Intimate Separation (part 2)

God wants to be near to us, but we must always set apart God in our hearts as the Lord we must obey, as the God we must worship and reverence, and as the beloved whom we adore above all. God deserves this, and it is part of the meaning of his holiness.

In part one of this post, we saw last week that one meaning of God’s holiness is he is set apart from fallen humans.

God resembles a king set apart from his subjects on his throne. Although God is not utterly separate, humans must treat his holy presence with great reverence. In thoughts and actions, we must set God apart for highest respect.

But this does not mean God wants to be distant. The story line of the Bible begins with intimacy in the Garden between the holy God and humanity, which is ruptured by the disobedience of Adam and Eve and their rejection from the Garden of Eden. As a result, God was not only set apart but separated. Those are not necessarily the same thing. God’s holiness means he must always be set apart, but it does not mean he must be separated.

Under the Old Covenant with Israel, the stress was on God’s holy separation from fallen humans. God drew near to his people in the temple, but he almost always had to be separate.

But with the coming of Jesus the story shifts dramatically. Last week we saw that when God’s Son became a man, the holy God came nearer still to fallen humans. Second, when Jesus died on the cross and atoned for our sins, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Torn with it was the separation it symbolized.

The third revolutionary event

The third revolutionary event in the story of God’s holy separation in relation to fallen humans was Pentecost, which occurred 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4)

This signified not simply a temporary experience but rather that the Holy Spirit was coming into his church collectively and his people individually to make them a temple for God’s abode. God would not be separated far away, or nearby but curtained away; rather, he would be in his people. They themselves would be his temple. They would be one with God.

1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you [referring to the whole church collectively] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body [referring to each individual Christian’s body] is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”

It was not as though the Holy Spirit had never come upon fallen humans before. During the Old Covenant he came upon priests, leaders, and prophets for special purposes. But he did not come on everyone.

Under the New Covenant, God’s visible glory is separate in heaven, but he is one with us and present within and among us by his Holy Spirit.

What God’s holiness must require

Notice that the very name of the third person of the Trinity includes the word Holy. That is so even though he is as near and intimate with us as he could be! What that means is that God’s holiness does not fundamentally mean separation but rather being set apart. God is set apart in three crucial ways that never become obsolete.

1. God is set apart as Lord.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord” (ESV). The NIV translation of that verse says it this way: “In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy.”

God is sovereign, controlling all, ruling over all. He is a king on a royal throne who must be obeyed above all. We set him apart to obey him as we obey no one else.

2. God is set apart for worship and ultimate reverence.

Although we honor others, we worship only God. Although we reverence others, we give ultimate and wholehearted reverence only to God.

Quoting the Old Testament, Jesus said, “You shall worship the lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10).

3. God is set apart for ultimate love and devotion.

God has a place in our hearts that no one else can have. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

Jesus also said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37–39).

These three attitudes of the heart are fundamental to what it means for God to be set apart as holy.

Next week we will continue with part 3 on the subject of God being set apart in holiness, looking at what we learn from the New Creation.

July 16, 2018December 29, 2020

Intimate Separation (part 1)

God’s holiness means that in both the old and new covenants and in the new creation to come our holy God is always in some way set apart from humanity even though he draws near in loving intimacy. We can always draw near but must keep a respectful distance.

The holy God is set apart

One of the most prominent meanings of God’s holiness is separation. God is set apart from the profane and common.

The idea of separation fills the Old Covenant. The Holy Tabernacle, for example, had three sections. A curtain separated the Holy of Holies, where God’s glory dwelled and where only the High Priest could enter once a year, from the Holy Place, where other priests could enter. Another curtain separated the Holy Place from the courtyard, where the people could enter to make sacrifices. Another curtain separated the courtyard from the rest of the camp.

Priests and Levites became holy to God by being set apart from the common and profane through elaborate rituals of sacrifice, donning priestly uniforms, and being anointed with unique, holy oil.

