Marks Of The True Church: Holiness Series

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

We don’t hear many messages exhorting us as Christians to be holy in this day; and I admit that I question my own suitedness for preaching on this neglected subject. This deficit is to our detriment as followers of the Christ since we are urged to be a holy people. When we do hear messages encouraging us to live holy lives, the presentation often appears to leave enough wiggle room to allow that we can always appeal to an unwritten exception clause so we don’t become overly fanatical about being holy. I’ll explore this business again in an upcoming message, but it is essential that we understand that we who follow Christ are now holy in the eyes of God.

And the holiness we enjoy is not something that awaits some far distant event. That this is the case becomes evident as we read the opening words of Paul’s encyclical to Ephesian Christians. The Apostle writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” [EPHESIANS 1:3-14].

Give particular attention to the statement that has been recorded in the fourth verse where the Apostle says that because we are blessed in Christ we are at this time “holy and blameless” before God. That is our present condition! When we pray to the Father, coming before Him on the merits of His Son, we should be acutely aware that we are soiled and sinful. And yet we understand that the Father receives us as those who are cleansed from all sin. It is not some weird tautology to say that we are now pure and holy before the Father, and yet we struggle to be pure and holy in the world. In the flesh, we are anything but holy. For this reason, we are responsible to work at perfecting our lives, purifying ourselves from all evil that clings to us so tightly.

We Christians have this one great advantage working for us—our Saviour prayed for us, and He continually stands before the Father pleading for us. Jesus prayed that we who follow Him would be holy, and He now pleads for us who have been purchased by His blood. It is appropriate that we Christians understand that our Lord is now praying for us to be holy, to live lives separated to Him. Do you not remember the words which the Apostle of Love has written? “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” [1 JOHN 2:1-2].

And we are assured that whatever the Son of God asks, the Father gives Him. As evidence of this, remember that when Lazarus died, Martha met Jesus as He came to Bethany. As she met Him, a pitiful lament gushed forth from Martha’s lips: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you” [JOHN 11:21-22]. Though spoken with great sorrow, her words are an incredibly strong testimony of her faith in Jesus; in particular she was revealing her confidence in the power of Jesus’ requests when they are presented to the Father. Martha was confident that whatever Jesus asked, the Father would give Him. Likewise, we who are saved have this same confidence in the Son of God.