Back to the Bible Daily Program Transcript

Back to the Bible Radio Transcript
Series: How to Connect with God, Week 3 of 3
Program Title: How on Earth Can I Be Holy?
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
July 29, 2011
Woodrow Kroll: Christ died to redeem us.
Tami Weissert: But His death also purifies us.
Woodrow Kroll: We'll get all the details in today's study. Hi, I'm Woodrow
Kroll.
Tami Weissert: I'm Tami Weissert.
Woodrow Kroll: And this is Back to the Bible.
Tami Weissert: For the last few days we've been thinking about connecting
with a God Who is holy and Who requires us to be holy.
Today, Wood, we'll talk about the practical side of living a holy life. Where
do we start?
Woodrow Kroll: Let's start with the definition of holiness. Holiness doesn't
mean to be sinless, although God is both sinless and holy. Holiness for us
means to be distinct, different from the usual, set apart. For us, holiness
means that we are set apart from the world and set apart to God for His use.
Tami Weissert: So the question is, How do we go about living a holy life?
Dr. Kroll gives us some answers as we go back to the Bible with today's
study.
Woodrow Kroll: We're taking our time this week to connect with the God
who is holy by understanding what the Bible has to say about holiness—
that's instruction. And interpreting how the holiness of God can also be our
holiness—that's interpretation.
Today we want to think about application, the practical outworking of God's
instruction to you and me: "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).
Let me take you, first of all, to the Book of Titus, chapter 2. There's a
passage here that has a lot to do with holiness. And yet, it's a hidden
passage. It's one of those passages that I feel sorry for. I know, that needs
some explanation. Did you ever live in the shadow of another person? Maybe
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you had an older brother or an older sister or you had a very famous father
or famous mother and your whole life was lived in the shadow of someone
else. There are verses in the Bible like that. When you think of Titus 2, you
probably think of verse 13, looking for that blessed hope. What a powerful
verse that is. There's a tower right there. But you know what? The next
verse lives in its shadow and it's probably more important.
Let me go back and read a few verses before that. Let's start at verse 11 so
we can get the context: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has
appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and
Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, [now watch this—two reasons]
that He might redeem us from every lawless deed [that's number 1] and [2]
purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (verses
11-14).
May I just pry a little bit into your personal life? If I were to ask how many
times you have heard a message on Christ dying to redeem us, all of our
hands would go up. And if I ask you, Was it often a frequently repeated
message? a lot of hands would go up too.
But Christ died for two reasons. I wonder when was the last time we heard a
message on the second reason? He not only died to redeem us, He died to
purify us—that's to live holy lives. The second reason why Jesus died is so
we can live for the very reason He died.
We couldn't go to Him, so He came to us. He paid a debt He didn't owe
because we owed a debt we couldn't pay. He died so we could live. And one
of the reasons why (according to verse 14 in Titus 2) Jesus died, the second
reason, is to prepare a holy people, a unique, separate, distinct people.
For those of us who are happy about the first and ignorant about the second,
relief is here. We have a Bible in front of us. We can see exactly what God
said to us.
I want you to think about the tendency we have to ignore the second half of
that verse. I say "we" because we all have that tendency. I do as well as
you.
A. J. Gordon said: "I gravely fear that many Christians make the apostle's
word, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,' the unconscious
justification for a low standard of Christian living. It were almost better to
overstate the possibilities of sanctification in an eager grasp after holiness,
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than to understate them in complacent satisfaction with traditional
unholiness." Hear what he said?
While there are people who will criticize you for wanting to live a holy life
and what you do in order to see that you live a holy life, the more concern
ought to be given for people who don't care at all to live a holy life.
I'm not so much concerned about rules and regulations people make up in
order to live a holy life. That's not what the Bible is all about. I'm not as
much concerned about that as I am that people have no regulation in their
lives at all. They are satisfied with unholy living, because the second reason
why Jesus died for me (first one being to redeem me) is to purify me. And if
that's not happening in my life, what does that mean for the accomplishment
that He had on the cross?
