Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Part 4

We will begin our discussion with the question on, 'why holiness is important'? Why holiness is an absolute must? Then, we will seek to find as to how to be holy. Let’s begin our study with the question, why holiness…why holiness?

Reason number one, because He is holy. Holiness is one of the central themes of the Bible. It is the thread which runs through the fabric of the Bible. You cannot separate God of the Bible from holiness. He is holy and demands that they who approach Him, approach Him in holiness. He is so holy that even the Seraphims, the angelic beings referred to in Isaiah 6:2,3 cover their faces with two of their wings, feet with another two of their wings and with another two they flew saying one to another, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. In I Timothy 6:16 Paul says, ‘ Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.’ His dwelling place is unapproachable light, which speaks of symbolically of His absolute holiness. http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/1Tim/Timothy-Man-God.

Look at Exodus chapter 19 and starting from verse 11, ‘And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Verse 12, ‘You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.’ In I Jn 1:5, Apostle John says, ‘…that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.’ Darkness refers to sin. God is holy and He does not want anyone to undermine His holiness.

This is the reason He demands holiness from His people. If we have to approach this God, we will have to do it by conforming to His standard. You think that ‘now that I am saved, it doesn’t matter how I live, I will anyways end up in heaven’, listen to what God says in Hebrews 12: 14, ‘Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.’ If you have an unholy lifestyle and still consider yourself as saved, you need to reconsider your standing. If there is an unbroken pattern of sin in your life, that is an alarm screaming at you about your unredeemed status. A holy life is a proof of your redeemed status. In Matt 5:48, Jesus said, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.’ (KJV) in I Peter 1:15, Peter says, ‘But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.’ This is not some kind of suggestion. It is a command. God wants you to be holy. Period.

Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Part 3

Part 2 deleted, accidentally. My apology.

you choose to continue to sin, will it be easy to bring you back, listen to what God says through the author of Hebrews in chapter 6 and verses 4-6, ‘For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.’

Has He not called us by grace. Yes, indeed He called us by grace but to what? Let’s read I Thess 4:7, where Paul says, ‘For God did not call us to uncleanness but to holiness.’ Verse 8, ‘Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.’ This is not teaching of a man but is from God. You reject God when you choose to live an unholy, sinful life.

This call to holiness is obvious when you become a Christian or when you gave your life to Jesus, repenting of all your sins. It is obvious for a Christian to be holy. We came to Jesus because we wanted freedom from the bondage of our sins. Did we not? Sin held a sway over our lives. Did it not? Far from overcoming it, we were not even able to deal with it in an effective manner. Then, we heard the good news of Jesus Christ and his wondrous work on the cross, shattering the power of sin and delivering us from our sins. God gave us the same power through which He raised Jesus from the dead. Now having received the forgiveness of their sins and power over sin, these disobedient believers have turned back to fulfill their own lustful passions and fleshly desires. Did not Peter refer to these believers as dogs and pigs in II Peter 2: 22? II Peter 2:22, 'But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire." Revealing that these people were never saved in the first place? 

Does Bible brand dogs and pigs as unclean animals? No, not at all. Listen to what Paul says in I Tim 4:4, 'For every creature of good, and nothing is to be refused...' Dogs and pigs have an inherent quality. That is, a dog will vomit and eat the same and a pig, though it has been washed and cleaned will return to filth. Unless that inherent quality, attribute is changed, dogs and pigs will continue to revel in that kind of behavior. Salvation or born again means that you have been transformed completely. The inherent nature to wallow in sins has been removed. Listen to what God says in Ezekiel 36 and verse 26 and 27, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." II Cor 5: 17, 'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.'

Were we saved to fulfill our own lusts and sinful passions? Paul in I Thess 1:9 says, ‘….you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God…’ We have turned from idols, from sin, to God, to serve Him, to obey Him, if indeed we have turned.

Others argue that the call to holiness is just a talk and there aren't any examples of Christians in the real world who live or have lived a holy life. Let's confront this argument by referring to Hebrews 12:1,2, 'Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...' The word, therefore, is used to make a conclusion on the basis of what has been said earlier. In chapter 11, the author refers to a great list of stalwarts of faith. In verse 2, he asks us to look to Jesus, stay focussed on Jesus cos He is the author of our salvation, He is the one who will complete our salvation. So, rather than demanding an example to follow, the author asks us to look to Jesus.