John Bevere - Pursuing Holiness
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Guys, I want to say this: today, in our society, this mentality has even crept into the church. We assume that if something is good, we automatically identify it as being of God. In other words, we’ve almost made good and God synonymous. Because, after all, aren’t we born with the inherent knowledge of what is right and wrong? But now let me say this: if good is so obvious, why then does God tell us in the book of Hebrews that we have to have discernment to recognize the difference between good and evil? Why does King Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, cry out, «God, give your servant an understanding heart that I might be able to discern between good and evil?»
Now, I want to set up the context here. He’s about to take the throne of Israel. God appears to him, which is amazing, and God says, «Ask me anything that you want.» He asks for the ability to tell the difference between good and evil. I don’t think good is as obvious as we think it is. I mean, you would think it is a good idea to preserve the life of your friend, yet Peter does this with Jesus, and Jesus looks at him, sharply corrects him, and says, «Peter, you are seeing things from a human point of view, not from God’s point of view.» If you remember, the rich young ruler comes running up to Jesus and cries out, «Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?» Before Jesus answers the all-important question of how to be saved, He says, «Why do you call me good? Nobody is good but God.» Now, is Jesus not good? No, He is perfect good. But you know what Jesus is saying to this guy? You have a reference point for good; God has a reference point for good. The two are not one and the same. Don’t put me in your category.
See, good is all about a reference point. You can have two families moving into identical three-bedroom, two-bath homes. For one family, it’s a good move; for another family, it’s a bad move. For the first family, it’s a good move because they just moved out of a trailer. For the second family, it’s a bad move because they just moved out of a three-million-dollar estate. I remember when God made this clear to me. I had flown to Stockholm, Sweden, and was getting ready to speak to 6,000 leaders from over 60 nations, mostly from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
I remember landing early in the morning in Stockholm and having all day to pray in my hotel room because you really don’t speak English or Swedish, and so you don’t have a lot to do. I was praying in my hotel room when I judged a certain situation to be good. I remember in that hotel room, the Holy Spirit very sternly said to me, «No, son, it’s not good.» He gave me scripture to support what He was saying, and I found myself getting into a little wrestling match with the Holy Spirit. Finally, I put my foot down and said, «But God, all the good that’s come out of this situation.» Then the Lord said this to me, and this has impacted me forever: «Son, it wasn’t the evil side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Adam was attracted to; it was the good side.» I remember when He said that. My Bible was laying there on the bed in the hotel room, and I flew over to Genesis.
When I saw the words, «When the woman saw that the tree was good,» the word «good» literally leapt off the page at me. She saw that it was pleasant, she thought it was desirable, and she partook. I’m standing there in shock in this hotel room, and all of a sudden, God says to me, «Son, there is a good that will lead people away from me.» And all of a sudden, I realized in that hotel room how Jesus’s words would be fulfilled. You know, when anyone asked Jesus what it was going to be like in the last days, the days right before He returns, do you know what the first thing He says? «Be careful that you are not deceived.»
Now, there is only one problem with deception, and that is this: it’s deceiving. The person who is deceived believes with all their heart that they are right when, in reality, they are wrong. That’s scary. Then Jesus goes on to say that the deception will be so potent that, if possible, even the elect will be deceived. That used to bother me. I thought, «The elect are Christians; how are Christians going to be deceived?» In that hotel room, all of a sudden, I realized it’s not drug-infested parties, it’s not satanic rock concerts, it’s not sexual orgies that will deceive, if possible, the elect. It will be evil that is masked with good. Proverbs 14:12 says there is a way, there is a method, there is wisdom that seems right, it seems beneficial, it seems profitable, it seems acceptable, it seems good to a man, but it’s the end where it takes you that you don’t want to find yourself.
This is why the Apostle James comes along in the New Testament and makes the statement, «Do not be deceived.» Now, that looks like a command, but it’s not; it’s actually a promise. Do you know what James is saying here? He is saying if you get this truth firmly established in your heart, you will never be deceived. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but in a day when Jesus tells me that the deception will be so powerful that, if possible, the elect will be deceived, I want to know how to be deceived-proof. Is anyone in here joining me on that one? Can I see a show of hands?
So, what’s this truth, James? He goes on to say, «Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.» Now, I’m going to simplify what he just said to you. What James is saying is he’s saying if you get this truth, you will never ever be deceived. What’s the truth, James? Here it is. Are you ready, guys? There is nothing good for you outside of God. That’s it. I don’t care how good it looks, how profitable it appears, how beneficial it seems to your future, how acceptable it is to our society, how sweet she talks to you, or how rude your wife has been talking to you. If it is contrary to the written word of God, it will ultimately bring you to a place you don’t want to find yourself. So, the question that we need to establish right in the beginning here tonight is: what is the standard? What’s our reference point? Remember I said good is all about a reference point.
