Table of Contents
Date: SUN 11:30am 2nd November 2025
Preacher: Rev. David McLaughlin
Bible Reference: 1 Thessalonians 3:13
To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
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Sermon Summary: Have You a Heart for Holiness?
Introduction
In 1 Thessalonians 3:9–13, the Apostle Paul prays fervently for the young church he was forced to leave behind in Thessalonica. Longing to return and strengthen their faith, he asks God to cause their love to “increase and abound” toward one another and all people. Yet love’s ultimate purpose is revealed in verse 13: that the Lord would “stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness” before God at Christ’s return.
This heartfelt prayer links love and holiness inseparably. True love, poured into the heart by the Holy Spirit, produces a life set apart for God—a hatred of sin and a passion for righteousness. Holiness is not outward ritual or sinless perfection, but God’s inner work, beginning in the heart, grounded in Christ’s cross, and perfected at His coming.
Have you a heart for holiness? This vital question lies at the core of Paul’s prayer and the Christian life.
Introduction: The Context of Paul’s Prayer
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 9 to 13, the Apostle Paul pours out his heart in prayer for the young church at Thessalonica. Forced to flee due to violent opposition from an unbelieving mob, Paul longed to return and strengthen these new believers. His prayer was answered years later during his third missionary journey (Acts 18:23–21:26, including a stop in Macedonia; Acts 19:2).
Verse 12 focuses on love: Paul prays that the Thessalonians’ love might “increase and abound” toward one another and toward all men, mirroring his own love for them. Last Lord’s Day, we considered love’s origin (the Lord Himself), its operation (toward saints, lost souls, and Christ’s service), and its possession as evidence of true faith.
Verse 13 reveals the ultimate goal: “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Here, love and holiness are inseparably linked. True love, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, motivates a life of heart holiness—a hatred of sin and a love for righteousness.
Question for reflection: Have you a heart for holiness?
1. The Subject of Heart Holiness: Love and Holiness Connected
Love is the chief grace among the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and the greatest of faith, hope, and charity (1 Corinthians 13:13). The Greek word agape (translated “charity” in the KJV) describes God’s giving love: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16).
- Faith and hope primarily benefit the individual.
- Love benefits others—the church, the lost, and Christ’s service.
- “Faith worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6)—not as the ground of salvation, but as its evidence.
True love manifests in holiness. When we love the Lord, we desire to please Him, obey Him, and trust Him through every trial. Obedience is not the root of salvation but the fruit of possessing Christ. In an age of shallow professions, the difference between professing Christ and possessing Him is evident in a life marked by growing love and holiness.
2. The Coexistence of Love and Holiness
True love and holiness are inseparable:
- In God: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16); “Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2); “He is holy” (Psalm 99:5).
- In believers: No true love without holiness; no true holiness without love.
Many profess “I love Jesus” yet show no hatred for sin, no separation from worldliness. Examples abound: professing Christians gathering for Bible study yet drinking excessively (Proverbs 20:1 calls wine a mocker); addicted to pornography, gambling, or absent from the Lord’s house. Such contradictions demand repentance and a return to holy living.
3. The Substance of Heart Holiness: What It Is (and Is Not)
Holiness is not:
- Isolation in a monastery (monks discovered sin still reigned in their hearts).
- A legalistic list of do’s and don’ts.
- Sinless perfection in this life.
- Prideful self-righteousness.
Holiness is:
- Being set apart for God’s sacred use (a “describing word” like “holy man” or “holy vessel”).
- God’s work: He saves, regenerates, and sanctifies, separating sinners from the world and making them heavenly (1 Peter 1:15–16; 2 Corinthians 6:17).
- Progressive: God works from the inside out, transforming husbands, wives, young people, workers, citizens, and worshippers until all sin is finally removed.
This fallen world groans with iniquity—consider the barbaric murder of Christians in Sudan. Yet God redeems, making “old things… passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
4. The Seat of Heart Holiness: It Begins in the Heart
“To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness.”
- The heart is the seat of personhood—mind, will, emotions, affections.
- “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9); from it proceed “evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders…” (Mark 7:21–23).
- Outward appearance means nothing: fine clothes on the Lord’s Day cannot mask an unchanged heart.
God sanctifies “wholly… spirit and soul and body” (1 Thessalonians 5:23), starting within. Question: Has your heart been changed? Do you hate sin and love righteousness?
5. The Source of Heart Holiness: God’s Work Through Christ
“Stablish” means to fix, settle, strengthen. This is God’s operation:
- Initiated in the new birth.
- Grounded in Christ’s redemptive work: “Christ… gave himself for [the church], that he might sanctify and cleanse it… that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27).
- Applied by the Word, prayer, and the Spirit.
Struggling with besetting sin? Victory comes only through the cross—the blood of Christ breaks sin’s power. “Perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1) is a lifelong journey enabled by grace.
6. The Scope of Heart Holiness: Unblameable Before God
“Unblameable” means without accusation or charge—before God, at Christ’s coming.
- Legal perfection: Clothed in Christ’s righteousness (justification).
- Moral pursuit: Striving for purity, though imperfect until glory (even blameless Zechariah sinned in unbelief; Luke 1:6).
- Final presentation: At Christ’s return, we shall be fully perfected—body, soul, and spirit—presented faultless before the throne.
Conclusion: A Call to Heart Holiness
Without holiness, “no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). You cannot love heaven while clinging to sin. God’s eternal purpose, planned before the foundation of the world, is “that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4).
May the Lord stablish your heart in holiness until that glorious day when we see Him face to face. Amen.
