Holiness

PRECEPT, PROMISE AND PRACTICE
‘Preacher, don’t tell me how to live. I am born again, but I don’t need any preacher to meddle
with my life. Saved and secured. I can at least make heaven with the skin of my teeth.’
Many profess to be saved or born again who do not seem to see the importance and the
centrality of holiness both in the Scriptures and in the Christian’s life. There are many
commands in the Scriptures concerning the fact that the Lord has called us to be holy. The
precept is clear and unmistakable.
The Precept
“For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee….. Therefore shall thy
camp be holy: that He see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee”. (Deuteronomy
23:14). If the Lord is thy God walking in the midst of thee, then there is no escaping the issue.
THEREFORE SHALL THY CAMP BE HOLY. How will the camp be holy if every delivered
or redeemed person has to sin every day? How will the church be holy when it is the second
nature of members to hold grudge and keep malice? How will the Lord not see an unclean thing
in the fellowship group when members lust with the heart and lie with the lips? God is holy. If
He sees any unclean thing in you, He will depart. Deuteronomy twenty-three, fourteen, says so
and Judges sixteen, twenty, confirms it. God is not a liar. It is the devil who says “thou shall
not surely die” when you commit sin who is a liar. Samson lusted with the heart, lied with his
lips “and he wist not that the LORD was departed from him”. Hey, walk by faith and not by
sight or feelings. If you walk by faith in the Word of God, you will know that God will do what
He says He will do. He says He will leave you if He sees any unclean thing in you. He said
what He meant and meant what He said.
Is that the only place where holiness was commanded? “Worship the LORD in the beauty of
holiness” (Psalm 29:2). I love that, don’t you? I had some sisters in the Christian groups I used
to help who would worship in the beauty of jewellery, modern mini and slacks and with
beautifully powdered faces! “In the beauty of holiness”. You mean holiness is beautiful? Oh, I
can not describe it. What bride is more beautiful than the bride of Christ adorned with the ripen
fruit of the Spirit for her Bridegroom? Loved by God, appreciated by Christ, ministered unto by
the Spirit, honoured by angels, feared by devils, they are the very beauty of heaven rather than
the streets of gold in New Jerusalem. Are you a worshipper? See the Command: “Worship the
LORD in the beauty of holiness”. Brethren, in holiness. Many times, the sound of drums, the
clapping of hands, the melody of singing, the shouting of praises and the emotions of dancing
and rejoicing replace the essential thing. HOLINESS!
Liars and hypocrites can clap and dance all they want to, but is that worship? HOLINESS!
Let’s come back to reality! Worship in holiness. Is that an advice, a suggestion? A command!

A command is to be obeyed. The devil accepts any worship but worship can only be acceptable
to God when we worship Him in the beauty of holiness.
It is written, be ye holy; for I am holy”. (1 Peter 1:16). When the devil tempted Jesus, He
whipped the devil with “IT IS WRITTEN”. When the devil makes you doubt the fact of being
holy resist him and refuse his insinuation by “IT IS, WRITTEN, Be ye holy; for I am holy”.
When he tempts you, don’t weep’ don’t pine, don’t run, don’t yield, take your sword out, throw
it at him, thrust it into him, IT IS WRITTEN.
What is written? “Be ye holy, for I am holy” That is the precept. Don’t tell me the Lord asks
you to do what He knows you can not do. Don’t tell me you know human weaknesses more
than He knows. He knows infinitely more than you know. He says, be holy. Don’t tell me your
temptations are so special. He knows and He says be holy. Don’t tell me the devil is powerful.
That is the devil’s lie. “Greater is He that is in you, than he (the devil) that is in the world” (1
John. 4:4). You have no excuse and the only doubts you have are unreasonable ungodly doubts;
doubt your doubt and “Be holy”.
But is there any help? Any promise to rest upon? I can show you more promises than you need
on holiness. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord” and without the Lord no man shall
see holiness. It is not by trying, it is by trusting.
