It's not unusual after a sermon to hear someone comment, "Ouch! The minister stepped on some toes today, didn't he?" Fortunately, they usually say it with a smile. But one can't be sure what's behind the smile. Sometimes I wonder if the person talking isn’t already making plans to buy some steel-toed shoes! Scripture says clearly that the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. It says they will be afflicted with the strange pathological condition called “itching ears”.

Every now and then I hear the comment that our pastors should not preach doctrines, because doctrines are divisive. They're saying pastors should preach just the gospel. What do they mean by that? I don’t get it. The word gospel means the good news. The word doctrine means teaching. To preach doctrine is simply to teach the meaning and application of the good news of the gospel!

I suspect that the reason many people want to move away from preaching the doctrines is that they don't want to be told how to apply the gospel to their everyday lives. They are religious “do-it-yourselfers”. But the problem here is that religious do-it-yourselfers can easily become a law unto themselves. You’ve met them. They’ll say, "If God wants me to do such and such, He'll tell me." Or, "That may be wrong for you if you think it's wrong."

When I was in secondary school and college, I worked on a plastering crew. One day as I was learning to apply the stucco, one of the experienced men said I was applying it wrong and showed me the correct way to do it. I retorted, "I’ve watched you plaster. You're telling me to do it a certain way, but you don't do it that way yourself!"

He responded, "You learn the way that it's supposed to be done, and then later you can do it any way you want."

One of the sins of our age is not just that we are doing things wrong, but many people don't even want to hear how it’s supposed to be done. Have you noticed that in college and university we will sit still and let our professors tell us rather dogmatically how we must apply our trades and professions. But in things having to do with faith and morals, many think that we should be able to make up the rules of life for ourselves.

The buzzword in Bible study groups these days is, "What do you think that verse means?", as if whatever a person thinks is the way it is. The laws of physics are not up for discussion, they must be learned. And so the Word of God is to be learned, too. God’s laws are not up for discussion. We should study the Bible only if we have the mindset that we intend to obey what it says. History bears out that whenever people tried to avoid or rationalize away a clear “thus saith the Lord”, they were headed for big trouble.

You know what a blind spot is. We all have spiritual blind spots. Obviously, a person can't see in their blind spot. I have a fish eye mirror on my car. Without that fish eye mirror, I cannot see the car that may be the closest to me. In the same way, many times we have serious sins or omissions which are in our spiritual blind spot. But if we will let it, the Bible will be a spiritual fisheye. The Word of God will detect and cut out every sin and weakness we may have. That’s a promise: “For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword (laser knife), piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (through and through), and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12.

For the next few minutes we will consider the topic, "Help in the Pursuit of Holiness." On the surface, this sounds like a topic that will either bore you to death or is impossible to consider. Scripture says that God is holy, and we expect that from Him. However, He calls on us to be holy. More than that, God says that, unless we allow Him to make us holy, we will not be able to see Him. Remember the text in Hebrews 12:14: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man may see the Lord." This is daunting, to say the least.

You have no doubt heard it said that it’s easy to be saved and hard to be lost. My question is, if this were true, why did Jesus Himself say that it was easier to travel on the wide road to destruction than on the narrow road to eternal life? Why are many called but few chosen? Why do we need armor if the Christian life is a stroll in the park?

And then we hear the expression, "Let go and let God." Now, we know that this means we should stop trying to control things ourselves and let God work out His will. But when this philosophy is applied to the pursuit of holiness, it might be more accurate to say, "Let God, and hang on for dear life." Maybe in our wishful thinking we’re looking in Scripture only for the things that we agree with. We must be very careful to make sure that our Bibles have 66 books and not just one or two. Don't misunderstand. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, not just the book of Romans or Galatians. Even the apostle Paul said, "Don't be a follower of me but a follower of Jesus." If we don’t base our theology on the whole Bible, we could get it all wrong.

If you insist on specializing in a particular part of the Bible, you won't go wrong if you specialize in the gospel according to Jesus. There are lots of people who are experts in Romans and Revelation. But I wish that more of us were experts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Yes, I wish it were easy to fight the flesh and the Devil. Sometimes I think, Oh, if there were only a switch or a button somewhere that would delete the Devil and erase our natural propensity to sin! But, come on now. What would happen if suddenly all trials and temptations were to disappear? If in a moment we were made intrinsically sinless, is it possible that we might not feel our need of God?

Have you noticed that we tend to get serious about the Lord when times are hard? When things are on an even keel, we sometimes even forget to pray. But how we can pray that God will give us a new job, or that He will cure them or their loved ones of some illness! It's easy to pray to God for physical or material help. But when a person's marriage breaking up because of pride, selfishness, bitterness, or lust, we might discover that we aren’t praying about it much at all. People who do not pray about selfishness, pride, lust, bitterness, and lack of self-control in their lives are definitely majoring in minors. Don't misunderstand me. Material and physical trials can definitely lead us to the important things in our lives only if we will let them open our eyes to what really matters.

So really, for now at least, the battle that we must fight against sin is for our own good. The fruit of the Spirit is not conferred on people, it is developed. Then let's not be discouraged or give up! God has promised not to allow us to be tempted and tried more than we can stand.