When God prepared to come down on Mt. Sinai, he commanded Moses, “You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’” (Exodus 19:12–13)

But even in the Old Covenant, God in his holiness wanted to be near to us. He wanted to bring himself and his holiness near, as near as possible to people who were not holy. That is why he provided the tabernacle/temple and the priesthood and sacrificial system.

The holy God set apart in a different way

When Christ comes, there is a dramatic change in how God wants to be set apart. Although the Father is set apart completely in heaven, invisible and unapproachable by us, he sends his unique Son to be God with us, Immanuel. In Jesus, God came arm’s length from fallen humans. Humans could actually touch the holy God.

This is one of the greatest wonders of the incarnation. That God could somehow become a human and remain God is one of the greatest of all mysteries. But as any Jew of Jesus’ time would understand, the idea of the holy, set-apart God coming among men without any separation, without dark clouds and lightning surrounding him as though he were a walking Mount Sinai, without being kept away and shielded from view by a curtain and approachable only by one very holy high priest, was unthinkable. How was that possible?

I think it was this: Somehow the pure human body of Jesus enabled him to maintain the holy separation that God requires from fallen humans. Jesus was fully God and fully man, and the body of his manhood served as a temple for God in which he maintained the measure of separation that he requires. Jesus called his body God’s temple. He said the Father dwelled in him. Jesus became the new temple of God on earth, absolutely holy, set apart but tabernacling among mankind.

The holy God makes holy people

The second revolutionary event was his death on the cross and shedding of holy blood for sinners. This is the turning point, the hinge, of human history. And it is a turning point in how God is separate in holiness. For at his death, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matt. 25:50–51). God tore the curtain separating the holy of holies. God signified by this that the shed blood of Jesus enabled God to be set apart as holy but with his people in a new way.

What happened was that God atoned for our sins by Jesus’ blood and made us holy, blameless, and acceptable to him through faith in Jesus (see Colossians 1:19–22). Thus, the holy God could be with holy people, which is what God wanted all along. The fact that God is separate does not mean he wants to be far from us. Definitely not. Rather it means we had a problem, and that problem was sin. And that problem Jesus solved.

Is the holy God intimate or separate?

Let’s continue this crucial subject next week. How is God now set apart as holy? And how will he be set apart as holy in the New Creation?

This post and next week’s address one of the big points of uneasiness that we may have with God’s holiness. The New Testament encourages us with the idea that God wants to come near in intimacy with us, yet the idea of God’s holiness and separation seems to undermine intimacy. God’s holiness does not feel loving, at least his holiness as seen in the Old Covenant with Israel. His holiness does not feel like a dear Father. His holiness does not feel approachable. Which is it? Is God someone to whom we can draw near, or is he the God atop Mt. Sinai?

July 9, 2018December 29, 2020

Awesome God

Our creator is an awesome God. His majestic glory can be thrilling, awe-inducing, terrifying, or even overwhelming.

We saw in the previous two posts that God’s holiness means he is incomparable and infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way. Now we will see that the meaning of God’s holiness is that his majestic glory is awe-inducing. Depending on several factors, his majestic glory can be thrilling, awe-inducing, terrifying, or even overwhelming.

Awesome God

For example, Paul the apostle stood before one Roman king and described the event on the road to Damascus that changed his life:

“At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.’” (Acts 26:13–15)

So, the manifestation of the glorified Jesus knocked Paul and his companions to the ground. The apostle John had an even stronger reaction:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not.” Revelation 1:12–18

Three reasons for differing reactions to God’s majesty

Several factors determine what effect God’s holiness has on a human.

1. A person’s level of holiness or profaneness. Under the Old Covenant, priests could come into the presence of God in the temple because they were consecrated to God in an elaborate ceremony requiring animal sacrifice, the shedding of blood, and the sprinkling of that blood on the priest and on the altar. The priests were required to bathe in holy water and wear special holy garments and be anointed with holy oil. They had to follow elaborate rules about who they could be around and what they could eat. God restricted the holy places of the temple to the priests, while the masses could enter only the outer courtyard.

