Kolchin, Mark: N-Workers Conference 2001-07 ~ A Vision Of Holiness In Leadership

Should be receiving outlines in just a moment. If I can call on Barry. We have the outlines for the people. While they're being, uh, handed out, I want to call to your attention that, uh, in New Jersey, each year we have an elders conference, and, uh, this year, Lord willing, we'll be having that on the first Saturday of November. I believe that's November third. Larry Price will be the speaker. This is, uh, brought together by, uh, three assemblies for the benefit of the New Jersey Assembly elders. However, we do open up for other assemblies in the area that might be interested in, uh, the elders, rather, in those assemblies might be interested in attending. This year, we're willing, the topic will be dealing with, identifying and dealing with disciplinary issues in the meeting. And of course, that's a very touchy issue and a very sensitive thing, something that, uh, if you've not come across it yet, you may very soon. The moral situation in our society is forcing us to deal with these issues. There are people coming in from various backgrounds, complex issues that are involved, and, uh, certainly it's something that'll be needed to be addressed, uh, probably more frequently. So the first Saturday of November, if you're in the region and you're interested in attending, that'll be with Larry Price. It's an all-day, uh, seminar. The wonderful thing about that meeting, we have our speaker address the topic, and then we have an hour and a half discussion about the nuts and bolts of the things that were talked about. And then, of course, we repeat that in the afternoon. And so it's very, very practical. The experience, the accumulated experience and knowledge of all those elders in that meeting is just really something to behold. So if you're able to come and you're interested in coming, see me afterwards, and I'd be glad to take your name down and send an invitation to you. Now it's my job to corral our thoughts from our break time and lead you through the gates of ministry of God's word. And I have been assigned the topic of vision for holiness in leadership. And by now, hopefully you've received that outline. We'll follow that outline in a basic way. I was challenged when I saw the outline come through, uh, by Jack Spender last night, so I went back to the room last night and cranked out this outline, hopefully for your benefit. It's about midnight, and I'm all ready to print it out and realized I left my power cord for my printer home. So if you have seen me scurrying around here back and forth, back and forth, that's what I was doing, getting some help along those lines. Now, as I look out on this audience, I realize, in my mind at least, that I am talking to leaders, people who have some sort of influence amongst the Lord's people. And I can't help but think of the words of Malachi in chapter two, verse one, Now, O priest, this commandment is for you. We have heard some excellent ministry through the course of our meetings thus far, and I know afterwards as well. And, uh, we've been talking about a holy God, a holy people. But when we think about it, and a lot of practical ministry, we want to focus our attention in this meeting on our responsibility to lead the way by example. The particular title that I was assigned was A Vision for Holiness in Leadership. So this is addressed to those that occupy some sort of influence among the Lord's people. This is not just for full-time workers per se, this is not just for missionaries, this is not just for elders, this could be for those who in some way have some influence and effect amongst the Lord's people. Now, there's no question that the level of personal holiness is probably lower than it has ever been. With the advent of the internet, with the video revolution, TV, film, print media, the radio, uh, the secular influences because of secular humanism has permeated this country through and through. There's no question about it that, uh, this country is in a bad situation. And because Christians move about in this world too, Christians obviously can be very much affected by these influences just as much. Our society definitely been affected by these things in a very adverse way. And I can't help but think of the words in second Timothy chapter three verse four that the people are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And that is our society in which we live, and we live in that society. And, uh, even though you may have grown up in a Christian home, you rub shoulders with people in the supermarkets and at work or wherever it might be that, uh, have been affected. And it's obvious to see that our society is definitely going down morally. My own brother, who's not a Christian, a number of years ago said, this country is in terrible shape. Not a Christian. And yet very obvious to see through the television programs and other things, the film and everything else, how things are so, so poor. Well, clearly the responsibility is upon every Christian to live a life of holiness. We read in First Timothy chapter one verse nine one of the reasons for holiness. Those words, if you recall, says this, he who has called, uh, saved us and called us with a holy calling. So Christians have received a holy calling. There's no question about that. There's no debate about that. That is the calling by which we've been called. It's a holy calling. It separates those who have religious ideas in the world, who aren't living their holy lives, and we heard some of that by Brother McCarthy earlier, la- yesterday, about