Guys, what’s a reference point in this confused day that we’re living in, where you’ve got an Olympic champion doing something that has literally caused our whole society to move further and further away from what God established? What is our reference point? Paul tells us right before he leaves the Earth. Paul says this in 2 Timothy: «All scripture,» everybody say, «all scripture,» «is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true, what is good, and to make us realize what is wrong, what’s bad in our lives.» Now look at this: it corrects us when we’re wrong. Somebody says, «I don’t like correction.» Oh, you don’t? Well then watch this: he’s heading for San Diego. Can you start again? Can you start that again? I think you guys missed the beat.
«Finding directions to San Diego, California. Midwest, then turn left on Highway 105. Rerouting. Make a U-turn and proceed to Red Rock Ranch Drive. Are you sure? I’ve been here before.» «Do you?» «Hmm, you turn. He’s heading to San Diego. He ends up in Saskatchewan.» What happened? He wasn’t listening to correction. I don’t know why correction’s so negative to people. If you’re on the wrong road, it gets you on the right road. If you’re on the right road, it keeps you on the right road so you don’t end up at a destination you don’t want to find yourself. He ended up at a destination he didn’t want to end up at.
So what is our reference point? It’s the scripture. Can I talk about the scripture just for a couple of minutes? Sixty-six books written over the course of 1,500 years. Would you go back 1,500 years? You’re at 516 A.D. Do you understand the British Empire hasn’t even been established yet? Do you understand it’s only 200 years after Constantine of the Roman Empire? 1,500 years is a long time. Sixty-six books written over 1,500 years by over 40 writers from three different continents in three different languages. Many of these writers don’t even live in the same generation. Many of them don’t even know what the other guys wrote. Yet you put the whole thing together, and you get this perfectly harmonized book called the Bible.
Come on! What are the chances of that? That’s like going back to 516, picking out a guy, saying, «Write a chapter,» then going to 616, 100 years later, picking out another guy, saying, «Write a chapter,» then going to another continent in 716 and picking out another guy. Say, «Write a chapter.» You do this with over 40 writers and right up till 2016, and you tell me you got a book that makes any sense! But to even sweeten the deal more, if you look at the Old Testament, 39 books written over the course of 1,100 years, with the last book of the Old Testament written 400 years before Jesus was even born. Many of these writers didn’t even live in the same generation, don’t even know what the other guys wrote, yet they made predictions about the coming Messiah: things like he’d be born in Bethlehem, he’d be called out of Egypt, he would be betrayed by a friend, right in Jerusalem on a donkey, he’d be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, and that 30 pieces of silver would be put in a potter’s field. All this is written by guys hundreds of years before Jesus was born. In fact, they wrote 300 of these predictions; the last one’s written 400 years before Jesus even is born, and Jesus comes along and fulfills them all. What are the chances?
You know, a scientist in the 20th century said, «What is the probability that anybody on Earth over 2,000 years could just fulfill eight of the prophecies?» He employed 600 other scientists, and after hours of research, they determined the chances that any human being on Earth could fulfill just eight of the 300 was one in 10 to the 17th power. That is a one with 17 zeros behind it. If I had that many silver dollars, I would cover the entire state of Texas two feet deep with silver dollars. If you mark one of those silver dollars, blindfold a guy in Oklahoma, and fly him over Texas, he gets down, blindfolded, picks up one silver dollar. The chance of picking up that one silver dollar is the chance that any human being on Earth could have fulfilled just eight of those prophecies.
Yet Jesus not only fulfilled the eight; He fulfilled all 300. Yeah, you know that scientist said, «What about 48 prophecies?» After hours of research, and by the way, the American National Scientific Council said that not only was his work accurate, he and his 600 scientists, but it was conservative. This is conservative! They said, «What are the chances anybody can fulfill 48 of the prophecies?» After hours of calculations, they determined the chances were one in 10 to the 157th power. That is a one with 157 zeros behind it. If I have a number like that, the only way I can illustrate it is to go down to an electron. Do you know how big an electron is? If I have a one-inch line of electrons and I start counting them tonight, and I count 250 per minute and I don’t go to sleep, it would take me 19 million years to count that one-inch line of electrons. If I have 10 to the 157th electrons, I’d have to make a big ball of electrons—solid electrons.
