What holiness means; the word holiness is a noun that means "state or character of being holy." Holy is an adjective that means "belonging to, derived from or associated with a divine power” and also "set apart to the service of God. Holiness must be the goal of every person who is serious about their relationship with God in the here and now and the blessed hope of seeing Him then in the hereafter and throughout eternity. The doctrine of holiness and all it entails is one of the most essential and practical in application to the daily life of the believer. I pray God will use this piece of writing in the life of those it touches to enrich and deepen their walk and intimacy with God. Our textbook for learning how to live in holiness is the Bible. It contains God’s promises and the practical instructions on how to avoid evil and live as a righteous instrument for God’s purposes. As we read and study the Bible, we’ll learn the truth that sets us free from whatever sin besets us.
Our text is taken from the Book of Hebrews it says “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. “(Hebrews 12:14)
The writer of Hebrews gives a specific and direct command. Make every effort to live in peace and holiness. Can it be any plainer than that? It's a frightening thought, especially in today's society where most of us are far from living a holy lifestyle. The thrust is strait forward – without being holy we will not see the Lord. This short powerful compelling verse is one that communicates a clear warning while at the same time confidence and hope. Nothing under heaven can be more confident than this; "for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." And "though heaven and earth pass away, yet His word shall not pass away." No one who is not saved from sin here can be saved from hell hereafter. No one can see the kingdom of God above, unless the kingdom of God be in him below. Whoever will reign with Christ in heaven, must have Christ reigning in him on earth. And yet as sure as this is, and as clearly as it is taught in every part of the Holy Scripture, among all the truths of God, there is probably none which is less received by men.
Yet Bible says "Make every effort to live in peace", signifies an eager pursuit after it, in the use of proper means; exerting the utmost of a man's power to attain it, in all things possible: many things serve to enforce this upon the saints; this is most agreeable to all the three divine Persons; to God, who is the God of peace; to Christ, the Prince of peace; and to the Spirit, one of whose fruits is peace; and to the characters of the saints, who are sons of peace, and who are called to peace, and who make a profession of the Gospel of peace; and to the privileges they enjoy, being interested in the covenant of peace, partaking of spiritual peace now, and being entitled to eternal peace hereafter. We must be holy on earth before we die—if we wish to go to heaven after death! If we trust to dwell with God forever in the life to come—we must endeavor to be like Him in the life that now is. We must not only admire holiness, and wish for holiness—we must be holy.
“Holiness” is derived from the same root word in both the Hebrew and the Greek; “holy, hallowed, holiness, consecrate, saint, sanctify, and sanctification.” While the basic idea of the word is the same, there really is some variant in the meaning of the word “Holy.” Now, in the most basic meaning of the word “holy,” “sanctify” means to separate from the world and to consecrate or dedicate to God. Basically it means to dedicate. To be “holy” is to be separate from the world and to be dedicated to God. If our hearts have been regenerated by God, there should indeed be a desire and dedication for holiness; if you lack this desire, examine yourself to see if you are in the faith.
As sinful beings it is difficult for us to grasp the concept of true holiness when God is the only standard. We begin to formulate a religious list of does and don’t to follow. If we follow them perfectly we are holy, if we don’t, we are damned. Divine holiness is so far above us we cannot understand how unapproachable and unattainable it is for natural man. Only the Holy Spirit can awaken holiness out of the measure of faith and illumine the truth we possess thus imparting the knowledge of true holiness in our heart. God said, “Be holy for I am holy.” No man is holy in himself. Holiness comes when we are covered by God’s grace which empowers us to act like Jesus in contemplation, speech and accomplishment. When we seek harmony, no longer hurt others with our thought life, speaking unkind, critical or judgmental words or no longer act in a harmful manner we have become holy.
But we go after peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. God is holy, high, lofty and exalted. He inhabits eternity and lives in the holy place. Clouds of darkness are around Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. God towers over all earthly things; yet He dwells with people. His dream messages fascinate the hearer and revive the crushed spirit of the remorseful, humble hearted, lifting them upward. His visions of divine transcendence give hope and life to the repentant soul. Repentance means to change one’s mind, turn away from sin, and make a complete circle back to God for the time is fulfilled, believe in the gospel for the kingdom of God is at hand. Restoration comes to allow the fullness of the Spirit to dwell in us richly, in abundance and overflowing.
We must be holy—because this is one great end for which Christ came into the world. "He died for all, that those who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:15). We must be holy—because God in the Bible plainly commands it. "As He who has called you is holy—so be holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be holy—for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15, 16). The holy person will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature, but he will put on the personality and mind of Christ and will let Christ be formed in him. Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. It means thinking as God thinks, loving what He loves, hating what He hates, and acting as Christ would act. It means having the mind of Christ.
