on one day turn to Matthew chapter 9 And
I I don't have the ability brother and I tell you the honest truth
as I read this ninth chapter of Matthew My soul is is just
literally Overwhelmed I just can't believe That one man could
do all that jesus christ did in one day. I just can't believe
it I want you to see now i'm going to go through this rapidly
But I believe i'm telling you the truth. I believe all this
happened in one day I believe it did and I want to show you
now I said now his life the works didn't pile up on one on top
of the other. They just unfolded He never was
late getting anywhere to do a good work. He was always there on
time because the thing just unfolded See before it and he was never
embarrassed Because he wasn't prepared to do the good work
that the lord had had father purpose that he never was embarrassed
Because he couldn't couldn't perform Because he wasn't performing. He wasn't doing anything except
what the father will see sometimes, you know, we And and of course
i'm rebuked this way all the time. I I I like to preach I
really do and I I like to preach And I like to have liberty to
preach. I really like to preach. I do. I enjoy preaching. And
I want the Lord glorified. I want the Lord to be exalted.
And if I get up and I'm tongue-tied, and I get up and I can't think,
my mind won't work, it bothers me. It disturbs me. And it really
does, because I think the Lord deserves better than that. I
don't think anybody ought to get up and talk about the Lord
with his tongue tied. I don't think he ought to. And with the, you
know, he can't think, and his mind won't work, and he just,
he's got no ability to express himself. I think this is bad.
And sometimes this happens. This happens sometimes. But then
you know what we have to do? Sometimes we go out we get mad
just get mad about the Lord. I sure would there's a lot of
people there I'd like to been able to preach to them I'd like
to been able to preach them poor souls and all that but what we
have to do is say Lord, you know You know that always therefore
was your will always therefore school file your name to exalt
you and lord if you can use All them stammering remarks if you
can use all that you just use it you bring out of what you
want You know, my desire was that you'd be honored and glorified
and that that precious Souls, the lost sheep of christ would
be brought into the fold and that the saints would be edified
and build up That's our only purpose. That's our only desire.
So lord, we leave it with you. Just leave it with you sometimes
that's hard to do but But we have to do that. Yes, we do.
But now look here, Matthew chapter nine. But Jesus never was embarrassed,
never was embarrassed. Never, never, no problems. Made the schedule, made the schedule. He got everywhere where he was
supposed to be. He made the schedule. And I'm telling you there, nobody
could do as much in one day as he could. I wanna show you that.
He had no will of his own. Matthew chapter nine, I read
first verse two. Behold and here he is He entered
into a ship and passed over and came into his own city and behold
they brought to him a man Sick of the palsy lying on a bed Jesus
seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy son be
of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee and then we see that what
happened was that Jesus actually healed him and in verse Eight
and when the multitude saw it they marveled and glorified God
which he'd given such power in the men He forgave him of his
sins and he raised him up and set him upon his feet good sound
feet This man who'd been sick of the palsy. So that's number
one now verse 9 and as Jesus passed forth from thence He saw
a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of customs and he
saith unto him follow me and he rose and followed him So he
so here he heals the palsy band then he calls a disciple unto
himself And then in verse 10, he went to a feast or a banquet
in Matthew's house, and he talked with the publicans and sinners,
and had a good visit with them, and give them a good message.
And then he went on down here, and in verse 18, while he spake
these things unto them, Behold, there came a ruler and worshiped
him saying, my daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy
hand upon her and she shall live. And while he was getting, while
he was going there to lay hands on this sick or this dead girl,
while he met this woman that was diseased with an issue of
blood 12 years, and he healed her. Then he got over to this,
where this girl was and he raised her from the dead. This all happened
in one day. And we read that here in, Let's
see, I've got it marked here. In verse 24, he saith unto them,
give peace, or give place, for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth,
and they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put
forth, he went in and took her by the hand, and the maid arose,
and the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. And then
in verse 28, he meets two blind men. Look here what he does.
And when he was coming to the house, the blind men came to
him. Jesus saith unto them, believe ye that I am able to do this?
They said unto him, yea, Lord. Then he touched their eyes saying
according to your faith be it unto you and so they were healed
And so you see and then as it verse 32 tells us as they went
out behold They brought to him dumb man possessed with the devil
and he healed him all of this in one day I'm now that's the
way I understand it. Now. That was a busy day when
you can heal a palsied man when you can when you can I Do all of these miracles, all
these good works, call a disciple, attend a banquet, address sinners,
and raise a girl from the dead, and heal a sick woman who's had
an issue of blood for 12 years, and heal two blind men, and many
others. Do all these good works in one
day. Let me tell you something right
now. If you ever get that busy, you're gonna be mighty busy.
