Preaching Practical Holiness | Desiring God

Holiness is the greatest theme of the Holy Scriptures, the greatest theme of the ages.Holiness is the foundation of the nature and character of God, and of saints and angels. It is thegreatest attribute of God, which rules and controls all His other attributes. Without holiness, Godwould be unmerciful in His justice and unjust in His mercy; partial in His love, and dangerous inHis power. There are only two great moral principles in the universe: holiness and sin. Sin, oranti-holiness is the cause of all our troubles, and holiness is the only cure. The only difference inearth and Heaven is sin and holiness. Never apologize for holiness, though you may apologize forthe lack of holiness.

    If we are to be holiness preachers, it is of first importance that we know how to preachholiness. There are as many ways to preach holiness as there are preachers, congregations andindividuals, but there are certain definite, fundamental, principles which must be adhered to by allwho preach "true holiness" -- or the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    When we read such passages as, "Without holiness, no man shall see God," and "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God," and "Be ye holy for I, the Lord your God, am Holy,"we are informed and mightily reminded that it is of supreme importance, not only to know what topreach, but how to preach holiness. No one can preach the Bible without preaching holiness.Holiness is the only remedy for sin, and the only road to Heaven. If you are God's preacher, youare both a holy, and a holiness preacher. If you belong to a holiness church, you are doubly boundto preach holiness, both because of your vow to God and to your church. Holiness begins inrepentance and is imparted and experienced in regeneration and is perfected in sanctification andcompleted in glorification. You must preach holiness, regardless of the cost, if you would awakensinners, bless the saints and stir compromised hypocrites. We cannot please a holy God withoutoffending an unholy devil and his slaves.

    Then, since holiness is the fountain head of all truth, you have a right and responsibility toask, "HOW SHALL I PREACH HOLINESS?" We would make the following recommendations asto how you are to present this great theme of the Bible, and of the ages, in order to lead souls intoholiness and eternal life, here and here after.

01 -- WE MUST PREACH IT EXPERIENTIALLY 

    We must preach it experientially, not experimental, but as something proved by experience.[This distinction drawn between "experiential" and "experimental" here is not altogether welltaken, for the word "experimental" can mean "that which is known by experience" as well as "thatwhich involves an experiment or a test." While some may prefer the word "experiential" applied to spiritual knowledge, the word "experimental," used by many of the older writers, mayalso be used to denote the same thing. See the Oxford Dictionary -- DVM] It must be proved byspiritual science in the laboratory of your own heart. You cannot give to others something whichyou do not have yourself. If the early Disciples had to "tarry until they were endued with powerfrom on high," we must do the same. You must KNOW that you have been and are still sanctified,or there will be a lameness in your own message like the one in your own soul. How long has itbeen since someone was sanctified under your own ministry? If it costs days, friends, positions,and shallow professions to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have been cleansed fromcarnality and filled with the Holy Ghost, "all the fullness of God." This will make your stepssteady, and you can offer to others what you are more certain of and more conscious of thananything else in this world. This will save you from cowardice, weak knees, compromise andhypocrisy, and make you holy, valiant and fearless in the face of every foe. It will make you themost loved and hated person in all your community round about.

    A. J. Gordon said, "My ministry was fruitless for 20 years, until I went into my study andshut the door, and told God that I would never come out until He baptized me with the HolyGhost." The mighty baptism came, and revivals followed him around the world. At our Iowa campsome years ago, a leading minister who fell at the altar to be sanctified, said to the evangelist that"I had lost the blessing, and because of the inconsistencies of others, I had wondered if there wassuch a thing as sanctification, but when I heard you preach it, I felt that you had it, and that I couldhave it." About seven preachers got sanctified in that camp, and revivals spread all over theconference after the camp. "Lord, send a revival and let it begin in me."

03 -- PREACH IT LOGICALLY AND THEOLOGICALLY

    Preach it logically and theologically, as the great center and culmination of Bible truth anddoctrine. It is the most reasonable thing in the world. "Come now and let us reason together,Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow." Show how it is the climax ofCalvary, the divine philosophy of the ages. Preach it in relation to all the other doctrines of theScriptures. As the essence of all "Sound Doctrine." Show how that it is demanded by the fall andprovided in the atonement, "Wherefore Jesus, also that he might sanctify the people with his ownblood, suffered without the gate. Let us therefore, go with him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come."
Show how that every system of doctrine must recognize it or be untrue to God and His Bible.