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Chapter 5 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 5 |
Chapter 4 |
"Therefore, since we are justified through faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1. It has been well taught in the church to believe we are justified, meaning declared righteous or having right standing by faith, but do we fully recognize or believe that we are holy and sanctified before God? Sanctification and holiness are two words that can be interchanged. They both mean separation unto God. When we think of the word "sanctification," we think of the separation of the believer from evil things and ways, a step by step, day by day working out of one's salvation in our mind. We believe that as we are obedient and act on God's Word, we will be transformed-conformed more and more into the image and likeness of Christ in this life. Now we are not saying that we are flesh sanctified for the flesh will never be holy but that as we live out of the life of Christ, as holy, the flesh will not control us. Grace; To Live Holy Colossians 3:12 says, "Clothe yourselves therefore, as God's own chosen ones His own picked representatives, who are purified and holy and well-beloved by God Himself, by putting on behavior marked by tenderhearted pity and mercy, kind feeling, a lowly opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and patience which is tireless and long-suffering, and has the power to endure whatever comes, with good temper." Clothing means simple living out of our true holiness established in Christ. 1 Peter 1:15 says, "But as the One who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living." Friend, we are called to practice our holiness and yet we are positively already holy. Now the question may be "How do I take my position of holiness and apply it in my temporal life? Can this be done?" Yes! God has made His grace available to us by faith. The grace I'm speaking of is "the ability of God that helps us do something that is impossible for us to do on our own." I know that in the flesh it is impossible for me to live holy. I know in my own ability and strength the flesh will never submit to me but in God's ability and strength, grace, I can walk out my holiness, which in turn produces holiness Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace that we may find mercy and find grace to help in good time for every need." If we believe that no unholy thing can come into God's presence or His throne, then Hebrews 4:16 should not be in the Bible. The context of this Scripture says that we can come fearlessly, confidently and boldly to the throne of God. How could this be true! That 'little old me' can come into the presence of a Holy God? Simple! I am not there with my holiness. I am there through Christ's holiness! He is the veil I have walk through. Because we are holy in Christ, we can go boldly to God and draw from His grace-ability to walk out our newfound holiness. Whenever we are in trouble, even in sin, we can still come confidently before God and get help. Why? Because in Him we are righteous, justified and made holy. It never changes. It is not based on us, but on Him. Presenting Yourself; Through Grace Today, knowing this scriptural truth alone will change your prayer life forever. You will not feel you have to work to get into God's presence, you will simply walk in as a son! You will not walk in feeling inadequate but with confidence knowing your Father will receive you, for you are His son and part of His household. Now also by the spirt remember that because you are one in God and have the Holy Spirit you are always in His presence. yet this word says to come bodly in. because God knows we also live in earthen vessels Now let us look at an earthly example. My children have access to me at all times. Why? Because they are my children. They have that right. Even if they are not always good they can still ask Dad for anything and know that he will hear them. They have complete access to my resources and me. This is called relationship! Grace For Weakness Child of God, it is the same with our Heavenly Father. There are times when we do not feel very holy, we slip and feel dirty, but because of our relationship with God He says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you; in the time of your weakness that is when I'm strong." This cannot be done outside of relationship. By us drawing on God's grace, we can then walk in our position of holiness, because of relationship we can then walk it out in our temporal life. But what about 1 John 3:9 that says, "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he has been born of God." Now you can take these word two ways, one that because we are holy and perfect in his site God does not see our sin. This is true! A study of the original Greek also show this Scripture meaning, "Whoever is born of God does not habitually keep on sinning and does not sin." In other words, God's children do not make sin a lifestyle. In fact, there's an opposite effect, that is, a desire to walk holy because we are holy. The Amplified Bible says, "No one born (begotten) of God deliberately, knowingly, and habitually practices sin, for God's nature abides in him, His principle of life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him; and he cannot practice sinning because he is born (begotten) of God." In other words, we have a new nature within and our new nature cannot sin. It is God's seed, which is holy and lives forever in us. So if we we know this then and walk in it as sons we will not practice sin in the temporal. 1 Peter 1:23 says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God." Credited; By Grace Dear believer, every child of God needs to know his new origin is from an immortal, holy seed and that this origin was from Jesus and that He credited His holiness to our account by grace. "But to one who, not working [by the Law], trusts (believes fully) in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (the standing acceptable to God). Thus David congratulates the man and pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does." Romans 4:5-6. Simply stated! We were bankrupt; our account was empty. By us accepting Jesus we are the righteousness of God. So when God looks at our account, or us He does not see sin, He sees righteousness, not ours but Jesus'. Romans 4:7-8 says, "Blessed and happy and to be envied are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered up and completely buried. Blessed and happy and to be envied is the person or whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him." I do not know about you, but this sounds like the grace of God! Access Grace; when we miss it When you know someone loves you and looks beyond the human frailty, it is very easy to want to please them. Not because of fear or works but because of the intense love God sees us in this light! If anyone knows in our humanity that we're not perfect, it is God. That is why He sent His Son, so that through Him He could look past into the cross and see holiness through His incorruptible seed, Jesus the righteousness of God. Our new identity! Because of this, we should desire to walk holy on the earth. Our Heavenly Father's incorruptible seed lives in us and because of the holy seed in us, our new nature is not to sin. Friend, we are no longer sinners but have been made holy and perfect through Christ. Our Father has imparted His nature and attributes. The best way we can live out this life of holiness is by understanding our position of holiness-then by God's enabling grace; we can walk it out in this life. Remember, as Jesus is with His Father, so we are with and in Jesus-holy! Child of God, even if we miss it in life, our Father considers us holy without blame. I am not advocating we can live a life of lawlessness but by understanding these truths, it removes the attitude of defeat if we do sin. |
Copyright Roxy J Nolin 1997 |
Holy, As He Is So Are We By Roxy J Nolin Chapter 4 Living Holy |
The Book Holy, As He Is So Are We |
Chapter 1 |