2. Mortality. Angels and other holy, heavenly beings are made for God’s presence, so they can see God’s glory and live to enjoy it. Humans, on the other hand, in our fallen state, can handle only so much of God’s glory, unless he gives special grace, such as Moses had on top of Mount Sinai in the cloud of glory when he received the 10 Commandments. Somehow he did not die; he saw God’s glory partially but not his face; and God gave him special grace to experience such majesty and live.

First Corinthians 15:50 says “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20).

When God’s full majesty meets our fallen condition, it is like an electric line designed to carry 120 volts of electricity that suddenly gets a surge of 1,000,000 volts. You get a short-circuit, a meltdown, an electrical fire.

3. How much God unveils his glory. God reveals more or less of his majesty in different situations. For example, the human body of Jesus usually concealed his glory, but on the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus unveiled more of his majesty, as “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2).

So, depending on the interplay of these three factors, God’s manifest glory can be the most wonderful, exciting, thrilling experience of a lifetime, or it causes a person to be overwhelmed with fear even to the point of passing out. Yes, God is holy.

Do you want this?

This may not sound appealing. But Moses knew better. Aside from Jesus, Moses experienced God’s awe-inducing, majestic glory more than any other human. He saw God in the burning bush. He conversed with God in the cloud of glory atop Mt. Sinai for 40 days. He consulted with God regularly in the Tent of Meeting, and when he would leave the tent he had to cover his face with a veil because his countenance glowed like a light bulb.

Moses enjoyed these experiences so much that on one occasion, after God told him, “You have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name,” Moses asked, “Please show me your glory.” Moses had already seen much of God’s glory, but he knew there was much more.

God answered:

“I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:19–23)

Moses knew God’s holiness. God’s holiness means his majesty is great, even terrifying to mortal sinners, but thrilling and worth pursuing above all when we have the righteousness of Christ making us acceptable to God.

Our ways versus God’s ways

Our ways: Fallen humans generally want God to be out of sight and out of mind. Let him be helpful but someone we can ignore if we choose. If he insists on having our attention, let his glory be like a 60-watt bulb rather than a supernova.

God’s ways: God plans to put on a July 4^th fireworks show for our eternal pleasure and worship. His holy majesty is good, wonderful, and truly awesome. He wants to display his holy glory to humans who have been recreated with the capacity to enjoy his holiness continually forever. As Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24). Someday God will give you a resurrection body and perfect spirit ideally made to enjoy the presence of God.

July 2, 2018December 29, 2020

Holy, High, and Lifted Up

God is infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way.

In last week’s post we explored the first aspect of what makes God holy: he is uniquely divine, different from us and creation, special, not common, not everyday. Today we focus on the second aspect of God’s holiness, which is closely related: his infinite superiority. He is not just unique and special; he is superior.

Isaiah 6:1–4 says, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’”

God is superior to us.

He is infinitely superior to us.

God is infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way.

God is superior to us

Regarding architectural design and materials, the Willis Tower is superior to the Greyhound bus station.

Regarding food, a Michelin three-star restaurant is better than McDonald’s.

In communication, a smart phone is better than to two paper cups connected by a piece of string.

Regarding transportation, an F-16 fighter jet is superior to a pair of roller skates.

God is superior to us. He is superior in nature. That is, he is not just a better brand of roller skates than another brand, with higher-quality ball bearings, better-designed straps for attaching to the feet, higher-quality steel and durability. No, he is a superior kind of transportation altogether, a jet airplane.

He is divine, uncreated, immortal, eternal, sinless, perfect, transcendent, that is, outside of time and matter, able to do anything, knowing all things, Creator of all that exists. That’s for starters.

