MESSAGE PREACHED SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015 PM SERVICE

  

Romans 3:23 (KJV)

²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

  

I Have Been Changed, Healed, Freed, Delivered

This text that I am using is a text that most of us know and can quote. In so many ways this text is similar to other verses in the Bible that talk about the problem of sin in our lives.

Isaiah 53:6 (KJV)

⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 (KJV)

²⁰ For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

1 John 1:8 & 10 (KJV)

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome. As we all know Paul was a great evangelist and planted churches in ever region that he preached. He was probably the greatest church planter of all times. In a relatively short period he founded churches all over the eastern Mediterranean and as an evangelist his attention soon began to turn to the western Mediterranean. Whether he actually got as far west to Spain we do not really know for sure but he certainly made it to Rome, to the very heart of the Roman Empire. Paul was not on vacation when he made it to Rome he actually made it to Rome as a prisoner.

Paul’s other letters that we have in the New Testament were written to churches Paul had planted but the letter of Romans was written as a sort of an introduction to the church in Rome, which had already been founded and established.

What Paul basically does in this letter is to systematically go through the gospel message answering the various objections that people were so often raising about the gospel.

This verse that I used as my text is found in the early part of the letter and sums up much of what Paul lays down in the first three chapters to the church in Rome – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

It is important for us to note, in his argument Paul goes on to show that the only way to be acceptable to God is through righteousness, a righteousness not of our own. Paul writes to the Ephesians about putting on the new man, which is after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Ephesians 4:22-24 (KJV)

²² That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

²³ And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

²⁴ And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

We need God’s righteousness and holiness because we have none of our own.

What is Righteousness and True Holiness?

As often as the words righteousness and holiness are used by Christian people, especially by we Pentecostal’s you would think that we would understand what they mean and we could all agree on a uniform understanding of their meanings.

We understand the word HOLY in general simply means "divine" or "of God." In the New Testament, the word for HOLY is “hagios” –means set apart, reverend, hallowed, sacred, and worthy of adoration, honor, respect and worship.”  This word applies to God because God Himself is totally separate, sacred, transcendent, reverend, hallowed, sacred, and worthy of adoration, honor, respect, worship and is set apart from every created thing. 

The word RIGHTEOUSNESS means – Purity of heart and uprightness of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law of God. Righteousness, as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. Righteousness includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true spirituality.

But when we as saints of God or Christian people start to discuss holiness and righteousness we quickly discover that the implications of the words vary so widely. It seems that holiness and righteousness can mean anything from teetotalism, women’s uncut hair, not wearing makeup, the way we dress, and any such thing that we as human beings can tag as holiness.

But very seldom do we actually see holiness and righteousness as attributes that comes directly from God.

As human beings we usually see holiness and righteousness only through the things that we do or do not do.

What do you think holiness and righteousness mean? What does the word holy or righteous suggest to you?

The Word in some form – holy, holiness, holiest, allow, hallowed —occurs nearly 700 times in the English Bible.

The word in some form for righteous, righteousness, righteously, righteousnesses appear 555 times.

Certainly, these are both important words. The average person that attends church even we that are Pentecostal seems to feel threatened by the idea of holiness and righteousness.

We tend to see both HOLINESS & RIGHTEOUSNESS as something that is almost unapproachable by we as human beings, a demanding standard of life that seems to be well beyond our reach, hard for us to seemingly accomplish because it goes against the mindset of society as a whole.

So many saints of God tend to define holiness and righteousness by "feeling and sight" more than by Bible facts, or even being attributes of God.

So often I hear people make statements like this, "Boy, Holiness and Righteousness are way beyond me I can never do anything like that, although I sure love the Lord and want to try my best!”

Our sight also fails us when it comes to both HOLINESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS, because we that are striving for perfection and doing our best to live for God see the people around us as failures and unholy, unrighteous people because we are looking at humanity and not at God.

When you and I were filled with the Holy Ghost, we now have the Spirit of God in our life to give us power to overcome Satan, the world and our own fleshly nature.

The Holy Ghost will now lead us and guide us into all truth. Actually the Holy Ghost will teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance.

John 14:26 KJV,

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

When we repented and began to turn from our sinful fleshly ways we began to change. When we continue on to receive the Holy Ghost we are being made brand new or new creations.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The Holy Ghost, which makes us into a new creature, or creations in Jesus Christ, is actually bringing us to the place that we are complete in Him. This is the practical pursuit that will bring us all into truth and holiness.

Once we are filled with the Holy Ghost we must actually become partners with Him as He leads us, guides us and actually helps us through life as we pursue Him and His Gospel of Truth. His Spirit in us is geared to make us whole or Holy. This is what "Holiness" is really about—COMPLETENESS or WHOLENESS in Him.

What the Holy Ghost does in us is to bring the whole life of Jesus Christ into the whole of our personalities so that the whole love of God can be reflected through us and relayed to the whole world around us. It is only then that we can live RIGHTEOUSLY in this present world.

