If you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.
We're beginning, or continuing, I should say rather, our series.
We started last week's three-part series about what kind of church do we want to be.
Let me go back for those of you who weren't here last week and just kind of set the stage.
I'll do that very, very briefly.
Paul is on his second missionary journey.
He is in Philippi and he leads the Philippians to the Lord.
Suffers great persecution, has to flee the city, goes ultimately to Thessalonica.
There in Thessalonica, he shows up at the synagogue and he begins to preach.
And he does that for three consecutive Sabbaths as they gather for worship.
A number of those people hear the gospel, respond in faith to what he said.
And they establish friendships and they begin growing in their faith.
Three weeks, though, after his arrival, suddenly persecution is about to take off in Paul's life in the church.
Some of the folk who have come to be a part of this church, they come to Paul and they say,
Paul, you need to flee for your life.
And so he flees and he goes to the next city.
And as we read in 1 Thessalonians, he desires to get back to them because he's concerned about them.
He wonders what's happening to them.
Have they continued in the faith they have first embraced or have they fallen by the wayside?
And so he'd make several attempts to go back.
And he says in these first two chapters that Satan continually hinders him from being able to go back.
So in chapter 3, verse 1, when he says he can stand it no longer, he's just beside himself, worried about these folk,
he sends Timothy, says, Timothy, leave me, go back and check on those folk in Thessalonica.
He goes and checks on them.
When he comes back, you read about that in verses 6 through 10 of the third chapter.
And basically what he finds is this.
These folk are doing fine, even in the absence of leadership.
These people are growing in their faith.
They're loving one another the way they should.
And so Paul, in chapter 3, verses 11 to 13, that's the portion of this that we're using as our focus during this three-week study.
Paul prays a prayer to these Thessalonians.
And the first part we looked at last week.
Today we look at the second part, the middle part.
What he says in that first part is this.
I'm praying that you will increase in your love.
Timothy's told me you're loving one another, but increase in that.
In fact, increase to the point that it overflows, that it spills over in everything you do.
And then he gives them explicit instructions.
He says, I want you to love those in the church, but also those outside the church.
And we talked about what that looked like.
In fact, the telltale sign, the badge of discipleship for all believers,
should always be our love for folk around us.
Those who we know, those who are in the faith, those who are a part of the family of God,
but also those who are opposed to us.
Those are our enemies.
Those are our neighbors.
Those who don't walk with Christ.
We're to be known as a church that loves.
And I really hope and trust and believe that's what you here at First Baptist Pickens want to do.
You want to emulate what it is to love the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby love the world.
Well, he goes on in the middle of that next verse.
Look at verse 13.
He prays this prayer as well.
May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father.
Let's just be honest about it for a moment.
Years and years ago, we heard a lot about holiness, right?
Most of you who were born in the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, you went to church and you heard a whole lot about holiness.
Have you noticed how in the last several decades we've moved away from talking about holiness?
In fact, if we're just absolutely honest about it, that's a word we kind of shy away from in all walks of life.
If your middle schooler shows up tomorrow and the other middle schooler looks at them and says, hey, there's old Holy John.
There's Holy Jane.
There's Holy Sally.
They're not usually perceiving that to be a compliment, right?
And in fact, if you own your job as adults, go in the marketplace, and you overhear people talking, more often than not, sometimes they can say it complimentary.
But more often than not, when that word arises in the marketplace, they're not using it in a complimentary fashion.
And so we kind of shy away from it.
But I want to tell you something.
In the church, we need holiness and purity as much as flowers need sunshine and rain.
And you can never be pleasing unto God and be the church that God intends for you to be unless your life is marked by what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called an inner, hidden holiness of the heart.
I'm not talking about a holiness that you wear on your sleeve.
I'm not talking about a holy roller, so to speak.
I'm talking about a real, genuine, pure, hidden holiness that emerges.
Folk can see it, but you don't wear it on your sleeve.
So I want to just mention a few things about this prayer he prays here.
Let's look at it again.
May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God.
This is going to scare you, but I'm going to say about 13 things about that, okay?