We are human, created, mortal, temporarily living in bodies made from the dust of the earth, sinful, imperfect, limited in every way, knowing little. That’s for starters.

Isaiah 57:15 says, “Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place’”

So, God is superior in kind, in nature. That means, for example, that he not only knows more than you do; he knows it in a divine way that you simply cannot.

God is infinitely superior to us

It’s one thing to be superior; it’s another to be infinitely superior.

If we compare the Willis Tower to the Greyhound Bus station, we can compare the differences in square footage, height, architectural sophistication, beauty, number of rooms, cost, materials, and prestige. All these factors are finite and generally measurable.

But the difference between God and humanity is beyond measure. God’s superiority to us is so great that we cannot grasp how great it is. God has no limits. So, the gulf between us and him is unlimited.

You know what it’s like to be impressed by someone who is superior to you in what you do best. If you play piano seriously, for example, you are not just impressed with the great virtuoso players, you are awed by their superiority. You have a teeny tiny grasp of what it takes to play as well as they do.

How much more should we be stunned by the infinite superiority of God. He is so superior we cannot even grasp how superior he is. In the ways that he has created us to be similar to himself, such as having the ability to know things, he is not only superior in degree, he is infinitely superior in degree. He does not merely know ten times more than you, or a hundred times more than you, or a million or a trillion times more than you know; he knows infinitely more than you know.

God is infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way

When we compare ourselves to other humans, they will surpass us in some ways, and we will surpass them in others. You may be able to run marathons in a way your friend cannot, but she may be able to sing as you cannot.

Compared to God, though, we never ever can find a way that he is not greater than us. In every possible way that we can be compared to God, he is infinitely superior. In goodness, power, creativity, wisdom, love, kindness, compassion, mercy, grace, knowledge, patience. And in math, physics, sociology, medicine, engineering, art, design, chemistry, psychology, leadership, entrepreneurship. In morality, ethics, righteousness, purity, truthfulness. In beauty, glory, and majesty.

There is one word that describes all this superiority: holy. God is high and lifted up. Holy, holy, holy is he. We fall down before his holy excellence.

For all these reasons and more, God is the most interesting person there is, the most awesome, the most exciting. He is thrilling always and forever. We will never for a moment experience boredom with him. God’s holiness is positive and wonderful. It is good that God is high and lifted up.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: The way of fallen mankind is to regard ourselves and the rest of creation as the most excellent things worthy of our highest devotion and enthusiasm. People typically ignore God often or always. They are not impressed with him.

God’s ways: We are to regard the Lord as superior in all and act like it by worshiping him and giving thanks, and by loving him with all our being.

June 25, 2018December 29, 2020

Why God’s Holiness Is Thrilling

What does it mean that God is holy?

God is uniquely holy. That should thrill you, and here’s why.

First, that God is holy means he is special, not common, not everyday. He is not just divine; he is uniquely divine. He alone is the sovereign, immortal Creator of all. He is one of a kind. He is different from and superior to all created things.

That means he is never boring, never ho-hum.

Unique like the Sabbath

Genesis 2:3 says, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” Six days of the week are common days for work and whatever, but one day of the week is special, uniquely God’s, and so it is called holy. The Sabbath is unique and special; God is unique and special.

Unique like the special anointing oil

Similarly, God commanded Moses to make a special anointing oil and a special incense that were only to be used in the Tabernacle and with the priests (Exodus 30:22–38). The priests were to use this unique oil to anoint the Tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, other tools and Tabernacle furniture, as well as the priests and their garments. Anything that was anointed became holy.

God made sure this holy anointing oil would be unique. He commanded Moses to tell the people, “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people” (Exodus 30:31–33).

Like this singular oil, God is unique. He is different from and superior to all created things. He is holy, not common, holy, not profane.

Unique in control

When God sent Moses to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt, during the plague of frogs, Moses told Pharaoh that he would pray for the frogs to be removed. Moses told Pharaoh to set a time for the frogs to leave so that Pharaoh would know it was not a coincidence. Pharaoh said tomorrow, and “Moses said, ‘Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God’” (Exodus 8:10).