One thing we must be constantly aware of is that holiness is not something we do by ourselves. A life of holiness is definitely not a do-it-yourself thing. Nothing in creation exists strictly on its own. By our very nature we are always under the influence of the greater power. For example, is there anyone out there who is not subject to the force of gravity or to the influence of the sun? When God created the animals, He put them under the dominion or power of man. But mankind was created to be under the dominion of God Himself. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were trying to break out from under the dominion of their Creator, just as the serpent suggested they do; and they were successful. The only problem was that when they did, they immediately fell under the dominion of the Devil.

This is why Romans 6 says that we used to be slaves of sin. Now, I know that there are people who say they are independent or neutral in the great battle between good and evil. They consider themselves to be a kind of third force. Unfortunately, there are not three teams in this game, there are only two. Moreover, there are no spectators on this planet. Everyone is a player. So we are either under the dominion of Christ or of the Devil. This is what the Bible means when it says that we are either slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness.

What does it mean to be a slave of righteousness? A person who is a slave of righteousness is one in whom the Holy Spirit is re-shaping his or her attitudes and perspectives. The essence of the very being is re-done. This process results in a total change in the way we live and in the things we do.

Let's put it another way. When a person who is a slave of sin commits sin, he or she enjoys it. But when a person who is a slave of righteousness sins, that person hates it. When we were what the Bible calls slaves of sin, we actually looked forward to doing wrong and getting away with as much as we could. Now, as we are submitting to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we actually begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness; and more and more we hate anything that is not consistent with the holy life.

As our commitment to Christ continues to deepen and His wonderful work of transforming us proceeds, we will still be tempted to do wrong. But the hold and attraction that temptation once had over us is being broken up. Instead of saying to ourselves, I wish I could do this or that, we now have an increasing tendency to be, as they would say, turned off by sin. In my own life I sometimes have some far out temptations to do wrong. But, what a joy it is when something deep down inside me says, No way! To a slave of righteousness, temptation to do wrong becomes more and more offensive. We begin to recognize it as an insult to all that Jesus is doing in our lives.

But remember, this whole process is not a do-it-yourself operation. The process by which the holy God is developing a holy people is a miracle of His grace. But it’s not a paper transaction, it’s a process that we actually experience. We’re fully aware that God is working in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

We are at a time in history when the living are receiving the seal of the living God. We can actually experience the joy of being settled into the truth so that we cannot be moved. But this is not a work that we do for ourselves. We didn't create ourselves, and there’s no way we can re-create ourselves. Let's not forget, although we didn't have to do anything to be born the first time, we’re definitely players in being born the second time. Our part, however, is that we must submit. This is the correct meaning of “Let go and let God.” This is about our will. To put it plainly, we must let Him save us from our sins.

Incredibly, it seems that every time we start talking about “our part” and letting go, someone will hit the "saved by works" button and the mission into a holy, victorious life in Christ is suddenly aborted. I was in a Sabbath school class not long ago when the teacher began to talk about practical Godliness and victorious living. Sure enough, someone raised his hand and said, "But we’re not saved by works, we’re saved by grace." I couldn't resist. I raised my hand and said, "The teacher was not talking about how to be saved but what salvation is all about."

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- let's get on with it! We know how we’re saved. We’re saved by grace through faith in Christ. Now let's make sure we know what happens to a person who is being saved. If we don't have this straight, we could actually, without knowing it, keep salvation from happening in our lives. This would be fatal. We must recognize that we all have a deadly disease called sin, which has ruined our hearts. We must permit the Holy Spirit to bring us a new heart, a new heart from out there in the Middle East, outside the walls of Jerusalem--at Calvary, to be exact. And the donor is Jesus.

The prophet says our sick hearts must be removed, and we must be given healthy hearts. But to do this surgery the Lord doesn't put us to sleep. We’re wide awake for this one -- and without anesthetic. Needless to say, the process will be at times painful. But we must resist the temptation to jump off the table. To be successful, we must do two things: 1) we must be committed to what Jesus wants to do in our lives, and 2) we must submit to the process. The good news is that He has promised that the whole process will not be more than we will be able to stand. He will through it all give us strength so that we will be able to bear it.

A person who has no pulse, no heartbeat, and no breath is dead, or soon will be. We call these the vital signs. They are the signs of life. In the same way, there are vital signs that indicate whether a person is spiritually alive or not. One of the vital signs of the born-again Christian is that they will have the Holy Spirit in their lives. Have you ever been asked if you had the Holy Spirit? There is a growing number of Christians who believe that the sign that a person has the Holy Spirit is that the person be able to speak in tongues, perform miracles, fall backwards in the waiting arms of the ushers, or laugh their head off. There are so many who are convinced that this is what the Holy Spirit is about that some of us may be a little perplexed about these things.

Let’s take this slowly, point by point. The apostle Paul is clear that the fruit of the Spirit is more important than any and all of the gifts of the Spirit, and that includes speaking in tongues. But let’s remember, it says in 1 Corinthians 13 that the greatest thing of all is love. Love is the one word that sums up what the fruit of the Spirit is about.