The Promise “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you (that’s not Water Baptism, God does not baptize in
water, it is a man who baptizes in water by God’s Command) and ye shall be clean”. When God
cleanses you, you will be clean. If you are not clean, then God has not cleansed you. You want
to tell me that when you wash a cloth clean, a lizard will make it dirty the very next moment?
Are you saying that the dirty devil will not allow the cleansing work of the holy God to abide on
me? You can not bring any doubt into my heart. Hear what God says. “Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean”. Oh God, sprinkle it on me, the water and the
blood from my Saviour’s side which flowed. Cleanse me and I will be clean thoroughly. “From your filthiness and from all your idols, will I cleanse you”. That’s enough, I am satisfied. “From all your idols”. Since I started to rely on
God the Almighty, I have long forgotten the walking-stick of man’s making. What weight can
the opinions of men have on me when the promise of God is so clearly set before me. He
promised to cleanse you “from filthiness and all your idols”. That doesn’t need struggling. Just
go to Him and clean. Some say, ‘I wish it were easy to be clean in this dirty world’. But just
how hard is it to be washed and cleansed by Another? “Behold, there came a leper saying, Lord,
if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean”. Poor leper, saying, “if Thou wilt”. Don’t ever put an
“if” or a “but” or a ‘may be’ in a prayer for holiness and cleansing. What else is His will if what
He promised to do is not His will. “And Jesus touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And
immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Matthew 8:2,3). And immediately he was cleansed!
Somebody said, I have been seeking HOLINESS for ten years. Hold it. You have not been
seeking, you have only been hanging around the altar. “Seek and ye shall find…. For every one
that asketh receiveth” (Matthew 7:7,8).

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you”. “A new heart and a
new spirit” – inside. God works from the inside. Man only whitewashes the outside, leaving the
inside filled with dirty thoughts and defiling motives. “And I will take away the stony heart out
your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:25,26). God is up to what He has
promised. Has He promised? Then He will fulfil it, When? “Behold, I will do a new thing”
That’s what you’ve been looking for. When? “Now it shall spring forth” (Isaiah 43:19).
The Practice When we read about holiness, some are quick to ask whether there had ever been anybody who
lived a completely holy life in this world. Is the question necessary or irrelevant? Many times
such questions are prompted by the thought that we cannot do what others have not been able to
do. Yet that is the devil’s method of holding us in captivity. When God made the Israelites to
go on dry ground through the divided Red Sea, who had ever experienced that? When Moses,
by faith, brought water out of the rock, which example could he have looked to for
encouragement? When Mary was given the promise of a child, which virgin had she ever seen
who brought forth child? Which human being had ever walked on water for Peter to see before
he did at the command of Jesus?
God’s promises and precepts are greater than examples. Even if nobody had ever lived a
holy life, you can; because God says you must. What God says you must do, you can do. God
provides adequately for whatever He requires from you.
But has there been nobody who has lived holy through the history of mankind? Has the devil
always had influence in the lives of all that had come to God since the world began? Has no
man ever lived holy and pleasing to God? Multitudes have, and you too can.
Paul, writing by inspiration, to the Thessalonians said, “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how
holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe” (2
Thessalonians 2:10). The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write that about himself and others. Did
the Holy Spirit inspire a falsehood to be written? The Thessalonians were witnesses of his
outward actions and God was a true witness of his inward state and standing. The witnesses of
the people and God agreed in one. Paul and others lived “holy, justly and unblameably”.
The seven churches of Asia were real churches of believers in the first century. The church in
Smyrna had no blemish, spot or wrinkle to be reproved (Revelation 2:8-11). So also was the
church in Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13). These whole churches were holy according to the
testimony of the true Witness, even the Lord Jesus Christ. How wonderfully clean and holy
must the life and heart of John have been when he wrote, “Herein is our love made perfect,….
Because as He is, so are we in this world”. (John. 4:17).
“Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord”. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see
God”. Are there people who have seen God? Lord? If there are, they must have been holy.
“After this, I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands. These are they which have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne and shall dwell
among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; for the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them…. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes”
(Revelation 7:9, 14-17).
