Redeemed for Holiness

Eric Durso

Eric

The Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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We’ve been working through Mark rather slowly, and we’ve slowed down even further the last couple weeks, and we’re going to slow down even further this summer.

We’ve come to a section in our gospel that is so rich, so powerful, so important for the life of our church, so critical for our personal discipleship, and so potentially misunderstood that we’re going to pause and do a mini-series on the topic we’ve found here.

Read Mark 9:43-48. This passage is a call to make war against sin in your life. It is a blast of the trumpet to fight. Jesus teaches that to make peace with sin is to declare war on God, and that all those who are on God’s side must be violent enemies of sin.

The topic that we’re going to study for the next few weeks is the topic of sanctification. Let me define that for you: sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God in man to free him from sin and make him more like Jesus Christ. Sanctification is the process of becoming more holy. To sanctify something is to treat it as holy, or to make it holy.

“One afternoon I was at a local basketball court and started a pickup game with a guy I’d seen there a few times. He was quite a character—he cursed like a sailor and had so many tattoos on his body I wasn’t sure what the actual color of his skin was. He boasted continually about how … [his immoral exploits]. He wasn’t the kind of guy you’d suspect knew his way around the Bible.

As we played our game, I began to share my story of how I came to Christ. About three sentences into it, he stopped, grabbed the ball, and said, “Dude, are you trying to witness to me?” Surprised he even knew the term witness, I said, “Uhhh . . . well . . . yes.” He said, “That’s awesome. No one has tried to witness to me in a long time...But don’t worry about me. I went to youth camp when I was thirteen and I asked Jesus to come into my heart. And I was legit. I became a super-Christian. I went to youth group every week, I did the “true love waits” commitment thing, I memorized verses, and I went on mission trips. I even led other friends to Jesus. “About two years after that, however, I ‘discovered’ [that sin can be fun]. And I didn’t like the idea of a god telling me [what I couldn’t do]. So I decided to put God on hold for a while, and after a while just quit believing in Him altogether. I’m a happy atheist now.”

He then added: “But here’s what’s awesome: the church I grew up in was Southern Baptist, and they taught eternal security—that means ‘once saved, always saved.’ By the way, aren’t you a Baptist?” ****awkward silence from me**** He went on, “That means that my salvation at age thirteen still holds, even if I don’t believe in God anymore now. ‘Once saved, always saved,’ right? That means that even if you’re right, and God exists and Jesus is the only way, I’m safe! So either way, works out great for me. . . . If I’m right, then I haven’t wasted my life curbing my lifestyle because of a fairy tale. OK, it’s your shot.”

What do you think about that story? In our series we’re going to answer some monumental questions. Who should pursue holiness? Is this for everyone? Can you really be a Christian if you don’t care about personal holiness? Is it optional? What will happen to me if I don’t care about my personal holiness? What’s the big deal? How do I become more holy? If I’ve already been forgiven of my sins, why do I need to work so hard to overcome sin? Is it legalistic to work hard to overcome temptation? Should I simply “let go and let God?” How can I gain victory over the sin that continues to dog my every step? What should I do when I stumble?

In other words, we are going to start a topic that is literally about what it means to live as a Christian. It does not get more relevant than this. And yet, when this is another one of those topics that is so wildly misunderstood that it is necessary to stop, lay some foundations, correct some false assumptions, before we can really grasp it.

So we’re going to start at the very beginning. And we want to start by asking one of the biggest questions we can ask: What is God doing with this world he created? What is God’s plan here? What is God’s plan for us?

#1 The Plan for the World: To get glory for himself through a people who reflect his character. We see this from the very beginning. Adam and Eve are created as image-bearers, that is, they reflect the character of God. They are not God, but they are like God, they are pure, they are sinless, they are holy. And God tells them to spread out over all the world, rule the world, subdue the world - why? So that God’s glory would be covering the globe.

Humanity fails as they rebel against God and plunge themselves into death and sin. But God’s plan does not change. His plan is still to get glory for himself through a people who reflect his character. And this is precisely what he does with Israel.

After the Exodus 19:4-6, God speaks directly to his chosen nation Israel, and he says, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

A holy God calls Israel to be his chosen, treasured possession to be a kingdom of priests. What’s a priest? A priest is something like a mediator; one who stands between God and man. A priest represents God to men. And what God is saying is that every person in Israel was to represent God to the world; and that is why they were called “a holy nation.”

What happens if you’re supposed to represent God, but you’re not holy? Imagine a great, generous, beneficent, good king sends an ambassador to establish a relationship with a neighboring country, but the ambassador is harsh, stingy, suspicious, and rude. His behavior will reflect poorly on the king. Israel failed badly, and God’s name was blasphemed by the nations.