So here's the question of the day: How on earth can I be holy?
Let me take you back. We have younger listeners, we have older listeners to
Back to the Bible, people in the mid-range. Some of you are going to identify
with this old hymn more than others, because you sang it a lot longer than
people sing it today. And some of you may not even recognize this hymn.
Those of you who are my age or younger will remember the hymn "Take
Time to Be Holy" (lyrics by William Dun Longstaff, 1882). We used to sing
that when I was a kid. And we still sing it occasionally today. Here are the
words of that hymn:
Take time to be holy,
Speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always
And feed on His Word.
Make friends of God's children,
Help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing
His blessing to seek.
You know what? The person who wrote this old hymn had a firm grasp on
what practical holiness is all about. The steps to living a holy life are all in
that hymn. Let me show you what they are. There are seven of them.
First of all, recognize that holiness takes time. "Take time to be holy."
I think it was Harry Ironside who used to say, "You cannot be holy and
hurry." And yet, isn't that true for us? We want to be holy immediately. We
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want to be holy today, and the quicker the better. And our impatience
contributes to our unholiness. Take time to be holy. It's going to take a lot of
time to be like the Savior.
So, if you've been saved for just a month and you're not where you ought to
be, just imagine the people who've been saved for 50 years and aren't
where they ought to be. It takes time to be holy. So don't rush the process.
Don't lag behind, but don't be impatient if things aren't going your way,
because it takes a whole lifetime sometimes to work out of our lives things
that are there and work into those lives things that ought to be there.
Number one, if you want to be holy, pay attention to the hymn. It takes
time. Every time you spend time with God, you'll become more like God.
Here's how I know that: When you spend time with me, you become more
like me. When I spend time with you, I become more like you. The
songwriter is right. If you want to be holy, anticipate that it's going to take
some time. Don't get in a hurry.
Secondly, notice the song says to speak often with the Lord. "Speak oft with
thy Lord."
James 1:5 says: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God." One of the
things that we have to learn to do when we pray to God is not just give God
a shopping list. That's what prayer tends to be. Have you noticed that? Have
you noticed how "me" tends to be the center of my prayers? The third word
in most of my prayers is "me." "Lord, help me." "Lord, show me." "Me, me,
me, me." I'm the subject of my prayer life. When if I want to be holy, I have
to speak often with the Lord and make Him the subject of my prayer life. I
don't want to be the subject of the sentences that I use in prayer.
By the way, I don't want to be the subject of the sentences I sing on Sunday
morning either. It's not about me; it's about Him. Take time to be holy.
Speak often with the Lord. The more time you spend in prayer, the closer to
the Father you're going to become.
The third thing: Abide in the Lord. "Take time to be holy; speak oft with thy
Lord; abide in Him always."
You know the passage—John 15. Jesus is describing to His disciples there
what it means to abide in Him and how they are powerless unless they do
abide in Him. In this great passage, Jesus is very concerned that the
disciples know that they can draw strength from the Lord Jesus.
This is what He says (15:1-5): "I am the true vine, and My Father is the
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vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and
every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. [That's
the trouble that comes into your life.] You are already clean because of the
word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides
in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
I love the expression that Jesus says: "I am the vine, you are the branches."
You know what? One of the difficulties you and I face as Christians is getting
our roles confused with God's role. We forget who God is, and we try to do
His job, take His place.
Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. You abide in Me, you will
become like Me. You will be in My presence, and the more you are in My
presence, the more you are speaking with Me, the more you recognize that
time with Me is the most precious time you can spend in the day. The more
that happens, the holier you will be."
One other thing. The hymn says, "Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy
Lord; abide in Him always and feed on His Word."
I want to tell you, if there is a theme at Back to the Bible, that is the theme.
