Holiness Equals Happiness: A Message from John 10

Holiness doesn't mean a life of no fun, but rather a life of purpose and peace.

Jesus is the door to the presence of God and the Prince of Peace.

False doctrines can lead to a life of sin and separation from God.

Jesus' blood sacrifice is the only way to forgiveness and salvation.

This morning I wanted to share just something real quick with you from John chapter 10, starting in verse 9. John chapter 10 and verse 9. And interesting is the idea, many people have a bad idea, like a bad thought about holiness. It kind of gets a bad rap. People think holiness, and they think holiness equals no fun. It's kind of what they feel. You know, well, if you're holy unto God, well, then everything's taken away from you. Boy, are they wrong. Yeah, exactly. Boy, are they wrong, right? You know, but that's true. That's how they go. Oh, well, yes, of course. Yeah, you can't do all the stuff in the world. You can't go out and get drunk. But honestly, who wants to go out and get completely drunk? You know? Now, I mean, that's, you know, believe me. There ain't nothing fun about seeing somebody completely drunk that they can't even stand up. There's nothing fun about that. Okay? You can't go out and just sleep with everybody in the whole world. Okay, that's against God's word, of course. You shouldn't be taking God's name in vain. That's not good. Okay? There are things, yes, that we can't do if we're holy unto God. But the idea is people feel that holiness equals just a life of no fun. But that's not true. That's truly not true. God has came, Jesus came for one purpose. And we're going to see what his purpose is and was when we read his word today. John chapter 10 and starting in verse 9, he says, I am the door. I like that. I am the door. The door to the presence of God is not the doors of the church. Jesus is the door. Jesus is the door. Yes, we open the door to his house and we come in. But to access the Father, we go through the door of Jesus. I love that. I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Find safety, find rest, find relief. in a world when we are so, so filled with turmoil and strife, divisiveness we see so much going on with hatred and all going on in this world it's amazing to find rest it's amazing to find a quietness that's hard to find in this day and age a quietness, a peace if you will because all you've got to do is turn on the television. All you've got to do is open up the phone and check out social media. Boom. Every time you turn around, you'll find people screaming and hollering and yelling at one another and hatred and all this going on. It is hard to find peace. It really is. It's hard to find peace in this world. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He's the one that brings peace. A peace that passes all understanding. Because that's what everybody wants. You pretty much ask anybody in this world, pretty much ask anybody in this world what they would like to see in this world, and they would say a united oneness, a peace in this world. That's kind of what people want. Most people do not want to see war. So most people do not want to see hatred and strife. Most people do not want to see this type of stuff. You might get some crazy people, but most of the population want peace. And there cannot be peace without the Prince of Peace. It just can't be. It just can't be. Our governments are all trying to come together, try to find a way to have peace amongst one another. And it's not going to happen. There are lows in the wars during times. But there is no peace without Jesus. If we enter into the door of Jesus, we should be saved and we should go in and out and find pasture or peace. I love that. Oh, look what he says here in verse 10. He says, the thief comes but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Now when we read this, this is a very interesting thing. What Jesus is speaking about here is something very interesting. What he's talking about here is false doctrines. That's what he's talking about. Jesus was the true doctrine. He was the doctrine of salvation through blood. The blood sacrifice. His blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there is what? No remission of sins. That's what the Bible says. See, you go back to the Old Testament and you watch and you read what went on in the Old Testament. What did they have to do? The high priest had to take a blood sacrifice of a perfect lamb and go in on Yom Kippur and go in and sacrifice the blood sacrifice to appease God for the remission of the sins of the people. That was his job on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. That was his job. and then for the year he would take all the sins of the people and the blood sacrifice would forgive the sins of the people for that year but you have to think about it for a full year you would have to carry your sins Now think about that idea. People sit there and some people might think, wow, that was pretty easy. You just have to ask for forgiveness once a year. Yeah, but think about the idea. You have to carry your sins for an entire year on your back, knowing that it has not been forgiven. Think about that idea. That's very difficult. It's very difficult. Jesus came and said, I'm going to be the remission of sin. I'm going to be forgiveness of sin. And you can come to me anytime. What a blessing that is. What a blessing that is. See, his doctrine was of forgiveness through blood. Now, in this world, doctrines are telling you, you can go to heaven any way you want to. We'll see that with tons of people. They're all coming up with different ideas about how you can get to heaven. You can get to heaven by doing good works. What does the Bible say? It's not about works unless any man should boast, right? Can't work your way to heaven. You can't buy your way to heaven. Some people are trying to do that. Can't buy your way to heaven. I love this amazing guy, Ray Comfort. He was an amazing, amazing human being and preacher. And he would go out in the streets and he would talk to people. And he would go through this whole thing. It was his show called Way of the Master. and he would go to strangers. Not only strangers, he'd just start talking to them. And he'd say, do you think you're a good person? Yeah, I think I'm a