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"How to Cleanse Your Character" 2 Timothy 2:19-22 Holiness for All the Saints #5

by Clancy Nixon

February 10, 2008

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.HolySpiritAnglican.org

There is a man with homosexual desires who contributes to an Anglican blog I

read called Stand Firm, who goes by the handle "Episcopalienated." Before he became a

Christian, Episcopalienated knew that there was only one Biblical standard of sexual

morality within lifelong, faithful, heterosexual monogamous marriage. That knowledge

was enough to keep him from becoming a Christian for many years as he pursued an

active gay lifestyle. Then he was converted to Christ, and so he became sexually

abstinent. He reports that he has found this 15 years of chastity to be quite liberating. He

wrote last month that if he were to return to an active homosexual lifestyle, even if

monogamously partnered, it would mean an effective renunciation of his faith in Christ,

and a willing involvement in mortal sin. The call to ongoing discipleship, to

sanctification, is an invitation to place ourselves between the hammer and the anvil as

God forges us into new creatures in Christ. He wrote that we are always free to decide

that the cost of discipleship is too great, and then walk away; but we are never free to

decide for ourselves what that cost is going to be. We must accept it on God's terms, or

not at all.

Otherwise, He is not God; we are.

Let's review where we have been in our sermon series. Today we continue to look

at the Third stage of holiness progressively growing to be like Christ. Remember that

we said the first stage of holiness is the holiness that God bestows that is the free gift of

salvation, which you cannot work to attain. After you are born again, the issue becomes

not salvation, but sanctification. Then we looked at how bad sin really is at how deep

our sin problem really is the pollution of sin is embedded in our nature we can't fully

wash it off in this life. We said that the second stage of holiness involves a decision for

absolute surrender to God as the Lord and master of your life, a settling of the question as

to who is in charge of your life. Even after that decision point of surrender, the Lordship

of Jesus is an ongoing issue in our lives, since we continue to sin. Sanctification is an

ongoing process that starts at the moment of salvation, and involves both the letting go of

sin, and the taking on of godly habits, which produce godly character. Every day we are

called to lay down our lives to once again confess our sins to God, forsake them, and

lead a new life. This is progressive holiness, stage three holiness growth into the

likeness of Jesus Christ. Today we're looking at how we come to look like Christ. We do

have a part to play in our growth in holiness.

The short answer is that we grow in holiness through the means of grace. By

submitting to spiritual disciplines, we give God the room he needs to do His work of

sanctification in us. That is, we are sanctified through exercising spiritual disciplines like

self-examination, confession, repentance, restitution, Bible reading, alms-giving, prayer

and fasting, regular worship and service in the church and world.

Growth in holiness is simple, but it is not easy. It's like getting better at any sport

you can name basketball, for example. It takes practice. You have to keep at it, daily if

possible, to see real progress. A good coach who has been there before is essential to help

you progress, whether it's in basketball or in holiness. Also essential is a willingness just

to get out there every day whether it's shooting those free throws, or confessing your

sins and reading your Bible. Most believers in Jesus want to be more like their master;

we want to forsake our sins - particularly those sins that we can't hide, the ones that

others can so obviously see, like gluttony on our waistline or bigotry on our lips. You

and I experience the same conundrum as Paul did in Romans 7:15, 18-19: "I do not

understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.... Nothing

good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good,

but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good that I want to do; no - the evil I

don't want to do, this I keep on doing." It is not easy to live a holy life. It's difficult, it's

hard. Indeed, it's impossible without God. But with God, all things are possible,

including growth in holiness. Amen?

We all want to be kinder than we are; we all want to be more loving than we are.

How do we get there? In his book Set Apart, Bruce Wilkinson says that few believers

actually pursue holiness with any diligence. How about you? When you look back over

the last two years, can you see changes in your behavior? [pause] Any growth in spiritual

fruit? [pause] Can you identify a growing edge in your character? I'll give you a great

tool to help you with that in a few minutes.

Please open your Bibles to Paul's second letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verse 19,

page 1179 of your blue pew Bibles. Here we find Paul's prescription for holiness - how

we can progress in holiness to look more like Jesus. Verse 19b says, "Everyone who

confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." In verse 20, Paul tells

us that some household articles, like those made of gold and silver, are made for noble

purposes, and some others, like those made of wood and clay, are for ignoble, or common

purposes. Many of us have two sets of dishes, not for a Biblical reason like keeping

kosher, but because we only pull out the good china on special occasions. When someone

pulls out the crystal goblets, you know that something special, something noble, is afoot.

In verse 21, Paul tells us that if a man cleanses himself from ignoble purposes, he will be

an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any

good work. How about you would you like to be so clean spiritually that you're

prepared for every good work? You can be. In the next verse, he tells us to flee the evil

desires of youth other translations say, flee youthful lusts. Immediately following, is the

injunction to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.

This passage shows us 4 of the Lord's requirements for holiness: first, Turn away

from wickedness; second, Cleanse yourself; third, Flee youthful lusts; and fourth, Pursue

righteousness. These actions can be placed in two categories, that Wilkinson calls the

two halves of holiness: In order to attain holiness, we must both 1) Leave something

behind our sin; and we must 2) chase after something - righteousness.

