ABSENCE OF HOLINESS - Introduction

There is no greater mockery of the church than a life that claims Christ yet is unchanged by Him.” – Anonymous

I believe one of the greatest enemies of the Church, second only to Satan, are those who call themselves “Christians”. You may have heard Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote about Christians. He said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." When was the last time you heard a message on holiness preached in your church, or for that matter, any other church?

I believe the pendulum has swung from an emphasis on “holiness” in the mid-20th century, which was inordinately focused on outward appearance and actions rather than the condition of the heart, to the preeminence of grace. So much so, that the idea is conveyed that it doesn’t really matter very much how we live - God will forgive. Couple that with a very common phrase heard in churches today, “When you receive Jesus as your Savior He forgives your past, present, and future sins, and there isn’t anyone or anything that can snatch you from His hand.” I’m convinced this is a recipe for disaster in the life of the church when it is not coupled with sound doctrinal teaching on living a holy life. It’s a perfect opening for Satan to quote Scripture just as he did to Christ when He was in the wilderness being tempted (tested) for 40 days and 40 nights. It is especially effective for him to quote Scripture out of context to new Christians, and sad to say, to a multitude of Biblically illiterate “mature” Christians who populate the pews. It then becomes easy for the enemy to suggest to the uninformed, “Don’t worry about it, you are already forgiven. Or don’t worry about it, you are saved by grace, not by works,” thus implying they have carte blanche in their life in Christ to live as they please.

As a result the Church doesn’t look, or act, differently than the world. Brett McCracken in an article on mereorthodoxy.com on June 19, 2013 said it brilliantly when he wrote: “…I’ve witnessed younger evangelical Christians (myself included) more often blending in with the dark than advancing the light. When I go to parties with Christian friends, and then parties with non-Christian friends, I often lament that they are observably indistinguishable.

We are the same in how we talk: the petty subjects of conversation, the toxic cynicism lacing our speech, the obscene language, the general negativity ... same.

We are the same in the way we dress, the way we drink, the way we smoke, the movies and TV we watch, the music we listen to, the pop culture we consume, and the way we cordon off “spirituality” in a manner that keeps it from interfering with our pursuits of pleasure.”

My wife and I attended a conservative evangelical church for many years. When we went out with friends our age there was never any cussing and alcohol was never ordered. I’m not in any way suggesting that we were without sin. Far from it. As our pastor once said, “The worst sinner I know is me. I don’t know your heart or your motives, but I know mine – hence I’m the greatest sinner I know.” We can all say that without equivocation. All I’m saying is that there were certain standards that we adhered to. It was the way we were raised by our parents and what we were taught in the churches we attended.

Mr. McCracken didn’t mention specifically, which I am noticing more and more frequently, believers who are sleeping/living together. “A 63 year old woman wrote to Dear Abby to justify her adultery. She writes: ‘He’s also married. We meet once a week at a motel for three hours of heaven. My husband knows nothing about this, and neither does my lover’s wife. Sex with my husband is even better now, and it’s not as though I am denying my husband anything. I teach a class at church every week, but for some reason, I feel no guilt.’” (enduringword.com; David Guzik) Unless that woman repents of her sin and ends the relationship with that man, that “three hours of heaven” will be the only heaven she will experience.

There may be many reading this, that like me, can't understand how this woman could say this in light of the fact that the Bible clearly calls this sin. What I'm about to say will shock you. You may be ready to write me off as cuckoo, but please hear me out. You may even say this sounds more like the voice of "The Accuser" (Satan), speaking in condemnation of the Church of Jesus Christ. As I was reading the Word this morning I distinctly heard the voice of the Spirit say to me, "The church pews all over the world, not just in America, are filled with adulterers." If you are offended by what you just read, then you may get out-right angry at what I say next. "There's a strong probability that you may be one of those adulterers."

Most of you right now may be thinking "He's gone off the deep-end."Or, "those are really harsh words," "that's mean spirited," and especially "that's so self-righteous and judgemental." Let me explain why I'm convinced that I was truly hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 54:5 (MSG) says, "For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called." (emphasis added) There are many instances in the Old Testament where the prophets, speaking by the Spirit of God, accused the Israelite's of being as unfaithful to Him as a bride to her husband. God viewed their "idol worship" as being unfaithful to Him, as committing adultery.

