The Word is Holiness – Part 5

The Word is Holiness – Part 5

Pursue…holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: …For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.  Hebrews 12:14; Micah 4:4; Matthew 5:18;

The NATURE Of True Practical Holiness.

First, let me try to show what true practical holiness is — what sort of people whom God calls holy?

A man may go great lengths in religion — and yet never reach true holiness.

It is not knowledge — Balaam had that.

It is not great profession — Judas Iscariot had that.

It is not doing many things — Herod had that.

It is not morality and outward respectability of conduct — the rich young ruler had that.

It is not taking pleasure in hearing preachers — the Jews in Ezekiel's time had that.

It is not keeping company with godly people — Joab and Gehazi and Demas had that.

Yet none of these were holy people! These things alone are not holiness. A man may have any one of them — and yet never see the Lord.

What then is true practical holiness? It is a hard question to answer. I do not mean that there is any lack of Scripture on the subject. But I fear lest I should give a defective view of holiness, -- or lest I should say things about it that ought not to be said, and so do harm.

Let me try to draw a picture of Biblical holiness. Please don’t forget, when I have said all, that my account is but a poor imperfect outline at the best.

Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of . . .agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word. He who most entirely agrees with God — he is the most holy man.

A holy man will endeavor to shun every known sin, and to keep every known commandment. He will have . . .a decided bent of mind towards God, a hearty desire to do His will, a greater fear of displeasing Him than of displeasing the world,
and a love to all His ways.

He will feel what Paul felt when he said, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" (Romans 7:22), and what David felt when he said, "I esteem all Your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128)

A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. He will not only live the life of faith in Him and draw from Him all his daily peace and strength — but he will also labor to have the mind that was in Him, and to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). It will be his aim . . .to bear with and forgive others, even as Christ forgave us; to be unselfish, even as Christ pleased not Himself; to walk in love, even as Christ loved us; to be lowly-minded and humble, even as Christ made Himself of no reputation and humbled Himself.

He will remember . . .that Christ was a faithful witness for the truth; that He came not to do His own will; that it was His food and drink to do His Father's will; that He would continually deny Himself in order to minister to others; that He was meek and patient under undeserved insults; that He thought more of godly poor men, than of kings; that He was full of love and compassion to sinners that He was bold and uncompromising in denouncing sin; that He sought not the praise of men, when He might have had it; that He went about doing good; that He was separate from worldly people; that He continued instant in prayer; that He would not let even His nearest relations stand in His way when God's work was to be done.

All these things, a holy man will try to remember. By them, he will endeavor to shape his course in life. He will lay to heart the saying of John: "He who says he abides in Christ, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6); and the saying of Peter, that "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21). Happy is he who has learned to make Christ his "all," both for salvation and example! Much time would be saved, and much sin prevented — if men would oftener ask themselves the question: "What would Jesus have said and done — if He were in my place?"

A holy man will follow after meekness, patience, gentleness, patience, kind tempers, and government of his tongue. He will bear much, forbear much, overlook much and be slow to talk of standing on his rights. We see a bright example of this in the behavior of David when Shimei cursed him, and of Moses when Aaron and Miriam spoke against him (2 Sam. 16:10; Num. 12:3).