what they view as paradise, the, the Islam religion. Not certainly a holy calling that they've been called to, but Christians have been called to a holy calling. And then in Ephesians chapter four verse twenty four, we're reminded that we should put on a new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness. True holiness. There are people out there that have a false holiness. They give the pretense of holiness, but if you examine their lives, if you listen to their talk, if you listen to their philosophy of life and the afterlife, you can see it's not true holiness. But Christians have been called by God for a life of holiness, have been created in the new man for righteousness and true holiness. And then, of course, when we think about the reason for holiness, we can't help but think of First Peter chapter one verses fifteen and sixteen: As he who has called you is holy, be holy in all manner of conversation, in all your conduct, because he has said, I am holy, you be holy too. That's God's charge to every single Christian. There's not a two-tier system where some people can opt to go and live a casual Christian life, and there are some who are more serious about it because of various influences or circumstances upon their life. There is no two-tier system. God has called every single Christian to a life of holiness. That's the normal Christian life, holiness. And yet, practically speaking, there's a lot of people that are not living holy lives. We realize that there's, for the reason of perhaps ignorance, they perhaps understand that they are positionally holy. Christ has made them holy positionally, but practically speaking, they're not living holy lives. They're not reading the word of God, and so therefore they're not understanding their responsibilities in the Christian life, and so because of ignorance, they are not living holy lives. Hebrews chapter five reminds us that a faithful high priest is one who has compassion on those who are ignorant and those who are out of the way, those who are disobedient. That's another reason why people may not be living holy lives. Might be a matter of ignorance, but also might be a matter of just plain disobedience. They're not interested. They understand the concept. They're not dumb. They understand clearly what the word of God teaches, and yet they are out of the way. They are disobedient. They have strayed. And so even though the, the reason for holiness is there, they don't want to abide by it. But if you notice on your outline there also, it says that we have a resource for living the life of holiness. God tells us in his word in Second Peter chapter one verse three, according as his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Eternal life, and then the power and the ability, the resource to live a holy life. God has given us his power to do that, all by these promises, and that's another aspect, the promise of God's word. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to guide us and to direct us into all truth so that he will glorify Christ, and he does that in a light that is committed to Christ. And then the word of God to guide us, a lamp unto our feet, sheds light on our path, gives us guidance. And then the wonderful promise from God's word in Philippians chap- Philippians chapter 1, verse six: that he who began a good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Isn't that a wonderful promise? He has committed himself to us. Yes, we have committed us, ourselves, our lives to him by faith. We're trusting in him for our salvation, but he is also committed to us, and that's a wonderful promise. So we have the promise of God's word and the promise of God himself, Holy Spirit to guide us, his word for us. These are all resources for us to live the Christian life. Well, God calls all his people to live a life of holy- holiness, but especially those who are in positions of influence amongst the Lord's people. As I say, just as Malachi said in chapter two, verse one, now, O priest, this commandment is for you. So as I look out upon this audience, I realize I am speaking to people who are in that position. You are a leader, you're near to the National Worker and Elders Conference, and God has arranged for you to be here even this week, so these words apply to you, and I trust that the Lord will breathe the breath of life into these words so it makes a difference in our lives. The Apostle Paul, speaking to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter twenty, commended them, exhorted them to live a life above reproach. They were leaders. He used his own testimony. He used his own experience. He explained to them with tears and with trials, I was amongst you, teaching you, warning you to observe these things, and exhorted them by his own example and by his own words that they should live a life of holiness. And then there's to the Corinthians in chapter, second chap- uh, second Corinthians chapter six verses four through six. This is what he did in regard to his own life. He commended his ministry and defended his ap- apostolic ministry to them by his own character. He knew he could not judge anything against himself, and in his own judgment of his own thinking was not something he could depend upon, but he did say this. He said, but in all things, approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in strifes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, and as such. He appealed to the Corinthians, and he said, I'm, we are approved, uh, as ministers of God because of the life of holiness that we are exhibiting in your