Do you know how big that sphere would be as far as man has ever seen into space with the Hubble Space Telescope? Thirteen billion light-years! Now, blindfold a guy, put him in a space shuttle, send him into outer space. At any point in time, he can say, «Stop.» Then he gets out, still blindfolded, he picks one electron. The chance of picking our one marked electron is the chance that any human being over 2,000 years could have fulfilled 48 of those prophecies. Yet Jesus not only fulfilled 48; He fulfilled all 300!
Thank you! Yeah, can we just review what I just said? You’ve got 39 books written by several different writers; many of them don’t even live in the same generation. They make 300 predictions about the Messiah. The last one’s written 400 years before He’s born, and then Jesus comes along and fulfills them all. And you tell me the Bible doesn’t apply to today? You’re stupid. Hey, I didn’t say that first; look what Proverbs says. «He who hates correction is stupid.» This is why the writer of Hebrews comes and tells us, «Look what the writer of Hebrews says: We must not, we should, we must listen very carefully.» Notice the words «very carefully» to the truth we’ve heard or we may drift away from it.
How many of you know drifting doesn’t happen consciously; it happens unconsciously? When I was a boy, I used to love to fish in White Lake, Michigan. One time, I was so excited about fishing that I forgot to anchor. I’m fishing away, 30 minutes pass, I look up; I don’t even recognize the shoreline. I have drifted so far from where I started. Drifting doesn’t happen consciously.
Can I ask you a question? If you had to cross a landmine field 10 miles long and 10 miles wide, and there were thousands of landmines buried underneath the ground, you step on one of them, you’re dead. Somebody gives you a map that tells you where all those landmines are. How do you handle that map? Do you just throw it in your backpack and say, «I’ll read it if I have time?» Do you kind of just look at it and say, «Oh, I’ve got it,» put it in your backpack and take off? Do either of those and they’re carrying you out in a body bag! I’m going to tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to study it like crazy. Then you’re going to put it in a place easier to reach—in your water bottle—you’re going to pull it out constantly.
Let me tell you something: we’re walking across a landmine field, guys; it’s called the world. That’s why we’re told, «Thy word is a lamp unto my feet; it is a light unto my path.» You know, when I wrote this—I wrote this; this is the 19th book I’ve written. The books now are pushing 10 million copies all over the world; they’re in 73 languages. But I had three international leaders—if I named them, many of you would know these leaders—and they all three, in three different states, three different months said to me, «John Bevere, this is one of the most important books you’ve written for the body of Christ to this day.» And I thought, «What?» I remember after the third one said it to me, I went to the Lord and I said, «Why is this one so important?» And this is what the Lord said to me: He said, «It’s a calibration book.»
So I thought, «Calibration? You calibrate a machine to get an accurate reading.» So I thought, «Let me go into this further.» I found out the most frequent usage of this word is used in regard to gas detectors in chemical factories. Federal law requires that every single room in a chemical factory has a gas detector, because why? A little bit of toxins in the air can damage the employees for life, even kill them. I know this firsthand because my dad worked for DuPont, and safety was crazy important. I found out that Honeywell was the number one manufacturer of these gas detectors, and I went to their website. I asked on their search page, «How do you calibrate one of your gas detectors?» It brought me to this page, and in bold letters above the page, it said, «We strongly recommend that you calibrate these machines daily.» Then they gave the reason: they said because the atmosphere in the chemical factory can corrupt the sensors.
So now I’m reading what this technician’s reading, and this gets a little technical so I’m going to simplify it. Basically, they take the gas detectors, bring them into a clean air room, and clean off the sensors, okay? Because the atmosphere corrupts the sensors, they re-zero out the machine so they know they’re getting accurate readings that day. Let me tell you something: your heart’s your sensor, guys. We live in a corrupt environment; it’s called the world. Every day, we should be going to a clean air environment. That’s why small groups are so important. What do we do? We get washed with the water of the word so that we go back out into the world. We’re not conformed to it but we prove what is good. See, it’s not about a formula; it’s the perfect and acceptable will of God.
Why is this so important? Why am I bringing this up tonight? Because today in the United States of America, I have never seen the word of God under such attack. Scripture is under such attack. I’m not just talking about in our society; it’s even creeping into our churches. There are literally scriptures and even chapters being cut out and not spoken about in churches because they’re not happy verses. And the thing is, the Apostle Paul made this statement: «I am innocent of the blood of all men because I did not shun to declare to you the whole counsel of God.» Not just the happy parts, not just the encouraging parts, also the corrective parts that keep us from ending up in a destination we don’t want to end up in.
