Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. But what is the goal of holiness? Get it. The goal of holiness. is Christ's likeness.
Be like Christ. And the wonder of the gospel Is that God in His grace not only saves us, He has predestined us to be like his perfect son. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Many Christians struggle to understand personal holiness. God calls us to be holy, but what does that actually mean in practice?
Today, John helps us check the spiritual health of our hearts by examining various misconceptions about holiness. Biblical holiness doesn't create burdens. It liberates us.
Now. Here's Pastor Jean Monroe with today's message, the goal of holiness. For a few broadcasts, we've been thinking of the all-important subject of holiness. What is it? Is holiness attainable?
What is Peter saying on this important subject? Last time we thought of some false patterns of holiness which we often hear in Christian circles. Don't look for some instant solution. or so-called spiritual key. Rather, keep your eyes on our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, in this broadcast and next, we're thinking of the goal of holiness. We're answering the question: what does holiness look like? In a practical way, how would we know if we're living a holy life? Before looking at the biblical goal of holiness, I want to look at some false goals which are very prevalent. I think you're going to recognize some of them.
Let me ask you to stand and read what should be familiar verses to you. 1 Peter 1. Verses thirteen through sixteen. Uh read this with me. Together, please.
Therefore, Preparing your minds for action. and being sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.
Thank you. Please be. See that. When you go to your physician for a check-up, invariably the doctor checks your heart. Today I'm not going to check your physical heart.
But I'm going to check your spiritual Heart. Are you spiritually Healthy. But you go to your doctor And uh if certainly if there is a heart problem, He or she asks about your diet. What are you taking in? What food are you consuming?
And so, when it comes to spiritual health, I ask you. What food are you taking in? Could it be? That you're consuming some spiritual junk food which needs to be rejected. The Puritan John Flavell said, What health is to the heart, Holiness is to the soul.
What health is to the heart Holiness is to the soul.
So how is your heart? How's your soul? We're learning that God calls his people to live holy lives. We read here, and if you have your Bible, you can open it with me to 1 Peter 1, verse 4. 15, but as he who called you, He's talking to believers, as he who called you is holy, you also be holy.
In all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. We are, the scripture says, to pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. And we have learned in these last couple of weeks that this idea of holiness, this sanctification, is being set apart.
Set apart from sin, set apart to God. And we have been learning, to put it in theological terms, that sanctification, our sanctification, is the inevitable result. of our justification. Justification is God's work for us. Sanctification is God's work in us.
Justification. Is sanctification. Begun. We're saying that When we're saved, we are Justified And we are sanctified. Glorification.
Is sanctification Completed.
So we are, we can honestly say, we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. We have been sanctified, we have been justified, we have been sanctified, set apart from God.
Now, in the grace of God, as we'll learn today, we seek to live holy lives, looking forward to that great day. of our Glorification. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8: those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also Glorified. You might have expected Paul to say, those whom he justified, he also sanctified.
That is true. But Paul is saying something wonderful. That those who are saved, those who are Justified will certainly be glorified. Previously, we considered the call of holiness and the pattern of holiness. Today we're thinking of the subject of the goal of holiness.
What does holiness look like?
Now, before looking at it positively, I thought we'd look at some false goals of holiness. I think I have five of them. They're a bit of a caricature. Uh I may exaggerate a little bit of hyperbole uh to make the point. You may recognize some elements of these goals in yourself.
If so, that is wonderful. And I may. uh successfully antagonize everyone in the sanctuary today. But there we are. Here is the first false goal.
We saw it before. The false goal of sinless perfection. Let me introduce to you Mr. Perfect. Mr.
Perfect believes, as we learned last week, that the goal of holiness is sinless perfection. And sometime after conversion, Mr. Perfect enters into a second stage of Christian blessing. whereby he attains a state of perfection. Perfect love, it's sometimes called entire sanctification.
Now, to do that, Mr. Perfect does have a problem, so he has to redefine sin and say that perfection is freedom from a conscious transgression of a known law of God. What's the zero? Mr. Perfect is making a theological error.
He's making justification and sanctification separate gifts which are separately obtained by separate acts of faith. He's justified.
Now he enters into the second stage of blessing, and now he attains this entire. Sanctification, Mr. Perfect. What do we say to Mr. Perfect?
We respect him. He's got a great goal. We admire that in him, but we have to say That even the holiest of people, even someone like Mr. Perfect, have sinful thoughts, have impure motives. The Apostle John says in 1 John 1: if we say we have no sin, Who are we deceiving?
We're deceiving ourselves. Sinless perfection is not the goal of holiness.
So we respect Mr. Perfect. He can be a bit of a pain in the neck sometimes in the church, but we're going to say goodbye to him, Mr. Perfect. Here is the second false goal.
The fund's goal of Health and wealth. We're going to call her Ms. Prosperity. You've met Miss Prosperity, haven't you, in her tribe? They believe that the goal of the Christian life is to be healthy, wealthy.
and always very, very happy. She is embraced The prosperity. Gospel. Her heroes are pansters who fly around in their own jets. I've tried for years to get a helicopter.