We're not going to be here all afternoon.
I'm going to say them just in real staccato fashion.
In fact, I'm going to read several of them and then make just a brief comment.
But let's just begin.
Here's the first.
The end result is that they be holy and blameless before the Lord with the underscoring of the word be.
The emphasis on the word be.
That's what his ultimate goal is for these believers in Thessalonica.
Not that they act holy, that they be holy.
And there's a difference in those two things, right?
We've seen folk act holy and then we've seen folk be holy.
You've seen folk who give off the image, they're as pure as the new driven snow.
And then you see people in their speech patterns, in their thought patterns, in their lifestyle.
Boy, they live a life that is pure.
Second thing I want you to say is this.
On our own, we are neither holy nor blameless.
I don't want to burst your bubble this morning, but there's a lot wrong with all of us.
Do you know that?
Have you ever noticed that?
Have you ever taken just self-inventory and a long, close look at yourself?
You're no prize, right?
I mean, I'm certainly not.
I would readily admit that about myself.
I'm just no prize.
There's a lot about me that's wrong.
I've sinned many, many, many times in my life.
And I just want you to know, a lot of us in the church give off to the world
that when we became a Christian, we just perfected ourselves.
That we're just not like you because you have sin in your life.
Let's just be straight about it today.
Most of us sin just about every day of our lives.
Do we not?
In fact, you get behind a slow-moving car on your way to work in the morning,
you can sin two or three times before you get to the office, right?
A lot of us struggle with sin on an ongoing, daily basis.
If they could hook one of those GoPros on you
and see everything that you do in a 24-hour period
and hear every word that you speak
and read your mind and demonstrate graphically every thought you have.
Anybody here feel comfortable with us showing that film next week?
I didn't think so.
Because the truth is we project one image of ourselves,
but we know deep down in our heart, mind, and soul,
none of us are as holy and pure and righteous as we seem.
Third thing I want you to see is this.
He asked God to do this because we aren't capable of doing this on our own.
That's his prayer.
He doesn't say, may you be holy and blameless.
May he make you holy and blameless.
So let me just clue you in on something.
You can try all you want to remake yourself,
and we all do that from time to time.
In fact, we get that mistaken notion that's what we do
when we rededicate our lives to the Lord.
We come to the altar, we fall on our knees,
and we say, God, I'm going to do better.
I'm going to do better.
If you're ever going to become holy and blameless before the Lord,
you know what's going to have to happen?
God's going to have to do a work in you.
Because you can't do that on your own.
You've tried that last about three minutes, doesn't it?
Isn't that right?
And you say, I'm going to do better at this,
and then suddenly you don't.
So if it's going to happen,
it's going to happen because God does a work in your life.
Fourthly, this process that we're talking about,
wherein God does a work of grace in our lives,
it is called sanctification.
Big, long theological word.
You've seen it in your scripture.
It's actually a biblical word.
One you might want to write down in your notes
in the side of this margin of this verse
because that's what he's talking about.
He's saying, I hope God will do a work of sanctification in your life.
Now let me tell you about this work of sanctification.
It begins at the moment of conversion.
Salvation is an ongoing process.
We have been saved, but we are also being saved.
And we will be saved.
Do you understand that?
Conversion is a one-moment experience.
You are converted when you come to know Christ as Savior,
not when you come and take a preacher's hand,
shake his hand, even sit and pray a prayer that he leads you in.
You are saved the moment you hear the gospel.
It makes sense to you.
And you say, I want that.
I want God to save me.
Before you ever get up out of your seat,
before you ever pray a prayer,
you are converted the moment you've turned to God in your mind and heart
and say, God, I need you.
At that very moment, you're converted.
What happens is a miracle.
The Holy Spirit of God moves into your life.
He takes a person who is dead in their trespasses and sins,
and he quickens them, he brings them to life.
They're regenerated and they are saved, born again,
any of those terms you want to use at that moment in time.
At that moment in time, the Holy Spirit who comes in
begins a process in you known as sanctification.
That process of sanctification ends in glorification.
You take your last breath.