Let me show you one verse of scripture that you just don’t hear much anymore today in the American church. You’ll probably hear it in this church because I know your pastor real well, but I’m going to show it to you, and that’s Hebrews 12:14. I want you to look at this scripture. It says, «Pursue"—now that word pursue, I’m going to give you the definition, guys: it means chase after with the intent to apprehend. I want to read that scripture again. Go back to that scripture. «Pursue"—chase after with the intent to apprehend—what I want everybody to say really loud. Did you cringe when you said it? Most of us do, and there’s a reason for it. You know, I’m just not hearing us talk about holiness today in the American church. Why? Why aren’t we talking about it? Because it is a major subject in the New Testament; it’s a major thing that God talks about.
I’m going to tell you, I want to open it up tonight. I want to share with you why we don’t like talking about holiness. So in order to do so, I want you to put yourself in the devil’s shoes for 30 seconds, guys, okay? How many of you know the devil can read? He can read Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic just as well. How many of you know he’s read the New Testament more times than you have? Okay, he’s read the entire New Testament, and you know what he’s noticed? There’s only one description of the church that Jesus is coming back for. It’s not a relevant church. Is relevance important? Oh yeah, you better believe it. We won’t reach people if we’re not relevant. It’s not a leadership-driven church. Is leadership important? Oh yeah, we’ll never get anything accomplished if we don’t have leadership. It’s not a connected church. Is being connected important? Yeah, you better believe it. I mean small groups, being connected; it’s not good to be alone! God said that right? But that’s not the description of the church that Jesus is coming back for. You know what the only description of the church that Jesus is coming back for—the only one—is a holy church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Now, do you know what the predominant description of God is in the whole Bible? Isaiah goes to the throne; John goes to the throne, Isaiah 6, Revelation 5, same throne. The two men see the throne of God; there are these massive beings called seraphim, and they are crying one to another: «Holy!» And they’re crying it out so loud! You know, we wrote a song, and people yawn, but they’re not singing a song. They’re crying out one to another. Every moment another facet of His glory is being revealed, and all they can do is cry «Holy!» And you know what the Bible says? The doorpost of a building that seats about a billion beings gets shaken from them crying it out. They’re not crying, «Love, love, love.» Is God love? Oh yeah, He doesn’t just have love; He is love. But they’re not crying «Love, love, love.» Because that’s not the predominant characteristic of Him. They’re not crying, «Faithful, faithful, faithful.» Is God faithful? You better believe it. But they’re not crying out «Faithful, faithful, faithful.» They’re crying «Holy!»
So you’re the devil, and you’ve read this. The predominant description of God in the Bible is holy. The only description of the church that Jesus is coming back for is holy. So what do you do if you’re the devil? You raise up a bunch of mean-spirited preachers and pastors. I mean, these guys don’t even like people. I mean, you’ve got no business teaching the Bible if you don’t like people! Go teach geography, but don’t preach the Bible! So these guys don’t even like people, so you know what they did? They beat us up with their legalistic view of holiness, and they made holiness an end to itself to beat us up with their legalism, pounded us out in the lifestyle they felt we should live, and they made holiness a complete end to itself.
Holiness is not an end to itself. So you know what happened, guys? There’s a Chinese proverb that got fulfilled. You know what the Chinese proverb is? The cat that has been scalded by boiling water will fear now the cool. That’s a Chinese proverb. What is that proverb saying? If you pour boiling water on a cat, now if you put cool water out— which will give that cat life—he’ll run away from the cool water because he’s been scalded by the boiling water. So now you mention holiness, and people go, «I’ve been scalded by that junk; I don’t want to hear about it.» But then we had some clever teachers come along, and they were like, «We can’t avoid this. It’s like a major doctrine, this is a foundational doctrine.» So these clever teachers came along, you know what they did? They said, «Okay, guys, don’t worry about holiness. Jesus is your holiness. You don’t have to worry about the way you live; don’t even think about the way you live. Don’t sweat it! Jesus is the one that made you holy! You don’t ever even have to think about it.»
So what did they do? These clever teachers lumped the two different aspects of holiness the New Testament talks about together into one pot. There are two different aspects of holiness that the New Testament talks about. The first one is our positional holiness. Look at Ephesians 1:4. It says this: «He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy.» Everybody shout «holy.» Shout it again! Shout it one more time! «And without blame before Him.» Listen to me. God did that before the foundation of the world. When He declared that Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, He said when a person receives Jesus, what He did at Calvary will count for him, and that will make him holy and set apart for me.
So the moment you got saved, God declared you holy, and you’re never going to be more holy than you were the day you got saved. Let me give you an example. Lisa and I got married 34 years ago this October 2nd. The day we got married, she became my wife. She is not more my wife today, 34 years later, than she was the day I married her. And she’s not going to be my wife more 34 years from today. Positional holiness has always been that way. Excuse me; it’s been that way since October 2, 1982, and it’s going to be that way for the rest of eternity. Are you tracking with me? That’s her position she holds with me.