Here's why it's our theme: I think God only wrote one Book. In fact, I'm
convinced He only wrote one Book. I think He would be pleased to have us
read it. I think He would seriously be pleased to have us read the only Book
He ever wrote. People just don't know the Word of God very well, so they
can't take positions in political issues or moral issues because they don't
know what God believes about those things.
The song is right: "Take time to be holy, speak oft with the Lord; abide in
Him always and feed on His Word."
Remember the Corinthians? Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said: "I can't
write to you as adults. I have to write to you as children because you are
carnal. You are not feeding on the Word. I had to give you milk. By now you
ought to be chewing meat."
God feels exactly the same way about a lot of us. We're still sucking away on
our bottle when we ought to be chewing our own meat. We're going to every
seminar we can find. We buy every DVD we can get our hands on. We ought
to be just rolling up our sleeves and getting into His Word and chewing
away. "Feed on His Word." That's what makes a person holy. When you
abide in the Lord and feed on His Word, you become more like the Master
than any other way.
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Tami Weissert: You are listening to Back to the Bible.
Wood, what do you say to someone who says, "I understand that feeding on
the Word is important, but the Word, to me, tastes like spinach."
Woodrow Kroll: First of all, I would say "I'm sorry" to that person how
deceptive their taste buds have become. Look, the Bible is God's book. He
wrote it to you. He didn't write it to make you feel good or to be tasty. He
wrote it to give you life.
The problem today is that so many people want to eat Gummy Bears when
they really need green beans. Everybody loves Gummy Bears. They're
squishy. They're brightly colored. They're flavorful. Their appeal is to the
taste buds. But you can't build a life on Gummy Bears. They are just
insufficient to help you grow strong muscles and bones.
That's the way it is with the Bible. You don't want to compare it to a spinetingling
mystery novel. You want to compare it to the instructions on how to
get into a lifeboat and row to safety.
Tami Weissert: Today on Back to the Bible we are covering seven practical
steps for living a holy life. (1) Take time to be in God's Word; (2) Pray often;
(3) Abide, or live all parts of your life with God. There are four more steps,
so here's Dr. Kroll.
Woodrow Kroll: We're thinking about the old hymn:
Take Time to Be Holy,
Speak oft with the Lord;
Abide in Him always
And feed on His Word.
Those verbs in there—"take time. It takes time to be holy, and you have to
speak often with the Lord. You pray a lot and that draws you closer to Him.
You abide in Him. That means you rest in Him. You spend your life in Him.
You don't run to Jesus when you're in trouble. Do you know what Jesus says
to you when you run to Him in trouble? He says, "Where were you yesterday
when I needed you to do something for Me?"
We have a tendency to believe Jesus is kind of cosmic Santa Claus. We can
treat Him any way we want. He's always there for us. The fact of the matter
is He is Lord and Master of the universe. You don't go to Him when you're in
trouble, you live in Him. That's what abiding is all about.
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We saw that it's important for us to (4) feed on the Word, not just get a little
morsel here and there, not just get a quick Happy Meal out of the Word and
go on our way but actually be in the Word so that we feed there.
There are three other things this old hymn says that help you to be holy.
One of them is, number 5, "Make friends of God's children."
I quoted to you just a few minutes ago from 1 Corinthians 3:1 about Paul
writing to the Corinthians and saying: "I couldn't even write to you as adults
because you act like children." But the very next chapter, he says in 4:1-2:
"Let a man so [account] consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of
the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found
faithful." Accountability. He says, "It is required of me to be faithful in what I
do for you. That's what God called me to do."
Here's my requirement: It is required of me every time I step before an
audience like this, every time I stand in a pulpit, every time I speak on radio
or television or anywhere else; it is required of me to say to you, "This is
what the Bible says," because that's my job. You don't have to like what I
say. But if you don't like what I say, don't blame me. I'm the messenger.
I'm just telling you what It says. Take it up with the Author if you don't like
it. But this is what the Bible says.
