Holiness- Commanded or Preferred?

[IanLC]

Hebrews 12:14 Declares "[sup]14[/sup]Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord"

2 Corinthians 7:1 States "[sup]1[/sup]Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Jesus declares out of His mouth that the pure in heart shall see God (Matthew 5:8)! And blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). The only way to be a Christian or Christ like is to adapt the likeness and traites of Christ Jesus. I believe holiness and righteousness is not preached enough and lived enough by believers today. The LORD God is holy, Jesus the Son is holy, and the Holy Ghost is holy. The fruit of the Holy Spirit are holy fruit. Yes as humans we will sin but we should be striving and perfecting in holiness in reverence of God and His Christ. We can not be Christians or Christ like and live the way we sit fit in our own eyes. We need to measure up to the standard of God which is holiness. (Leveticus 11:44 & 1 Peter 1:16) Holiness is not based off religious rules or commands those are man made. Holiness is an inward work that God will complete until Jesus returns (Philippians 1:6)! God demands us to "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And I shall be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says THE LORD JEHOVAH, The Almighty.” ( 2 Corinthians 6:17-18). For what fellowship have light and darkness have together other than one conquering the other? What communion does Belial and Jesus have? For in Christ there is no darkness! (1 John 1:5)
In Conclusion we need to allow God to sanctify us holy wholly! --"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

 

[ttruscott]

Thank you for a great post...

Here is where my thoughts take me:

2 Peter 3:11 - Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of GOD.

In verse 12, “hasting unto” may mean “hastening the coming”, as the NIV has it, “speed its coming”. If this is true, then one can not help but wonder how it is possible that we can hasten the coming of the day of GOD's judgement? What part do we have in it?

Well, may I suggest that if it was postponed because of our disobedience (unholiness), then we probably will have to repent of that disobedience and get into all holy conversation before it will happen.

Matthew 13:28 - He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto Him, Wilt Thou then that we go and gather them up? :29 - But He said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Whose fault was it that GOD's enemies got to do this mixing up? Was GOD too weak to stop them? Or are we to believe that this waiting had to be because GOD could not teach HIS angels to differentiate between HIS children and HIS enemies? (Are the angels blind too?) Surely we cannot believe that GOD was unable to bring about this separation because of some fault in HIM or HIS angels, right? Then, the fault that caused this mix up and delay must be in the wheat.

Hence, from this parable we should be able to see that the judgement of GOD has been delayed because the elect are not separate in spirit from the non-elect, and that for this reason they will have to live together until the tares can be gathered, that is, separated from the elect and burned[8] without any harm coming to any one of the elect.


:) God bless...

 

[aspen]

Holiness is loving perfectly! We can do this at times, when we are justified and in the process of being sanctified. Someday, we will be holy all the time.

 

[prism]

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
(Php 2:12-13)