But now let me tell you about me. Before I got married, before I got married, I flirted with girls. I got their phone numbers; I dated girls. After I got married to Lisa, I stopped flirting with girls. I stopped getting their phone numbers. I started behaving with them in an appropriate way that matched the position that I held with her as her husband. That was my behavior. Now, I didn’t say I can’t go within 25 yards of any woman. I’m around women constantly. I sit next to my planes; there are more women than men on our ministry team. I’m around women all the time. But what happens? I have an appropriate behavior. What about us with Jesus?
Look what Peter says: «Live as children of obedience to God. Do not conform yourselves to the evil desires that governed you in your former ignorance when you did not know the the requirements of the Gospel. But as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy.» Now look at this: «Be holy in all your conduct and manner of living.» Peter’s not talking about positional holiness here; he’s talking about behavioral holiness. Now if you look at Hebrews 12:14 again— «Pursue holiness…» What does pursue mean? Chase after with the intent to apprehend! He cannot be talking about positional holiness here; he must be talking about behavioral holiness. Because look what he goes on to say: «Without which no one will see the Lord.» Now I’m going to address that in just a second, but before I can address that, I’ve got to tell us how to live holy.
Okay, now look at the next statement: «Looking carefully.» Everybody say, «Looking carefully.» Say it with conviction: «Looking carefully.» «Lest anyone fall short of the grace of God.» You ever fall short of the grace of God? We’re preaching in America today, it’d be impossible. So maybe we don’t understand the full meaning of grace. No, we don’t. Let me share with you. In 2009, a nationwide survey was done all across America—over 5,000 Christians were polled in this survey. This is the question that was asked: «Give three or more definitions or descriptions of the grace of God.»
The overwhelming majority said these four answers: salvation, a free unmerited gift, forgiveness of sins, and the love of God. I’m so glad American Christians understand that we’re saved by grace and only by grace. You can’t earn that grace because it’s God’s gift. By the grace of God, our sins have been forgiven because it’s His love. So glad Americans understood that! But here’s where the tragedy occurred in this survey: are you ready? Guys, only 2%—did you hear what I just said? Two percent said that grace was God’s empowerment! If this is exactly how God defines His grace, He says the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, «My grace is sufficient for you, for My power—» Now these words are red in your Bible which means they are straight from the mouth of God. God refers to His grace as what? Come on everybody say it: His «power,» which is His grace! «Is made perfect in your human inability.»
Look what Peter says about Grace. Peter says, «Grace be multiplied to you,» as His Divine—what? Come on everybody say it with conviction: «as His divine power.» So if Peter refers to grace as His divine power that has given to us everything that we need for living a Godly life. If you look at the root word for grace, it’s the Greek word «charis.» Strong’s defines it as this: gift, favor, benefit, graciousness, and liberality. If you take this initial definition and couple it together with selected scriptures in the book of Ephesians, Romans, and Galatians, you get the grace of God that most American Christians are familiar with. However, Strong’s doesn’t stop. He goes on to define the Greek word for grace as the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life. You can see there is an outward reflection of what’s done in the heart; that’s the empowerment of grace.
When Barnabas went to the church at Antioch in Acts 11, he saw the grace of God on the people. He didn’t hear about it; he saw the empowerment that was reflected in their lives.
Okay, I want you to look at me! Every one of you, don’t look at the board; look at me! Or look at me on the board! I was bound to pornography! I got married in 1982 to Lisa Bevere; I thought she was gorgeous; it would be alleviated! I was still bound to pornography. I went into the ministry; I was still bound to pornography! You want to know why? Because I was trying to get free in my own strength! But then I discovered the grace of God—that it’s not just forgiveness of sins; it’s not just a free gift. It’s His empowerment that gives me the ability! I couldn’t do it in my own ability, and I got free May 6th, 1985, and I’ve been free since.
Now, if you look at Hebrews again, it makes sense. Look at this. Go to the next slide for me, guys. A PowerPoint crash; we lose it. «Pursue holiness, without which no man will see the Lord.» Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. Now you understand what it means to fall short. If I give you a vehicle and say, «Here, it’s yours! You can do whatever you want,» and all you do is play the stereo and use the air conditioning and never drive it, you’ve fallen short of my gift that I’ve given to you.
Look: «Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God.» Now look, I’m going a few verses later. «Therefore, since we’re receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace—» Everybody shout «grace!» «By which we may serve God acceptably.» That’s behavior! What is the acceptable way to serve God? Come on, guys, your holiness!
