01/15/18 Post:
Ryrie makes the following comment about holiness: … In respect to God, holiness means not only that He is separate from all that is unclean and evil but also that He is positively pure and thus distinct from all others.
He then uses an analogy about being healthy. i.e. “It is the absence of illness, but also a positive infusion of energy.”
He then adds; “Holiness is the absence of evil and the presence of positive right. In God, His holiness is a purity of being and nature as well as of will and act.”
With this characteristic of Holiness, how can any believer truly think of himself in terms of Holiness? We are saved by the blood of Jesus when we believe, but how do we live daily in terms of God’s Holiness? For the answer to these two questions we must look to the writer of Hebrews. In chapter 12, verses 5 through 14, the writer explains what we go through and when we are tempted, how we can be strengthened.
God allows us to go through trials so that we can become stronger at resisting temptation, sin, and live in holiness. The writer of Hebrews does not say it will be easy, but when we are guided by and rely on the Holy Spirit, we can live in Holiness. Read the passage in Hebrews, give it is some thought and respond with how God has helped you through trials.
01/16/18 Post:
As believer’s, we must always be conscious of God’s Holiness and how He protects it. The following quote* gives us a little bit of a feel for how God feels about His Holiness: “God could not allow imperfect choices and disobedience in heaven. God foresaw this possibility and knew that to protect the holiness, perfection and eternalness of heaven; HE set in place His Law of Disintegration. This law is simply any action done that is out of the will of God as Creator it must be punished. God the Eternal Judge is the one who decides the penalty of disobedience and its consequent punishment.” *(SpiritQuest 2: Interface With Creation. Pg 169)
Do you see this as right? How important is God’s Holiness to him?
01/17/18 Post:
My scripture verses for today:
Psalm 34:1-9 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Wednesday I posted a quote and Glenda, one of our members asked the following question.
“Are you considering holiness as being perfect and eternal?” To which I replied:
“For God, Yes! For believers, we are perfect and eternal spiritually when we accept Jesus, however, we are still tethered to this physical world and we fall short of perfect holiness, but when we fail, sin, and are unholy, that is when we ask God for forgiveness (1 JO1:9) and he restores us to the holiness we have because Jesus promised us that we are secure in him. A very perceptive question, Glenda.”
After posting my reply, I got to thinking more about her question. There is a wrinkle to this that I would like to expound upon with an experience I had as a young believer. I was wrestling with understanding a similar thought about holiness and how we as believers in a sinful world maintain this condition required by God’s Holiness.
One night I had the following dream and in it came to a better understanding of how God has already worked out the details of how we as carnal beings can live and keep this condition of Holiness. The dream went something like this: In the dream I was putting on a deep-sea diving suit. I was put into the water. While in the water, it sprang a leak. I was beginning to panic, when the Lord said, watch. As I watched, the hole was repaired and all of the polluted water was removed and I was clean and dry again. I was then pulled up and the suit was removed.
What God showed me was that when we become believers, he gives us the Holy Spirit to protect us (the diving suit) when we fail or sin (a leak) we ask God to forgive us according to 1 John 1:9. When we do this, He cleans us up, forgives our sin (repairs leak) and watches over us. By repairing our suit (1 John 1:9) the Holy Spirit for God will do this every time we fail or fall short and then when we go to be with Him in heaven, we are clean and forgiven!
01/18/18 Post:
We need to understand that God blesses us when we become believers by His gift of the Holy Spirit living within us. The Holy Spirit does many things for us including that of keeping us Holy for the Lord.
In Holiness, it is used both in the Old Testament and the New. The sense of this word is to be separated from the profane or common (polluted) physical environment. Believers are the “called out” ones for God’s service. The following scripture from Ephesians 4:23, 24 does give us direction and guidance: 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (KJV) We need to think and do things differently as separated servants for God.
01/19/18 Post:
Today’s Discussion topic:
Why Holiness? And why do we believers need holiness? To answer these two seemingly simple questions, let us look at a quote* that will explain why.
“…Willful disobedience is an imperfect choice. Because God gave those He created the ability to choose, He knew that choosing against His will would be disobedience and an imperfect choice. To maintain perfection in Heaven, to protect His Holiness, God had to make the solution and antidote beforehand. That is why we have God’s Law of Disintegration.” (Blueprint: God’s Law of Disintegration Explained, pg 66)
01/19/18 Post:
After the Pt. 4 Application, Ryrie makes the following statements:
A proper view of the holiness of God should make the believer sensitive to his own sin (Isa. 6:3 & 5; Luke 5:8).
Proper conduct can be tested by the simple question, Is it holy? This is the believer’s standard. While he does not always measure up to it, he must never compromise it.
Is Ryrie off-base or right on with these statements? Yes or No
01/20/18 Post:
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (KJV)
Before we leave our discussion of Holiness, let us give thought to this verse in 1 John. This verse gives us some things to do and follow that will help us in our daily walk in holiness.
1) We must walk in the light of God’s word. Read scripture daily.
2) We need to fellowship with other believers.
3) We need to use the Believer’s bar of soap often. 1 John 1:9
If we do these three things, Our Lord will keep us close to Him through the Holy Spirit, and we can live a life of holiness through our constant faith in God the Father. We belong to Him, He has promised to keep us forever. He knows we need to be Holy to live with Him in Eternity. Depend on it!
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