lives. And I don't think the Apostle Paul was bragging or boasting. It's just as was mentioned yesterday about the, about Peter and John, their testimony to that lame man. It's not our power or holiness that caused these things, caused these things. And indirectly, what Peter was saying is, and he wasn't bragging, he was saying our holy lives didn't cause this miracle. And the secondary truth there, and indirectly teaching, is that he was living a life that was pleasing and holy to the Lord. He was a leader amongst God's people. And as we just heard from our brother Hill in First Thessalonians chapter one verse five, for our gospel came unto you not in word only, but also in power and the Holy Spirit and much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for the Lord's sake. And so he could appeal to holiness from that standpoint. Personal holiness definitely is required in a life of leaders. Those again who have some influence amongst the Lord's people. However large that ring of influence is, no matter how large that scope is, there is this strict, this challenging verse from James chapter one verse th- uh, chapter three rather, verse one. My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that you shall receive the greater, the stricter judgment. God holds us accountable for what we say and what we do, what we think, and how we act. Second Corinthians chapter seven verse one, having therefore these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all acts of filthiness of the flesh at outward and of the spirit at the attitudinal sins that were prayed for even this morning. One of the brothers prayed for that. The inward things. Paul, speaking to the Colossians, could say, flee these things, fornication and all the rest. And then he turns around in the very next verse and says, and anger and malice and all the rest that are associated with the inward sins, the things that are not as overt. So God calls his people, especially his leaders, to a life of holiness, inward and outward, lives of transparency so that there's nothing hidden at all. Your life is an open book. Well, that's the standard that God has given to us. What happens if that standard is not upheld? What happens if leaders are not living the way they should? What effect does it have amongst the Lord's people? Why did it get that way anyway? And how do we get back those early days where there's a simplicity in our lives, where things clicked, where things worked so smoothly, it seemed prayer was in some ways effortless because there is an intimacy with the Lord, and being in touch with him, sensing his presence at every step. What happens when those things aren't true anymore? That's what I'd like to occupy our time with for the remaining moments that we have with you, and as you see from your outline, we'd like to consider four major aspects. Well, first off, what happens when the standard is not kept? And how do we reestablish a higher level of holiness in our life? What do we need to hear from God's word to speak to our hearts about this very, very important teaching and truth? Well, first off, the reproach that's caused by the lack of holiness. Now you're going to hear some alliteration. You know, Ezekiel's wheels within wheels, right? I found Brother Hill that. Well, Colton's got his outlines within the outlines. So you're going to hear some outlines within outlines, alliterative as well. But the reproach here, the cause, uh, the reproach rather that's ca- uh, caused by a lack of holiness. Well, first off, the adverse effect amongst unbelievers. You remember the incident with David and Bathsheba, and Nathan the prophet came unto David and basically told a little parable and said, David, remember that guy down the street who had all these, uh, the all these lambs, quite a flock? And remember the guy right across from him had only one little, and treated it just like his little daughter. He had him sit up on his lap, and he treated this, uh, daughter, rather this lamb this way. And then one time the guest was coming into the neighborhood, and that person who had all these sheep went and stole that one little lamb from that person that had just one lamb, killed it and slaughtered it and had it for dinner. And David says, well, the idea that someone should do such a thing. Nathan the prophet says, yeah, thou art the man. You're guilty. You just indicted yourself. And of course, Nathan then said, because of what you've done in this adultery with Bathsheba, and more than that, the cover up that was involved with Uriah the Hittite, of course, arranging for his murder, then trying to cover it up. Nathan said to David, you've given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord's flesh. It's easy for us to make good appearances amongst the Lord's people, but as we go out into town and someone cuts us off from the parkway, driving the streets, what's your attitude? What's your words? What are your words when that happens? I have to speak to my own heart. Someone told me when you point the finger, there's three coming right back at you. The question is, is there a life of holiness, true holiness that's there? Not the outward appearance, but the inward holiness. David could cry out in Psalm fifty one, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. That's what God wants in our life. So there is a reproach when lives are not lived for the Lord amongst the Lord's people, especially amongst the leaders of God's people, the outside world can spot that a mile away. They can sniff it miles away, like a, like a dog can sniff a trail miles away. Can't help