Now here’s the tragedy: I want you to look up at me. I want you to look up at me! Listen to me! Do you understand that 98% of the Christians in America are trying to live godly in their own ability? How do I know that? Because you can’t have anything from God unless you believe, and you can’t believe what you don’t know. So if 98% of Christians in America don’t even know grace is God’s empowerment, that means 98% of Christians in America are trying to live godly in their own ability. You know what happens if you try to live godly in your own ability? One of two things. Either you become a hypocritical legalist or you become a loosey-goosey, making up all the strange doctrine like, «Grace covers all the sin.»
I love standing; I’m a very nice person, but when you understand that grace is God’s empowerment, you become a happy man. It’s not your ability anymore! Do you see what we’ve done by underselling grace? We thought we were protecting people from bondage because we were all scalded by this legalism when in reality, what we did is we kept people from walking in freedom because they were trying to do it in their own ability. And then finally we said, «Don’t worry about it; Jesus did it all.»
See, look at Romans 5:2. It says, «We have access by faith.» Only by believing do we get access to the grace in which we stand. See, some of you guys are going to find out tonight, «Oh my gosh! I’ve been trying to do this in my own ability!» All you have to do is depend on grace! If you remember the apostles, Jesus told them to go to the other side. They were straining against rowing for nine hours. Jesus comes walking on the water. The Bible said He would have passed them by, but they cried out. They were smart! He got into the boat. Grace got into the boat, and instantly they were on the other side!
You may be doing what Jesus is telling you to do, but you’re struggling. You’re straining at rowing, and now Jesus is going to walk by your boat daily, and you’re going to cry out, and grace is going to get in your boat, and you’re going to find out how free you really are. Some of you are going to get this! I know you are! I know you are!
So let’s look at Hebrews 12:14, because this is the happy part: «Pursue holiness.» Now look at this: «Without which no one will see the Lord.» Everybody’s going to see God! I mean, the Bible says when He comes, every eye is going to behold Him. The Bible says every knee is going to bow, and every tongue is going to confess. What does He mean, «Without holiness, no man is going to see the Lord?»
Let me explain it to you like this: as an American citizen for the last 56 years, I’ve been under ten presidents. I’ve been under their rulership, their jurisdiction; their decisions have affected my life. But you know, I’ve never seen one of them. I’ve never been in the presence of a President of the United States! But now there are other Americans—they know the President, they’re friends with him, or they work with him, or they’re in his presence every day! Well, there are Christians; they’re under Jesus’s rulership. His decisions affect their lives; they’re under His jurisdiction, but they’re not in His presence! They’re not experiencing intimacy with Him.
I’m going to let Jesus really settle this one. Look what Jesus says. These words are red: John 14, guys! John 14! It should be the last PowerPoint—the last one—yeah, there it is! Can you go back one? That’s the end of it. Look what Jesus says: «The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who really loves Me.» Now how do we keep His commandments? He gave us the way; it’s called what, guys? Come on, say it!
«There you go! The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who really loves Me, and I too will love him. Now look at this: and I will show, I will reveal, manifest Myself to him; I will let Myself clearly be what? „Pursue holiness without which no one is going to see the Lord.“ I will let Myself clearly be seen by him and make Myself real to him. So there you have it, guys. Holiness isn’t an end to itself; it’s the doorway into intimacy with God, and every true Christian, that is their greatest cry: to be intimate with God.
Do you know what we’ve done, unfortunately, by trying to alleviate men from pursuing holiness? I’m going to show you what it’s like. It’s like me walking up to my wife, Lisa, and holding up my marriage contract, saying, „Hey, I’m married to you! See, we are legally married,“ while I’m jumping in bed with other women. Now, I may technically still be married to her, and that probably won’t last long, but I guarantee you she’s not going to share with me the secrets, the desires, the intentions of her heart. I have cut myself off from intimacy with her. I may love her and love her more than my other girls I’m jumping in bed with, but I guarantee you she’s not gonna be intimate with me because I’m an adulterer.
And you know what James says? „You’re seeking friendship with the world.“ He’s right! To Christians, you’re an adulterer! Yeah, you may technically still be married; you’re not gonna have intimacy. Do you want to know why I don’t commit adultery against my wife, Lisa? Can I tell you why? There are three reasons. Number one, I fear God! Number two, she’ll kill me. She’s a sharpshooter! I’m not kidding! We were on a firing range with James and Betty Robinson; she put a bullet at 115 yards in a bullseye that big. She told me, „You commit adultery; I’ll make it painless. You’ll be on the tenth hole, and I’ll take you out, and you won’t feel a thing.“ Okay, but let me tell you the real reason! Can I tell you the real reason? Because I don’t want to lose the intimacy that I have with her! I don’t ever want to cut myself off from intimacy with this amazing woman that I’m married to. That’s my number one reason why!