We've got a great landing spot right here on the lawn, and it hasn't come yet. But miss prosperity believes in this, name and claim it. You heard this? Just name it and claim it. It's all a matter of your thinking.
Call it out. If you name it and claim it, God will give it to you. That is her approach to the Christian life. This is Christian triumphalism. Where there's a denial of the reality of suffering, tears, and difficulties in life.
If we speak to Miss Prosperity and those that she admires, they believe that suffering and trials are symptomatic of. Spiritual ill health. I've met many prosperities over the years.
Some of them have been most distressed. because they have been taught. That if they are walking with God, Uh they're going to be healthy. And now they have been diagnosed with some terrible illness, and they have been told that the reason they have not been cured of this illness is they don't have enough faith, or there's some unconfessed sin in their life. Ms.
Howysad. Ms. Prosperity believes The goal of Holiness is achieved. When a state of emotionalism and prosperity are experienced. With Miss Prosperity, everything has to be fun, exciting, awesome, amazing.
She reminds me a bit of a cappuccino, which has a lot of froth but very little coffee. If you go to Miss Prosperity's church, There's not much Bible. Uh teaching. There may be a verse on the screen, usually plucked out of its context to suit the agenda of the preacher. There could be inspirational storytelling, a lot of hype, high noise, high emotion.
But little Substance.
Now, holy living. does affect our emotions. It does produce joy. Peter has told us. Hasn't he in verse eight about this joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory?
But biblical Christianity Authentic Christianity is based on truth. On biblical doctrine, where our minds are being renewed through the Word of God. The Apostle Peter. We have been learning from the opening verses of 1 Peter 1. He talks about trials.
He talks about suffering. After all, he's writing to people who are exiled. Yes, there is suffering in the Christian life. Luke writes in Acts 14, verse 22: Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Yes, there is great joy in following Christ, but that does not eliminate suffering and trials and disappointment.
So we're going to say goodbye. to miss prosperity. We we like her, not too much, but uh we're gonna say goodbye to her immature view of the Christian life, which is actually a very false and destructive view. Here is The third false goal. of biblical knowledge.
I want to introduce to you Mr. Commentary. He's a wonderful character. He believes that the goal of holiness is biblical knowledge. Mr.
Commentary attends and may teach several Bible studies. He frequently reminds us that he loves in-depth Bible study, not just Bible study. His is really, they really dive deep. He tells us, he'll throw in a few Greek words to prove the point. He's in his element when he's trying to explain some tricky exegetical problem.
Or debating some erudite theological conundra, he's in his element. He thinks this is what the Christian faith is all about. This results in Mr. Commentary having a very Large head.
Some of these critics say, I would never say a fat head, but he's got a very large head. Paul tells us that there is a knowledge Which puffs up. And here it is. Uh for Mr. Commentary.
Uh holiness is all about, it's an intellectual activity. Question is: We'd have to say to Mr. Amitri, what about your heart? Your head is full of biblical knowledge. Your head is full of doctrine, but has that information gone from your head to your heart?
What difference is it making? See, Mr. Commentary has fallen. Into a very common trap. His Bible study is at the center of his life.
He really thinks no one studies the Bible like him. He really thinks no one teaches the Bible like him. But it's unlikely that you'll see Mr. Commentary doing much serving over Christmas. He's doing his his Bible study.
Is biblical knowledge essential in Christian life? Absolutely. A church, we're committed to that, but here is one to be very careful. Getting biblical knowledge. While it is essential in the Christian life, It's not the goal of holiness.
You may be able Mr. Commentree. to quote chapter and verse. You may have the most knowledge in your life group and impress the unwary, but. You may not be holy.
The question is, not our information Not how we feel like Miss Prosperity. But what is the goal? Here is another false. Goal of Holiness, the false goal of activism. This is Ms.
Worker. She's very busy in the church. Have you met Miss Woodgurt? Uh she believes That the life of holiness is action and service. You don't need to tell her to serve.
She's the first to volunteer. But she's so busy, she rarely attends. A service like this. She rarely is in a life group. What's she doing?
She's in the nursery, she's in the kitchen, she's in the Sunday school, she's buzzing around, always serving. And She loves to tell people of all the ministries she's been involved in over the years. She gives the impression. that without her these ministries We collapse. You say, John, we just had a couple of pastors appealing us to serve.
Yes, you should serve. Holy people do enthusiastically serve the Lord, but activism is not the goal of holiness. It is possible. to be very active in serving people. To be very involved in ministry but not be holy.
So we're talking about The heart. Do you love serving? She loves being seen serving. But really she's not growing spiritually. She's in the spiritual rut.
If she teaches Sunday school, she's teaching the same tired lessons that she first taught 20 years ago. She has not grown. She is pursuing a false goal.
So we say goodbye. To Ms. Worker. That may mean none of you are going to volunteer now. That is not what I'm saying.
Here's the fifth one, the false goal of legalism. Here is Mr. I call him Mr. Ruler. You ever met Mr.
Ruler? Have you ever been in a church full of Mr. Rulers and Mrs. Rulers? Mr.