Our text says Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; this being added to peace, shows that peace is no further to be followed than is consistent with holiness; and holiness here intends true holiness, in opposition to ceremonial holiness, which the Hebrews were fond of, and pursued after: it means even perfect holiness; and there is a perfection of it in Christ; and it is to be followed after, by going to Christ for more grace, and exercising faith upon him, as our sanctification; and by eager desires that the Spirit of God would sanctify us more and more, and enable us, by his grace and strength, to walk in the way of holiness, till we get safe to heaven: without which no man shall see the Lord; or "God",
Every act of God has a strong foundation. Psalm 11:3 says: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
What is the foundation for Life? The foundation of God for man is RIGHTEOUSNESS! We are talking about the release of power! We are talking about the manifestation of the sons of God! Every believer in the Lord is now in the hour of his/her sanctification, in preparation for his/her manifestation. If you miss this hour of sanctification, you are heading towards destruction unknowingly! It's time to live His life. Sin is destructive; righteousness is constructive. Let's begin to demonstrate the nature of Christ by manifesting practical holiness in our thoughts, words and actions. To be lawless is to be lifeless! Holiness is a covenant treasure of the saints of God. It is holiness for wholeness.
Bible admonish us “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.".” Rom 6:11-14
Paul explains here that a born again Christian does not let "sin reign" over his/her life. Instead he/she offers himself/herself to God. He/she is a new creature in God! Paul tells us to account or to reckon the old man as forever dead. God never calls us “deny” the old man, but instead to account him as already dead because of our identification with Jesus’ death on the cross. Reckon yourselves to be . . . alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord: The death to sin is only one side of the equation. The old man is gone, but the new man lives on as described in Romans 6:4-5. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body: This is something that can only be said to the born again Christian, to the one who has had the old man crucified with Christ and has been given a new man in Jesus. Only the person set free from sin can be told, “do not let sin reign.” The person who isn’t converted yet is free to sin, but not free to stop sinning and live righteously, because of the tyranny of the old man. In Jesus, we are truly set free and are offered the opportunity to obey the natural inclination of the new man - which wants to please God and honor Him. Therefore do not let sin reign: The old man is dead, and there is new life - free from sin - in Jesus.
Righteousness is the work of Holiness. Righteousness is the joy of obedience to God’s ways that results from the inner work of holiness. Holiness cannot start or continue or be completed by righteousness in the many expressions of our living. Holiness is never subject to righteousness. Instead, righteousness is subject to Holiness. The only righteousness that man can produce without Holiness is what the Bible calls self-righteousness and it is deplorable to God Himself. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy rags...” (Isaiah 64:6).
The strongest motives against sin, and to enforce holiness, are here stated. Being made free from the reign of sin, alive unto God, and having the prospect of eternal life, it becomes believers to be greatly concerned to advance thereto. Sin has dominion over people in a state of Old law and after conversion, "let not sin have dominion over you"; as the words may be rendered; for in regeneration, sin is dethroned; Christ enters as Lord, and continues to be so; saints are in another kingdom, the kingdom of Christ and grace; Being born again means to leave behind this land of sin and enter God's country of grace. Who in their right mind would want to keep a house in that land of sin and misery? We are new creatures, changed by what Jesus did for us on the cross and under the covenant of grace, and in the enjoyment of the blessings of it; under the Gospel, and the dispensation of it, which leads and teaches men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts; under and in the possession of the grace of justification and pardon, which strongly influence to righteousness and holiness; and under regenerating and sanctifying grace as a reigning governing principle in the soul.
When we are under grace the wrath of God is entirely removed from us, so that all God's action toward us is saving action. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The winning combination for holiness is achieved when we follow the Holy Spirit and cling to God’s word. Paul wrote, “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God”(2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV). When we know and believe the promises, God’s power is engaged in us for change. All his power flows in the service of his mercy, and not the service of his wrath or punishment. He is for us and not against us. Therefore our chief enemy, sin, will not defeat us.
One of the lessons we learn as we navigate through life in a fallen world is that many good things can in excess harm you. Fire is useful in a controlled environment like a Relationship is a wonderful gift of God for men and women. Used properly in the confines of a covenant bond. But used in the wrong way, it can ruin a healthy life, bring destruction to an individual, divide a home, and bring a curse on a nation. After the fall of man, basic human desires and drives became selfish and need-centered instead of God-centered. God's standards of holiness for believers are clear, and are for our protection and wellbeing. Bible is God's will for us. To know God's will, you will only find it written in His will, the sixty-six books we call the Bible. God's will for our health is not found in circumstances, but in His Word!
Holiness living is a state of total devotion and obedience to God in all aspects of life. We believe that followers of Christ need and can receive the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit. When believers allow God’s Holy Spirit to purify and fill their hearts they are enabled by the Spirit of God, which dwells in them, to live holy lives in obedience to God (Romans 8:5). We do not have the capacity to make ourselves holy. Only God can make us holy.
To understand and embrace holiness living it is critical to cease thinking of the work we can do to acquire holiness and embrace the simple truth that it is a gift from God to all who believe. The state of becoming holy is made possible by the work of God in us.
Holiness is derived from God; it is His will for all believers to be sanctified. “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Because all humans are born with an inclination toward evil desires, human nature craves for and follows the desires and thoughts of the sinful nature (Ephesians 2:1-3). But God, full of love and grace, reached out to the world through Jesus Christ His Son to reconcile the world to himself. “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10).