I was reminded of this truth when I was reading in Ezekiel 20:13,27-28 (MSG) these words: "They desecrated my Sabbaths and remained addicted to the no-god idols of their parents...‘As if that wasn’t enough, your parents further insulted me by betraying me. When I brought them into that land that I had solemnly promised with my upraised hand to give them, every time they saw a hill with a sex-and-religion shrine on it or a grove of trees where the sacred whores practiced, they were there, buying into the whole pagan system...".

Many years ago, when I was a new believer, I would read passages like this and think to myself, "I would never do that. That would be stupid to worship an idol made of stone or wood." But I have since found out how easy it is to be caught up in idol worship. An idol in God's eyes is anything in our lives that is more important than him. He won't accept second place. You are his bride and you must be his, and his alone.

For those of us who are married, I would imagine most of us on the day we were married uttered these words, "...forsaking all others." We weren't saying we were abandoning all of our families and friends. All we were saying is that everyone else was second to our mate. How would you feel if your wife/husband told you that they love you but they also want to split their time with you and someone else of the opposite sex? I would venture to say that if you are truly in love with them you would be devastated.

Now you know how God feels. He is passionately in love with you. And the awesome truth is that God's love for you never wanes. I have some questions for you who have been married for some time. Do you remember when you fell in love with your wife/husband? Were they on your mind constantly? Did you want to spend every moment with them that you possibly could? Were you looking for excuses to drop by their house just to see them? I venture to say most of your answers to these questions are yes. You could spend time just talking with them for hours. You wanted to know everything about them. Or, maybe that's just me. I was 57 years old before I got married for the first time.

Now, I want you to answer this next question honestly. Are you just as passionate now for your mate as you were then? I will be the first to admit that's not the case. She has reminded me on more than one occasion what our pastor told me during our wedding ceremony: "Garry, if you want your marriage to stay strong, whatever you did when you were dating Wanda to win her heart, keep on doing those things."

As I was writing this she came through the room to go into the office and so I asked her for the exact quote that was said during our marital counseling , which was required by the church. She first informed me that it wasn't said during our marriage counseling, but during the actual ceremony. Then she told me.

I have my own story that I like to tease her with. Her late husband was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. I knew him just enough to know that he was known for his great sense of humor. He loved the Lord and was just a great guy. Early in our marriage I mentioned that I would love to have a Harley. She immediately informed me that wasn't going to happen. She had already lost one husband and she wasn't going to lose another one that way. Several years later I brought it up again. I knew the honeymoon was over when she responded, "Just make sure you have a large life insurance policy." She was joking of course. The answer was still no.

You may have heard the humorous story about a conversation an older couple had while riding in their truck. The husband was driving along listening to his wife reminiscing about when they were first married, how there was so much love, passion, fun, and excitement in those early days. And then she says, " Back then, if someone were following us, we were sitting so close to each other they would've been wondering if we were a two-headed person. Now look at us. You're way over there and I'm way over here on the passenger side." Her husband looked at her and said, "I haven't moved."

Although I was quick to admit to a waning of passion and excitement, I can honestly say that my love for her is deeper and stronger than when I first married her. As I'm writing this we've been through a lot in our short, almost 13 years of marriage, that have made those bonds stronger and deeper. As human beings we are not capable of a white-hot passion for our mate 24/7, no matter how much we love them.

Let me remind you once again. God's love for us never, ever, changes. He is just as passionately and excitedly in love with you as he was 10, 30, or 60 years ago when you gave your heart to him. When other people and things are more important to us than God, then in God's eyes we are no different than the Israelites were when they worshiped false idols. We fail to realize how much that hurts him.

Do you remember when Oprah Winfrey reported that her impatience with “rules, belief systems and doctrines” began when she, in her late 20s, heard a Baptist pastor say that God was jealous? He quoted the Scripture in Exodus 34:14: "—for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—." I will never forget that day. She said she could never serve a jealous God.

I have two problems with her statement. Oprah viewed jealously as a negative emotion. We have all heard of people who are insanely jealous. They want to know where they are every moment, and they really get upset if they see their loved one even talking to the opposite sex. That is definitely negative. But when God says that his name is Jealous, and that he is jealous over us, it's not because of any insecurity on his part. He's jealous for us because he wants only the best for us. He knows the hurt, disappointment, and lack of fulfillment, that anything or anyone else that we make our god can bring into our lives.