And the frogs indeed left on schedule, because there is no one like the LORD our God. Holy is he—unique, superior, different from everything and everyone else.

Supreme and Thrilling

“There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty” (Deuteronomy 33:26)

“Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you” (2 Samuel 7:22)

“There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours” (Psalm 86:8)

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it” (Isaiah 46:9–11)

“There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you” (Jeremiah 10:6–7)

“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:25–26)

“You alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth” (Psalm 83:18)

Thrilling. God is holy, uniquely divine, and therefore supremely and without pause thrilling.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: In one way or another, we may treat God as common. The way of fallen humans is to treat God as no more important than the things of this world—to make idols, to believe in many gods, to act as though many things compare to God in importance, value, glory, honor, beauty, and worth.

God’s way: God is holy for he is the one and only God—the one and only, immortal, eternal, Creator and Sovereign over all. In this we should delight.

God’s holiness means no one can compare to him in any way. He alone is God. He is not common or ordinary, and we must never treat him in a common or ordinary way. We must treat him with the honor due to the infinitely extraordinary God.

June 18, 2018December 29, 2020

How Holy Must We Live to Be Saved?

Nobody’s perfect, but how imperfect can you be and still make it through the door of heaven?

We have focused for several posts on the crucial subject of holiness. Anyone who wants to know God and his ways can and must learn to love the awesome, exciting, joyful, and beautiful quality of holiness. At the moment of our salvation, God removes us from a polluted, foul, sewage-fed canal, places us in a perfect garden, and commands us to learn to love our new environment.

Before we move on to another topic, I need to address one more question: How holy does a person have to be in conduct to be a true Christian, to have assurance of salvation?

I noted in a previous post that in Christ we are regarded as perfectly holy in status before God even though we are never perfect in conduct. But can a person who claims to be a follower of Jesus be so unholy in conduct that their holy status is negated, that is, proven invalid?

Taking holiness seriously

Let’s begin answering this question by looking at Hebrews 12:14, which says,

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord (niv).

This says we are to make every effort—or strive—to be holy. Just as we make every effort necessary to earn a living and keep a job, or get the food we need each day, we are to make every effort to be holy. Why exert such effort?

We must make every effort to be holy because “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Does that mean what it sounds like it means? Is it saying we cannot ultimately be saved and have eternal life with God unless our conduct in this life reaches a certain standard of holiness?

Necessary holiness

To answer this crucial question we first need to see that this verse cannot be referring to the status of holiness; it must be referring to conduct because we cannot achieve the status of holiness through effort, but only through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9) (If you have not yet read my previous post on “How to Avoid Extremes in the Pursuit of Holiness,” I urge you to read it before reading this). So, striving for holiness must mean striving actually to live in a holy way.

Second, we need to see that the words “see the Lord” must refer to ultimate salvation, not merely feeling close to God or walking in communion with him. In other words, some people have the view that because we are saved by God’s grace that means we can live any way we want because if we have faith in Christ we will still be saved. They would say that “without holiness no one will see the Lord” means something like, “Without holiness we will not have an accurate understanding of God,” or “Without holiness we will not enjoy the presence of God,” or “No matter how bad we have been in this life, if we believe in Christ God will transform us after we die to be truly holy so that we can come into his holy presence.”

But that understanding does not fit the context of Hebrews 12:14. In verses 15–17 the writer warns: “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” (Hebrews 12:15–17)

Notice, the writer warns about people who will fail “to obtain the grace of God” even though they want the grace of God. He warns against being like Esau, who was lost. The writer’s focus in the surrounding verses is clearly to warn Christians not to continue in sin lest they ultimately discover to their sorrow that they are lost.