The word HOLY is derived from the medieval English word hal, which is an 11th century word that is the root to such contemporary words as health, hearty, whole and holy. Obviously, Holiness is more than an unclear, vague, ambiguous, or mysterious spiritual attribute that we as humans cannot understand.

Holiness relates to more than merely the invisible or the unknown. Holiness involves the completion in all parts of the human being, as the Holy Ghost rebuilds us to the depths of our being new creatures in Christ Jesus.

Once we receive the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God, dwelling within us…

1st - Our spirit can be revived to life, in God, as we are being made holy.

2nd - Our soul can be restored and brought back to God through His redeeming Grace. 

3rd - Our mind and emotions can be renewed and made whole.
4th - Our physical body can be made whole, because our habits and conditions can become disciplined through His Holy Spirit.

Holiness looks like a far more desirable goal, even a practical, attainable reality? God wants to make us HOLY—just as He is HOLY.

Because both terms—holiness and righteousness—have become smothered in religious verbiage, we must uncover the truth about holiness if holiness is God's goal for us.

If righteousness is something each of us should truly desire, and if you and I are not likely to hunger or thirst for something that we do not understand or that we feel intimidated by or we have a distorted idea about, then we need to explore the real meaning of HOLY and RIGHTEOUS some more.

Paul prays for the saints in Thessalonica:

1 Thessalonians 5:22-24 (KJV)

²² Abstain from all appearance of evil.

²³ And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴ Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

His words reveal three aspects of sanctification, which brings mankind to holiness and righteousness. These tree aspects of sanctification renew mankind to the state of full recovery of his three-part nature (spirit, soul and body).  

1st - Sanctification is for now. It brings with it the beauty of Holiness and Righteousness.

2nd - Sanctification is something God Himself will do in you and I. He makes us Holy and Righteous through His Holy Spirit in us.

3rd - Sanctification involves our peace, completeness and wholeness. When we receive His Spirit we begin to reflect Him. He is Holy and Righteous and we become a reflection of His Holiness and Righteous. Because He is Holy we must be Holy.

In short, God is ready to do everything He can to put you fully together, making you to be like Him starting this very moment!

Paul's prayer holds a tremendous promise:  “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;"

The essential idea of the word “eirene” (peace) is unity, of fragments or separated parts being brought together. This is a wonderful promise, relevant to our own broken hearts. 

Holy as He Is Holy
The phrase "be ye holy as He is holy," far from being a prohibitive summons or unattainable goal, actually this gives us a glimpse into the God’s heart and desire for us.

This phrase is used first in Leviticus:

Leviticus 11:44 a, (KJV)

⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:

This is used again, in essence, in Jesus' words, recorded in Matthew's Gospel:

Matthew 5:48 (KJV)

⁴⁸ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Here are both an Old Testament and a New Testament summons calling you and me to be Holy, to be perfect. How can this be? How can we possibly measure up to these scriptures?

If we are not careful this divine call that was intended to beget hope in our life, instead begins to produces fear and condemnation in our life. Because we know we are not Holy within ourselves and we as humans can never be perfect the text I used proves this to be a fact,

Romans 3:23 (KJV)

²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

We will never really gain ground until our sense of being "failures before we start" gets broken. This is where repentance and remission of sins come into play. We come to God as a broken failure and we repent. At that moment we begin to change our mind and our thinking. It is then that He begins to change us within making us completely over again. It is at this point of repentance that we die out to self, our flesh. Anything that dies must be buried, so we go by way of the water grave and are baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. We rise from that water to walk in newness of life, as we are being made to be a New Creature in Christ Jesus.

Saints of God if the walls of our personalities are ever going to be rebuilt, we must come to a place of comfort and confidence about both the goal and the process that we must be involved in to see this fulfilled in our life.

Nothing hinders the pursuit of holiness and righteousness more than a sense of condemnation, which always includes guilt, unworthiness, shame and the sense of impossibility about ever being able to truly measure up to God's Holy standards.

Saints of God we must fully understand and believe the truth that our holiness has been secured before God by virtue of our position now in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ sinless record was credited to our account when we repented and were baptized taking on His Name. 

The epistle to the Romans often uses the word justified, a word indicating that God has already made a positive legal judgment about you and me. 

By the standards of the highest court in the universe, He regards you as HOLY and RIGHTEOUS when you repent and totally put your trust in Him. 

God's Word also gets specific about Holiness and Righteousness in our living and practices.

God wants us to get on with our lives from this point on that are to be lived "Holy and Righteous before all men."

We must now be living lives in which we practice Holiness and Righteousness in our thoughts and in our conduct.

When we as saints of God begin to live Holy and Righteous because we are in Him, this proves our spiritual growth and our spiritual maturity. It is as if we suddenly grow up into a Holy and Righteous lifestyle that Jesus Himself has provided for us. Once we grasp this, we are on the way to understanding "be ye holy as He is holy" in a new way.

