The Desperate Need for Holiness — Shane Idleman

The Desperate Need for Holiness

You will not truly understand God until holiness becomes a part of your life. There's a desperate need in our culture today for holiness. You've heard me talk about this before. What God calls an abomination is filling our video screens and nobody seems to care.

It's entertaining the church. What God calls an abomination come out from among them. We entertains us. We love it. We enjoy it. We wonder why we have no relationship with God because we have no holiness.

And I truly believe that's one of the dilemmas in our culture today. We many are not truly hearing from God. I'm not talking about walking around hearing these little thoughts and God. So I'm talking about spending time in the prayer closet broken and humble and seeking him seeking the face of the father.

That's holiness that's being set apart. No we're not gonna look like the world and if I hear another doll adult tell me that they're trying to do all these little things. To make Christianity cool. Christianity will never be cool.

It's not cool. It looks different. There's a distinction. There's a different nature. There's a different character. There's a different spirit guiding it the spirit of this world or the Spirit of Christ within you they do not look the same.

They shouldn't look the same. There's a distinction. There's a separation. Come out from among them my people and be separate. The seriousness of sin the great cry in the church today's but but make me feel better.

Sin's Destructive Power in the Church and the Call to Conviction

Shame make me feel better. Encourage me. No, no. No, the great me in the church today is to talk about this issue. Sin is destroying the church is destroying marriages. It's quenching and grieving the Spirit of God.

That's why the Bible says all these things to do. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. Let this mind be in you.

Which was also in Christ Jesus. Be not conformed to this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Abide in me. Christ would say so that you do not fall. Paul would tell the believer. I warn you I beseech you brethren.

Present your bodies as living sacrifices. Guard the Word of God. Cherish the Word of God. Proclaim the Word of God. Hold fast to the truth of God's Word. Why do they say all these engaging terms? Because the sin is sent to kill still and to destroy.

That's the the true problem today is we love the world. Let's be honest. My flesh loves the world but my spirit says don't you dare go there and If you quench and you grieve the Spirit of God within you you will be deceived.

Lukewarm Christianity and Worldly Entertainment

You will be led astray. It's that simple. It's that easy. It's that quick. And do you know who dislikes these messages more than anybody else. Lukewarm Christians, oh my gosh, they hate the heat of conviction when I come out and say we should not be filling our mind with witchcraft and Vampires and the occult and all these shows that we're watching.

Who are you to say that? Oh my god, we love these. No, that's an abomination in the sight of God the day you begin to glorify witchcraft and sorcery and vampires of the day. Sir, like Samson you wish not that the Spirit of the Lord has departed.

You know, not that the Spirit of the Lord has departed from you. Well Shane. I'm just not convicted in that area. You're not convicted because your face isn't buried in the Word of God as James McDonald.

I heard him preach at two weeks ago I said I got to remember that line. I Hear that all the time. That's a good point. I'm just not convicted about that like you are. Yeah, because you're not set towards God you're set towards Sodom.

Your face isn't buried in the Word of God putting on worship seeking heart after him repenting and praying. Of course, you're not convicted. Because you have a different set of guidelines guiding you the the prince of this world is guiding you and that's why I said Lord I don't want to talk about these things.

I just talked about Potter and vampires and and twilight and all these last year. I don't want to die. Don't I don't want to do. I just want to get general. But these are the things affecting our culture and I know I'm stepping on toes.

But we have to step on some toes because these things are abomination. Think about it. Think I'm not angry. I'm passionate. I'm upset. I want to weep because we glorify these things. They're good witches.

They're good vampires for the love of God. You've got to be kidding me. Just admit it and stop trying to defend it as if the Word of God does not say anything about this. It makes me sick and it makes me sad because these people are deceived and thinking it's no big deal.

Cultural Filth and the Church's Failure to Separate

To wonder why they have no fellowship with God then why they're not broken and humble why they're not seeking heart after him why they don't know anything that I'm talking about because they're filling in their mind with a bunch of garbage and they Justify it as if I'm not convicted in that area.

Well, you should be Guys I'm just saying it love it's one thing to say. Yeah I know I shouldn't be watching these things but to actually try to defend it as if God doesn't care you have dating shows and Reality shows that are stench in the nostrils of a righteous.

Holy pure God. Nobody seems to care. You've got the be next door coming out. You've got swapping wives. You've got come on church. Wake up for crying out loud. Have sex with the prostitute burn her and then take the money.

Something is seriously wrong in our culture. Yeah, there's video games. I just described you can do that. I have a five-year-old son. Here's some play this game. After you are intimate with her take the money back and burn her isn't that wonderful?

Isn't that great? And we all laugh this should be we should be weeping over the condition of our culture and it's the church doing it folks. It's the church many times. Proclaiming Christians, there's no holiness.

There's no distinction. They're not set apart. I'm not talking about gray areas. I'm talking about this is sick and perverted. And until you realize it and turn to God and say Lord, I don't want this.

And if it's not then there's something wrong in your spirit. I cannot believe what they can do on a video game. It is absolutely alarming. When I was 12 years old, you'd have to go find a magazine buried out in the desert somewhere now.

You have the most disgusting filth a click away that you have ever seen in your life. It's getting more and more and more and more perverted. The need for the church to come out from among them be separate has never been greater.

Standing for Righteousness Like the Prophets

Yeah, you can call me a fanatical you can call me Luke warm. You can cut or don't call me Luke warm, but you can call me a Jesus freak. You can call me all these things, but don't call me Luke warm. Because you will be labeled you will be scorned when you stand up for righteousness when Elisha Elisha all he did was call the people back to God.

That's all he did return to God. Oh backsliding Israel return to God. Your wickedness your idols return to God. The king wicked. King Ahab said oh you trouble of Israel. Do you realize they killed the prophets?

They stoned them. Hebrews says something very alarming. The writer of Hebrews says without holiness. No one will see the Lord. See there's a holiness. What I've been talking about today is sanctification as a believer becoming more holy.

But there's a holiness to salvation if without holiness. It means nothing we do. It's what Christ did on the cross. It's what theologians call imputed righteousness. We take on the righteousness of Christ by accepting and believing and repenting of our sin.

And now we can stand before God holy and in right standing because of what he did on the cross.