Knowing the Father's and Son's Holiness, So We Can Walk in Holiness

    As we continue our study of holiness I would like to share with you some scriptures to think on, scriptures that describe God’s holiness and the holiness of His Son Jesus Christ.

    In Exodus 15, Moses sings praise to the LORD after He "saved them out of the hand of the Egyptians;" look at how Moses describes God in these selected phrases:

“I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously!” (v.1b)

“Your right hand, O LORD, has become glorious in power…” (v.6)

“Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (v.11)

    Glorious means to be great, magnificent, and honourable. It means that what has been exhibited is worthy of receiving great amounts of glory and honour.

    God is glorious in power and glorious in holiness! His power and holiness are so magnificent, they are worthy of ALL honour, glory and praise! Consider this while you read Psalm 145:1-13.

“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power…” (Revelation 4:11)

In similar fashion, Jesus is also proclaimed worthy in Revelation 5:12:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honour and glory and blessing!”

    Jesus is described as “holy, innocent, undefiled, and separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). He is further described as “He who is holy, He who is true” in Revelations 3:7a

    We are to be holy in all our conduct just as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15). Jesus left us an example to follow that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21-24). So if we wear His name (“Christian”) we must always remember “he who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:6)

    Think on these things today! Determine to walk in holiness just as Jesus did, to be holy as God is holy! Praise God and give Him the glory He is SO worthy of!! 

"Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
Give to the LORD glory and strength.
Give to the LORD the glory due HIs name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!"
(1 Chronicles 16:28-29 NKJV)

You can do it! So can I!!

Holy, So We Can Be Presented Blameless

“And you, who were once alienated and enemies 

in your mind by wicked works, 

yet now He has reconciled 

in the body of His flesh through death, 
to present you holy, and blameless, 
and above reproach in His sight 
– if indeed you continue in the faith, 
grounded and steadfast, 
and are not moved away 
from the hope of the gospel 
which you heard, which was preached 
to every creature under heaven, 
of which I, Paul, became a minister.” 
(Colossians 1:21-23 NKJV)

    This is a beautiful passage showing that God was/is pleased that persons can be reconciled to Him (brought to peace again) because of Jesus’ sacrifice. We, because of our selfish thoughts and bad choices, alienated/removed ourselves from Him – our sin separated us from our God (Isaiah 59:1-2), but Jesus’ death on the cross, His shed blood allowed us to be reconciled to God (Ephesians 1:7, 2:14-17)!

    God the Father and Jesus the Son want you to continue in the faith, to "press toward the goal" (Philippians 3:12-15)! They desire for you to keep digging in, through study and application, so that you are grounded and steadfast (1 Corinthians 15:58, Hebrews 5:13-14)! They do not want you to be moved away from the hope of the gospel (Galatians 5:9, Hebrews 6:17-20)!

    Why?

    Because Jesus wants to present you INNOCENT of wrong doing; PURE and SET APART for God!!

    Is knowing that Jesus loved you enough to suffer and die for you so that you could return in peace to His Father enough to motivate you to be holy in all your conduct?

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, 
a worker who does not need to be ashamed, 
rightly dividing the word of truth.” 
(1 Timothy 2:15 NKJV)

You can do it! So can I!!

    Good Morning! This week we are taking a closer look at holiness being linked with blamelessness in the New Testament.

    Please read and consider this passage: 

“…may the Lord make you increase and abound in love

 to one another and to all… that He may establish your 

hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father 

at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” 

(1 Thessalonians 3:13-14, NKJV)

    Paul’s prayer for the church in Thessalonica was that they would maintain their faith (3:1-10) and that God would make them increase and abound in love.

    In 2 Corinthians 9:8 we can read that “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work.”

    God can give an increase in all things. Through obedience of His commands – doing it His way – we can increase our love towards others because He instructs us to love and esteem others (Matthew 22:36-40, Romans 12:9-10, Galatians 6:10, Philippians 2:1-4).

    Paul asked for this increase so that God could establish their hearts blameless in holiness, which basically means blameless in blamelessness. Sounds a lot like the phrase: “without spot or blemish,” doesn’t it?

    The Aramaic Bible in Plain English reads: “…establish your hearts without a fault in holiness before God Our Father.”

    Holiness is a vital topic. It is an attribute we absolutely must strive for and maintain in our lives - “without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

    We simply must continue to grow and develop as a Christian! It is necessary that we increase in all areas – faith/trust, love, holiness, and hope. We cannot be satisfied with what we think we have already attained, or rest on the self-given laurels of what we did at the “peak” of our zeal, which, for some, may have been long years past.   

    Let God make you increase and abound in love so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness!

You can do it! So can I!!

Holy and Blameless

    We have learned that holy/holiness means to be physically pure (no immorality), morally blameless (cannot be accused of any wrong doing because of good/proper behaviour), sacred, and set apart. It means we are less like the world and more like God, as we strive to conform to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

    I have found blamelessness is linked with holiness in several passages in the New Testament, so as our study continues, as God wills, we will look at these passages one by one.

“…He chose us in Him 

before the foundation 

of the world that 

we should be holy 

and without blame 

before Him in love…” 

(Ephesians 1:4 NKJV)

    Before the foundations of the earth, before creation ever took place, God desired that there would be a people who should be holy and without blame before Him, a people whom He would bless while they humbly obey and faithfully serve Him, and after death He would, by His grace, give them the ultimate reward: eternal life in heaven.

    God planned ALL of this from before the beginning.

    And please note that the verse does not say “that we might be holy and without blame” but “that we should be holy and without blame.” God commands it, He requires it (1 Peter 1:13-16).

“Pursue peace with 

all people and holiness, 

without which no one 

will see the Lord.” 

(Hebrews 12:14 NKJV) 

    Do you appreciate all God has done for you? Be holy and without blame before Him in love. Pursue holiness. Live a moral life so that you are above blame or accusation. Let your love and appreciation for God motivate you to live properly before Him!!

You can do it! So can I!!