Only The Holy

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called, Only The Holy. What does Holy mean? It means, in the Greek, set apart to, or by God; separated unto God; separated from evil, from the world; from that which is unclean. Let’s turn to 1 Peter 1:13-25, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I Am Holy. God is holy! If we’re going to be with Him, we need to become holy, and we can.  And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever, because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and it’s flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. 1 Pet 2:1-12, Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a Chief Cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, The Stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone. and a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 

Let’s turn now to 1 John 1:1-10, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all! 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 cleanses us from all sin! This is how we are made holy, continuing to walk in the light: the Word of God, with the Holy Spirit, shining the light on any sin or unrighteousness in our lives, with us seeking after righteousness with all our hearts; confessing that sin to God; believing His Word; believing in the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, and that His Blood cleanses us from that sin when we confess it. The light is not for our condemnation, but for our purification. So we want to walk in that light of God; in the truth of His Word. We want the Holy Spirit to show us of anything unrighteous in our lives, and we want to be truly sorry for our sins and confess them to God, trusting Him to forgive us, according to His Word, because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But, those who want to hang on to some unrighteousness in their life; to some sin that they enjoy, they do not want to come into the light. They want to walk in darkness and try to hide their sins, and say that they are in fellowship with God, and with His Son Jesus Christ. Folks, this does not work! You can say that you are under grace, and you can say, Lord, Lord, but only those who do the will of the Father; those who deny themselves every morning, and take up their cross: the will of the Father for their life, and follow Jesus, being led by the Holy Spirit to follow Him and do the will of the Father; only those who are holy: who are separated unto the Father; who fear Him and love Him because of what He has done for them through the gift of His beloved Son Jesus, who was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, who loved us, and gave Himself for us on that brutal Cross to wash us from our sins in His own Blood, only they are going into the Kingdom of God. 

Do you want this? If you really want this, you can have it if you will seek it with your whole heart. Let’s turn to Titus 2:11-14, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. You may say, I’ve tried to follow Jesus, but I just keep falling into sin.  I feel like I will never overcome, and sometimes I feel like giving up. Holiness seems like some far-away mountain that I will never get to. If that’s you, listen! There is hope for you! Don’t give up on Jesus! He loved you and He gave Himself for you to completely change your life!; to change you completely and conform you to His image; to make you like Him, so you can become a real member of God’s wonderful, holy family. Don’t give up, but look up! Come to Jesus with all your heart! Come boldly before Him and ask Him to help you. Be honest with Him, and confess everything to Him. Then give yourself to Him, and ask Him to make you His true disciple, being willing to do what He teaches you. Are you willing? If so, He will do it. You are not some special, hopeless case. God can do anything in your life, if you will only surrender completely to Him, in real repentance, and put all your trust in Him: to save you and change your life. He knows if you are serious, and He will respond if you are. However, if you want to go on playing games, and you don’t want to give up your sins, you won’t make it.  You will end up in the judgment of God that is surely coming, weeping and gnashing your teeth, as you are cast into eternal fire and torment. Make no mistake: God has promised, throughout the whole Bible, that He is going to give unto every one of us according to our works. 

Let’s turn to Rom 6:1-23,  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Remember: You can come boldly to the Throne of Grace! Heb 4:14-16, Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. When you are tempted, come boldly to the Throne of Grace, and ask for grace to help you in that time of need! And God will help you! Call upon Him in the time of need; He will respond. He loves you. God bless you.