but remember and call to mind that, uh, the televangelist scandals. Remember those in the nineteen eighties? The public confession of Swaggart and these other men, Jim Baker, and how many people would scorn and mock that, openly declare right in front of the unsaved world, and of course the reproach that was suffered by the cause of Christ because of the lack of holiness of leaders amongst God's people. We need to watch and be in guard against that, but also there's an adverse effect amongst believers. Remember that account in, uh, Galatians chapter two verse thirteen? The Apostle Paul, the great Apostle Paul, withstood Peter to the face. Pretty powerful words, wouldn't you say? Peter there would, uh, you know, he had his ministry amongst the Jews, and he would fellowship with them, but when others, noble men would come down from Jerusalem, like James, all of a sudden Peter, the great Apostle Peter, the one who had been restored to public ministry, privately he was restored as the Lord appeared to him on Resurrection Sunday, and then publicly restored in the presence of other disciples, and powerfully used of the Lord in Acts chapter two to open up the door of faith to the nation of Israel, later in Acts chapter ten to Cornelius, the Gentiles. This great Apostle Peter would all of a sudden slink back because of the concern and the worry that he had, and he would not eat with the Gentiles for fear of the Jews. And the Apostle Paul stood him, withstood him to the face in front of them all. Can you imagine that? What a scene that must have been. And you know, the Apostle Peter, though, he still had, God was working in his heart because later on he would talk about the beloved Paul, the beloved Paul. So there is an adverse effect amongst the Lord's people because Peter's hypocrisy was also taken up by Barnabas. Remember Barnabas, the great Barnabas, the son of consolation, the son of encouragement? He, Paul said, was even taken away with hypocrisy. Peter, God's man, so many times, taken up with hypocrisy and cause others to experience that as well. Well, it's important, it behooves us, each one here, that we are not living hypocritical lives in some way, that we don't say and not do, that we're true to our words, that we mean what we say, and we're consistent in that. And yes, we're not sinless, we understand that, and there are going to be times that we fail, but the standard has been upheld. The example from the Word of God has been given to us to avoid these pitfalls and these snares that can occur in the Christian life, and they're very clear for us to see, very much we're aware of it. And I'm sure there's nothing really that I am telling this audience this morning that you don't know already, but I like to think of what Peter said, I want to stir up your minds by way of remembrance. This is what we need to be reminded of from time, time to time. Well, that's the reproach that's caused, the adverse effect amongst unbelievers, the adverse effect among believers. There's also the reasons why there's a lack of holiness. It's interesting, in Ezekiel chapter eight, we have a very interesting account, very intriguing account. If you haven't, uh, studied that recently, or if you've not studied it at all, it's good to take a look at it. There God is speaking to Ezekiel, and he says, I want to show you the sins of the people. In Ezekiel chapter eight, uh, there Ezekiel is told by God to approach the temple. And so, uh, Ezekiel makes his approach to the temple, and he says, I want you to take a... well, I want you to dig a hole in the wall, and, uh, start digging at the wall, and, uh, make a hole in it, and just peek through and see what's going on there. And, uh, Ezekiel is given this vision, and in this vision we see that there are the priests, the leaders of God's people. Uh, are there taking place, what's taking place here, the seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst the Jezaniah, it says, Ezekiel eight, and they're worshiping false images. The leaders of God's people secretly taking in, in their private lives, things that are compromising and not allowed of the Lord. This is why Israel was such, in such problems, having such problem in their nation. It's because the leaders were not upholding the standard that they needed to uphold. Hosea in chapter four addresses this very clearly. He says, you'll be like people, like priests. And yes, there is one standard, but there needs to be that standard consistently upheld by the leaders of God's people, so that others look to them and follow that example. In a humorous way, I heard this spoken of by, uh, Dr. Wolbert, or I should say I heard it spoken of him, that he said as a president of Dallas Theological Seminary, he had to uphold the standard. You know, the, the common, uh, trend these days is to dress down and be casual and that type of thing, right? Guys like myself here, some in the audience, you know, if you dress up too much, this is the, this is the upcoming generation, you know, you're a little stiff, that type of thing, right? You've ever heard that? If you haven't, you will. And Wolberg says, well, the reason why I wear a suit and tie to work as president of Dallas Theological Seminary is because if I came in without the tie, my instructors would be walking around in t-shirts. The lower level, you see, there's this natural lower level. If I dress up as a tie, I'm going to be responsible, I'm going to be looked up as being responsible, and I'll have more responsibilities to take place in my life. So the people are looking to those who set the example. God here in Ezekiel chapter eight is saying, Ezekiel, just dig a hole in the wall and take a poke through there and see what you see. And he saw these idols right in the very place where God said his name should only be. And then he saw these elders, seventy of them, the leaders of God's people doing these things. And God said to him, turn again, you'll see greater abominations than these. And then he looked even further, got closer, and he saw these women weeping for Tammuz, this pagan deity. And it got worse and worse. And he said in verse seventeen of that same chapter eight, have you seen this, oh son of man? These are the words. Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? They were saying God isn't watching. God's not there. And God says, isn't it trivial to you? God had raised the standard, and the people were not living up to the standard because the leaders were not living up to the standard. And that was the example that the apost- rather that Ezekiel was being shown here in that chapter. But, you know, there's an interesting verse found, I think, in James chapter one verse twenty one, and it's help- helped me understand as I deal with different people who've become Christians or new Christians, and they've come from difficult backgrounds, or even some who've been Christians for some time. We read in James chapter one that we should put away all overflow of wickedness. Now, King James translates that superfluity of naughtiness. And you talk about a quaint term. That's quaint and wordy. Lot of s- polysyllabic, right, or something like that? Is that the way you say it? The idea is that it's long, but the point of the matter is overflow of wickedness. The idea is that, that when people become Christians, there's still some of that that's left over from the old life that doesn't drop off immediately. Some does, some do, but not everything does. And there's this overflow of wickedness that needs to be dealt with in our Christian experience. Attitudes and things in our lives that are not pleasing to the Lord, that need to be cleansed and dealt with in our lives. I remember as a new Christian, I became a Christian when I was seventeen years of age, came out of a nice home, basically, but, you know, I was in the high school age range, and we were, you know, starting to experience these things in life, uh, going out to high school parties and that sort of thing. God preserved me from so much, as I look back now, and I, I consider it. But I remember having all the rock albums, you know, in my collection, and uh, during a particular time in my life, the Lord really spoke to me, uh, after that first year. And I took all these albums, they were the Led Zeppelin albums, the David Bowie albums, and all that. And I remember walking outside with a stack of LP albums. Now, I had quite a stack, might have been a hundred albums. And I threw them in the garbage can. I says, that's the end of that, no more, because I knew that there was a contrary message that was being pumped out to that music that did not line up with the word of God. And so I threw that out, and I looked at it in the garbage can, and said, no way I'm gonna throw that that way. These garbage men are gonna see it and gonna die for those things. Some of them do anyway, right, for the garbage that comes through. Well, I said, not, not, not here. So I took those albums out. It was a winter day. My mom had a nice fence in the back, and I'll tell you, these records make great frisbees. And, uh, I had to, you know, spend half an hour there doing one of these against the wall, shattered all these LPs, they're, you know, it was a cold day, and they shattered. Later in the spring, I was still raking up the bits and pieces of the vinyl. I didn't want any more of it. I didn't want it to hold me back. I wanted to make sure it was gone. And so there's an overflow of wickedness that each one of us, to some extent, has to deal with in our lives to make sure that they're put away. That may not be as overt as some people have problems with, but it might be attitudinal sins, things that are buried deep inside and we need to deal with and ask the Lord to cleanse in our lives. Cleansing ourselves from all sins of the flesh and spirit, as it says in two Corinthians seven one. This can cause sin in our lives and compromise, and I remember hearing the story of, reading rather, the story related by Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher of a previous century, said that there was a, he pulled something right out of the headlines, the local headlines of the newspaper in his day. A rope bridge had fallen, people had fallen to their death, and they tried to do an investigation at the bottom of the valley of what occurred with this rope bridge, and they found out as upon closer investigation that a seedling apparently had flown into this bridge, had, you know, drifted into it, and then taken root between the wood and the rope of this bridge. And that seed took root and began to grow, and because it started to grow, of course, it separated the strands of the rope and weakened it, and that caused the collapse of that bridge. A little tiny thing taking root can cause a major collapse. And that's what God calls us to watch for. The little sins of the flesh, the things that we can allow to reside in our lives and we don't really deal with, like the children of Israel, when they divided the land in the book of Joshua, there were some tribes that weren't dealt with. And as you know, those tribes in the book of Judges, as we open up the book of Judges, we see those tribes eventually came