I think one reason why some of us are not growing in holiness is that we often try

to add good actions, without subtracting the bad. It's like people who try adding Jesus to

an already successful life. Let's say your life is like a house, and the rooms of the house

are like the aspects of your character. You can try to park the Lord in the Library, but

then put up invisible fences to all the other rooms of your house, by not making him the

Lord of your kitchen, the Lord of your TV room, the Lord of your bedroom. Once you

invite the Master in, He doesn't just want to take up residence in you He wants to clean

house. We may clean our bodies with a daily shower, but few of us take the time to

regularly clean our souls. Cleansing starts with confession, and proceeds through

repentance.

Many of us are not fleeing our sinful desires; instead, some of us are pursuing our

lusts. Take pornography for example. Some of you set your sin aside, all right, but

instead of throwing your magazines away, you put them on the shelf, intending to take

them out again later. Instead of getting protection for your browser, you are bookmarking

as favorites some racy sites. I know, I'm no stranger to MySpace, I see who your friends

are! I read somewhere that a good definition of "Evil" is making provision for sin. Some

of you are denying your sin, or putting off dealing with it, as if it were a small deal.

Many of us, right here in our church, struggle with irritability and anger. Oh, we

put on a good face in church, but in our unguarded moments, our private moments at

home, our true selves come out. I confess to you that I struggle with irritability I can

snap or sneer or act impatient. These are sins against charity - sins against love. It's easy

to think that these are inconsequential, because they are not premeditated sins. I was

convicted this week as I read C.S. Lewis say this in Mere Christianity: "What a man

does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence of what sort of man he [really] is.

If there are rats in the cellar, you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly.

But the suddenness does not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. In the

same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; but

it shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always in the cellar, but if you

go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light."

You and I need cleansing so that our instinctive reactions show patience and gentleness.

My sins are not my friends! Let's say this together: My sins are not my friends.

My sins are not my friends. We aren't to say "au revoir" to our sins; we are to say

"adieu." Not, till we meet again; but a decisive, final goodbye. We can do that if we have

already absolutely surrendered to the Lordship of Christ in our lives. We can do that if we

have killed our self-will. We can do that if we believe that God can empower us to do his

will today. Don't believe the lie that you are not able to forsake your sin today; that

thought is straight from the pit. No matter how weak you feel, God is able, to empower

you obey him. Amen?

I've got a good handout for you today to help you grow in holiness. Take up the

insert in your bulletin called "Ten Steps to Deep Cleansing" form Bruce Wilkinson's

book Set Apart. You'll need at least one hour to do this exercise, which I'm asking you

to do sometime this week. We search our hearts almost every week on Sunday in silence

before our general confession for about one minute; but it is very helpful to search our

hearts at length from time to time. First, we'll look briefly at what the steps are; then,

I'm going to ask you to take out your calendar and schedule this hour for your soul's

health. Now, as your Lenten discipline, would you take out your calendar and schedule

this? I'll give you two minutes to do this.

Ten Steps to Deep Cleansing

Taken largely from Bruce Wilkinson, Set Apart

1. Find a quiet place to sit alone for at least an hour with several sheets of paper, a pen and

your favorite Bible.

2. Quiet your heart before the Lord by sitting still, closing your eyes, and preparing to seek

the Lord. Put all distractions and worries out of your mind. Don't allow frustration to

divide you; this may take a while.

3. Pray to the Lord and thank Him for bringing you to this place, where you desire to be

cleansed before Him. Ask Him to give you courage and grace as you humble yourself.

Commit to the Lord that you will stay in the process until He reveals that you are fully

cleansed, regardless of the cost.

4. Ask the Holy Spirit, "Please reveal to me the specific sins in my life, even the ones I may

have forgotten which lie between You and me. In Jesus name, amen."

5. List everything the Holy Spirit reveals to you. Don't hesitate, and don't skip any of the

harder ones. When you can't think of any more, pray a second time, "Holy Spirit, I desire

to confess all sins between You and me. Please reveal any additional sins. Give me

Your courage and grace." After you have listed everything, sit quietly for five minutes -

time yourself - and you may receive a couple more. When the list is completed, number

what's on the list in the order of how difficult they will be for you to confess and make

restoration, number one being the hardest.

6. Confess your sins one at a time before the Lord. Begin with the hardest first, using words

like these: "Lord, I hereby confess to You that I have committed the sin of

____________________. Please forgive me for this sin and thoroughly cleanse me from

it." Go through your list one by one until you are finished.

7. Anticipate the personal struggle you will face. Don't be alarmed at your strong desire to

flee; everyone feels the same way! Just proceed with your commitment. And give

yourself a maximum of three days to make right every single item on your list.

8. Make restoration where necessary and expect to have to humble yourself to at least one

other person in this process of restoration. Take the hardest first and deal with it in

person. If that's not possible, use the telephone. If that's not possible, write a letter. You

may have to return to a store and pay for items you stole, or confess to a teacher that you

cheated on an exam. Always take the high road and do more than what would be

expected of you.

9. Write DONE! Across your sheet after you have confessed, made restoration, forgiven,

and received God's cleansing for each sin. When every item is completed, burn your

sheet as an act of assurance of the Lord's total and complete forgiveness. Then realize

that any negative thoughts about what you've done are not from God, and never allow

the accuser to attack you on these issues again. For tough cases, start by praying these

words out loud. "Lord I have confessed this sin of _________ and I know You have

forgiven me. I stand in Your forgiveness and cleansing." (If you don't experience

forgiveness, it is often helpful to confess your sin to another human being. Ask a trusted,

mature friend, or call your home group pastor or your Pastor.)

10. Thank the Lord when you have completed your list. Praise Him for His forgiveness and

thank Him for His cleansing.