Therefore, we can abstain from sinful desires (1 Peter 2:11), clothe ourselves with Christ, and walk in the Spirit, not thinking about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Romans 13:14 and Galatians 5:16). One cannot claim to be living a holy life when one continues to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Inward holiness expresses itself in an outward lifestyle that glorifies God, hence the charge, “so be holy in all you do” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
God is holy. He calls us to be holy and He enables each of us to live a holy life. The indwelling of God’s power in us enables us to walk (live) not according to the flesh—sinful nature—but according to the Spirit. When we are made holy our lives are orientated to live in accordance with the Spirit of God. Walking in the Spirit is a matter of our being in the Spirit.
Holy living is a lifestyle that originates in God and is modeled by the disciples of Jesus Christ. Holiness is one of those challenging calls in the scripture that is often dismissed as impossible to achieve. But, we’re commanded to be holy, just as God is holy, so it must be possible. John said, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). In order to understand how holiness is possible, we must go back to the cross. Jesus died for two reasons – first, that we can be forgiven of our sin and second, that we might live for him in righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:15). Paul wrote, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4
Bible says “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13
The church is called not only to a ministry of reconciliation, but a ministry of nurture to holiness those within her gates. Part of that nurture includes spiritual discipline. The idea of spiritual discipline is totally consistent with the basic purposes of the church—evangelism and edification. Evangelism ministers to those without the church who are in bondage to sin to bring them to faith in Christ where the transformation process begins. The edifi¬cation process is designed to build up believers so they can be conformed to the image and character of Christ. Spiritual discipline as a part of the edification process ministers to those within the body of Christ who are dominated by some area of sin so they can experience liberation from its power through fellow¬ship with Christ.
Bringing our lives into total submission to God in holiness is perhaps a lifelong task. It’s a challenge to die to sin’s desires each day and live in the reality of the new creation God has made us to be. When we believe that we have the Spirit and that he is helping us, the Spirit’s power is released in us to do the impossible.
“The life of true holiness is rooted in the soil of awed adoration. It does not grow elsewhere.” Holiness does not begin with us. It begins with God. True holiness is a life of unwavering devotion birthed out of a deep affection from and for God.
God desires to create a tabernacle out of our lives to speak His words of truth to our broken world. As He indwells our lives, holiness is lived out through us into a world desperately looking for hope and for life. Holiness is what we have ignored and holiness is what we need. All along God has desired for us to experience the truth of His immense love for us. This is where holiness begins.
God, who is holy, calls us to a life of holiness. We believe that the Holy Spirit seeks to do in us a second work of grace, called by various terms including "entire sanctification" and "baptism with the Holy Spirit"-cleansing us from all sin, renewing us in the image of God, empowering us to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, and producing in us the character of Christ. Holiness in the life of believers is most clearly understood as Christ likeness. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts, cleanses, fills, and empowers us as the grace of God transforms us day by day into a people of love, spiritual discipline, ethical and moral purity, compassion, and justice. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that restores us in the image of God and produces in us the character of Christ. We have been commissioned to bear the image of God: "I am the LORD . . . your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44).
Jesus Christ revealed the one holy God to us and modeled worshipful, holy living for us. Our hunger to be a Holiness people is rooted in the holiness of God himself. The holiness of God refers to His deity, His utter singularity of being. There is none like Him in majesty and glory. The appropriate human response in the presence of such a glorious being is worship of God as God. God's holiness is expressed in His gracious redemptive acts. Encountering the God who reveals and gives himself makes worship possible, and worship becomes the primary way of knowing Him. We worship the holy redeeming God by loving what He loves.
Holiness is why Jesus died on Calvary. Apostle Paul, said of his condition before He met the Lord, “As touching the law, I was blameless.” (Philippians 3:6). But, this apostle-to-be was not holy; he was self-righteous, empty, and even repulsive. Much of our religious world has at least some resemblance of righteousness, but Holiness? I fear not. Holiness is a bond relationship in Jesus Christ in which the individual is being transformed into an ever-expanding likeness of Christ Himself. This relationship has no point of action except in the sanctifying blood of the exalted Son of God. A holiness person is not seeking after holiness, but after Jesus Christ, because there is no other source of Holiness. Holiness is the nature of Jesus Christ manifest by the work of the Holy Spirit applying the Word of God made alive by His blood. People that seek Holiness as its own object will often add one legalistic addition after another. Every great Holiness movement has always destroyed its own self by transferring the hunger for “HIM” to a hunger for perceived Holiness.
When a person understands the truth about Biblical Holiness, it becomes the most desirable possibility in all of human experiences. There is nothing so beautiful, so satisfying and so natural in all of human life. The very reason for your creation, the purpose for which God made you and the most complete life, is found in Biblical holiness. It is not just a standard someone is trying to live. It certainly is not legalism or narrow-mindedness. Holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit by the holy Word and by the Blood of Jesus. It actually lifts man into the image of God. In holiness, we become God-like and God-filled.