But God’s great purpose for the world - to show his glory to all nations through his chosen people. To demonstrate his power and wisdom and love and holiness and might.

God’s people share God’s passion for his glory among the nations. When you read the Psalms, notice how frequently God’s people are longing for God to be glorified among the nations:

Psalm 33:8 “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.”

47:1 “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.”

67:3 “Let the peoples praise you, of God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!”

The point is that the heart of God is that all nations see him for who he is; that they come to know him as their greatest treasure, that they sing for joy and worship our God.

This, church, is why we are praying for every nation of the world. We want to align with the heart of God, who wants to demonstrate his glory to all nations.

Now, lest you think this is merely an Old Testament thing, let’s continue to the New Testament. Turn to Matthew 5. He describes the character of those who will enter God’s kingdom; he’s describing the people who are truly his. And then, in verse 13: “You are the salt of the earth.” Salt is a preservative and it adds flavor. Verse 14: “You are the light of the world.” This is not a generic “you.” He’s talking about God’s people who are characterized by the beatitudes.

The key; vs 16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

You do the good works. God gets the glory. Why? Because it is how God designed the world: we are image-bearers. We are reflectors. The more holy we are, the more accurately we shine forth the beauty of God’s character to the world!

So God currently has set aside Israel as the primary way of displaying his glory to the nations, and is now working through the church.

In fact, the New Testament ups the ante a little bit. It affirms that the church is God’s way of displaying his glory to the nations. But it goes further. Turn to Ephesians 3:7-11. God’s plan is that through the church - that is, through the great assembly of the redeemed - “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

That is to say, the church is not merely demonstrating God’s glory to the nations, but to the unseen, spiritual realm. Angels and demons, archangels and devils - they too are watching what God is doing with the church, and it is through the church that his manifold wisdom is displayed.

In 1981, John Piper preached a sermon titled The Cosmic Church, and he introduced his sermon with this paragraph - which was life changing for me:

The church of Jesus Christ is the most important institution in the world. The assembly of the redeemed, the company of the saints, the children of God are more significant in world history than any other group, organization, or nation. The United States of America compares to the church of Jesus Christ like a speck of dust compares to the sun. The drama of international relations compares to the mission of the church like a kindergarten riddle compares to Hamlet or King Lear. And all pomp of May Day in Red Square and the pageantry of New Year's in Pasadena fade into a formless grey against the splendor of the bride of Christ. Take heed how you judge. Things are not what they seem. "All flesh is like grass. And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord (and all his family) abide forever." The media and all the powers, and authorities, and rulers, and stars that they present are a mirage. "For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” The gates of Hades, the powers of death, will prevail against every institution but one, the church.

And this is God’s plan for the world: that through his church - a people who reflect his character - God demonstrates his glory to the watching universe. There is nothing like the church. Give your life, for the first time, or all over again, to the church. It is central to God’s point for creating the universe.

# 2The Purpose of Redemption: Now, you have to ask yourself, how is it that fallen, sinful, wicked, lost, foolish, simple, people like ourselves can represent a holy, perfect God?

Ephesians 1. Chosen by the Father. Redeemed by the Son. Sealed by the Spirit. But why? Verse 4: “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

Ephesians 2:1-10. We are made alive in Christ, and predestined for good works.

Why did God save you? There are many right answers to that question. But one of them we must never forget is this: God saved you to be holy. He saved you for holiness. J.I. Packer says, “In reality, holiness is the goal of our redemption. As Christ died in order that we might be justified, so we are justified in order that we may be sanctified and made holy.”

Christians are people who have been redeemed by sheer grace, set free from the slave market of sin, so that they might be holy, and in being holy, reflect God’s glory in the world.

2 Timothy 1:8–9 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling,”

1 Thessalonians 4:7 “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness”

You are redeemed to holiness. You’re called by God to a holy calling. God, in his omnipotent, sovereign grace, literally calls to a holy calling, and declares you to be holy, frees you to be holy, enables you to become holy, and then gives you new affections that desire holiness.

Turn to Ezekiel 36:25-27 reads: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

Here's what we see in this. The Christian life is not natural, it is supernatural. The Christian walk is The Life of God in the Soul of Man. Christians become Christians because the wind of the Spirit blows, the power of the Spirit acts, and God in his amazing generosity and grace, takes a dead heart and makes it live; takes a stony heart and makes it pulsate with the life of God. This is nothing we can manufacture, this is nothing we can manipulate. This is a divine act of God's sovereign power upon a human soul. And the result is that the new, born again heart is hungering and thirsting for righteousness. They want to be holy.

Isn't this amazing? Salvation is not merely assenting to a list of facts. Salvation is not merely agreeing with certain points of doctrine. Salvation is not merely following a moral code. Salvation is a sovereign act of God. God chose us from eternity past. God redeemed us through the sufficient blood of Christ. God gave us his Spirit to dwell within us. God made us alive by giving us a new heart. And he has prepared us to walk in holiness before him.