Now, Lord Jesus Christ, there's no one who can measure up to
Him when it comes to activity. And you say to me that if a fellow
don't have no will of his own, he'll never accomplish anything?
I say to you, if you've got no will of your own, you're going
to accomplish something. You're going to accomplish something
that's going to last. You're going to accomplish something
that's going to mean something if every word of our mouth, every
beat of our heart, every thought of our intellect, every movement
of our body and of our spirit were drawn towards him to wait
on him with the spirit of Samuel. And you know what that spirit
was? Speak, Lord, thy servant here. If every, every bit of
our person was just drawn toward him to wait on him, then we'd
be a mighty active group. We really would, because the
will of God would just unfold before us in our lives. It'd
be done. It'd be done. Now, I know what I'm talking
about. I know what I'm talking about. I'm telling you, it happens. It happens. After we come to
the end of self, and after we get done with our own self ways,
We just come to God's will and say that's all I'm living for
don't have nothing else Lord's weaned me away from everything
else the Lord just took it all out the Lord whipped it out of
me and We weaned it out of me and all I got all I want all
I want to do is just live for the will of God When you come
to that gonna be some activity then and things are gonna start
happening the Lord's gonna unfold his will right before you and
And that way which he's ordered for you now, it's not blasphemy.
It's not blasphemy But god almighty has a purpose for every one of
his elect For their lives. He has a life prepared and ordered
for them Just as sure as he had one for his own son, and that's
not blasphemy. I'm telling you the truth. It's
it's true It's absolutely true. He's got good works for you to
walk in. He's already prepared him already knows where he wants
you next week He already knows where he's going to have you
next month Brother sister, it's a trust in God and a leaving
all to him All right. Now the last thing and I'll close
and that is peace the peace that comes through Through having
no will but God's will now you see There is no peace for a man
who finds the mainspring of his actions in his own will No peace
for him bound to be frustrated, bound to make mistakes, bound
to human will and human interest, or subject to much error, much
error. And if we're trying to run this
thing ourself, if you say, well, my work is suffering, my work,
this is my work, this is my work, friend, you're in trouble, you're
in trouble, I mean, you're in serious trouble, your work. You
say, well, my vocation, your vocation, Friend listen to me
now. Somebody says well, I'm sure
would like to do such and such and so and so but now, you know,
I Believe I miss my vocation. I I think I miss my opportunities
in life. I think life passed me up. I
think I missed my vocation well You know, there's no possibility
of missing our vocation if our projects are devised for me in
the plan of God I If God has devised my projects, my life
for me, there's no way I'm gonna miss my vocation. Now, you see,
I might be frustrated in my heart because I didn't get to do what
I wanted to do, see? I mean, I wanted to be a, I might
wanted to be a, maybe the heavyweight boxing champion in the United
States of America or the world. But you see a fella that's not
any, don't have any more ability than what I have in the realm
of fisticuffs. You see, he's got to sooner or
later resign himself. He's never gonna be no heavyweight
champion in any place. He's just not gonna be, that's all. I mean,
the fella that's a champion, six foot three or four, and a
whole lot more experienced and has the ability. And of course,
the fella's not born with the ability. The fella says, well,
I hope to be a great preacher. I'd like to be a great preacher.
But he don't have any voice. Why, he can't talk loud enough
so you can hear him 15 feet away. Little wind blowing and you can't
you can't hear him and if a baby cries He got to shut up till
the baby quits crying. He got no voice, you know, no
way to preach Well Spurgeon, he if a fella came to him said
I believe I've been called a preach and he didn't have no voice He
was Spurgeon say we didn't have no lungs. He just tell him said
well now it's evident The Lord didn't call you to preach. It's
evident because you don't even have a voice You don't even have
the ability to declare or to say or herald for the message.
You haven't got any voice. I Therefore you can't preach
now now did God call a man to preach and then didn't give him
a voice Didn't give me anything to talk with any voice at all
You see what I'm saying to you beloved. Listen, we're gonna
have peace if we just simply submit ourselves to God's plan
for us What does he plan you say? Well, I'd like to be a I'd
like to be a doctor, but I don't have the money to go to school
You're a Christian. Are you? You say, it's awful,
I'd like to be a doctor, I just don't have no money to go to
school. Well, you see, if God wanted you to be a doctor, you
see the very lack of money to go to school, that's from the
Lord. He's trying to show you that
that's not the vocation, that's not that plan He's got worked
out for you up there. That's not what that is. See
what I'm saying to you? You gotta learn to trust God,
depend upon Him. And if he don't give you the
means, where he leads, he provides. And if he wanted you to be a
doctor, then he would fix it up so you could go to school,
see? He'd give you the means. The Lord worked things out for
you. That's what I'm saying. All right? But then there's no
possibility then of me missing my vocation if my projects are
devised for me in the plan of God. Our vocation is God's affair,
not ours. if we be his workmanship I mean
if we be like Paul was and I said to him the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee I mean if you be chosen of God if you're his
you're not your own you're bought with a price then our vocation
is God's affair it's God's affair and his providence will lead
you into the right vocation, lead you into the right work
for your life, it will. You ought to get John Flavel's
book on the mystery of providence and read it. The mystery of providence. It's a great book. I've got it. It's a little paperback book.