That is a multitude, rather, “a great multitude” of holy people who were washed in the blood of
the Lamb by faith and clean. “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to ALL
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39). “The oath which He
swore…. That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered…. Might serve Him without
fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, ALL THE DAYS OF OUR LIFE” (Luke 1:73-
75).

HOLINESS – DOUBTS AND OBJECTIONS
Many there are who consider men’s words more than God’s. People who convince themselves
that holiness of heart and purity of life are impossible experiences would rather learn from men
than from God. Some persons consider their own hearts and lives to be the standard for every
other believer and they think that no man can be holy in this life because they are not. This is as
absurd an argument as to reason that because a lizard is unable to fly, nothing can. The “eagles”
would prove the fallacy of such a conclusion (Isaiah 40:3). When God changes our vile nature
and sin is gone, all things become new, impossibilities become possible and righteousness reigns
in the happy saint who now “can do all things through Christ Who strengtheneth him”
Have you ever heard an angel preach? Suppose an angel who is not blinded by denominational
ignorance or prejudice should preach, would you believe his message more than man’s message?
Can you catch the meaning of the angel’s message to Joseph? “Thou shalt call His name
JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). That is different from the
popular idea that redemption is nothing more than deliverance from hell and the gift of a home
in heaven. It is deliverance from sin, deliverance from the power of sin, from the love and
desire to sin, from the nature of sin and from the consequence of sin. Whatever men say, God
says, “He will grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve
Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life”(Luke
1:73-75)
Objection 1: ‘But there are many holiness preachers and advocates who are not holy. Does this
not prove that it is impossible to be holy’?
Answer: Do you know that there are preachers and advocates of divine healing who are sick
and sickly? What does that prove? That God cannot heal? That Jesus is no more the same
yesterday, today and for ever? That it is impossible to be healed and kept healthy? We know
better.
In matters of experience, negative testimony is no testimony. Twenty men declare that they did
not see Mr. D.M. shoot Mr. W.S and that they do not believe he did, but two men did see the
shooting; the result is Mr. D.M. is convicted of murder. Joseph and Samuel of the Old
Testament and John and Paul of the New Testament are positive examples and testimonies that
God’s grace can make you holy. The failure of those around you to have and live the holiness
experience may be because they do not ask, seek and knock earnestly enough (Matthew 11:12).
Or they do not seek in faith but hope to attain by works (Acts 26:18) or they seek with improper
motives (James 4:3). You seek and find that you may be an example to those who believe it in
the head but do not have it in the heart.
Objection 2: Some fellow confessed, ‘I have stopped seeking to be sanctified and holy after I
was disappointed by those I felt were holy’.
Answer: That is always the result of building your hopes on man. Christ is the example of any
truly born-again Christian. Anybody can stumble over the backslider but true believers make
steppingstones out of stumbling –stones. Friends, will you give up spending money because you
were disappointed by the counterfeit? Are you to believe that there is no genuine money
because there is a counterfeit? There can be no counterfeit without a genuine. It is natural that
the more counterfeit money we discover, the more likely we are to distrust all money, but our
distrust does not take anything from the actual value of the genuine. If you really want to please
and love God, claim His promises and fulfil the conditions He set down in the Word and you
will have the holiness He gives. Look away from men, “look unto Jesus”.
Objection 3: Not on a few instances has mis-interpreted scriptures quieted some who have
desired to be holy at the beginning of their Christian life. Consider this “If we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Some point to that verse
anytime you want to encourage them to be holy.
Answer: This is not the only scripture that has been twisted in its meaning by people who are
not well informed and enlightened in the Word of God. The seventh verse says “the blood of
Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin”. Do people ever read that? Should any say I
don’t need the blood of Jesus to cleanse me from sin, that is why the eighth verse is there. Then
the ninth verse also says God is “faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Verse
8 points out that all have sinned and verse 7 and 9 points to the possibility of being cleansed
from all sin and all unrighteousness.
Every sincere Christian who reads through the whole Epistle will see that sin is nowhere
defended and holiness is nowhere opposed in the Epistle. Let’s begin at chapter one and end at
chapter five. “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. Walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:5-7).