The second problem that I have with her statement is this: " If someone told my wife that I was unfaithful to her and she found out, yet she wasn't jealous, that would tell me that she didn't love me like she used to. God gave his all for us when he sent his Son to save us, so why wouldn't he want our undivided love and devotion for him?

Ezekiel goes on to say, “Therefore, say to Israel, ‘The Message of God, the Master: You’re making your lives filthy by copying the ways of your parents. In repeating their vile practices, you’ve become whores yourselves. In burning your children as sacrifices, you’ve become as filthy as your no-god idols—as recently as today!" (Ezekiel 20:30-31, MSG)

I am always horrified every time I read this passage of parents burning their own children as sacrifices to a false god. In speaking of parents burning their children as sacrifices, Ezekiel was referring to the worship of the god Molech (Moloch, Molek). A fire was started in the belly of the idol, which was made of brass. When the arms, which were extended, were glowing hot, the child would be placed in the arms. During this ritual there would be loud playing of flutes and drums in order to drown out the screams of the child.

We are repulsed by something so horrific, and yet since 1973, when Roe vs. Wade was passed, an estimated 63.5 million babies have been killed because of the idol of sexual pleasure that so many serve, and the idol of greed the abortion providers bow before. That's not even taking into account the millions of parents who are sacrificing their children in the fires of their lusts. Statistics state that over 50% of first time marriages in America end in divorce. The number is even higher for second and third marriages. 60% of divorced couples cited infidelity as a reason for their divorce. (forbes.com) The mental and emotional damage done to children of divorced parents is incalculable. My heart goes out not only to the children, but to the parents who live with the regret and guilt of their actions.

Someone has said that “We’re at a point in Christianity where people don’t care if you can back it up with the Bible. Their feelings, desires, and emotions override what Scripture says. They don’t follow Christ, they follow self.”

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

It’s as if the Scripture in Revelation 21:7-8, (The Voice Translation), is not in the Bible: “To the victors will go this inheritance: I will be their God, and they will be My children. It will not be so for the cowards, the faithless, the sacrilegious, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all those who deal in deception. They will inherit an eternity in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (emphasis added)

I believe we are living in the very last days before the return of Christ for his bride, the Church. And make no mistake, he's not coming back for a bunch of idol worshipers. He is coming back for a bride who is clothed in his righteousness, who has a hatred for sin, who has died to self, and it's passions and lusts. He's not coming back for those clothed in their self-righteous rags, who judge themselves based on the belief that their good works outweigh the bad, or that they're not as bad as many others.

One of the most horrifying scenes depicted in Scripture is recorded in Matthew 7:21-23, and it’s that which has stirred my heart so deeply to write about living a holy life. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

It breaks my heart that there will be millions of people in America, and around the world, who have made a confession of faith, who will hear these words from the Lord of life when they stand before him. Can you imagine with me the shock and horror that they will experience when they hear these words? The English language, and for that matter, any language, will be inadequate to describe sufficiently what they will experience at that moment.

There may be some reading this who will be asking “How can this be? Doesn’t the Bible say that all you have to do to be saved is to believe?” Listen to what the apostle James says: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19, NKJV) Does that save them? NO! I will cover this later, but I have a strong conviction that churches are filled with people that believe they are right with God when they aren’t.

The bottom line for me is this: If there is not a radical life change when a person gives their heart to the Lord, then I would have serious doubts as to whether they truly gave their heart to Jesus and made him Lord of their life. There are names of many people recorded in the Bible whose lives were radically changed when they made the commitment to follow God and walked in obedience to His commandments. Here are just a few: Abraham – left his land, his relatives, and his father’s house; Moses – was a murderer, gave up the riches of Egypt; Rahab – was a prostitute; Amos – farmer and shepherd, became a prophet of the Lord; Zacchaeus – greedy tax collector; woman at the well in Samaria – saved from sexual sin; Mary Magdalene – had seven demons cast out of her; Saul of Tarsus – hater and murderer. And then there’s me. My life was radically changed. I will give my personal testimony later.

One of my favorite people to quote is Charles Spurgeon: “Christ will be master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. If your life is unholy, then your heart is unchanged, and you are an unsaved person. The Savior will sanctify His people, renew them, give them a hatred of sin, and a love of holiness. The grace that does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people, not IN their sins, but FROM their sins. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.”

If this endeavor to write on holiness awakens just one person to their need of a radical life change that can only happen by the power of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, then my efforts will not have been in vain.