I'd be glad to loan it to you. The mystery of providence. Show
you how God will direct your steps right into where he wants
you and what he wants you to do. Well, show that God was in
your birth. who your parents were, everything
right down to the last, the mystery of providence. Well, then it's
God's affair. Now, God cannot mislead a man.
Do you believe that? Are you fully convinced of that?
God cannot mislead a man. Well, God Almighty is not a man
that he should repent. He's not the Southern man that
he should repent. He's not gonna lie to anybody.
And God cannot lie. The Bible says God who cannot
lie. He cannot lie. Not that he won't, but he cannot.
His nature won't allow him to. He can't deceive you. He's not
gonna deceive you. He's not gonna mislead you. You
trust him. You depend on him. You lay it
all down. Commit thy way unto him. Trust
also in him and he'll bring it to pass. Be at peace. Quit fighting this thing. Quit
fighting it. Quit being frustrated when this
thing don't work out like you want it to. Leave it with the
Lord. Your vocation is His affair, not yours. You're His. You don't
belong to yourself. You're here not to do your own
will, but to do His will. Trust him, he'll not mislead
you. All right, now we're not doing enough, somebody says.
Just not doing enough. Somebody said we're doing badly.
Just not getting anything done. Well, now wait a minute, you're
never gonna be at peace with that kind of an attitude. Remember,
perfect harmony with his will, that plan, trust him, he'll not
mislead you. Everything's going well. Everything
going well. It's his work. This fellow I
mentioned a few minutes ago, Adolf Menard, when the doctors
told him, said, you're sick to death. You're going to die. First
thing he said was, my work's not finished. Why? I can't die? My work's not finished. Thought
about them people he'd been preaching to. Thought about his works,
and he's writing a few books and so on. Work's not finished.
And in a little while, the Lord taught him that it wasn't his
work, that it was the Lord's work, and that the Lord that
the Lord would decide when the work was finished. And He'll
decide when your work's finished, too. He will. Now, we'll finish
the work that the Lord's given us to do. That plan of God as
we trust Him and obedient to Him and just follow Him, we're
going to finish the work the Lord give us to finish. Just
like Jesus did. Jesus finished the work. that
the Father gave him to do. And you and I will finish it,
too. We'll finish that plan, but God Almighty will decide
when that work is finished. When that work is absolutely
finished, God will decide. Now it may be very imperfect
and incomplete in the eyes of man. Men look at it and say,
You know that preacher up there, I just, I don't see how he can
ever be in peace. Don't look to me like he's ever
accomplished anything. Don't look to me like he is accomplishing
anything, and prospects are. Knowing who he is and knowing
his ways, he'll never accomplish anything. And so, and this preacher's
gonna be called upon to die and face the Lord. Somebody says,
well now wait a minute, now how can you have any peace? Never
accomplished anything more than you've accomplished. Well, I'll
tell you how I can have peace because If a man is upright before
the Lord, the Lord will never allow our life finally to end
without leaving some traces upon earth that we've been here. I
mean God just not about. The God of the Bible, the sovereign
of the universe, is not about to devise a plan. whereby a man's
gonna fulfill it and walk in obedience to it and yield himself
up to it in complete submission, and then that man live out his
days and never leave a trace of his life upon the earth. No,
no. No, no. You're gonna leave some traces
behind. You're gonna affect some people
while you're here. You're gonna accomplish some things while
you're here. The purpose of God will be done. You will finish
the work that the sovereign God has planned and purposed for
you, and he'll determine when the work's done. He'll determine
when that old heart of yours is beat enough. The hour of your
death is already appointed. God knows about it. He knows
all about it. And when that hour comes for you to lay down in
death, it'll be when your work is done. God has decided it.
He's decided it. So this fellow learned that lesson.
He said, I finally got to see. He said that it's not my work
at all. It's God's work. And so if the Lord says it's
done, it's done. It's finished. When God says
it's finished, it's over with. Now you see how you can have
peace? If you're just in one with God. I mean if you're at
one with Him. If you're not fighting Him. If
you're at one with Him. If you're in agreement with Him.