good person. Okay. Have you ever told a lie? Yeah. Okay. Have you ever stole something? You know, even if it's like your mom told you not to steal a cookie and you stole a cookie out of the jar. Did you ever do that? Well, yeah, I guess I did that. Have you ever looked up lustfully? Just saying, oh wow, that's a good looking person right there. Well yeah, I guess I've done that. Right there you've broken three commandments. So, if you were to stand before God on judgment day, and you were to be judged by the ten commandments, if you followed all of them, would you be guilty or would you be innocent? And they said, well I guess by that I'd be guilty. And then he said You know the cool thing Jesus came to die for your sins To take all that away All you have to do is ask him to forgive you of your sins And it's that fast And that was so amazing about it Because we all feel like we're okay This world is filled with people That think they're okay And that they can make heaven because they're just a good person I never killed anybody Well, that's great But that ain't going to get you there. Without the forgiveness of sins, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And without forgiveness of sin, no man can enter into heaven. That's just what the truth is. This is what the truth is. I love what he says. The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. These are the points of what false doctrines are. Satan has risen up false doctrines of how people can get to heaven other than Jesus. And what is it for? All to keep people out of heaven. That's all he's doing it for. That's why I said, like I said last week, I really believe, I don't believe Satan really believes he's going to overtake Jesus and God. I just don't think he really believes that. Because you've got to think about this, and you've got to think he's a pretty smart being. You can't honestly think that he thinks he's going to beat God. So I really believe what Satan's goal is to take as many people with him as he possibly can. That's his ultimate goal. and if he can take it away from you, if he can steal it from you, if he can steal your joy, if he can steal your salvation, if he can steal all this away from you, then he's got you. And that's one more victory. See, that's what Satan wants to do. He wants to take from us the greatest gift ever given and that was Jesus. That's what he wants to take from us. And believe me, if he can do it, he will do it. And that's why there's so many false doctrines popping up all over the world. That's why COVID-19 has been such a horrible thing for the Christian society. Because that's another thing that Satan has used to destroy the church. He really has. He's used it to destroy the church. because he said, well, you know, with all this, well, now we can start doing all this and we can start using governments to put in mandates and do all this type of stuff so that people can't go to church. And then what happened was we had to close churches down because of the pandemic. And then when we did that, then when the churches had to do online services, people sat there and said, wow, this is pretty good. I can sit here and listen to the preacher in my PJs. You know, this is great. I sit here with my cup of coffee, my PJs, my fuzzy slippers. I'm good. And then that was the idea. It was like, well, if I can worship God here, sitting in front of a computer, in front of my smart television, then why do I even have to go to church? Why do we have to go to church? Isn't that what the Bible says? It says, for Satan, art the assembling of yourselves together, the manner of some is. What does that mean? It means don't forsake going to the house of God That's what it basically comes out to That's what it says But we have seen churches all around this world Basically being cut in half Because of COVID You honestly think that not Satan Sane used that He knew what he was doing And he is the prince of the power of the air. He uses things in this world to affect the church. That's what he's doing. The thief comes but to steal, to kill, and destroy. But what did Jesus say? He said, I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more what? Abundant. I love that. You know what abundantly means? It means like a cup overflowing. The joy is so abundant and so much that it's like it's overflowing. Michael Comfort's song says, I'm drinking from the sauce because my cup is overflowing. And I love that. Can you honestly say today that the blessing of God in your life is so much that you're drinking from the saucer because your cup is overflowing? I hope you can say that. And if it isn't, it can. Because that is why Jesus came. Jesus came to give us an abundance of joy and peace and love. And what do we have? Well, we don't have it because we don't pour into God. You've got to pour into God to have God pour into you. That's what we've got to have. It's got to be a two-way thing. We've got to pour into God if we want God to pour into us. Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly. I'm amazed at the way and the only reason I say these things is because I don't know about anybody else but I know about me. You know, I know about me. I can't talk about anybody else's life but I can talk about my life. I'm talking about how I was and how I am now. And to see the difference that I was back in the day to what I am now is like, I look back sometimes at my life and I go, wow. What a miserable human being I was and what a difference God has made. When I was a kid, a small kid, I had a I had a very unique sense of humor. I would constantly be in the car with my mom and my dad, always making them laugh. Doing characters, doing different things, just trying to make them laugh. And my dad would always laugh because I would be doing different characters in the car. Crazy characters, and he'd be driving and he'd be laughing because I'd be just being funny. somewhere around my getting into my adult years and just, you know, after high school I dipped into a darkness like no one has ever seen almost like a heavy cloud and my mom can testify to this that it was probably one of the worst times for many, many years of their lives because they had to deal with me, and I was a very, very dark human being. I rejected God. I rejected His Word. I rejected the teachings