This is a one-time, instant-happening event.
You are made like Jesus.
That occurs when you die.
Everything from death, physical, to death, spiritual,
when you invited Christ into your heart,
that's this process we call sanctification.
The goal of sanctification, the Spirit of God is doing this in your life,
Romans 8, 28.
He's using everything that occurs, the good, the bad, the ugly,
that which you lack to see happen, that which you didn't want to happen.
He's using all those events to mold you and to fashion you
into the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But that doesn't perfectly culminate until your death
and you are glorified in the presence of God.
Sanctification is a lifelong process.
Both our hearts, and this is so important, get this,
and our habits and our thoughts are being changed.
Some folk think falsely that sanctification is just me changing my habits.
But it's not.
And some people get the mistaken idea
that sanctification is just my mind and heart being changed
and it doesn't matter so much about my habits.
And both of those thoughts, that way of thinking, is wrong.
Let me just tell you, if our hearts appear to have changed,
I've got a new heart, a new spirit about me,
but my actions don't,
then I've not really genuinely repented.
And Bonhoeffer, the World War II theologian,
Bonhoeffer would say that where there is no real confession and repentance,
there's no salvation.
So it's not enough that my heart and mind change,
but my actions don't.
The evidence that my heart has really changed
is that my actions change in the fashion of my heart.
You understand that?
The next thing I want to tell you is this.
If my habits change,
and this is the real danger in many churches,
if my habits change but my heart doesn't,
our holiness is a mere act.
And I'm more interested in pleasing men
than I am in pleasing God.
And I want to tell you,
I've witnessed that many, many times in churches.
Somebody's going through a rough spot in their marriage
and they say,
this life's not working,
I've got to change my ways.
And so they go forward and they say,
I want to receive Christ as my Savior.
And guess what?
They are afraid their marriage is going to end
or there's something falling apart in their life.
They're afraid of a lot of things.
And they say this,
I'm going to quit using preparerity.
And I'm going to quit drinking.
And I'm going to quit smoking.
All those things that we think about as being sick.
I'm going to quit this.
I'm going to quit that.
And I'll quit doing this.
And I'll start going to church.
And I'll attend Sunday school.
And I'll give some money to the church.
And I'll do all these things.
And all their outward habits change.
And people say,
boy, that guy has cleaned up his life.
And he appears to.
But the problem is this.
His heart never changed.
And he's still just as mean and nasty on the inside
as he ever was on the outside before that happened.
And you've seen folk like that, right?
You've seen them in church.
You just wonder,
how can they be a Christian
because they do all these good things
and they don't do anything morally wrong.
But why do they mean as a rattlesnake?
Jesus wasn't mean.
Jesus wasn't cruel.
Jesus wasn't hurtful.
But boy, they're just mean-spirited.
And when a man's heart doesn't change,
but his outward actions do change,
I'm going to tell you something.
That's a guy who's wanting to impress people
and not God.
And there's a real problem
when that occurs.
Genuine holiness.
Listen to this.
It is the result of God changing our nature
and making our choices,
making the choice rather.
He is leading us to make in life.
That's how sanctification works.
How real holiness works.
God changes my mind and heart.
And as a result of that,
he begins to speak to me,
here's how you ought to be living.
And so as a desire to please him
because I'm grateful for what he's done in my life,
I listen to that voice.
I don't rebuke that voice.
I don't walk away from that voice.
I obey that voice.
And I begin as a result to be holy.
Sanctification leads to purity.
You need to get this.
And not perfection.
Sanctification leads to purity,
but it doesn't lead to perfection.
And I want to tell you,
sometimes we mistakenly think that in the church
and even teach that in the church
and communicate to those outside the church.
And that's why people who look at the church
oftentimes think,
what a bunch of phonies and hypocrites.
Because you see,
we look at them
and we kind of convey this message
that I'm just a little bit better than you
because I don't smoke
and I don't drink
and I don't do all these things.
And I'm just a cut above you.
But they look at us
in those low moments in our life
where we give way to that old nature within us
and they see us sin
and they go,
huh,
he's just like me.