What is the Lord Jesus really saying in Matthew, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect"?

I used to think this was solely a commandment, but I have come to see it as more of a promise. Here is what it really means: "Because your Father is holy, you are assured already that you are en route to holiness."

Holiness and Righteousness are the attributes of God by which He preserves the integrity of His own being. This means God never needs to be reminded to be good, loving, wise or wonderful. He does not labor to accomplish what most of us define as "being Holy and being Righteous." Instead, because God's very nature is Holy and He is the very essence of Righteousness He will never be less than what He already is. His Holiness and Righteousness guarantees the changeless integrity of His own being.

What does that mean for you and me? It means that He will never be without love for us. He will never be less than merciful to us. He will never be anything other than just and right to us. And He will remake you and me so we can reflect His integrity of being in our own personality and through our actions.

I do not need to tell all of you that our human personality falls far short of God and His integrity and His character. Our integrity has been shattered, smashed and damaged, reduced to far less than it was made to be in the beginning.

Romans 3:23 (KJV)

²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The good news is that we do not have to remain that way. Here comes our Savior! He comes not only to forgive us but also to restore us unto His own.

Romans 3:24 (KJV)

²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

His plan is to give birth to each of us all over again and, through this new birth, to place in us a new seed. It's like a new genetic principle:

1 Peter 1:23King James Version (KJV)

²³ Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 John 3:6-9 (KJV)

⁶ Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

⁷ Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

⁸ He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

⁹ Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

I used to read these verses as though there was really no hope and I would actually feel like giving up. I would say within myself: "Well, I know I have been filled with the Holy Ghost and am born again of God, but this says that if you are, you do not sin. But sometimes I still fall, fail and even sin. I do not want to do these evil things, but I do. I love the Lord, and I'm trying to become more holy, but I fail and I sin."

Then the words of verse 8 would haunt me: "He who sins is of the devil." Doubt and futility have often gripped my spirit: " I have often thought, “Since I am not sinless yet, am I really saved? So in reality, I must be 'of the devil'?"

Years went by, and no one ever told me differently. Like many people, I had so many repeated trips to the altar, and the prayer room seemed to be the only way I knew to assure God's acceptance. But one day I learned that the same verses that had confused me held a mighty truth for me to understand.

My misunderstanding was overcome simply by discovering the tense of the Greek verb. In this verse, the original language actually says, "Whoever is born of God does not keep on sinning." In fact, the chapter immediately preceding already establishes the idea that it is only by the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that is within us, that we can grow in our ability to resist sin:

1 John 2:1-2 (KJV)

2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

² And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

So what the Bible is really saying is this: "Whoever is born of God does not keep on sinning."

Those of us who have been born again just do not make good sinners anymore. The more we grow, the harder it gets to keep at it the same way we did before.

The message is also this: The seed of His new life in me assures me that my destiny is to conquer the sinning that I do. 

Think with me for a moment, “How often, before you were filled with the Holy Ghost, did you sin and feel justified in doing so? You once felt free to retaliate, to let your temper flare and rise to utter rage or you felt justified to be self-serving, selfishly narcissistic.

Have you noticed since your rebirth that an inner sense of wanting to please God has begun to predominate your life? You are now more sensitive toward doing His will and now pleasing your will any longer? 

Here is one reason why:

”What is born of God does not want to keep on sinning because He has planted His seed in you. God's seed is in you! He says, "I birthed you unto Myself, Literally into My life, and therefore, the attributes of My personality will be forthcoming in you."

As any photograph of me reveals, I have a double chin. I did not plan to end up an ole fat man. In my early 20’s I did not make a decision: "I think I'll start gaining weight." But I did begin gaining weight, this started ever so slowly, but once it starts it is up to us as individuals to stop it. My dad was built like me and my grandfather on my mother’s side was built like me. The only difference I ended up bigger than both of them. My youngest brother and I have similar enlarged profiles. Two of my cousins and two of my uncles had these same enlarged frames. The biological genetic "seed" transmitted to each one of us was the biggy one.

This rather silly illustration points out how God is saying to you and me: "My seed is in you, and since I am Holy and Righteous, increasingly you are going to be Holy and Righteous too." We shall be holy for He is holy. We shall become perfected just as He is perfect.

Holiness and Righteousness—His Holy Righteous nature—is progressively going to fill my broken, weak and damaged parts. The character and constancy of my Father will grow in me. 

Why the Holy Spirit Will Not Rest –The Holy Spirit is after that growth and rebuilding in each of us, no matter how long it takes.

Psalm 138:8 (KJV)

⁸ The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Whatever time it takes, God is committed to your completion, and that completed work will be a work of Holiness and Righteousness unto the Lord—worked in you by the Holy Ghost. God will complete the job of restoring your personality. He will "reprogram" you and make you become what He wants you to be.