Titus 2:11-14

Romans 13:11-13

Isaiah 52:1-2, 7-11

1 John 3:1-7

What do these verses tell us about the return of Christ?

In what way do the passages describe the need to be ready?

What actions regarding living a life that honors the Lord accompany those who believe in and are preparing for His coming?

What is the Spirit showing us about the Church or ourselves regarding our need to live awake and be holy?

Those who are awakening and becoming more and more aware of His return are characterized by a seriousness about obeying Jesus’ call that we be holy as He is holy. However the more we are made aware of His perfection, the more we recognize our faults and how unlike him we are. We see our spots.

Years ago I cared for my mom as her encroaching dementia became increasingly evident. She needed cataract surgery and since she still enjoyed looking at the newspaper, we thought this surgery would be beneficial. After her first successful surgery, she returned to her apartment to spend the night. In the morning when I arrived to check on her, she was in a state of fury. When I asked her what had made her so angry, she pointed to her face and said, “Look at me. Do you see them all over my face?”  Puzzled, I meekly asked, “What?” “The spots!!! They weren’t on my face yesterday. Someone must have come into my room and put them all over my face! Who would do such a horrible thing?” As you realize, no one had put the spots on her face; they were there but because of her cataracts, she couldn’t see them. But now that she was “awakened” by her surgery, she could, to her own horror, see clearly what she didn’t know was there all along. This is similar for us as we draw closer to the Lord, to walk with Him. Our spots, that we may not have seen before, become more evident and also more distressing. 

So how do we deal with the spots? Over the next two studies as we study holy living, we will talk about the necessity of walking with the Holy Spirit in His ministry of spot removal which in scripture is called sanctification. 

We begin our lives as a child of God by faith in Jesus’ perfect and complete sacrifice for our sin. Isaiah reminds us that though our sins were red as scarlet, He has washed us white as snow. Because of the power and efficacy of Jesus’ blood to completely blot out our record of wrong, we are now seen by God as holy. It is because of this cleansing that the Spirit of God, who is Holy, can now reside within. 2 Cor. 6;19 states, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your bodies.”

An illustration that helped me to understand the complete cleansing that God speaks of became clear one snowy day as I was looking out at the trees in the front yard. It was a sticky snow that completely covered the tops of each and every branch and twig; a perfect blanket of uninterrupted whiteness, that is if one looked at the tree from above. From below, the rough bark with all of its blemishes and imperfections could still be seen. Suddenly it became clear to me that God the Father views me from above, while I view myself from below where the rough underside of the branches are visible. Indeed from His view, we who have received Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf are white as snow.

Though this is true in God’s economy, He calls us to pursue holiness in our daily experience.This is where the rubber meets the road.  Another picture that can depict this is that of a lantern. I have a battery operated lantern that sits in a glass enclosed case. When we become a child of God, the light within the lantern case is lit, that light representing the Holy Spirit of God who now resides within. However the lantern case is often filled with junk that obscures the light. In my lantern case there was pride, shame, over-eating, lying, selfishness, anger, jealousy, bitterness, fear… I could go on and on, lots and lots of spots. So again I ask, how do we deal with the spots? How do I get the junk out of my lantern case so that the light within can shine more and more brightly? First let me say what doesn’t work. Trying my hardest to be good doesn’t work. Feeling guilty and punishing myself for failing doesn’t work. How often have I gotten on the hamster wheel of sinning, feeling shame and guilt, doing some kind of penance, resolving to never do it again, and then failing, only to repeat the cycle. Those who are awakening to their spots and their need for sanctification can depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit to do what our flesh cannot. 

“To set the mind on the flesh (to remove our spots) is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God for it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God…. If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (Rom. 8:6,7,11)

It is the Holy Spirit’s job as it were to lead us into victorious spot removal. Philippians 2;12,13 tells us to, “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God (the Holy Spirit) who works in you both to will and work for His good pleasure.” There is an engagement between us and God’s Spirit who is at work within us both to desire holiness and to direct and empower our pursuit of holy living. This is God’s gift, His promise and with Him is the power to do what we cannot do. As children of God, we trust that we are in truth the temple of the Holy Spirit within us, we yield to doing the work of sanctification in His way and we depend on His supernatural power to work this out. We trust, we yield, we depend. Our willingness to change and our appeal for His help are met by His power and often this is a working out process over time. But this process is done in relationship with God whose desire for us is to shine brightly with the light of His Spirit. 

“The choice to stop sinning and start depending is not a willpower issue; it is an interpersonal issue. It is human resistance to the empowering, transformational presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the refusal to receive the Spirit’s loving presence and leading and instead putting confidence in my own ability to change myself. Learning to trust, love and draw life from the Spirit is difficult.”(D.A.Carson) But may I add, is possible and once we experience the difference between the mind set on the flesh, which feels like death – and the mind that is set on the Spirit which brings life and peace, we are less and less likely to refuse the Spirit’s help.

“When the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but because of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our savior. (Titus 3:4)

More on this next week, but take heart, God is patient as we take His hand and let Him lead us as we pursue holy living.