In other words, there is an incompleteness to how we think of God’s grace. Grace is not merely pardon, it’s power to change. Grace forgives but it also transforms.

God’s grace means you have been set free from the dominion of sin, and you now have been given every resource necessary for growth in holiness. You are Free to be Holy.

Holiness is the purpose of your redemption. All Christians from every age have held this truth: that God’s grace transforms, and that untransformed “Christians” are no Christians at all.

Are we promoting salvation by works? No way! Never. If you, right now, trust in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, to forgive your sins and give you power to change, you are justified - declared righteous before God - and that is without reference to any works you’ve ever done.

Are we promoting some sort of perfectionism? Nope. The Bible teaches that sin will be present all throughout our lives until we’re in glory.

But, is it possible to be truly justified by God, redeemed by God, while still choosing to cling to your sin? The answer is no. Think of it this way: You are justified by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone. It always produces fruit. So there will be a trajectory toward holiness in every true believer’s life.

Take a look at the The Heidelberg Catechism, written in 1563: “Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent ways? By no means. Scripture tells us that no unchaste person, no idolater, no adulterer, no thief, no covetous person, no drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like is going to inherit the kingdom of God.”

Or consider Spurgeon: "If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will, but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumptions, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved."

Kevin Deyoung puts it this way, in his fantastic short book The Hole in Our Holiness: “Any gospel which purports to save people without also transforming them is inviting easy-believism. If you think being a Christian is nothing more than saying a prayer or joining a church, then you’ve confused real grace with cheap grace.”

# 3 The Plan for You. Let’s review. God has a plan to bring himself glory through people who reflect his character. To enable his people to do this, God gave his Son Jesus to die in the place of sinners, pay their penalty, forgive their sins, and give them new life. All who trust in Christ are declared righteous and set free from the indwelling power of sin. He redeemed them, regenerated them, transformed them, and enabled them to be holy.

So, if you’re trusting him, he has not only forgiven all your sins, but has redeemed you for the purpose of being holy, and has empowered you to become holy, so that your good works will give him glory.

So what are you supposed to do? You might feel riddled with sin. You might look in the mirror and see a pathetic, filthy, struggling Christian. You might long, with every fiber of your being, to be holy; but you fail so often. What’s God’s plan for you?

Many genuine Christians, honestly desiring to grow in Christ and conquer their indwelling sin, have been influenced by unbiblical ways of thinking. I’ll mention two:

Error 1: All God, no effort. In this way of thinking, what’s emphasized is surrender. A slogan that is often thrown around is: “Let go and let God.” They speak of growth occurring simply by continuing to remember the gospel, remember justification, remember grace. The language they typically use is that of “surrender.” “Surrender your life to Christ.” They sing, “I Surrender All.” And the idea is that we just need to give up, stop striving, stop working, stop trying, and let God do it all. When you’re fully consecrated to God, then he fills you up and works through you. Your job is to stop trying to work hard for holiness, and simply surrender.

They say things like, “To put forth human effort is to trample grace and return to the law.” Which sounds great, but simply isn’t what the Bible teaches. “Just remember the gospel!” becomes the only valid imperative allowed. Remember God’s grace - effort is legalistic!

J.I. Packer, as a new believer, was taught that this was the way to grow in Christ and grew hopelessly frustrated that it actually led him to despair. He graphically describes his struggle this way when he tried surrendering but it didn’t work: “The technique was not working. Why not? Well, since the teaching declared that everything depends on consecration being total, the fault had to lie in me. So I must scrape my inside again to find whatever maggots of unconsecrated selfhood still lurked there. I became fairly fanatic.”

Error 2: All effort, no God. This is the opposite end. This wrong method tries to deal with our sin using human means, not God’s means. We imbibe the self-help stuff of the world. We try simple, grit your teeth, hard work and discipline. We try techniques to help us change our thinking or adjust our behaviors. We add more religion to our lives, more external habits, more rules, more restrictions, all because we think we’ll become more holy. This is what the Pharisees did - they tried to become righteous through their own means, and they became self-righteous. This is what monks and nuns and hermits and ascetics do - they think the biggest problems are outside-in, and they try to tune out the world.

It doesn’t work. So one of my favorite passages holds the secret to the mystery of sanctification: 1 Corinthians 15:10. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

How do we become holy? Let’s go back to Mark 9:43-48.

Anyone who wants to avoid hell will be deadly serious about the sin in their own lives. Making peace with sin is declaring war against God. There is more to say, but at the very least, let’s notice this: if you want to be holy, you must get serious about your fight against sin. You must learn to make war. You must get violent. You must take responsibility and get to work.