A person can survive spiritually with no particularly outstanding or spectacular spiritual gift. But no one can survive without the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is a vital sign of spiritual life. In fact, the whole process of the plan of salvation is to produce the fruit of the Spirit in the believer. The Holy Spirit is what makes the Christian life go. The Holy Spirit is our help in the pursuit of holiness.

We must not allow ourselves to become confused in understanding the function of the Holy Spirit. The ridiculous extremes that many who claim to have the Holy Spirit go to is giving the Holy Spirit a bad name. We must resist this! When we understand what it means to be saved, we’ll not go down some dead-end road in our desire to have the Holy Spirit work in our lives. Being saved is a process of being born-again. This means we are getting a new life, a holy life.

Jesus told us not to expect to understand how it happens, only that it is happening. Jesus compared it to the wind. He said we don't make the new birth happen, the Holy Spirit makes it happen. We just know that it is happening. Yes, the Holy Spirit makes salvation happened, not only to us but in us. The Holy Spirit changes us fundamentally and permanently. Instead of the works of the flesh, the Holy Spirit brings into our lives true love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and self-control. Let’s not get hung up on whether we have the gift of laughing, of falling backward on the floor, or of speaking in tongues.

Speaking of spiritual gifts, there are many programs that try to help people discover their spiritual gift. They tell me they had even discovered that some people have the gift of keeping the church lawn mowed. Don't misunderstand me now, but a person doesn't have to be born again to cut the church lawn or even to invite someone over for dinner. Let's not get carried away on trying to cash in on our spiritual gifts. The fact is that it is possible to get spiritual gifts on the black market or to manufacture them without a license. Maybe it's a matter of putting first things first. What we ought to be majoring in should be in receiving the fruit of the Spirit, rather than the gifts of the Spirit. Satan himself has a number of what we could call the gifts of the Spirit, but he doesn't have any component that is the true fruit of the Spirit.

Another popular self-discovery pastime these days is personality types. This has taken off in the past few years. Back in the old days, the emphasis used to be on developing character. Now it seems to be about discovering personality. You’re likely to hear, “Well, you know I'm Choleric, and you know how we Cholerics are.” It's almost like a threat. Don't fool around with us Cholerics. Just learn to accept us the way we are.

Friends, I believe the pursuit of holiness is not a race to discover our personality type or a study to discover our spiritual gifts. It's much more. It's about being changed. It's not about institutionalizing what we are but the whole-life pursuit of becoming what God wants me to be. I know that we all have different personalities. For instance, the disciples were different personality types. When we go to heaven, we’ll definitely maintain our individuality. We will be known. But the thing that should concern us, if I read correctly, is our character. When the Bible talks about the fruit of the Spirit, it’s not talking about being a Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic, or Melancholy. Even if we are one of these types, we had better be more than a little concerned about whether we’re being dominated by selfishness, pride, lust, bitterness, covetousness, love of the world, and lack of self-control.

We ought to be asking ourselves the question, "Where am I in relation to the fruit of the Spirit?” We've got to learn to put first things first. We've got to put the emphasis on the right syllable. We need to get it together; otherwise, when Jesus comes we may well discover that we have been going to a lot of trouble for nothing. Jesus predicted that one day this would happen: a group of people would say, “But we did all kinds of things in Your name”, and He would respond to them, “It must have been somebody else. I never knew you.”

A person who is being saved is a person in pursuit of holiness. Therefore we must be earnestly praying that the Holy Spirit will work His new creation in our lives. But we must remember that it’s a process. Old things are passing away and all things are becoming new. If on the other hand we have the same attitudes and interests that we've always had, if we’re driven by pride and selfishness, anger, love of the world, etc., we don’t have the Holy Spirit working in us. We have not passed from death unto life. If this is the case, we should fall to our knees. It’s not too late. Now is the day of salvation, now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.

How will we know when we have the Holy Spirit working in us? Will we be jumping, clapping, laughing, or falling backwards? I think not. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sin. When our sensitivity to sin is increased, sorrow for our sinfulness will increase. We won't be saying, “I'm only human”, or “I guess that's just the way I am”, or “I guess we'll just have to wait until Jesus comes for me to stop abusing my wife and kids.” Scripture says that a godly sorrow is one that leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). Repentance means change. A person who is truly sorry doesn't keep doing the same thing or live the same lifestyle. The Holy Spirit keeps that from happening. We must let Jesus wash us. “Purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). Don't try to wash it off yourself.

Our destiny is the pursuit of holiness. We have a part to play, and that is that we must will to let it happen. We must will to block out of our lives anything that would keep it from happening. The work of making us holy is God's work in us. "For it is God that works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Friends, a holy life is not a life of moonlight and roses. It is a life of agony and heart searching. But it is also a life of joy, assurance, and victory. The Holy Spirit is our help in the pursuit of holiness. The Holy Spirit is the one that gives us the desire for holiness, for righteousness. Ask yourself, "What is the most important thing in my life right now? What do I want for my life more than anything?" Those who live in the Spirit want more than anything to obey God and to do His will in every aspect of their lives. Whether eating, or drinking, or whatever we do, it will be to honor and glorify God.