Watch this! Emma, these past seven months, I have been incredible. I mean, honestly, when I saw you seven months ago, I knew from that moment that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re kind of beautiful and smart; I can’t picture a more perfect woman. So Emma Louie Thompson, will you marry me? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I have to see other guys on the side, but yeah—wait, what other guys? What are you talking about? I’m the perfect woman, just like you said! I’m going to have gourmet meals for us every single night! Our house is gonna be perfect; it’s gonna be amazing, babe! And I mean you’re not really expecting to be a one-man kind of woman anyway, right?
No, that’s actually like a big part of marriage! Like you and me together! Yeah, but I can’t give up every guy! I mean, that’s asking a little much! A little? I just asked you to marry me! If we’re married, you can’t see anyone else!
No! That’s—wait! Okay, okay, listen to me! Listen to me! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said that! You’re right; I was wrong! I totally understand where you’re coming from. There are moments when we’re gonna be so, so happy together. Every single day! Except once a week! Once a week? Okay, you’re not listening. Every other year? No! On a leap year? No! Okay—okay, Emma, I can’t—I can’t! Once a week on a leap year? And you’re gonna freak out? Come on, we’re done!
What, babe? You were just asking me to marry you! Are you kidding me? Really? Okay, all right! How many of you guys would marry a girl like that? Let me see your hands! Nobody! Why not? I mean she loves him more than the other guys! I’m going to tell you why he wouldn’t marry her and why you wouldn’t marry her: because she hasn’t given him her whole heart. She’s still got a place for those other lovers.
Now, you’d never marry a girl like that! What makes you think Jesus is coming back for a bride like that? What makes you think Jesus is coming back for a bride that’s like, „Just give me a little bit of the world every other week?“ If you really believe that, you’re as deceived as she is. He’s coming back for a bride that has given herself to Him the way He has given Himself to us. That’s why Jesus said, „You can’t follow me unless you deny yourself, take up your cross, and give your life to me by following me.“
Every head bowed, every eye closed—all the campuses, just bow your heads. Okay, Father, I’ve preached what You’ve commanded me to preach, and I thank You for Your help, Holy Spirit. Now, Lord, I pray that men come into a place of intimacy with Jesus tonight like they’ve never known before. Your heads bowed, your eyes closed, I’m going to say something that might ruffle your feathers. You can know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; you can know He died on the cross; you can know He was raised from the dead; you can attend church, be a part of a small group, and still not have a covenant relationship with God! You say, „John, how could you ever say that statement?“
Let me give you an example: you can have a girl dating a guy; she knows the guy is an excellent quarterback; she knows he plays for Alabama; she knows he’s an excellent science student; she knows he’s got a scar on his head from a bicycle wreck he had when he was eight years old; she’s been to his house; she’s met his siblings; she spends time with the siblings, but that doesn’t give her a covenant relationship with him. It’s not until that young man gets down on one knee, opens up a little ring box, like Alex just did, and says, „Will you marry me?“ to her, then at this point, she’s got a decision to make. She can ignore his proposal or say no, and then she’ll continue life knowing about him, even going to his house, meeting his siblings, but not having a covenant relationship with him. Or she can say yes, and if she says yes, that means a couple of months later she’s going to walk down an aisle of a church with a white dress on in front of a lot of people. And you know what she’s communicating by doing that? She’s saying goodbye to every man on the planet, except for the little guy that opened the ring box. He’s given her entire heart, her entire life!
When Lisa and I got married 34 years ago this October 2nd, let me tell you something: I made a lot of mistakes the first week; she made a lot of mistakes the first week; we’ve all made mistakes the first year; we’ve all made mistakes the first 33 years! But let me tell you one thing that hasn’t happened: and that is this: my heart has always been hers. That has not changed! Some of you men are sitting in here tonight—whether it’s here, whether it’s in Tuscaloosa, whether it’s in Auburn, whether it’s in Riverchase, and you know—I mean you can fool the guy sitting next to you, but why in the world would you ever want to fool yourself? But you know, truth be told, you have not given your entire heart and life to Him. I want to give you that opportunity tonight. I want you to enter into a covenant relationship and become a true man of God. If that’s you, I want you to raise your hand up high. You say, „John, truth be told, I really haven’t given my entire heart and life to Jesus. I want to do it right now.“ I want you to lift up your hands, man! Look at the hands going up; there must be 250 hands up in the air.
