Sunday 11th August 2013 - Purity & Holiness - Brian Nish

PURITY & HOLINESS INTRODUCTION A good textbook sermon has an Introduction, Three Points, and Conclusion In a very good sermon all Three Points start with the same letter This morning I was going to talk about Passion, Purity, and Power! At first I also thought this was also the correct running order? 'If we have a passion for God we will want to be pure and move in His power' - and that's true, up to a point But then I realised that it's only through understanding God's purity and holiness that we can fully understand and appreciate His love and passion for us In other words 'How can I love God more and be more passionate about Him?' By understanding how much God loves me! How can I understand how much God loves me? By understanding His holiness! PURITY & HOLINESS Psalm 47v8 - God reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne Isa 6v1-8 - In the year that King Uzziah died I saw The Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood six seraphim; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to the other and said "Holy, holy, holy, is The Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory". And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said "Woe is me for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of Hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said "Behold this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged" 1 Peter 1v15-16 - ...be holy for I am holy 'Holy, holy, holy' - not 'Love, love, love' or 'Mercy, mercy, mercy' etc In both the O/T (Isa 6v3) and N/T (Rev 4v8) - shows that God is the same in both Testaments Every Person in the Trinity is holy - Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit The absolute ultimate in holiness - you can't be more holy than this Seeing God's holiness will cause us to fall down and worship Him! 'Holiness' (Describe the indescribable?) To be set apart, unique, in a class by oneself, having no rivals or competition, hallowed, sacred, worthy of honour, God's absolute moral purity and perfection, the blinding radiance of God's light and beauty, the awesome majesty of God's glory Everything that God is - and does - is perfectly pure and holy! Therefore, God's love is a 'holy love' - God's motives are 'holy motives' - God's goodness is a 'holy goodness' - God's power is a 'holy power' etc Without the holiness of God sin has no meaning and grace has no point! Without the holiness of God sin is merely human failure, and not failure before God. Sin would mean different things to different people Without the holiness of God grace loses its meaning as a free gift from God, and the Cross serves no purpose Therefore, we need to understand that God's holiness means - HE MUST DEAL WITH SIN - to fully understand His love! We also need to understand that it was because of God's great love towards us - that He planned a way in which His holiness could be satisfied - and His love expressed - at the Cross THE CROSS OF CALVARY Gen 3v21 - Also for Adam and Eve the Lord made tunics of skin and clothed them Isa 61v10 - For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness Back in the Garden of Eden we see the first blood being shed and a covering being made for sin, because God in His holiness must deal with sin We also need to note that because of His great love for Adam and Eve (and mankind) God Himself did this! God provided the sacrifice! I believe that the animal He killed was 'a lamb without spot or blemish' Therefore, way back in the Garden of Eden God was showing us how He was going to deal with the sin problem - and also pointed prophetically to Jesus on the Cross - who would become our sacrifice - as the perfect and spotless Lamb of God Throughout the Old Testament all the shedding of blood through the animal sacrifices, were pointing to Jesus who was yet to come, and who would shed His blood once and for all for us - at Calvary On the Cross of Calvary - God again provided the sacrifice - and His HOLINESS and LOVE 'kissed' REVIVAL 'Revival is when God gets so sick and tired of bring misrepresented that He shows up Himself' (Leonard Ravenhill) 'Revival is the visitation of God which brings to life Christians who have been sleeping, and restores a deep sense of God's near presence and holiness' Each revival has its own distinctive features, but there are also similarities. There is a restoration of the sense of the closeness of the Holy One. The sense of God's nearness creates an awareness of our own sins - so the power of the cleansing blood of Jesus and His sacrifice and victory on the Cross - is once again greatly appreciated Roy Hessian - 'Revival isn't going down the street with a big drum - it is going back to Calvary with a big sob' Personal testimony - 'The Passion of Christ' Revival is returning to the Cross as well as moving in resurrection power Revival can be a mixture of conviction and repentance, love and joy, signs and wonders, all with an evangelistic overflow Revival is what our church, town, region, and nation needs CONCLUSION 1) How can I understand how much God loves me? By understanding His holiness! 2) When I have a greater understanding of how much God loves me - I will be passionately in love with Him - and I will want to live a pure and holy life - and move in His power - to bring Him glory 3) So let us pray and ask God to send 'HOLY REVIVAL FIRE' to our church, town, region, and nation