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not” (That’s the purpose of writing
the Epistle, to uphold holiness, not to defend sin). “We know that we know Him, if we keep His
commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar. He
that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:1,3,4,6).
“Behold, now are we the sons of God…. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as He is pure. The Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in Him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:2,3,8,9). Greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world. Our love is made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of
judgement: because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:4,17). “This is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world, even our faith. We know that whosoever is born of God
sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him
not” (1 John 5:3,4,18).
Any scripture that is interpreted to support sin and oppose holiness is mis-interpreted.
“This is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Your holiness and
sanctification is the will of God. How can you quote a person’s word to oppose His will” “For
God hath not called us unto uncleaness, but unto holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7).

SCRIPTURAL CONFIRMATION
Holiness is taught in the commands.
“Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). “Be ye perfect, even as your Father which
is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). “The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart” (1 Timothy 1:5). Be ye perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace: and
the God of love and peace shall be with you” (2 Corinthians 12:11).
Holiness is taught in the promises.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled”
(Matthew 5:6). “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” (1 John. 1:7). “Whom
we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:28). “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might
sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate” (Hebrews 13:42). “To the
end that He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God” (1 Thessalonians
3:13). “This is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). “For God hath
not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7). And He gave some,
apostles; and some prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the
perfecting of the saints… till we all come in the unity of the faith unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).
Holiness is taught in the Prayers.
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His
glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto
Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the
power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3 14-21).
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit and soul, and
body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, … through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you
that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and
ever Amen” (Hebrews 13:20,21).
From these passages, it is plain to you and every other sincere person that holiness is attainable
and must be attained and maintained because: God commands us to attain it and He never
commands impossibilities. God exhorts us to seek and obtain it, and God never wastes words
exhorting us to seek impossibilities. God promises to give the experience to those who
diligently seek it by faith. Any person who says God will not sanctify and make holy makes
Him a liar. Both Jesus and the apostles prayed that the church might be sanctified, and Godinspired
prayers are always answered.
The message of holiness is seen throughout the scriptures. It breathes in the prophecies,
thunders in the law, whispers in the promises, supplicates in the prayers, resounds in the songs,
sparkles in the poetry, shines in the types, glows in the imagery and burns in the spirit of the
whole scripture from beginning to the end. Holiness! Holiness needed! Holiness required!
Holiness offered! Holiness attainable! Holiness – a present duty, a present privilege and a
present enjoyment.
All will agree that:
God is holy.
Angels are holy
Heaven is a holy place.
Whatever pleases God in heaven pleases Him on earth.
Holiness pleases Him.
God made man holy.
Nothing pleases God as much as holiness.
Whatever is pleasing to God is good for us.
Holiness is pleasing to God, therefore being made holy would do us good.
“Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight,… looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1,2).
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: FOR THEY SHALL BE
FILLED” (Matthew 5:6). Are you thirsty? Are you hungry? Are you desirous of holiness as
hungry man is of food? Do you pant after holiness as a thirsty man pants after water? Suppose
you give a man who is both hungry and thirsty, clothes, money, and other things without giving
him food and water, will he be satisfied? He wants food and water, he cannot be satisfied with
anything else. Therefore thirst and hunger – and you will be given the holiness your heart
desires.
“Ask and it shall be given you: for every one that asketh receiveth” (Matthew 7:7,8).

“IT IS TIME TO SEEK THE LORD, TILL HE COME AND RAIN RIGHTEOUSNESS UPON
YOU” (Hosea 10:12).
Some there are who ‘take it by faith’ with no immediate evidence of actually receiving.
Suppose the sick will simply accept that healing has been imputed, although he is not in the
actual enjoyment of divine health. Such theory along the holiness line is a process of sheer
‘make-believe’, by which the deceived thinks that God will accept a fiction for a fact.