back and did harm to the nation of Israel because those tribes were not fully conquered the way they should have been conquered, and they were allowed to remain in the land. That became the source of problems in the life of the nation of Israel. It can be that way in our lives as well. And then there's spiritual negligence. That's another cause for the lack of holiness in our lives. We read in Hebrews chapter two verse one and two, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them what? Slip. Diligent heed to the things that we've heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Peter tells us in his second epistle, beware lest you, being led away from the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. You know, looking at this audience, I'm sure you had pretty much the same experience I've had at a certain juncture in your life. For me, it was when I was a new Christian. I could stay up all hours of night reading that Bible. Couldn't get enough of it. Couldn't get enough of youth group, couldn't get enough of college and career when I reached that age, couldn't get enough of chapel, couldn't get enough of all these activities, despite the fact that I had to go off and work on my part-time job on a Saturday when the assembly there was gathered together for the picnic on Saturday or whatever it was. Couldn't get enough of it. But, you know, over the course of time, sometimes that starts simmering a little bit and moderating in your life, and there's just not that same intensity that you once had. Peter here warns us, God warns us through Peter. Beware lest you being led away by the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness. How does that error of the wicked come in? Comes in through the television set, comes in through the movies, comes in whatever means it can come. How does that error of the wicked come in? Comes in through the television set, comes in through the movies, comes in whatever means it can come in, the print media, the people we rub across, rub across in the course of our activities. A lot of different means. Like the Trojan horse comes in even into the homes, commercials. You know, I, I've said this many times. You know, we may be up at home during the holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday, you know, you have a family over, and the television set is on, the football game is on, or whatever it might be. For some of you, maybe this doesn't apply. My non-Christian home, this applies. And we'd have that on, you think everything is fine, there's nothing compromising, and then the commercials come on, and the shameless, blatant suggestions that are made, embarrassing. You'd be watching a family program, and then the commercials come on, and you wish the sound was off. This is the society in which we live, and this is what we have to deal with. And we can allow these things to, like dust, sit on our shoulders or whatever it might be, and allow these to stay there and not really deal with it. So we need the constant cleansing of the word of God. Lack of prayer, the lack of what I call devotional devotions, that's my little term. Some of you who share responsibilities in the platform, you know what this is all about. Go to your devotion and say, hey, wow, that makes a great message right there, right? And I've had to say to myself, Mark, when you study the word of God in your morning devotions, it's devotional devotions. It's me. It's not the message I'm going to be preaching that week. It's not the series that's coming up. It's not, it's me. Speak to me, Lord, through your word. Remind me what I need to be doing. Forget about everyone else right now, it's me that needs to be dealt with. And so the need for devotional devotions, prayer, and all these things, and we're not doing these things, of course, there's negligence in our lives. Remember what the Apostle Peter again said in the very first chapter of the Second Epistle. He said, giving all diligence, add to your faith knowledge, right? No. Not add to your faith knowledge. That just puffs you up. Add to your faith virtue, holiness, then knowledge. We have the knowledge before the virtue. There's a proud, puffed up, arrogant heart. Met people like that who have their answers, and they know their things, but their lives don't line up. So Peter reminds us to add to our faith virtue and then knowledge, and we need to exercise spiritual diligence to overcome that. And of course, there's discouragement in the work of the Lord. That can be a cause for a lack of holiness, discouragement. You know, Moses, I think he wore sin. We heard about that, uh, just last night. Moses wearing sin because of all the work he had. Some of you have worn sin as well in your life, the long elders meetings, the frustration with people in the assembly, you know, you, you, you hear the message from the platform, solid ministry from the word, and then God's people go out and they sin, don't even think about it, it seems. And you say, when are these people going to get it right? You feel like you're almost in the place of Moses here, you rebels. Of course, Moses spoke, it says, unadvisedly with his lips, and he did. But the reason for that is because he wore sin. And when we wear sin, we get frustrated for some reason, our guard is not up, and we're so easy to snap at someone. I mean, I had this experience not too long ago, a couple years ago. Someone in the assembly, a young fellow, seemed to be coming along really well, and then just made some foolish decisions. Caught up with him one day and mentioned something, and I mentioned something