How can two walk together except to be agreed? If you're in agreement
with God. He says it's one way, and you say, well, I don't see
it that way, but it's that way. How is it with you, brother?
Well, it's all right with me. How do you know it's all right
with you? Don't look to me like it's all right with you. Well,
it's all right with me because God's got control of the situation.
That's why it's all right with me. It's all right. Somebody
said why this looks to me like that things going bad to worse
in your life Well, they may look to you like that but sovereign
God's got control of it and he's too wise to err and too good
to be unkind and unmerciful and Everything he does his will is
the will of love. That's what it is the will of
love he loves you and his will for you is that will of love
and Everything about it is good It's good. Is the will of God
good? It is indeed good. Now then, there's a great peace
in seeking one plan only in God and following Him, renouncing
self. Only thus is peace found. Whenever you just say, well,
when God works out his will, as long as I know that this thing's
in his hands, and as long as I know he's working it out, then
I'm happy, I'm content. Turn to John for our last verse,
and we're gonna close, John 17, and I wanna read verse 20 through
verse 23. And here's some verses that I
don't understand much about. I don't know much about them,
but there's something here that I just want you to see and think
about as we leave tonight. John 17, beginning with verse
20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I
in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory of which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Now those are beautiful verses
talking about us being one. Now brethren, The thing that
I think that you and I, if we ever attain to real happiness,
and blessedness, and peace, contentment, and enjoyment, and have liberty
to do what God has called us to do, is we must be at one with
God. We must be at one with him, in
agreement with him. And we must labor toward that.
This is what it means to be saved. is to want to do, and the child
of God is in that position where he can will to do God's will.
Jesus said, if any man will do my will, he'll know the doctrine,
he'll know the teaching, whether it be of God or man. And you,
as a child of God, are in a position. Paul said in Philippians, it
is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. See, God's at work in His people,
and you and I can be at one with Him. Can be at one with Him.
And that's the only way to be at peace with God and to be holy,
is to be at one with Him. Is He right about everything?
Would you say that God's right about everything? Well, I say
that He is. All right, then if He's right
about everything, then you and I, if we differ with Him, We
should always condemn ourselves and just repent and get reconciled. Just be at one with Him. Agree
with Him. Now, I'm giving to you the Christian
secret of a happy life. Be at one with God. Never fight
God. Agree with Him in everything.
If He takes your loved one, if He takes your mother, agree with
Him. If He takes your dad, agree with
Him. Takes your brother, your sister. Agree with him. Don't
ever buck God. Bow always before God, whatever
comes. If this little church never meets
again, just agree with God. Lord, it's right. It's right.
What you've done is right. What God does is right. Now,
you see, one time there was a woman that an old preacher came to
her house and she said, preacher, she said, I've accepted the universe."
And what she meant by that was just what we're talking about
here tonight, that she just finally forgave God, you know? It's like
that woman that she wore black for years and years after her
husband died, and the preacher finally come to her, the old
Puritan preacher came to her and said, haven't you forgave God
yet? And she said, this woman said,
well, I've accepted the universe. And the preacher chuckled under
his breath and said, You'd better. You'd better. And you'd better. Now that meant, what she meant
was that she had just abandoned all and she had accepted the
sovereign rule of God in all areas of her life. And you'd
better. Just bow to it. It's right. It's
blessed. Give thanks and everything. This
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Can't be
wrong if you're in Christ. Everything's got to be right.
All things do work together for good to them that love God. Well,
now that's what it means then somewhat to be saved and many
more things could be said. And that's what it means, I think,
to be holy. And that's what it means to be
at peace. You can't be saved and be holy and not be at peace.
Bound to be. You can rejoice in the Lord and
be at peace. Well, praise the Lord. I don't
know what that means. Now, see, I've been thinking about these
things. Really, this is not us. This really wasn't any sermon
at all. As far as I've been saying to
myself, well, now I'm going to prepare a sermon. It's just that
these are the accumulation of many things that's happened in
my life over a number of years, the last 10, 12 years. And I've
met several people recently. Talk to several people whom the
Lord just seemed to lead me to bring out these things to them
and they just helped him it helped him and they told me how much
it helped him and And I thought well this may be the Lord's message
day and I'm tired and I can't think or anything like that So
I'll just tell the people what I know and I'll just tell them
what the Lord's Showing me and taught me and and maybe it'll
be a help to them. And so that's what we've done
today. And so You think about it? Meditate on it. May the Lord
bless it to your heart. I wonder if we could just

What It Means To Be Holy

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