Summary: Holiness is co-operating with the Holy Spirit in the way you think, the way you speak and in the things you do. Holiness is refusing to co-operate with Satan the enemy of God and the enemy of mankind in the way we think, the way we speak and the things we do. Holiness is separating yourself to worship God alone, to serve God alone and to live for God alone The Holy Spirit is the standard for holiness. Holiness is a pre-requisite for living life in the presence of God and experiencing God in one’s life. Knowledge of the word of God is critical for living a holy life. Living a holy life is saying no to sin.
Covered in this section (All quotations from New King James Version NKJV unless otherwise stated)
N2.1 Definition of holiness
N2.2 Understanding the necessity for holiness
N2.3 Understanding that holiness is a central attribute of the Almighty God
N2.4 The Holy Spirit is the standard for holiness
N2.5 Knowledge of the word of God is critical for holiness
N2.6: He wants to write His laws in your heart
N2.1 : Definition of holiness:
Once one enters the presence of the Almighty God, one needs to understand how to remain in the presence of God. You need to understand holiness.
I define holiness as co-operating with the Holy Spirit in thought, in word and in deeds (actions).
The corollary of this (the other side of the same coin) is that Holiness can also be defined as refusing to co-operate with Satan(The enemy of God and Mankind) in thought, in word and in deed. Holiness is therefore about how we think, how we talk and how we act.
Holiness can also be defined as thinking, talking and acting in the manner God would think, talk and act.
The Lord Jesus Christ was God in every respect and at the same time human and while on earth was in a human body. He experienced the same human weaknesses and frailties as we do. If one asked “In this situation how would Jesus have spoken and acted?”
To answer that question one needs to know the word of God, the Scriptures.
N2.2 Understanding the necessity for holiness.
Hebrews 12:14 says “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”.
The seeing the Lord being referred to here is not just about heaven it is about seeing and experiencing the working of God in one’s life right here on earth.
Without holiness one cannot remain in His presence.
In Leviticus 11:44, His word says: “For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy..” To consecrate is to set yourself apart for Him and for Him alone.
In Leviticus 11:45 the Word goes on to says: “For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy”.
Being brought up out of the land of Egypt, a land of bondage, signifies the deliverance from bondage of Satan, the attaining of righteousness, through believing in Jesus as explained in N1.
He says the reason for doing this is so that the Lord may be your God, that we give our total allegiance to Him, and in return He will be our God- that is our everything (our Righteousness, our Provider (our source of every provision), our Healer, our Banner of Victory, our Peace, our Guide and Shepherd, our Omnipresent One).
For God to manifest His attributes or rather for one to have access and experience His attributes in one’s life, one needs to be holy. Our God is a jealous God.
Exodus 20:5 says “You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep my commandments.”
The best way of understanding the jealousy, which God feels when His people worship or bow down to the enemy is to compare it to how a husband or wife feels about sharing their spouse with another man or woman.
N2.3 Holiness is a central attribute of the Almighty God.
Exodus 15:11 says “Who is like You, O Lord among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”
The central attribute of God is holiness, He does all things including His wars and judgements in holiness.
1 Chronicles 16:29 says “Give to the Lord glory due to His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!”
Psalms 29:2 also says “Give unto the Lord glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”.
Psalms 96:9 “Oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.”
In Psalms 89:35 He says “ Once I have sworn by my holiness I will not lie to David”.
The Lord our God is holy and to have fellowship with Him in His presence we need to be holy too. The standard bearer for holiness is the Holy Spirit.
N2.4 The Holy Spirit is the standard for holiness.
In John 14:15-17 the Lord Jesus says “If you love me keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, (Comforter, Advocate, Standby, Counsellor, Intercessor, Strengthener) that He may abide with you forever-
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him , for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
The Holy Spirit is the standard for holiness.
When you receive the Lord Jesus to be Lord of your life, He comes into your life by His Spirit and you receive a measure of the Holy Spirit who regenerates (brings to live) your spirit and make you “Born again”, following this you will also need to be filled, immersed or baptised with the Holy Spirit.
Sin occurs when one co-operates with the enemy of God and mankind who is Satan, whereas holiness is co-operating with the Holy Spirit.
Between the two is the process of repentance which really is changing allegiance.
N2.5 Knowledge of the word of God is critical for holiness
The word of God is a critical component in this as it reveals the way God thinks and the way He acts it is therefore the instruction manual.
Ephesians 4:23 says “And be renewed in the in the spirit of your mind”.
The word of God as we read and meditate on it is a weapon for renewing our way of thinking aligning it with the way God thinks. Whereas righteousness is a legal position in the eyes of God (being in right standing with God) which brings one into His presence, holiness is to do with maintaining the privileges of that position and is to do with actions of daily living compatible with that position.
The Psalmist says in Psalms 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you.” In Psalms 119:105 the word says “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
N2.6: He wants to write His laws in your heart.
In Hebrews 8:7-12 His word says “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8 Because finding fault with them, He says ‘Behold the days are coming says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-
9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their mind, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11 None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
The new covenant referred to is the covenant in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We activate that covenant when we repent, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, call upon Him to receive Him as Lord and Saviour.
When we do that God deposits His Spirit in our hearts- the Holy Spirit which regenerates us. We then need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit who writes the laws of God in our hearts.
When we co-operate with the Holy Spirit in our thoughts, the words we speak and the actions we do- we live a Holy life that is pleasing to God, we experience God’s working in our everyday life and live a victorious Christian life.
Living a holy life is saying no to sin. How to be filled with the Holy Spirit will be covered in section to follow under “Turning your situation around”.
Copyright: Planet Ministries (October 2021)