Holiness is not Contagious..

Holiness is not Contagious from Rayshawn Graves on Vimeo.



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This sermon comes from Haggai 2:10-14, and in these verses the Lord poses an illustration through His prophet, Haggai, to the priests. The summary of verse 12 is that Holiness is not contagious. The holiness which God Himself lights in our lives at the point of conversion is not contagious, meaning that it will not transmit to things or rub off on people that we desire. God calls us to be lights, and not matches and only a Holy God can spark holiness in the life of an ungodly sinner. Christians cannot take the culture and sanctify it, Christians cannot sanctify personal ungodly relationships, music, sights, or friendships which are not of God. To the sinner, Holiness is not contagious because good works, or doing good things which would be deemed as service in God's eyes will not make you holy. All of our righteousness is as filthy rags outside of Jesus. Church attendance, feeding the poor, serving in ministries, and baptism and communion will not make the ungodly person holy. Only salvation from sin and God's wrath and a personal experience and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ will cause one to be holy.

Unholiness is contagious means that sin is contagious, unrighteousness is poisonous, and ungodliness is infectious. Sin corrupts the heart, soul, mind and every faculty of every human being. Sin is not learned, its a nature every person is born with and without the grace of God, all men would be the darkest and most wicked of all creatures. A "Christian" who chooses to willingly play in sin, and willingly contaminate themselves with the unfruitful works of darkness will only find out that at the end of the road they really had no Christianity at all. Everyday we come in contact with gossip, lies, adultery, pride, malice,anger, jealousy, and so many more sins and they are all brought on by ungodly people. The temptation to give into these works of the flesh may be small or great, but the Christian is kept by the power of God and has dominion over the power of sin through Christ Jesus.

God has called Christians to a life of holiness, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter the kingdom of Heaven. The life of holiness is not taken begrudgingly by the Christian, but rather the Christian loves the way of holiness, and would have no other way. Because Christ was sanctified, we must be sanctified. Christ is the only one who can sanctify, who can transform. His holiness calls us out, sanctifies us and sets us apart from the world, although we are in the world we are not of the world. Our holiness is not contagious....