that my dad brought me up on. I rejected everything. Now I had to go to church Because that was what dad said Dad said you want to live in the alley You want to do it, it don't matter Okay fine Now somebody can drag you to church But they don't have to But they can't make you worship God You know Those of you that have kids you know that You can drag your kid to church But you can't make him worship God You can grab him by the neck of the neck and they see the penance and drag them into church and make them sit there and you say, sit! And don't you move. You listen. And they'll do it. They'll sit there because they have to. But they don't have to let God penetrate their hearts. And that's exactly where I was for many, many years. I sat in the back of the church just there. I had hardened my heart. You ever hear that from the word? Hardening of the heart? That was me. I had hardened my heart so much, nothing penetrated it. I listened to my dad preach, and it was just like it went in this ear and went out this ear. And I went home, and I went in my studio, and I sat down, and I brooded, and I just stood there and just let it just fester. All this hatred, all this strife, all this stuff inside me just festered. Like a sore that has not been treated. If you don't treat a sore, what's going to happen? It's going to get worse, get infected, and eventually cause gangrene and you're going to die. Right? I was out raking leaves Friday. and I was raking the leaves and splintered out in my pinky finger and I didn't realize it. I felt it when I was, I felt like a prick in my finger and I was like, but I didn't notice it so I was like, okay, whatever. So I just continued doing it and then last night, I noticed that my finger hurt and I was like, what is going on? So I looked at it and I looked deep down and I saw there was splintering in my finger and I'm like, well, that's nice. So I sat there, and you know what I had to do? I had to dig it out. Let me tell you, there ain't nothing more fun in the world than to sit there and have to dig out a splinter that's way deep down in your finger. But if I wouldn't have done that, what would have happened? If I left it alone, what would have happened? It would have got infected, and would have eventually caused gangrene, and I would be in really bad shape, right? So you have to dig it out. You have to clean it up You gotta do all that That what happened in my life I was at a point of complete thing that was destroying me and it wasn until I got to a point where I sat there and said I can do this anymore I need help And I called on God that God came in and He rescued me. What you see now is the difference. That's why I'm probably some people just can't imagine. They can't imagine Pastor Jay, this funny goofy guy that's on the radio and all this, always laughing, always having a good time and was at a point like that. Don't believe it? Ask my mom. She'll tell you. I was a wretched human being to live with. I was about as wretched a human being as there ever was. but that's the difference that God makes and that's the point Jesus came to give me life and life more abundantly and now I live the abundance of joy in my life do I have problems? of course I got two bad knees I got a bad back I got a shoulder problem I got the althornia I got all kinds of stuff going on in my life but the thing is I got the joy of the Lord which is my strength. And that's the most important thing. So all these things can be going on in my life. And yes, sometimes they get a little discouraging, but the point is I don't let those things drag me down. When my back's a little tough, I just sit there, do a little yoga, loosen up the back, and then keep moving on. Knees go out of place, just pop it back in and keep walking. You know? You know? You just do what you've got to do and you just continue to have that joy of the Lord, which is your strength. I love the final verse, verse 11 today, and it says this. I am the good shepherd. I like that word. He is the good shepherd. A good shepherd is going to take care of his sheep. A bad shepherd is going to let the sheep go out and just run off the side of the cliff and die. They're not going to care. Right? Remember the story of the good shepherd? The 99? One got away. The good shepherd went out and tried to find that, not that, one sheep. Why? Because he loved his sheep. And that's what Jesus is. Jesus is the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. He's going to lay down his life to protect them. I think of David David was the shepherd right what did David do lion came up he went to bat for the sheep he went to kill the lion because he wanted to protect the sheep why did Jesus come and die on a cross to protect the sheep you ever think of that that is so cool that's why Jesus came He's the good shepherd. He laid down his life for the sheep. The least we can do is live a holy life for him. And when we live a holy life for him, the holy life brings happiness. That's what it comes down to. The holy life brings happiness. It's exactly what it is. John Wesley the man that is the namesake of our denomination once dead holiness is happiness and holiness is rooted in love holiness is rooted in love and you can't Find more love than what Jesus did on Calvary's cross. Jesus died on the cross at Calvary because he loved us. He didn't do it just because he had nothing else to do. Jesus could stay where he was in heaven. He did not have to leave the splendors of heaven and become a baby born in a manger in a stable. Lived a life more or less of less than the greatest of things. I mean, he wasn't a king. He lived mildly comfortably with Joseph and Mary. I mean, they weren't rich. I mean, they were comfortable. They had a nice living. I mean, you know, carpenter. But, I mean, he wasn't rich. But think about it. He was the king of the universe. and he left that to come, be born in a stable, live a modest life, and die on a cross. And he did it not because he had nothing else to do. He did it because of me and because of you. And if we live the kind of life of holiness that is said in this book, you're going to find a joy and a peace that passes all understanding because holiness equals happiness and that's the truth Thank you. Thank you.

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