And you know the message
we ought to be communicating
to the world all the time?
I am just like you.
I am a sinner.
I'm capable of everything
you're capable of.
The difference is this,
the grace of God
has come into my life
and he's forgiven my sin.
It's not that I'm a sinner.
We pretend sometimes to the world
that we're not sinners
and we are
and we all know we are
and we ought to be saying that to them.
But the message of the gospel is
through God's mercy
we've been redeemed.
We've been forgiven, right?
But any of you perfect in this room?
We're not perfect.
Sanctification doesn't lead to perfection.
Glorification will.
But in this life,
we're just not perfect.
Genuine purity begins in our hearts.
Listen to this.
Permeates our minds.
Captures our wills and attitude.
Flows from our lips.
Impacts our choices
and treatment of other people.
That's what happens
when God begins to do a work in my life.
He begins by changing my mind.
He permeates my mind.
He permeates my heart.
It impacts my attitudes
and my actions
and my speech.
And He takes over every aspect of my life.
Genuine purity,
this is important,
is not simply adhering to dress,
speech,
or moral codes.
It is a response of gratitude
and obedience
made to please
a loving and gracious God.
one last thing I want to say
about this holiness
and then I'm going to press on to something else.
Unfortunately,
many of us
are better at acting
holy
than we are at
being holy.
Put the picture on the screen
if you will.
You recognize that gal?
I can remember
back when they
really
made this pretty famous
Dana Carvey
came up with this skit
The Church Lady.
It was on Saturday Night Live.
I never saw it.
I went to bed early.
I would have seen it
but I just
I couldn't stay up that late
and preach on Sunday mornings.
But I want to tell you
when he came out
with that skit
it just went
in
not the way they taught them
but now
it went viral, right?
Everybody
knew The Church Lady
and everybody
broke up
over The Church Lady.
Aren't you special?
Right?
Remember when he did that?
And a lot of church folk
got offended by it.
I remember the first time
I thought of it
making fun of the church.
And then I began to watch
and I tell you something
it was funny.
You know why it was funny?
It was funny to Americans
everywhere
because they have all
met The Church Lady.
That's right.
I don't mean they met
Dana Carvey.
They met him in real life.
There's one just about
in every church.
The Church Lady, right?
Sometimes it's the church man
not the Church Lady.
Just as many men out there
like that as there are women.
But you know what I'm
talking about.
They just walk on a
little higher plane
than all the rest of us,
don't they?
They're just a little
holier.
It's not that they
always condemn
but they just always
condescend.
Isn't that right?
They're just a little bit
up here
and you're kind of
down here.
The deal is
it's not that they've
mastered the art
of holiness
or purity.
They've mastered
in their mind
the art of
appearing holy
and appearing
pure.
And you and I
both know
from real life
experience
boy there's a
real difference
in that.
When you really
are pure
and holy
can I tell you
something?
You'll be tempted
to gossip
when you hear
the folk
in the office
place doing that
but you'll hear
this voice
that says
that's not
Christ-like.
You'll back
away from that
and you'll be
driving down
the road
and that guy
will do that
thing that makes
you so angry
and you'll be
tempted to
set down the
horn or to
say something
to him that
you shouldn't
and guess what?
You hear the
spirit of God
within you
and say you
know what?
That wouldn't
be Christ-like.
He loved me
when
I was just
crazy as this
guy.
And you back
away from that.
That's the
evidence of
real purity
and holiness
is when the
spirit of God
prompts you
and you listen
to it
and you say
I'm not going
to go there.
You don't jump
up and cut
off the TV
when the pastor
knocks at the door
and you see him
through the glass
because you don't
want him to see
you watching
whatever it is
you're watching.
You get up
when the pastor
is not at your
front door
and you cut
off the TV
because you
know you
say to yourself
that's just
not something
I need to see.
That's not
going to make
me more
Christ-like.
You don't
need somebody
beating you
over the head
with a list
of rules
and regulations
and saying
do this
and don't
do that
and you're
okay.
When I was
a kid
you know
what Baptists
thought by and
large?
