God wants His children to be holy and prepare for glory. Whatever anyone possesses, knows or experiences, whatever privileged position anyone holds or right being enjoyed on earth, without holiness, he has not got enough.
All the things we possess; all the things we enjoy, including the ones that give the greatest pleasure; all the places we travel to; and the privilege we have on earth are temporary.
We will miss the presence, pleasure, and habitation of God forever if we do not have the great and indispensable experience of holiness. Whatever anyone considers the most valuable earthly possession will fade into insignificance, without holiness of heart. Our riches and wealth, prosperity and authority, fame and fortune, religion and good behavior, power, and peculiar privileges will fall and fail us throughout eternity if there is no holiness experience.
Everyone needs to prepare for heaven by obtaining and maintaining the purity of heart and life. The reason is, holiness is the very nature of God. Man was created in the image of God. Our first parents- Adam and Eve- were partakers and possessors of the divine nature. Everything about God’s desire, demand, and commandments is holy. Everything He gives, does, or withholds is on the basis of his holiness. His love acts, heaven, Son, Holy Spirit, and covenants are centered, built, and based on holiness. Becoming “partakers of his holiness” demands that our minds, hearts, souls, languages, and entire life reflect and resemble Him. And when we experience God, we experience His holiness.
HIS COMMAND AND PROVISION FOR OUR HOLINESS
Leviticus 19:2;11:44,45; 20:7,8,26; 1 Peter 1:14-16; Romans 6:17,18, 22,6; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:23, 24; 1 Thessalonians 4:3,7; Hebrews 12:14-17
God commands as well as demands holiness of life from all His children. No believer is exempted from being holy on the untenable excuse that he is only saved but not yet sanctified. God commands “ALL” to be “holy: for the Lord your God I am holy”. He provided for it, God expects us all holy. He commands and demands His nature, character, and attributes which are devoid of darkness and sin. He possesses pure and perfect holiness and that is what he delights to see in all his children. To make holiness experience, He also destroys the kernel, root, or “body of sin” in the believer through sanctification.
Every believer should, therefore, prioritizes cleansing self from filthiness and “perfect holiness in the fear of God.” Though we naturally fall sort of his demand to be holy, He has made adequate provision for us through Christ. Thus, He commands it, convicts us for it, converts cleanses, and conforms us to the image of His only begotten Son. As we repent and confess our sins, He conforms us to the image of His only begotten Son. As we repent and confess our sins, He forgives, removes condemnation. saves and commands us to go and sin no more.
This is how to begin a holy life. At salvation, the believer possesses a level of holiness experience but has a new pursuit and priority to “follow peace with all men, and holiness without which, no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
He forgoes the pursuits of any earthly possession, privileges, and enjoyments that will hinder, relegate or make him lose his spiritual experience which he considers priceless. He does not allow employment, marriage, family, honour, money, fame, religious title, good works, morals, principles, men praise or service, property, clothing, beauty, and food, privileges and achievements or luxury to displace or replace holiness in his life to avoid losing heaven like Esau who chose temporary satisfaction and happiness over his birthright, without knowing that happiness is a product of holiness. He suffered eternal regrets. Any believer who reprioritizes on earthly things above possessing and retaining the invaluable experience of holiness, will suffer a similar faith.
OUR CONFORMITY AND PURSUIT OF HIS HOLINESS
Romans 8:29; Hebrews 12:1-4; Isaiah 6:1-7; Psalm 27:4; 24:3-4; 73:23-26; Matthew 5:6,8, Ephesians 5:25-27
God has an only Son with whom He is well-pleased. And He wants everyone who enters His kingdom to be “conformed to the image of his Son”. Possession of this Christ-like holiness will make God to also be pleased with us. He desires that we have a Christ-like heart, spirit, and righteousness. In pursuit of conformity to Christ, every believer must keep the door of sin shut and set the finishing line and eternal rewards as his goal. When trampled on, ridiculed, despised, or denied legitimate rights for being holy, we like Christ, must not be discouraged or weary as we set out hearts on the eternal joys that await us in heaven.
With this hope of glory, we do not allow sin to re-enter our lives but resist it. For the heaven-bound believer, there is non-conformity o the world on one hand and conformity to the Lord on the other. Looking unto Him, learning upon Him, learning of Him, praying to Him, yielding unto His molding hands, He conforms us to His own image and confirms in our spirit, soul, and mind that we can be the pattern of His holiness. Desiring heaven above all possessions and pleasures on earth, we pursue holiness relentlessly with conviction, daily praying to the Lord to preserve us in the experience till He comes.
The singular thing that is worth having and pursuing and possessing is not the mundane that brings temporal joy, but clean hands, and a pure hearts…” that outlasts all earthly possessions. Believers who are passionate about possession and living holy lives are the only people that will be in heaven. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Conformity and pursuit of Christ-like holiness will make the church “glorious”, spotless, unblemished, and rapturable.
THE CONFIRMATION AND POSSESSION OF HIS HOLINESS
Acts 15:9; Ezekiel 36:25,26; Romans 6:17,18; Philippians 2:2; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 4:17; Daniel 6:4,5,22; 2 Peter 1:4,9; 1 Peter 2:21-24; Romans 13:1,2; Deuteronomy 30:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:22-24
Holiness is possible, profitable and practicable through cleansing by the power of the blood of Jesus.
The lifestyle of some saints in Scripture defines “HOLINESS”.
H=Hezekiah.
O=Obadiah.
L=Luke.
I=Isaiah.
N=Nehemiah.
E=Enoch.
S=Samuel.
S=Stephen.
They lived holy lives to attest as well as confirm the possibility of possessing this divine nature. If they, against all odds, were holy, we too can.
To find the expression of holiness in our lives the way these saints did, we must first possess it by asking God for:
a purified heart, a replacement of the stony heart with a new heart of flesh;
perpetual obedience that is not haphazard, occasional, temporary, external but constant during abundance or adversity, in private and public;
perfect love which is not based on outward stimuli or change of fortunes but an expression of the indwelling Christ;
penetrating innocence that influences and convicts evil doers;
purged nature that is devoid of corruption and depravity.
We must ask for the grace to follow the permanent example of Christ “who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth…” (1 Peter 2:21, 22) and offer our entire body and life to God as a presentable sacrifice. We must pray to God to fulfill his promised sanctification which is also called the circumcision of the heart that will empower us to love God without restraint or reservation. God who calls us to be sanctified is faithful to fulfill His prose but requires wholehearted and earnest prayer of faith from us. After obtaining the experience, we must continue to depend on Him all the days of our life in holiness till the end.
Holiness is indispensable and pre-eminent; and it must be our highest lifetime priority.
Till we meet to see Him in glory, blameless, spotless, guiltless and holy.