I want you to stand up if your hands are raised. No bride’s ever been ashamed of her husband! Just stand right there at your seat, just stand up. Just stand up! I want to make sure nobody’s missed; I want to make sure no one’s missed. So I want to give you another few minutes. There’s probably about 200 to 250 men standing right now, but I don’t want anyone missed!
I’m editing a book right now, and I have just added the chapters on hell and heaven, and let me tell you, I have never been so passionate about getting people saved! Is there anyone else? You know God did a lot to save us, but He will not force us to enter a relationship with Him, and neither will I. I won’t do it! You have to choose!
And if you’re sitting there and you’re saying, „Well, I’m just waiting for God to hit me over the side of the head,“ look, that just may not happen! So I want to give you one more opportunity for you to make the choice to say yes to Jesus. Is there anyone else? Just stand up right now with every head bowed, every eye closed. Yes, sir, I just see you; I saw you! Another man stood up. Yes, sir, another man stood up! You two were worth the wait!
Anybody else? I want to make sure no one’s missed tonight. Okay, now I’m going to ask one more question before I pray. If you’re sitting in here tonight, you’d say, „John, I truly have given my life to Jesus, but I have certainly not been chasing holiness. I’ve not been chasing after it with the intent to apprehend it! I want the grace of God in my life so I can chase after holiness; I want that intimacy with God.“ If that’s you, you stand up with these men too! Stand up right now! If that’s you!
I don’t know what’s happened—this right now—but here we’ve got about 98% of the men standing up. I love this church! So honest, so teachable, so well-taught! I want you to just lift your hands up right now. Why? Why are you having me lift my hands up? It’s just an outward sign of what you’re doing inside. You’re surrendering everything to Him. You’re saying, „Jesus, my entire life is Yours.“ With your hands lifted up, I want to pray with you. I want you to repeat this prayer with me. I’m going to pray for the 250 guys and all the guys on the campuses who stood up first, and then I’m going to pray for the second group. But I want everyone to pray the standing:
Say this out loud: „I want God in heaven, thank You so much for loving me so much that You sent Jesus when I deserved to die. Thank You so much for this day, April 15th, 2016. I give my spirit, soul, and body, everything I am, everything I have to You, Jesus! Jesus, my life is completely Yours! You are my Lord! Not only are You my Lord, but You’re my King and You’re my lover! Thank You! I’m born again. I belong to God and no one can ever remove me—Yours forever!
And now, Father, thank You for not only giving me Your gift of grace to be saved—to be freed from the penalty of sin—but give me Your grace to empower me to walk free from sin. And You said, Lord, that I am to come boldly to the throne of grace, and I come there now and I’m asking You for that empowering grace that gives me the ability to walk free from sin, to pursue holiness, to live in such a way my behavior reflects my position—that I’m one of Your faithful ones! I receive that from You tonight, and I give You praise!“
Now just lift your hands up one more time! Holy Spirit, You are the Spirit of grace! Now let me pray for you! Just lift your hands up! If you could see the face of Jesus right now, you wouldn’t see a disgusted look, guys! You wouldn’t see an angry look! If you could see the biggest smile—some of you are getting a glimpse! He would see the most strong, but tender loving eyes, and every bit of His gaze is on you, guys! Every single bit! There’s this presence right there!
Wow, it’s already happening now! Holy Spirit, I’m asking You to touch every man that’s standing—whether they’re in Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Riverchase, or here. There’s this presence right there! Right there! Wow! Thank You! There’s this presence right there! It’s getting stronger! And I want you to whisper to Him! Don’t say anything religious! I don’t care if you say, „Dad, you’re just amazing!“ Just speak to the one you’re looking at in your heart right now! That’s it! There’s His presence right there! Right there! Wow!
Now I want you to thank Him! Just whisper, „Thank You!“ and mean it! And now let’s give Him praise!
Alright, guys, I just want to ask one last question. I don’t want you to be polite; I want you to be honest. How many of you honestly sense the presence of God? Wow! Let me just quote James 4: „Draw near to God, and you draw first!“ That’s what you just did, and then He will draw near to you. James is writing to Christians, and then you know what he says? „Cleanse your hands, you sinners.“ He’s right! You’re Christians! „Purify your hearts, you double-minded,“ because your heart is divided between God and the world—that’s what James said in the New Living Translation!
You know what you just did? You purified your heart tonight, guys! You cleansed your hands, and God manifested His presence! And that’s going to happen in your car, in your shower; you walk out of here, and the devil says, „Ah, nothing happened.“ Tell him to shut up!
Alright, I love you guys!