Some shrink from this experience because of the wrong conception that holiness implies a
negative attitude of living, and take the experience to restraint and bondage. Holy living is not
negative but positive, not restraint but freedom, not mechanism but life. Can anything be more
positive than love? Loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and all your strength and
loving your neighbour as yourself? Can anything be more gloriously free than the liberty of an
emancipated soul who is free and free indeed from the lust of the flesh and the carnality of the
human nature? The grace that sanctifies lifts life above legalism and brings fullness, vitality and
power. Holiness does not make people repellent, but radiant; does not make us sour, but sober;
not touchy, but tender. Holiness people are people of singing hearts and shining faces.
The experience brings perfect peace – peace without anxiety, without care. Children of God
have no more right to worry than they have to get drunk.
Present holiness experience does not hinder growth in the spiritual sense just as perfect health
does not hinder growth in the physical sense. And to have health means to be free from disease
just as to have holiness means to be free from inward or outward sins. Christ’s imparted
holiness does not come by gradual, slow process any more than His healing virtue does not
come by a gradual process. Must we be forever striving and forever failing when miracleworking
Deliverer, full of grace and power, can heal our sin-cancer and do more than we can ask
or think?
But if we are holy and sanctified, and we are sure, will it not lead to pride and loss of humility?
How can deliverance from the disposition to pride lead to the loss of humility? Was not our
sinless Lord meek and lowly in heart? The blood that cleanses from all sin, cleanses from all
forms of pride and the grace that implants the divine nature and imparts holiness also brings
with the gift, lowliness, meekness and humility.
Can God? God can. The resurrection of Jesus is the standard of measurement for the power of
God. It is the example of what God can do. If He did that, He can do this. He is able. Call on
Him NOW and be sanctified – made instantaneously holy by the blood of the Lamb.

HOLINESS – ITS IMPORTANCE AND SIGNIFICACE
Holiness! Nothing more is required, nothing less is sufficient, nothing else is important. The
apostles preached it, expounded it, defended it and insisted upon it continually.
Holiness is a gift of God through faith – not by works or striving. It is provided by promise and
accomplished by Christ’s shed blood. It can only be obtained by faith. Holiness is simply
Christ-likeness in the heart or divine love in the heart. It is not emotions or feeling – it is perfect
love for God, for the brethren and for sinners. Stated in another way, it is deliverance from all
inward and outward sin. Called by another name, it is sanctification, or full salvation or
perfection. Some neglect it because of those who profess to be sanctified who do not manifest
the fruit of a sanctified life. The currency of a country should not be judged by its counterfeit
and so the doctrine of holiness should not be cast aside because of hypocrites or bigots. Every
true seeker should recognize the difference between the phylacteries of Pharisees and the
saintliness of saints.
Others oppose it because of the names or title some holiness preachers call it. They question its
being called the second work of grace or the second blessing or Christian perfection. Clever
people sometimes ask ignorant questions. They ask, if a second blessing, why not the twenty
second? If perfect, how can progress be possible? If saved to the uttermost, what is there
beyond? If instantaneous, what place is given to the progressive.
Sanctification does not mean that the sanctified believer can never sin for Eve and Adam sinned
and lost the presence and image of God, though sanctified, holy and perfect. Perfection can be
thought of in three ways, just like salvation can be thought to in three ways. In the Court of
God, salvation is justification; in His Temple, it is redemption, whilst in the Family, it is
adoption.
So, Perfection is presented and experienced from three angles. The term can mean acquittal
without condemnation (in the Court), cleanness without stain (in the Temple), and it is love
without reservation (in the Family) (Romans 8:1; John 1:7; 4:17).
Twenty-one pence added to seventy-nine pence make a perfect Pound. That is what is meant by
perfection. It is complete deliverance from everything that makes the soul unfit for the will of
God; the supply of all grace and whatever else is lacking form obedience to every demand of our
loving Father. “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth”. That is perfection. Some calm
rather than kindle our enthusiasm by talking of the limitations of Christian perfection. They say,
it is not Adamic perfection, yet it is putting on “the new man” which is “after the image of Him
that created him”. Adam in his perfect state was not perfect in knowledge. The woman sinned
because she was deceived – indicating a lack of intellectual perfectness. Neither was their
perfection in the sense of being inaccessible to Satan for she was tempted. God’s demand is not
changed. Man’s duty remains unaltered. God asked of Adam no more than that he should love
Him with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, and He demands nothing less of us. Love is not
a substitute for obedience but it includes it since it is the fulfilling of the law.
