First Pentecostal Church of Baton Rouge
1995
This outline was first prepared for the benefit of our local church. It was not intended for publication. However, several of my ministerial friends encouraged me to make it available to others. I do not claim originality. What is presented here is gleaned from what I have learned from my father and other Apostolic teachers and writers. This is by no means, the final word on the holiness of God. Neither does it say all that needs to be said. This series of studies targets certain needs and seeks to answer questions that are being asked.
The pioneers of the present day Apostolic church were part of the great holiness movement that swept denominationalism near the beginning of this century. When they received the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God convicted them of fleshly lusts and worldliness. Many were compelled to separate from people and organizations they loved. Without the advantage of formal training or scholarship, they searched the scriptures. The Word of God meant everything to them. As they discovered truth, it became their standard. The message of holiness and separation determined their identity. They became known as “holiness people.” The generations that have followed have not been as energetic in their pursuit of Godliness. Neither have they been able to hold on to all that was dear to the pioneers. Great losses have been sustained, one generation at a time. Today we hear standards that were once commonly held by all, branded as legalistic and restrictive to Christian liberty. Avid holiness minded people are ridiculed and called “holy Joes” by those who have been liberated.
The slide will continue where there is a lack of true Biblical perspective. Holiness is not optional. It is an imperative of scripture. God’s word has always commanded his people to be holy. If we cease to emphasize and pursue the holiness of God, everything we do will come to nothing.
I. HOLINESS
A. THERE IS A CLEAR CALL TO HOLINESS IN THE SCRIPTURE.
1. Leviticus 11:44, “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
2. Isaiah 52:11, “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.”
B. HOW CAN I BE HOLY?
b. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
c. Romans 3:10-12, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
b. Living sacrificially.
c. Isolation or social withdrawal.
b. To become holy, we must take on the nature or character of Christ. There is no such thing as holiness apart from Him. When the Bible speaks of holy men, holy places, or holy things, it is because of their connection to God. When men, places, or things are severed from God, they cease to be holy and become unholy.
II. STANDARDS
A. WHY DO I NEED STANDARDS?
b. II Corinthians 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
2. Standards represent quality. I Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
3. Standards represent unity. I Corinthians 1:10, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
b. We should not view standards as the means to gain salvation. Actually, standards are a result of salvation. They represent bonds of love and we cheerfully submit because to do so pleases God.
2. The Spirit of God. Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
a. II Thessalonians 2:15, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”
b. II Thessalonians 3:6, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.”
c. I Corinthians 11:16, “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.”
III.THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURE
A. THE WORD “AUTHORITY” MEANS JURISDICTION.
b. It is therefore very important to know what the Word of God teaches.
c. The reason God has given the ministry to the church is to guide the church in knowing what the Bible teaches.
A. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT HAIR?
b. The man is the head of the woman. (vs.3)
c. The man who prays or prophesies with his head covered (with long hair), dishonoureth his head (Christ). (vs. 4)
d. The woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered (with cut hair), dishonoureth her head (the man). (vs. 5)
e. It is a shame for a woman to cut her hair or shave her head. (vs. 6)
f. The woman ought to have power on her head (she ought to have uncut hair) because of the angels. (vs. 10)
g. It is a shame for a man to have long hair. (vs. 14)
h. Uncut hair is a woman’s glory and also her covering. (vs. 15)
b. Consider their testimony.
1). Propriety. “..is it comely...” (is it proper)? (vs.13)
2). Nature. “Doth not even nature itself teach you.” (vs. 14)
3). The custom of God’s church. “..we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.” (vs. 16)
b. Revelation 21:27, states, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination...”
1). I Timothy 2:9 “...that women adorn themselves in modest apparel
2). What is worn should not be too revealing.
b. The principle of moderation.
1). I Timothy 2:9, “...not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.”
2). I Peter 3:3, “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel..”
3). What is worn should not be costly, elaborate, or ostentatious.
c. The principle of distinction.
1). Deuteronomy 22:5, “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”
2). What is worn should be gender related.
b. For a woman to paint her face and wear “makeup,” violates Paul’s teaching.
b. Il Kings 9:30 “And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.”
c. Jeremiah 4:30 “And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothes” thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.”
d. Ezekiel 23:40 “And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments . . .”
A. It is not unusual for holiness minded people to be branded as legalists.
b. Legalism assumes that godliness consists merely of living as closely as possible to moral laws.
c. Legalism emphasizes outward conduct almost solely to the exclusion of inward thoughts and motivations.
b. Then there was the legalism of the Jews, mentioned in the book of Galatians, who believed that living the Christian life consisted of keeping the law and nothing more. Having begun in the spirit, they were counting on becoming mature by works. Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”
c. Finally there was the legalism of the Pharisees who not only tried to keep the law in order to gain salvation, they also went beyond the teaching of the scripture and added requirements which had no scriptural basis.
b. It suggests that those who keep rules are automatically living true to God’s will.
c. Legalism minimizes our obligation to God.
d. It is satisfied when it fulfills the very least that is required.
e. Legalism inevitably produces contradictions and petty distinctions.
f. It is not based on consistency.
A. When the world makes inroads into the church, the world is not made better. The church is made worldly.
b. The world as a system. I John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
b. It is living with warped and unscriptural values.
c. It is assigning value to what God condemns.
d. It is rejecting God’s priorities for man’s priorities.
I John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
1). James 3:11, “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?”
2). James 3:12, “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”
b. Sin is glamorized and graphically presented. Much television programming consists of hate, violence, and lust.
1). Psalms 101:3 “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
2). Isaiah 33:15-16 “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high...”
c. These are polluted beyond hope.
1). We are commanded to depart from that which is polluted.
2). Micah 2:10, “Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. “