Ruler gives the impression that the goal of holiness is to keep rules. particularly his rules. He's an expert. He's an expert on church policies. He's an expert on church traditions.
Uh he has lists of do's and don'ts. Often prepared by himself. or others like him. He's a very opinionated individual. And he's a self-appointed rule Enforcer.
You ever been right here? He majors on law rather than grace. He majors on the letter of the law rather than the spirit. Remember, Paul says the letter. Kills But the Spirit gives.
Life. He's very judgmental. But when you look at Mr. Ruler and you look at churches which are led by Mr. Ruler's In the church there's often confusion.
There's a lot of gossip, there's a lot of hypocrisy. There's a lot of false guilt. There's a lot of hurt people. There's a lot of division. Yes, some people like being told these little rules.
And so Mr. Ruler generally has a following round him who affirm him in what he's doing, but in his wake. There's disaster. Chuck Swindahl in his book, The Grace Awakening. Uh says this.
If I were to ask to name the major enemies of vital Christianity today, I'm not sure about what I wouldn't name legalism first. It kills congregations when a pastor is a legalist. It kills pastors when congregations are legalistic. Legalistic people with their rigid do's and don'ts kill the spirit of joy and spontaneity of those who wish to enjoy their liberty. Strict, legalistic people and leadership drain the very life out of a church.
Even though they may claim they're doing God a service. He goes on to say, Legalism is rigid, grim. exacting and law-like in nature.
Now that's written by a seasoned pastor who certainly knew what he was writing about. You say strong words, yes, but legalism. is not the goal. of holiness. God calls us to holiness.
And God calls us to freedom. not illegalistic. Bondage. Listen to the Apostle Paul. as he deals with illegalists in Galatians five verse one.
He says for freedom. Christ has set us free. There's a bondage of the law. But he says, Stand firm, therefore, and don't submit again to a yoke of slavery. We are followers of Christ.
We've been saved by grace. Why are you going back into a law-like atmosphere? And then he says in verse 13: for you were called to freedom, brothers. You say that's wonderful? But there's a caution here.
But don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve the Lord. one another. Yes, that's it. The Christian life. is not to be reduced to a set.
of do's and don'ts. We are to Obey God, not the rules of the legalists. Legalist is conf concerned with how people Look how they appear. And in churches Ruled by the legalists, they can become almost cult-like, where people have to think a certain way and look a certain way. God calls us.
Authentic Christianity. is a living Internal, joyful relationship with a risen Jesus Christ. Paul says, it is Christ living in me.
So we're gonna say Goodbye to Mr. Ruler and his legalism. We have to admit, and most of us, There is a spirit sometimes of Mr. A roller?
Sometimes the spirit of Miss Activism or prosperity. All of these things sometimes creep into our lives, don't they?
Well, what is the goal? of holiness. Here it is. The goal of holiness. Is Christ likeness.
It's to be like Christ. And the wonder of the gospel Is that God in His grace not only saves us, He has predestined us to be like His perfect Son. Turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. Where we will see this. Romans 8.
Twenty-eight, we love this verse. We know There are many things in the Christian life that we don't know. There are many mysteries and difficulties in life, but this we do know. We know. That for those who love God, All things work together for good.
Not an incredible promise. I don't understand many things that have happened in my life, but I do know. that God is working them for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, For those whom he foreknew, He also predestined, here it is, to be conformed to the image of his Son. in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined He also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also Glorified. Brother, sister, You are predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son of God. That's mind-blowing in its implications, isn't it?
This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. and the start of a message titled The Goal of Holiness. We'll continue this lesson tomorrow. Right now, we're excited to offer you John's helpful booklet for the time is near. a guide that brings clarity to the often misunderstood book of Revelation.
Unlike sensationalized approaches to prophecy, this booklet presents five essential biblical lessons that help you get the biblical big picture and better understand End Times teaching. Request your free copy of this helpful booklet today at the the verdict.org. Your faithful support of this ministry extends far beyond what we can see. Each broadcast reaches people at different stages of their journey.
Some hearing biblical truth for the first time. others finding renewed hope during difficult seasons. Through your generosity, these life-changing messages continue reaching into homes, workplaces, and communities where they're desperately needed. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us through a gift of any size? Your contribution, whether large or small, makes a lasting impact in the kingdom of God.
To give today, simply visit theverdict.org. Have you discovered the Verdict podcast yet? It's a convenient way to catch up on any messages you've missed or revisit your favorites. Plus, you'll get access to John's weekly feature called Avizandam, where he offers biblical insights on current events and challenging topics. Subscribe today through your favorite podcast app or find it on our website at theverdict.org.
Now, with his closing remarks, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? What do you think of this idea of holiness or sanctification? Have you been caught up in some of these false goals of holiness, such as sinless perfection or the very popular? Prosperity Gospel. as a common one.
but it's not supported in Scripture. And certainly, don't be caught up in a legalistic view of the Christian life. which is joyless, judgmental, and promotes self-righteousness.
Next time, we'll think of the positive as we think of what Peter is saying is to be our goal of holiness. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