In saying “be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” was the Speaker
mistaken? Was He a preacher of false doctrine? Or have we forsaken the Word of God? Shall
we drop the word “perfect” and send Jesus the Lord to a seminary to be taught how to speak
when He made the tongue? Will any man convict God of false doctrine when He said “Be ye
holy; for I am holy”? (1 Peter 1:16). Was He ignorant of man’s limitation and frailty? Is His
demand greater than the provision of grace? Or are we simply unwilling to respond to His call?
God never commands what He cannot enable. He makes possible what He demands. Holiness
is deliverance from sin. A higher meaning than this it cannot have; a lower meaning it must not
have.
John in his epistle, was clear – sin is lawlessness. Jesus Christ was manifested to take away sins.
“Whosoever is begotten of God and abideth in Him does not commit sin. The difference
between the children of the devil and the children of God is that one sins and the other does not.
Every man born of God quits sin. If a man sins, he is not a child of God but a child of Satan.
He that is not with God is with the devil. A sinning Christian and a Christian sinner are both in
the same family – the devil’s family. No man is the devil’s by any right of creation. He did not
make us. Neither is any man the devil’s by birth. No soul belongs to Satan by any law of
necessity. But no sooner does a child have the power of choice than he chooses sin and becomes
of Satan. So the Timothy’s need to be born again as well as the Ichabods.
Holiness does not imply infallibility any more than it implies the deity of the believer. A clean
heart does not imply a perfect head. There is no scripture that labels physical deformity or
infirmity, mental weakness or any consequence of these as sin. These are destitute of moral
character. They require no repentance.
“He Himself suffered being tempted.” “He hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.” Satan was the tempter, so He was open to attack from the evil source. He suffered
being tempted, so there was real conflict in His soul. He was tempted in “all points (not in all
forms) like as we are.” He was tested in every practical sense, and at every point where
temptation can assail and He was tried along every avenue by which sin may gain access to the
soul.
Yet He overcame. And we can overcome.
The temptation of Christ is our ground for saying that temptation does not decrease one’s holy
state before God. It does not bring us under condemnation or make us guilty before God. The
sanctified are subject to solicitation to evil. Every believer is tempted and being tempted is
nothing strange. Temptation should not decrease our zeal, love, confidence or faith in God.
Neither should we repent of temptation or sorrow because of it. Even if we are tempted “in all
points,” we can be triumphant. Adam was tempted and he fell. Jesus was tempted and He
conquered. In either case there was no “inward depravity” but both were tempted. Grace cannot
make us more perfect than Christ and if He suffered being tempted, we surely shall be tempted.
We cannot escape it, so we ought to be prepared, putting on the whole armour of God.
When does temptation pass beyond the boundary and the tempted said to commit sin? When
any bodily reaction or desire does not have the consent of the will, no sin has been committed.
Temptation is not sin; it is consent that brings sin. Our Lord’s temptation followed His baptism
so the timing of our temptations need not surprise us. Be watchful, or the Enemy can tempt at
an unexpected hour (Matthew 26:41).

H O L I N E S S – (A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE)
Is your heart right with God? Have you a divine evidence, a supernatural conviction of being
born-again? Do you believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ? Is He revealed in your soul? Do you
know Jesus and Him crucified? Does He dwell in you and you in Him? Is He formed in your
heart by faith?
Do you love God “with all thy heart, and with all thy mind and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength”? Do you seek all your happiness in Him alone? And do you find what you seek?
Does your soul continually magnify the Lord, and thy spirit rejoice in God thy Saviour”?
Having learned “in everything to give thanks” do you find “it is a joyful and a pleasant thing to
be thankful”? Is God the centre of your soul, the sum of all your treasure in heaven, and
counting all things else dung and dross? Has the love of God cast the love of the world out of
your soul? Are you “crucified to the world”, are you dead to all below and is your “life hid with
Christ in God”?
