Holiness: November 2005

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
Talking about Jesus, the angel told Mary, “That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:3535And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)). A holy being abhors evil and delights in good. The Lord Jesus had a holy nature, but we are born with a sinful nature. Adam and Eve had an “innocent” nature, not holy, because when evil was presented to them, they yielded. Now we have our parents’ sinful nature. God is holy; the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and the Lord Jesus “is holy, harmless, undefiled [and] separate from sinners.” Being holy, God is spiritually and morally perfect in thought, deed and motive. He is absolutely pure from sin and defilement. Leviticus 19:22Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy. (Leviticus 19:2) says, “I the Lord your God am holy,” and in 1 John 1:55This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) we read “that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” Man in his sinfulness cannot approach a holy God except on the basis of the blood of a sacrifice. The Lord Jesus, in three hours of awful suffering, became the sacrifice for all those who receive Him by faith. Those who do have a holy nature. It is the will of God that they should be holy as to their manner of life (1 Thessalonians 4:3; 13For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
3Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; (1 Thessalonians 1:3) Peter 1:15). As children of God, we are chastened so “that we might be partakers of His holiness” (Hebrews 12:1010For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 12:10)). The very angels that stand in the presence of God say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.” As believers, we feel that we fall short of what we should be, but God does not lower the standard: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:4848Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)).
1. Rather than uncleanness, what has God called us unto?
1 Thessalonians 4:___
2. What is said about the new man that we are to put on? Ephesians 4:___
3. The four beasts rest not day or night. What are they always saying?
Revelation 4:___
4. What is becoming to the house of the Lord forever? Psalm 93:___
5. How will the church be presented to Christ in a coming day?
Ephesians 5:___