This agrees with the rest of the New Testament

Does this understanding fit the larger context of the New Testament? Does the New Testament elsewhere teach that it is possible to think you are a Christian and call yourself a Christian and yet live below a minimum standard of holiness, and therefore be a false Christian? See what you think.

Jesus said:

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:21–27)

Galatians 5:19–24 says:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Ephesians 5:3–6 says:

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 says:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 John 3:2–10 says:

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Revelation 21:7–8 says:

The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Conclusion

How holy does a true Christian have to be?

Answer: A true Christian will not practice evil. That is, a true Christian will not keep committing evil without repentance.

A true Christian will on occasion commit an evil deed but will soon repent sincerely. A true Christian may fall again to that sin (as can happen to an addict), but he or she will again repent sincerely. (Mark 1:14–15; Luke 5:32; Acts 17:30; 26:20)

A true Christian will not be complacent about doing what the Bible plainly calls evil.

True Christians will not deceive themselves by calling good what the Bible calls evil.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: Regard holy conduct as optional.

God’s way: Without holiness no one will see the Lord. If we rely on Christ, he can give us the ability to hate and overcome our own evil, live in purity, and delight in the joy-producing gift of holiness.

God is patient with his children and works over time to purify them of evil. But his patience has limits. See Hebrews 12:1–29 and Revelation 2:20–23 (note especially verse 21); 3:1–5; 3:14–21.

If we willfully live in ongoing disobedience to God’s commands recorded in Scripture, that is, if we knowingly continue doing evil without repentance over an extended time, we are falling short of the holiness required to be saved. We must repent of deliberate, ongoing, self-deceived evil-doing.

In our confused times and culture, this post is super important. Many people are deceived on this subject. Therefore, out of concern for others, please share this, forward it, tweet it, like it, do whatever you have to to get it before the eyes of others.

June 11, 2018December 29, 2020

The Sin Killer (part 2)

You can’t overcome sin, but Jesus can.

Overcome sin

In my previous post, we saw the first three ways that we rely completely on Jesus Christ to overcome sinful conduct. Let’s continue with three more ways to overcome sin.

4. Trust his promises that through him you can do what is holy.

Our holiness must stand on the strong legs of faith. Doubt brings defeat. Jesus says we can overcome sin through him, and we must believe him.

Romans 6:14 says, “Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 8:2 says, “The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” John 8:31–32 says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

5. Take up the cross and die again to self.

Christians are united with Jesus in his death on the cross, and that death enables us to be dead to sinful desires if we rely on it and regard it to be so.

Romans 6:6–7 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (Read the entire section, Romans 6:1–11, to fully understand this crucial reality.)

This is spiritually real, not just a way of thinking. I really am united with Jesus in his death, and I can draw on that reality at any time. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Galatians 6:14 says, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Jesus died to this world, and I am crucified and dead with him. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Repeat these words until the Holy Spirit helps you believe them. Then you can live them.

6. Rely on your union with Christ in his resurrection.

This too is a spiritual reality that we can draw on at any time, not just a way of thinking. Just as surely as Jesus rose from the dead in power and lives in a resurrected body now, so you are united with him in his resurrection power.

Romans 6:4 says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Romans 6:13 says, “Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.”

This spiritual power is as real as the electricity latent in an electrical socket.

Paul prayed accordingly for the Ephesian Christians that they would know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:18–20).

So, there is resurrection power available to you if you will learn to call upon it in understanding, prayer, and faith.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: Be holy in conduct by relying on human will power.

God’s way: Be holy in conduct by relying on Christ.

My challenge for you

Identify one sin that defeats you and focus for two weeks on overcoming it through ideas above. I hope you will send me an email and let me know how things went.

June 4, 2018December 29, 2020

The Sin Killer

You can’t overcome sin, but Jesus can.

overcome sin

In my previous post we saw that to think about our holiness correctly, we need to distinguish between holy status and holy conduct and rely completely on Jesus Christ for both. I want to explore more deeply how we rely completely on Jesus for our holy conduct.