Are you constantly doing “not your own will, but the will of Him that sent you”? Is it your
“meat and drink” to “do the will of your Father who is in heaven”? Is your eye always fixed on
Him? Always looking unto Jesus? Do you aim at the glory of God in whatsoever you do? In all
your labour, your business, your conversation? “Whatsoever thou doest, whether in word or in
deed” do you “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God, even the Father,
through Him”?
Does the love of God constrain you to serve Him with fear, to “rejoice unto Him with
reverence”? Are you more afraid of displeasing God, than death? Is nothing so terrible to you
as the thought of offending the eyes of His glory? Upon this ground, do you “hate all evil
ways”, every transgression of His holy Word? Do you “exercise yourself, to have a conscience
void of offence toward God, and toward man”?
Is your heart right with your neighbour? Do you love all mankind, without exception, as
yourself? “If you love only those who love you, what thank have you”? Do you “love your
enemies”? Is your soul full of goodwill, of tender affection, toward them? Do your bowels
yearn over them? Do you show this love by “blessing them that curse you, and praying for those
who despitefully use you, and persecute you”? Do you show your love by your works? As you
have opportunity, do you in fact “do good to all men” neighbours or strangers, friends or
enemies, good or bad? Do you do them all the good you can, endeavouring to supply all their
needs, assisting them both in body and soul, to the uttermost of your power?
Do you do anything to gratify the lust of the eyes? Do you in any degree do anything merely to
gratify your curiosity? Are you free from superfluity and finery of whatever kind, either in
furniture or clothing, regarding only cleanliness, necessity and moderate convenience? Is
fashionable elegance abomination to you? Do you trample all finery, all superfluity, everything
useless, everything merely ornamental, however fashionable, under foot?
Are you scrupulous and strict about all idle talk, all trifling conversation, hating and avoiding
them as a person who is deeply sensible of the value of time? In like manner, do you dread and
abhor idle expense, watching carefully, lest you should be found an unfaithful steward? Have
you the faith that overcometh the world and worldliness?
“Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord”
“Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord”
“Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord”
This is the reason Jesus prayed for your sanctification, suffered, shed His blood and died for
your sanctification.
John 17:1-26
1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee..
2. As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him.
3. I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world: Thine
they were, and Thou gavest them me; and they have kept Thy Word.
4. For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest me; and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee and they HAVE BELIEVED that
Thou didst send me.
5. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given me: for they
are Thine.
6. I have given them Thy Word; and world hath hated them, because they are not of the
world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
7. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
8. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.
9. As Thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
10. And for their sakes I sanctify (set apart) myself, that they also might be sanctified (made
holy) through the truth.
11. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word;
12. That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be
one in us: that the world may believe that Thou has sent me.
In this whole chapter devoted to the prayer of Jesus for the sanctification of the believers, note
the following points for your personal benefit.
1. This chapter was written by the apostle John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
about sixty years after the death of Jesus. The Gospel according to St. John was the last of the
Gospels to be written. The chapter shows the Apostle’s faith in the necessity of sanctification.
2. Even if there is no other place where Jesus explicitly taught sanctification as in this chapter,
it will still be an important part of the “doctrine of Christ” as much as the Lord’s Supper which
He mentioned only once. Jesus used the words “born-again” only once, as recorded by John and
we hear so much about being “born-again.”
3. “Sanctified by the truth” does not mean that studying the Bible is the only means or agent of
sanctification any more than “being born again by the Word of God” (I Peter 1:23) means that
you are saved through merely studying the Bible. The Word of God reveals that we are
sanctified by the truth (John 17:17), “sanctified by God the Father” (Jude 1), sanctified with His
own blood” (Hebrew 13:12), sanctified by Christ (Hebrew 2:11), sanctified by the Spirit (1 Peter
1:2), and sanctified by faith (Acts 26:18), just as we are saved or redeemed by the Word, by God
the Father, by the blood of Jesus, by the Spirit and by faith. (1 Peter 1:23; Ephesians 2:4-9;
Colossians 1:14; John 3:5; Ephesians 2:8).