You couldn't
drink.
You couldn't
smoke.
I'm not saying
you should do
those things
now.
But this
was how we
looked at
holiness.
You shouldn't
drink.
You shouldn't
smoke.
You shouldn't
curse.
You shouldn't
go to the
movies.
You shouldn't
fish on Sundays.
You shouldn't
eat out.
You shouldn't
we had a long
list of
shouldn'ts right?
You shouldn't
play cards.
You can't do
this.
I knew a lady
one time.
She was from
another denomination
and she was
a hairstylist
and this
pastor's wife
who was of
that same
denomination
would come
see her on
Saturday night
and she would
say would you
trim my hair
just a half
an inch or
an inch
get the dead
ends off.
Just about
every other
week she'd
do that.
Because in
that particular
denomination
at that time
they wore
their hair
way up here.
And you
know why?
I asked
one time.
I was a
teenager and
I was over
at her house
and I said
why do all
you wear it
so high?
And she
said because
we're not
supposed to
cut our
hair.
And I
thought but
your hair
having your
hair cut.
Yeah but not
so much
anybody can
tell.
And I'm
17 years
old and I'm
thinking to
myself so it
really doesn't
matter if you
have your
hair cut just
so nobody
tells you have
your hair cut.
Right?
You see how
crazy that is?
Now we see
that as Baptists
because most of
us don't wear
hair cut and we
laugh at it but
don't taste it.
We do just as
stupid things as
that.
Where we think we
can make ourselves
look holy by
following this
long list of
regulations and
guidelines.
Don't make us
holy.
You are holy
from what comes
out of your
heart.
You understand
that?
Because you
have a heart
for Jesus and
you say I
want to be
obedient to
Christ and I
don't impure it
in my life.
It doesn't mean
you won't mess
up.
You will mess
up.
But you
immediately confess
it to God and
get right with
Him again.
That's what real
genuine holiness
looks like.
I want you to
look with me to
Thessalonians chapter
4 the very next
chapter.
I want to read
quickly eight
verses.
Verses one
through eight.
Finally then
brothers we ask
and encourage you
in the Lord
Jesus that you
have received
from us.
You must walk
and please God
as you are
doing.
Do so even
more.
For you know
what commands
we gave you
through the Lord
Jesus.
This is God's
will, your
sanctification, that
you abstain from
sexual immorality
so that each one
of you knows how
to possess his own
vessel in
sanctification and
honor.
Not with lustful
desires like the
Gentiles who do
not know God.
This means one
must not transgress
against and defraud
his brother in this
matter because the
Lord is an avenger of
all these offenses as
we also previously
told and warned you.
For God has not
called us to impurity
but to sanctification.
Therefore the person
who rejects this does
not reject man but
God who also gives
you his spirit.
Paul has prayed
two things for
these people.
That they increase
in love and
overflow in love
because he knows
unless you do that
the world is not
going to believe
your testimony.
That's how Jesus
lived.
That's how you all
live as ambassadors
of Christ.
But then he
follows it up by
this.
You have to
authenticate the
message you're
declaring and the
way you do that is
by living as holy
and pure as
Jesus was.
And that's why he
prays I pray you
will be blameless
in holiness when
you stand before
our God.
Now some of you
most of you
probably won't but
some of you will
recall I said last
week when I began
this series I've
got two expert
witnesses or two
expert folk I'm
going to bring and
let you hear what
they have to say
about how do you
really do church
right.
Right.
And we've been
looking at Paul
and Paul says I'm
praying that you
will increase in
love and overflow
and I'm praying
that you will be
holy and blameless.
Let's bring up our
second expert James.
Remember that?
James the pastor
of the church in
Jerusalem.
Now I'm just going
to point out one
verse that James
gives us because it
is an incredibly
great great great
verse.
If you have your
Bibles turn with me
to the book of
James chapter 1
and let's just read
one thing he says
in verse 27.
You ready?
In fact let's go
back and read verse
26 because it ties
to it.
Verse 26 and 27.
Here we go.