In some ways, it doesn’t make sense to think we rely on Jesus for our holy conduct because our conduct is our responsibility. We choose what we do.

However, with that mentality we rely on our will power to do the right thing and be holy.

When we rely on ourselves, we will fail. We will succeed at avoiding some impurity but fail at others. We might succeed at avoiding sexual impurity but fail at ridding our souls of bitter thoughts toward someone who hurt us, or vice versa. Either way, we are not living in holiness.

Here are three ways we rely completely on Jesus to produce holy conduct in us.

1. Pray about your conduct.

This is as simple as saying, “Lord Jesus, help me have pure thoughts right now.” Prayer is the foundation of all reliance on God rather than self.

Jesus said, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

2. Confess sins and rely on Jesus’ atoning death and blood for forgiveness.

When guilt and shame are not dealt with properly, they create a spirit of defeat and weakness in the soul that only results in more sin and defilement. Satan has a foothold, and we feel far from God our strength. But Jesus gives us the way to completely overcome guilt and shame, and that of course is through his atoning death and shed blood on the cross. His atonement brings us near to God, defeats Satan, and puts us in a place of victory and spiritual strength. We are ready to face the choices ahead.

3. Quote Jesus’ commands as you make decisions and face temptation.

This is how Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness temptation. Each time Satan offered a temptation, Jesus simply said, “It is written,” then quoted God’s commands, and that settled it.

So, for example, when we face sexual temptation, we could quote 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5: “This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”

As you read the Scriptures, you will find commands relevant to temptations you commonly face. Write them down, memorize them, have them ready. For starters, you can find collections of commands in these sections: Ephesians 4:17–32; 5:1–21; Colossians 3; Exodus 20:1–17.

The commands of Jesus are not just the “red letter” commands, that is, the words of Jesus recorded in the four Gospels. The whole of Scripture is Jesus’ word, for all Scripture came from the Father through Jesus Christ.

Next week: Three more ways we rely completely on Jesus to produce holy conduct.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: Be holy in conduct by relying on human will power.

God’s way: Be holy in conduct by relying on Christ.

My challenge for you

Identify one sin that defeats you and focus for two weeks on overcoming it through ideas above. I hope you will send me an email and let me know how things went.

May 28, 2018December 29, 2020

How to Avoid Extremes in the Pursuit of Holiness

How the gospel affects the pursuit of holiness

We have been looking for several weeks at the necessity of holiness for anyone who wants to know God. However, it is also important to realize that people who pursue holiness can take a serious wrong turn. That is, they may try to rely on themselves instead of Jesus Christ for their holiness.

If we do this, we set ourselves up for certain defeat and utter despair, or for legalism, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy. We become either a failure or a fake.

We must distinguish between status and conduct

The reason for this is simple. No one can be perfectly holy in conduct.

But the hopeful truth is, we can be perfectly holy in status. God regards certain people as perfectly holy. That is, their status in God’s sight is that they are absolutely holy. The people who have this enviable status are those who believe in Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (NIV). This verse says Jesus is our holiness. His holiness is our holiness, and his holiness is perfect.

So God does not give us holy status without any basis or reason. Our holiness is not imaginary. Our perfect holiness is the real holiness of Jesus that is ours because we are in Jesus by faith.

Your conduct still matters

The fact that we can have holy status with God even though we do not always have holy conduct can lead some people to make another mistake. They think their holy status in Christ means conduct doesn’t matter, that God doesn’t notice conduct as long as we believe in Jesus.

That too is wrong. God deals with us based on both status and conduct. If we believe in Jesus, we have holy status, and therefore God accepts us, treats us as a son or daughter, and treats us with favor and kindness. But he is not blind to our unholy conduct. He works to cleanse us of these behaviors. Jesus says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline” (Revelation 3:19).