strongly back to him, and, uh, you know, it causes a rift there. But, you know, people, when they see you in that situation, boy, that shatters them in some ways. Their view of you may have been a very heightened view. I never forget one of the vivid memories I have in my experience of my early days as a Christian, going to the Wednesday night prayer meeting, and we're, you know, in the involved in a study in a book, and during the course of the study, one of the brothers berated another one in front of everyone, uncalled for. And as a new Christian, I mean, I was only a year old in the Lord. Uh, my jaw dropped. You know, at that point in my life, I thought Christians were absolutely perfect. And, uh, you know, it stood, stood with me, stayed with me for quite a while. And so there's the disappointment. Elijah disc- uh, received discouragement in the work of the Lord. He was fed up with it too. He wasn't interested anymore. He took off, he left the servant there in the wilderness, before he went off in the wilderness, he left the servant there, it says. He took off, he started to complain. There was lack of holiness in his life. There's no faith there. When he saw that, it says, when he saw Jezebel's words, how he can see them. He lived a life in that point, at that point in his life, there was no holiness. So discouragement in the work of the Lord can definitely cause us to slide in our commitment to steadfastness. And then finally, there's that lost perspective. You know, some of us can be guilty of this. We've been around the work for so long that we've just become familiar with it, and it doesn't grip us like it once gripped us in the past. You know, I experienced in second Samuel chapter six with Uzzah and Ohio as they're moving the Ark of the Covenant, bringing it up to Jerusalem under David's leadership, and uh, their f- father was Abinadab, and says that that Ark of the Covenant was in his house for twenty years. And that's when, after that point, David brought this up. And I'm sure that those two young men, I assume that they're young men, viewed that Ark of the Covenant and basically were so familiar with it, it was like another piece of furniture in the household to them. And it's easy to start dealing in with sacred things as if they're not sacred. We were reminded about that last night with Moses' words and what God said to Moses, you didn't sanctify me. There's no separation. You recall that experience as Joshua was, uh, leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land, and when they were going to cross over the Jordan, that Ark of the Covenant had to be two thousand cubits distance between those who brought it over and the rest of the people of Israel. Distance between a holy God and sinful man. And that needs to be maintained, and we need to keep that perspective. When we're dealing with holy things, we need to deal in a holy way with them. And when we lose our perspective, it's easy to slip in our private lives and in our public lives too. That's what's behind, I think, the experience in Exodus chapter thirty two. That's a wonderful study in itself. Here's the outline for that. The people were just delayed, or rather people rather were lost their perspective because Moses delayed. He was up in the mountain. They're waiting for this one who is absent. We're waiting for the one too who is absent right now, and he's delayed his coming, in a sense. And it's easy for God's people to kind of lose their perspective for a holy living, like the children of Israel did there in Exodus thirty two. And so they say to Aaron, come up, make us gods that we may serve them, because Moses, we, the guy who brought us up, not God, it was Moses, the guy, the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what's become of him. That's a picture of, uh, Christendom in some ways. The, uh, lost perspective, and even for true believers, the lost perspective that the Lord could go back at any time. We'll hear that this evening. We've heard that already. He could come at any time, and if we don't keep that in the forefront of our minds, it's easy to lose our perspective. So the people sunk to a lower level while waiting for that absent one to come. And then, of course, because they lost their perspective, they put pressure on Aaron. So you make us God, you fill the gap, you fill the void, Aaron. Elders, workers sometimes, because of the lower level of God's people, can be pressured in some way to accommodate a lower spiritual level because people have lost their sense of holiness. And we can cater to that. God wants that standard to be kept firm, kept up there. And of course, the pretense that was obvious in Aaron's life. He did all these things. He took their earrings from them, he fashioned a calf out of it and said, here's your God, and he then declared a feast of the Lord. Tomorrow is a feast of the Lord. Sounds pretty holy, right? Unholy altogether, and yet the pretense of holiness. And even God's leaders can be caught up in this, catering to the lower spiritual level of some, and yet trying to maintain some sort of appearance of pretense of holiness. And that's what was true in Aaron's life as well. But pattern is given to us by Moses as to how to properly handle it. There was punishment that was made, but Moses was given that pattern, pattern as well, how to behave in that situation, praying and asking God for forgiveness. I want to wrap up then real briefly. The third thing here, the recommitment that's needed for a life of holiness. In Hosea fourteen two, we're reminded, as God said to the nation of Israel, you've