If anyone thinks
he is religious
without controlling
his tongue but
deceiving his heart
his religion is
useless.
Now listen to
what he says.
I love this.
Pure and undefiled
religion.
Just look up a
minute.
Have you ever
wondered about
that phrase?
Pure and undefiled
religion.
What is true
spirituality,
true religion
really like?
You ever wonder
when you go into
church?
Is this what it
really should be?
Is this what real
spirituality looks
like or we
convinced ourselves
this looks the way
it should?
But is it really?
Well here's what he
says.
Pure religion and
undefiled religion
before our God and
Father is this.
And guess what?
He's going to say
two things.
To look after
orphans and
widows in their
distress and to
keep oneself
unstained by the
world.
Wow.
Paul says I'm
praying for you
guys to be two
things.
To be loving and
that you'll be
holy.
And James says
you know what
real religion is
like?
I mean real
true religion
cutting all the
phony baloney
out of it and
look at the real
heart of the
matter.
Here's what it
is.
To take care of
widows and
orphans.
Now why would he
say that?
What does that
mean?
I want to ask
you.
Who are the
most vulnerable
people on the
planet?
Aren't they the
youngest and the
oldest?
And especially the
youngest who have
no one to care for
them.
They're orphans.
They've lost their
mother and their
father.
How are they going
to support
themselves?
They don't have
a means of income.
When you're talking
about orphans,
you're talking about
the most vulnerable,
the most in my
opinion,
vulnerable people on
all of God's
earth because they're
children.
They can't protect
themselves physically,
can't protect
themselves emotionally,
can't protect
themselves mentally,
intellectually.
People can take
advantage of them.
They don't have a
means of support.
James said, you
want to know what
real religion looks
like?
That you've got a
heart to take care
of the orphans.
the most easily
persecuted, put
down, offended
people on the face
of the earth.
And widows.
And who are these
widows?
Paul's already told
us in Timothy, when
it comes to widows,
you know who you take
care of first?
Not all the widows,
but the widows who
have no children.
These elderly ladies
or men, as the case
might be, who've lost
their spouse, and
they don't have
children.
Who's more vulnerable
than that other
than these orphans?
I mean, folks who
are on limited
income, they don't
have anybody to help
them, they're getting
older, life's harder,
there are more
difficulties on them.
You know what he's
saying?
He's saying the same
thing that Paul said.
He's emphasizing that
we love one another.
I want you to take
care of those who
others have forgotten,
who've cast aside
who ostracize, who
are the beaten
down, the helpless.
He's talking about
loving people.
True religion is that
you lie folk, that
you just pour yourself
out in loving other
folk.
Then he says this, and
let me add one thing
he says, that you
keep yourself undefiled,
some translations have
it, unspotted, other
translations have it.
You know the
translation I like best
because it uses a
modern word?
Unpolluted.
You keep yourself
unpolluted from the
world.
Well, I don't know
about you, but that
speaks to my heart in
the culture in which
we're living because I'm
going to tell you
something.
They're doing
everything they can in
our culture to pollute
our minds and our
lifestyles and to tell
us that that which God
has always said is
wrong is right and that
which we have said is
right is wrong.
Isn't that true?
So, James says, boy,
you're going to have to
be real careful if you're
in the church because
pure religion is like
this.
You're living in this
world.
You can't come out of
the world.
You're in the world.
But don't let the world
pollute you.
Now, how does things
get polluted?
Either the contaminant
enters into that which
is pure or that which is
pure passes through
something that is impure
and thereby becomes
contaminated.
Factories have these
chemicals.
They release them into
the stream.
It gets into the water
and the pure water
becomes contaminated.
Or pure water passes
through something, a
stream, there's a dead
animal and it becomes
contaminated.
Or it passes through
rusty pipes, red
zinc and all that and
it becomes contaminated.
Right?
We're living in the
world and the world's
doing everything it can
to contaminate us and
Paul says or James
says don't let that
happen.
You know what?
Same thing Paul said,
just a different way
of saying it.
Be blameless in holiness.
I'm going to show you
one passage we're going
as soon as I read this
passage and then I give
you one illustration.