God resembles a father who loves and accepts his child, but in love also corrects his child. Hebrews 12:6 says, “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Hebrews 12:10 says our fathers “disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”

So God treats us both “as if” and “as is.” Because of our faith in Jesus Christ he treats us as if we were perfectly holy by promising us salvation, eternal life, sonship, and so on even though we are not perfectly holy. And he treats us as is by addressing how we actually conduct ourselves and warning us that we reap what we sow and that our evil conduct grieves him.

Our ways versus God’s ways

Our ways: We try to be holy through our own efforts apart from Jesus Christ, imagining that holy conduct will give us holy status. We may try so hard to be holy in conduct that we despair of having holy status. Or we think the holy status we have through faith in Jesus Christ makes holy conduct unnecessary.

God’s ways: Our holiness comes through Jesus Christ alone. His perfect holiness gives us the status of perfect holiness before God. And Christ’s power and words give us the ability to grow in holy conduct. Thus for both a holy status and holy conduct, Jesus Christ is everything to us. He is our holiness. He makes us holy. We must put all our faith in him. To him be all the glory for our holiness. And thus because of him the subject of holiness is not daunting, negative, and intimidating for us, but rather it is another reason to rejoice in Christ and draw near to him. We can delight in holiness.

In order to think about our holiness correctly, we need to distinguish between holy status and holy conduct, and rely completely on Jesus Christ for both.

May 21, 2018December 29, 2020

Learning to Love Holiness

You cannot fully love God if you do not learn truly to love holiness.

learn to be holy

Those who truly want to know God discover that learning to love holiness is all important, because God is holy. Holiness defines him. Everything about God is pure, clean, pursuing good and opposed to evil.

Learning to love holiness depends on two actions. If you focus on only one, you will fail. Do both, and each contributes to the other in mutual strengthening. Like someone getting dressed for a big event, you must both put off dirty clothes and put on clean clothes.

Ephesians 4:22–24 says: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

So becoming holy always requires both positive and negative, putting on and putting off, what to do and what not to do.

Putting off

To grow in holiness we need to stop doing things that pollute and corrupt our souls.

If we are honest with ourselves, we know what those things are. But because we want to do them, we often deceive ourselves so that we can go on doing them. The Scripture above talks about “deceitful desires.” If we like going to worldly parties, we tell ourselves that Jesus went to parties. If we like watching worldly shows and movies or listening to worldly music, we tell ourselves that what we watch and hear does not affect what we do. If we love money and possessions, we tell ourselves we need what we are greedily pursuing.

But our growth in holiness will go nowhere as long as we continue in such things. We must put off what defiles our mind, spirit, and body. We must ask God to help us be completely honest as we consider our conduct. And we must then ask ourselves if there is anything in our lives that is not holy, anything that influences us to be unholy and worldly rather than pure and godly. Once you settle in your mind to be completely honest and to renounce whatever God shows you is unholy, your conscience will be a reliable guide.

Putting on

But putting off worldly things is not enough. Our soul abhors a vacuum. We need to replace bad desires with good desires, bad “food” with good “food.”

To grow in holiness we need to do the things that will increase our love for holiness, God, and the things of God. The things of God are an acquired taste that increases when we feed that appetite. When we learn to love them, we will find that they are far more satisfying than our former worldly pleasures.

So holiness comes from reading and meditating on the Word of God, from worship and prayer, from full involvement in church life and fellowship with true believers, from serving and helping others.

Dabbling in relating to God and in the things of God—reading the Bible now and then, praying here and there, going to church once or twice a month—does not satisfy and does not lead to growth in holiness. That only leads to guilt and a feeling of being torn between God and the world.

So we must go all in. When we devote ourselves to the godly life, and to loving Jesus Christ, and relying completely on his gospel for acceptance with God, we will learn to love holiness. And we will come to know God and his ways better and better.

Our ways versus God’s ways

Our ways: Dress in both dirty and clean clothes.

God’s ways: Dress only in clean clothes.