fallen by your iniquity. Someone has read as well, Revelation two verse five, remember wherefore from whence thou art fallen. These were the Ephesians, commended for their great love and their great faith, and yet they had fallen from that high level. It's easy for God's leaders as well to fall from that high level. Genesis chapter thirty five has a wonderful example for us of, uh, revival, personal revival. What did occur in that chapter? God said to Jacob, go back to Bethel. What was that Bethel? Well, that was where he received the first vision. That speaks to me of a way in the time in which a person becomes a Christian. That's where God spoke to Jacob. Jacob there had made a pillow out of a rock, symbolic of the hard way in which he created for himself because of what he had done with his brother Esau. And God revealed himself to Jacob. And God had said to Jacob, get back to Bethel. And he took the long route around there, and he comes to Shechem, and there's a family tragedy and crisis there. And then God speaks to Jacob again and says, go back to Bethel. Go back to your roots, go back to your beginning, go back to those first days when you had a clear vision of who I was and what I wanted of you. Now Jacob is going to get moving. And so he begins to, uh, consecrate himself and make that commitment. And he says to those who are in his household and to all that were with around him, make sure you put away the strange gods that are among you. Arise, speaking of a sp- lower spiritual level, arise and put away these false or strange gods that are among you, and let us go back to Bethel. And so they did that. They took all these things, and they cleansed their lives of things that were unholy and displeasing to the Lord. And after that cleansing took place in their lives, there was a communion. There was communion that Jacob experienced, the closeness that he had with the Lord, because then he called us El Bethel, the God of the house of God, a deeper, more intimate appreciation for the God he served. Well, this brings it down to this last point, and this is where we conclude. The results. The results of a life of holiness. We're all called to a life of holiness, we said that from the outset, but leaders in particular. And as God's people, leaders examine their lives personally and ask the Lord to reveal to them what are those things in their lives that are displeasing to him, things that may be ours, the false, the strange gods that are among you. Among God's people, can it be? It was in Jacob's life. And the sins of the flesh, this, uh, rather the spirit, the attitudinal problems, the problem with impatience, the problem with anger, the problem with lust, whatever it might be, those things that are privately, uh, characteristic of our lives, they need to be cleansed, as they were in Jacob's life. Once they are, then there's a tremendous result that occurs. The results of a life of holiness. God tells us in Psalm four verse three, know this, that God has set apart for himself him who is godly. There's an increased ministry, there's a reward from that standpoint. Then in Isaiah fifty eight verse twelve, we'll read, then they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places, and thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwelling. Speaking to a brother about this just yesterday, about the ministry of restoration. God will bring a ministry to you if your lives, your life is clean before him. He'll make sure that he uses you in a powerful way. So there's that need for holiness. The need for living holy lives to raise the standard, to raise the bar. In running, they have that, or the pole vaulting and, and the, uh, high jump or whatever it's called. You know, they stretch those people to jump higher, do better, and they raise that bar. Once that's total, then there's got to be another hot bar up, and that becomes the standard, that becomes the record. We've heard in recent days how the home run record of Major League Baseball has been broken again. Can you believe it? Nineteen twenty seven, Babe Ruth did it, Sixty home runs. That thing lasted, that record lasted for thirty some years, Thirty four, thirty five years. Then along comes Roger Maris, and he breaks it. And then along comes Mark McGuire in a less period of time, and he breaks it. And now just three years later, that record has been broken as well. Decreasing amount of years in between that record as it was broken. God calls his people to raise that standard, to raise it up, so that God's people see that by your lives, by your attitudes, by your facial expression, by the way that you handle difficulties and problems in your life. And as we do that, certainly God will be honored and his people will be edified. There's a verse I learned early in my Christian life, Job seventeen verse nine. It's been a tremendous help to me. The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands will grow stronger and stronger. Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, he shall receive blessings from the God of his salvation. Shall we pray? Our Father, our God, we pray that you would seal these words to each, each listening heart, and we ask this in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Thank you, Mark. Appreciate your practical examples from the scriptures and our call to personal holiness. May it be so in our lives. Did the green pickup get moved? Great. So they won't be exchanging paint with the bus then. Good. Christopher Huqeri, please stand. This brother, uh, needs a ride to, uh, Carroll, Iowa, preferably, but he would accept a ride.