Go with me to the last
book of the Old Testament,
the book of Malachi.
Look at chapter 1,
verse 6.
A son honors his father
and a servant his master.
Look up and just listen
a minute.
He's just making,
Malachi's just making a
statement that he knows,
everybody knows is
universally true.
He's saying this to the
priest of Judah.
He says a man honors his
father and a servant
honors his master.
We know that.
If I am a father,
where is my honor?
God's talking about
himself.
That's the reason that
pronoun my is
capitalized.
He says so if I'm your
father, why am I not
honored?
And then he says,
and if I am a master,
where is your fear of me?
Why don't you fear me?
Says the Lord.
Yet you ask,
the yet's the priest,
how have we despised
your name?
Can you see these
priests?
God's indicting them.
If I'm your father,
why don't you honor me
as your father?
If I'm your master,
why don't you fear me?
We do fear you.
What do you mean we've
despised your name?
That's the question
they're asking.
How have we despised
your name?
Verse 7,
by presenting defiled
food on my altar,
you ask,
how have we defiled
you?
And then God responds,
when you say the Lord's
table is contemptible,
and then he gives them
an example.
When you present a blind
animal for sacrifice,
is it not wrong?
And when you present a
lame or sick animal,
is it not wrong?
Bring it to your
governor.
He says,
hey,
try that with your
governor,
your political leaders.
Would he be pleased
with you or show you
favor?
Ask the Lord.
Of hosts.
He says,
you see,
you treat me
with disrespect.
Because you come to
my house,
and you say you're
coming to worship me
and honor me,
and guess what you do?
You go into your
herd of sheep,
and you find those
sheep that are blind,
and you come and say,
this will do for God.
It's good enough for Him.
And you offer this
blind sheep,
and you clearly see
what the Levitical law
called for.
It was a sheep
without spot or blemish.
And you get these
sick sheep,
or spotted sheep.
And you know
that's not kosher.
You know you
shouldn't be doing that.
But we can get
away with it.
What's God going to
say about it,
right?
Now just pause
and put that on hold.
I invite you
to my house.
Let's say today
for lunch.
Okay?
You get to my house,
and I say to you,
what would you like
to drink?
You say,
I'd like to have water,
if that's okay.
All right?
And I go to the
refrigerator,
and I pull out this
bottle of water.
I just got to tell you,
there was pure water
in there,
but I put some
contaminants in it.
Okay?
Assume that they got
there because the
bottle was dirty,
maybe.
But you don't have to
be a rocket scientist
to look at this
and know that's not
good water.
Right?
Anybody here want
a sip of this?
I won't tell you
what I contaminated
it with,
but it's contaminated.
You just take my
word for it,
okay?
It's contaminated
water.
So if I set this
in front of you
and say,
here,
have this.
You think you'd
drink it?
You maybe would
say,
have you lost
your mind?
Or if you're
a real plight,
you just say,
hmm,
I'm not too thirsty.
Right?
And you'd never
touch it.
And then you see
me go to the
refrigerator,
and I pull out
these two bottles
of water.
And I give one
to my wife,
and I take one,
and you say,
well,
why didn't he
give me that?
Right?
So I'm going to
tell you,
you can have
one of these,
because they
both contain
nothing but
water.
Okay?
But I've got to
tell you,
one of these,
I've got little
dots on the top.
One of these,
I know,
is clean,
pure water,
just the way
it was packaged.
But the other
one is an empty
bottle that I
filled with water.
Did I tell you
how water went
out the other
day?
So I had to
fill this with
water from
my toilet.
But now,
we keep
clean toilets.
It was clean
a couple weeks
ago.
So here's my
question to you.
You're going to
take a chance
of guessing
which one is
contaminated water,
because it looks
just like the
other one.
It looks exactly
like the other
one.
You won't
come and look
at it,
put it under
my scope,
see any
difference.
They're the
same.
They look the
same.
But we know
this one is
real,
pure,
clean water,
and one of
them is
contaminated
water.
And I want
to tell you
something.
