How To Be Holy

How To Be Holy “So brace your minds for action. Keep your balance. And set your hope completely on The Grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of YESHUA The MESSIAH. Like obedient children, do not be shaped by the craving you had formally in your ignorance. Instead, just like The Holy One Who Called you, be holy yourselves also in everything you do. For it is written, ‘Holy you shall be, for I AM Holy.’” 1 Peter 1:13-16 TLV “Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is. The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest. Many in the Church today focus on Christian comfort and prosperity rather than being holy. Being holy is much harder than being prosperous and comfortable! The Bible is full of references to being at rest, having peace no matter what and being prosperous in CHRIST; but concentrating on these and ignoring what the Bible says about persecution, trials, tribulation and testing is hazardous and can be eternally fatal. Study Hebrews 4, 13:20-21; James 1; 1 Peter 3:8-17; 2 John; 3 John :1-4 In the Beatitudes JESUS said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12 NKJV Study Luke 1:67-75; John 15:18-16:4. Being holy is being set apart for GOD! GOD is Holy because He is set apart from Everything! As creator and redeemer there is no one and nothing that compares to GOD or that can stand before GOD on their own merit! Because GOD Is; everything else that exists is. When GOD said “I AM” that is because He Was before anything else. He tells us that He Is and that He made everything that exists and that He made everything that exists for His Pleasure. Study Genesis 1; Psalm 44:28, 51:18-19; Isaiah 46:10; Ezra 10:11; Revelation 4:11; (“pleasure” in KJV, “will” in NKJV, “what will please Him” in CJB) So, He tells us that we are called to be holy as He is Holy; or we are called to be set apart to Him and for Him from Everything Else. The question arises, How!? Study Luke 12:22-48, 14:22-30; Philippians 2:5-18. We are born in sin because Adam the first human sinned against GOD. When Adam sinned he went from being immortal to being mortal, from being set apart for GOD (holy) to being cast out from the presence of GOD (unholy). So we are born mortal and with a sin nature therefore we are not holy before GOD and in our sinful mortal state of being we cannot achieve holiness. We can achieve religious recognition by human standards but not holiness by GOD’s standards. The definition for holy and holiness is from the ancient act of setting objects, places and people apart by religious ritual for the service and worship of their god. Israelites and the Church have done the same thing. But, that is not what GOD is saying when He tells us to be holy as He is Holy. Study Genesis 3; Romans 5 & 6. JESUS told us that GOD is SPIRIT and that He must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth, we also know that GOD is True and everyman a liar. So how can we, a mortal sinful person become holy as GOD is Holy. History has proven that we cannot through our religious activity become holy or worthy of GOD’s Love. So what is humanity to do? Study Matthew 6:9-13, 28:16-20; John 3:11-21; 4:19-26; Romans 3:1-20, 5:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:12-15; 1 John 3:16, 1 John 4. GOD gives grace and mercy to every human being whether they believe in Him or not because sin seeks to destroy every human being; that is the work of the devil in his rebellion against GOD. The devil hates us because we are made in the image of GOD to be His Glory and the best the devil could have ever been was a reflector of GOD’s Glory, which he rejected. Study Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 2; Psalm 8; Proverbs 15:3; Isaiah 14:12-15; Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 10:17-20; Revelation 12. The Bible teaches us that we have to recognize that JESUS is the Son of GOD and that He came to save (redeem) humanity back to GOD by His life, death, resurrection and ascension. This happened before Adam was formed from the dust of the earth and even before the earth was called forth from nothing. Study John 1:1-18, 3:1-21; Romans 1:16-17, Romans 10; Titus 1:1-3; 1 Peter 1:20-21; Revelation 13:8-9. This act of salvation did several things for humanity, by what CHRIST did we are sanctified (cleansed from our sins), justified (so that we can stand before GOD) and made the Righteousness of GOD (made righteous before GOD) in CHRIST JESUS so that we can stand before GOD and not be condemned to eternal hell! We are made a new person in CHRIST and The SPIRIT of GOD now lives in our mortal body and guides us in His ways. We receive physical and emotional healing, deliverance from sin, eternal death and every bondage possible that keeps us from serving GOD. But the one thing that CHRIST’s sacrifice did not do was make us holy! This confuses many people who study the Bible because understanding being holy as GOD is Holy is contrary to human religious thinking. Study John 14:15-24, 17:6-19; Romans 4:13-25, 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 3:11-17, 6:9-11, 17-20; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 4:25-32; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 2:19; Hebrews 4:14-16; 1 Peter 1:13-21. To begin the process of being Holy we have to stop thinking about GOD in human terms. GOD is not human! Even when JESUS was the Son of Man He was still the Son of GOD. He did not give up His divinity to be a man but He lived and suffered and rejoiced as a man from conception to death. The only difference between His conception and ours is that His Father is GOD. The only difference between His suffering death and ours is that at death His eternal authority gave Him victory over sin and death and He took the keys of their kingdoms as a sign to the devil and us; then He rose from death. Study Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Isaiah 55:6-13; Habakkuk 3:3-6; Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20; Acts 2; Romans 6:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; Galatians 2:20-21; Colossians 2:9-10; Revelations 1:17-18, 15:3-4. So what do we do to become Holy as GOD is HOLY? First and foremost we have to believe and publicly confess that JESUS is the Son of GOD who came to take away the sins of the world. That He was born of a virgin by the Power of The SPIRIT of GOD; that He lived a fully human life resisting every temptation and sin that is common to humanity; that He freely surrendered His will to The Father’s will; that He shed His Blood to cleanse us from our sin; that His death on the cross was taking our punishment as sinners delivering us from eternal damnation to eternal life in the Kingdom of GOD; that we are baptized into His death and raised with Him to new life; that His resurrection allows us to become the children of GOD we were created (born again) to be and that in His ascension to the right hand of GOD He gives all those who believe His authority; the authority He received from the Father; over temptation, sin and every bondage; and that GOD then sent His SPIRIT (The HOLY SPIRIT) to live in every believer to be a convicter of sin, a teacher, a trainer for war and a comforter; GOD’s SPIRIT is the seal of our salvation. Study Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7; Matthew 1:18-25, 7:29, Matthew 28; Mark 1:22, 27 Mark, 16; Luke 1:26-38, Luke 2, 4:36, 9:1, Luke 24; John 1:1-14, 3:15-21, 5:25-30, 10:14-19, 14:15-31, 15:9-17, 16:5-15, 17:1-5, John 20; Acts 1:1-11, 2:1-4, 19:1-7; Romans 1:16-17, 6:1-14, 10:6-13; 1 Corinthians 3:11-17 , 6:17-20; Colossians 2:11-15; Revelation 1:4-6, 12:1-5, 13:2, 8-9. Then by the faith that He gives as a free gift to all who call on the Name of JESUS for salvation we have to do our part of what JESUS CHRIST did. We have to live our life wholly and completely to and for GOD. We have to surrender our spirit, soul and body to GOD’s will and purpose for us! This is the theme of the Gospels and the Epistles this is what JESUS did and called us too. Total surrender! Study Matthew 10:37-39; Mark 8:34-38; John 1:6-13, 4:34; Acts 3:11-17, 4:9-12; Romans 3:21-26; Galatians 2:19-21; Ephesians 2:1-9; Philippians 2:9-18. “My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cries out for the living GOD.” Psalm 84:2NKJV “After surrender what? The whole of the life after surrender is an aspiration for unbroken communion with GOD.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of GOD, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to GOD, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 KJV