I firmly believe that when you make friends of God's children, your
conversation is going to often turn to what God says. That's accountability.
And it's important for us to have people to whom we are accountable. And
the way to do that is to make friends of God's children. Does that mean you
can't have friends in the world? Well, no. Who are you going to witness to if
you don't have any unsaved friends? You are likely to have unsaved friends
at your office or on the job or over the back fence or at the supermarket.
But you need Christian friends, because Christian friends help Christian
friends.
And then it says, "Help those who are weak."
A part of being holy is what we do with our feet. James 1 talks about not
being hearers of the Word but being doers also. Not saying you love your
brother (1 John) but actually demonstrating your love for your brother.
Helping those who are weak is an active pursuit of holiness because the
world does not see the weak the same way you and I see the weak. The
world says, "It's weak, stamp it out. It's weak, factor it out. It's weak, cover
it up." Jesus says, "It's weak, give it a hand, lift it up." Helping those who
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are weak is a way to become holy.
Then one last thing: "Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in
Him always and feed on His Word. Make friends of God's children, help those
who are weak; forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek."
I like that part: Seeking the blessing of God. That means I'm going to live
for the long run. I'm in this for the long haul. Seeking the blessing of God
means if I don't find it today, I don't quit. Seeking the blessing of God
means if it doesn't come the first ministry I'm involved with, then I ought to
get out of the ministry and do something else. Seeking the blessing of God
doesn't mean that the first time someone doesn't like what I say and they
write me a letter and tell me so, I don't stop there.
If you've listened to this program with any degree of consistency and you've
heard me conclude the program, you know that every day (in fact, I've
never missed a day since 1990) I always say, "Have a good and godly day."
I have had people write and say, "Why do you say godly day?"
Here's my answer: I have a lot of days that aren't good days. Isn't that true
for you? But because they aren't a good day doesn't mean that they can't be
a godly day. I have many days that are not good days that are godly days.
Listen, I have no days that are good days that are not also godly days,
because the issue is not, Is it good? The issue is, Is it godly?
Tami Weissert: Thanks for joining us today on Back to the Bible as we
learned practical ways to live a holy life.
Wood, you covered seven steps for living a holy life. Let's review.
Woodrow Kroll: OK. Number 1, take time to be holy; that is, plan to spend
time listening to God. Number 2, speak often with God. A healthy prayer life
is so important
Tami Weissert: Number 3, abide in the Lord. Live your life in Him and for
Him. Number 4 is feed on His Word.
Woodrow Kroll: Number 5, make friends of God's children. God's children
are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Get to know them. Help one another.
Hold one another accountable. Enjoy each other.
Tami Weissert: Number 6 is help those who are weak. And 7, seek the
blessing of God.
Wood, seeking the blessing of God may sound selfish on the surface. Explain
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the attitude we should have in doing this.
Woodrow Kroll: God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others. If
we seek God's blessing for our own benefit, that would be very selfish. But if
we ask God to bless us so that we may help others experience His love, or
help others know Him more intimately, that blessing is passed on. And God
is happy to give us a blessing when we want to pass it on to others.
Tami Weissert: Wood, a great series these last three weeks on how to
connect with God. By the way, if you are interested in getting that series,
you can always go to our website or give us a call.
Woodrow Kroll: We would be delighted to have you do so.
I just want to say thank you for being a part of our listening family. This is
Friday, and you know what that means. The weekend is here. You are going
to have plenty of things to do, but please don't forget to be faithful to your
pastor and to your local church. Back to the Bible is not a substitute for your
local church, so be in your place t his weekend. Join others in worshiping the
Lord and learning from His Word. Then come back on Monday for Back to
the Bible. We'll be here, waiting for you. It's always a pleasure to have you
as a part of our listening family.
I'm Woodrow Kroll, and my prayer for you is the same every day at this
time, that you would have a good and godly day, for of what lasting value is
a good day if it's not also a godly day?
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