Every one of
us in this
room today,
your life's in
one of these
three shapes.
Either you
can look at it,
and other people
can look at it
and say,
yeah,
that guy's not
holy.
that's
contaminated
water.
Or,
you're like
one of these.
One looks like
the real
article,
because it's
pure and
clean,
and it's
good for you
to drink.
But the
other,
I got news
for you,
it just
looks that
way.
It's not
really clean.
But here's
what the
sad thing
is,
every week
when we
come to
church,
a lot
of us,
we just
put that
up there,
and we're
okay with
it,
because it
looks clean.
I mean,
nobody can
tell.
I can't
tell.
He's your
pastor.
I can't
tell.
Ryan can't
tell.
You can't
tell about
us.
But I'll
tell you,
God always
knows.
He always
knows.
He looks
and He
knows what's
the real
deal.
Whether there's
real holiness
and purity,
and He
knows where
it's not.
And I'm
going to
tell you
something.
If you
want anything
for your
church in
the days
to come,
you need
to be
concerned about
getting a
pastor,
but more
than anything
else,
you need
to be
concerned.
We're a
church that
loves,
really,
genuinely
loves.
Let me
just say
that we
really love
other people.
And secondly,
that we're
holy.
That we're
pure.
Not that
kind of flashy
holiness that
you wear on
your sleeve,
that calls
attention to
yourself,
that says,
look at me,
how holy I
am,
but that
kind of
holiness that
results in
integrity and
character of
life and
loves people
and is
honest and
is godly and
is pure and
who does the
right thing
because it
doesn't matter
who's looking
other than
God.
I'm doing
this because I
know God's
looking.
And that's all
it has to be,
just know that
He's looking.
That's all that
matters.
So I don't
have to brag
about the
holiness.
I don't have
to put it on
display for
anybody.
You don't
have to show
it off for
anybody.
Now,
of course,
if I tell you,
asking you
this,
that kind of
holiness you
got today.
I haven't
been here long,
but I've been
here three
months and
long enough to
know this.
You're a
sweet,
wonderful people
and I love
you.
You can
believe I'm
just saying
that.
It's the
truth.
I've told
everybody I
know I
love
first pick
and
if I was
a young
guy,
I'd be
putting my
name in
that pile.
I love
this church.
But I've
come to find
this out
about you.
be demonstrative
about what's
going on in
your life
spiritually.
And that's
okay.
That's okay.
You don't
have to
respond to
every invitation.
You don't
have to go
and stand
at the
altar all
the time.
But I'm
going to
tell you
what is
important.
You do
business
with God.
You be
honest with
God.
And you
know today
which of
these two
bottles you
are.
And if
you're that
one that
looks holy,
you're
going to
pass the
test.
The eye
test.
And I'm
going to
tell you
something.
You need
to be doing
some business
with God
right now
because if
you want
your church
to be the
church it
needs to
be, you
need to
be people
who genuinely
are holy.
And I
don't know
that about
you anymore
than you
know it
about me.
I could be
a fake
and a phony
and you
wouldn't tell
it just by
listening to
me preach.
But you
know about
you and I
know about
me and
you're going
to have to
ask,
am I the
real deal?
Am I what
God wants
me to be?
And if
not, right
now is a
good time
to make
that right.
And it
begins by
just doing
this.
God, I'm
sorry, I've
been more
concerned about
what people
think than
you think.
And I want
you to change
that.
I want you to
do it.
I can't do
it.
I'm just
too big a
sinner.
But I'm
asking you to
do a work
in me.
I'm asking
you to
shape my
heart, change
my thinking,
change my
attitudes.
change.
I want to
be the real
deal for
you.
We're going
to have
Brian come
and sing
one verse
of an
invitation.
Maybe you
need to get
up and come
and just
kneel somewhere
along the
surface.
Maybe you
just right
there at your
seat, just
kneel.
Maybe you
just stay
seated or
be seated
after we
stand.
But I
urge you to
do business
with God.
Let's
stand as we
hear Brian
sing this
hymn of
invitation.
Join
him if
you'd like
to.
Bye.