4. Jesus prayed for the believers’ sanctification. These disciples for whom He prayed were
already saved and had their names in the book of life. (Luke 10:20). They had believed and had
received Jesus and His Word (John 17:8), they had obeyed Him and had been hated by the world
(John 17:6,14). Yet, He prayed for their sanctification. He never prayed an unnecessary prayer.
He never prayed for trifles. His prayers were always definite and for definite things. His
prayers were always answered (John 11:42).
5. The sanctification prayed for in this chapter is not just being set-apart for the Lord’s work.
The Apostles had been set-apart three years earlier. They had been saved and set-apart for the
task of preaching the gospel (Mark 6:7; John 6:70) but they had to be sanctified, for Jesus was
now praying for that.
6. The sanctification mentioned was NOT removal of guilt, restoration of peace to a backslider,
or ceasing to commit sin outwardly, because the Apostles were obeying the Word and
outwardly clean (John 17:9,6; 15:3). The meaning of the sanctification Jesus prayed for is that
“they all may be one,” “that they may be one IN US”. “That they may be made perfect in one”
(John 17:21,23). In the choice of the twelfth Apostle to replace Judas in Acts chapter one, there
was no argument or disagreement, to place seeking or any manifestation of self-will which was
manifested when Jesus was still with them. They were all with one accord in one place” (Acts
2:1).
7. Whenever Jesus prayed for others to be forgiven, they were forgiven definitely and
instantaneously, not gradually. Whenever He healed, they were healed definitely (not judicially
or legally).
So then when He prayed for the believers’ sanctification, it must be a definite experience. He
prayed for your sanctification because He knew that you need the definite experience. He did
not pray for the sinner to be sanctified. On the cross, He prayed for the sinner to be forgiven,
that is saved.

Consecration
Sanctification is obtained by faith just as justification (or salvation) is obtained by faith. Both
are free-provided by God through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. But no one can be saved
against his will. No one can be saved without repenting of his sins and believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. God cannot repent for the sinner and God cannot consecrate for the believer. The
sinner is commanded to repent and the believer is commanded to consecrate or set apart himself
unto God’s glory and then God sanctifies and makes holy. “I beseech you therefore, brethren
(not sinner), by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but
be ye transformed” (Romans 12:1,2).

Consecration is an act which can only be performed by a child of God. Take the Bible and turn
to passages containing the words consecrate, consecration etc., and you will see that God
demands only believers to consecrate. God will not accept anything that is not good as a
sacrifice to His service. A sinner cannot offer such a sacrifice because he is “dead in trespasses
and sins.” He must be born again, made alive, before he can offer “a living sacrifice”.

Complete and Entire Consecration
A bride gives herself fully to be bridegroom. In all true marriage covenants the parties give
themselves entirely to each other. All attachments that in any way can hinder the affection or
duty of one to the other are forever destroyed. The believer separates himself entirely from
everything or person that hinders his attachment for and duty to Jesus Christ. That is
consecration. Consecration is what we would do if it were the last day of our lives. What a
person ought to be on the last day of life, he ought to be everyday. Our free will is involved God
cannot repent for the sinner, neither can He consecrate for the believer. Man consecrates, God
sanctifies just as man repents and God justifies.
When the Jewish high priest was consecrated to his sacred office, the blood of the sacrifice was
put upon his right ear, the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot. To teach
that his ears were to be attentive to hear the commands of God, his hands ready to do the work
God commanded, and his feet quick to run on the divine errands. In this dispensation, all
believers are “a royal priesthood.” Their bodies are to be given to a living service. The whole
body is to be kept in such a manner that the soul can best serve the Kingdom of God.
To the Lord or to the church?
Primarily, it should not be ‘loyalty to the church’ but loyalty to Jesus Christ. We should not
labour for self or the applause of men. Jesus first, then our denomination. “In all things He
must have the pre-eminence.” This being true, a man may be consecrated to God and be
misunderstood by the visible church. (See Acts 11).
A fully consecrated man is like Jesus, willing to suffer reproaches even from those he is
endeavouring to benefit. But being thoroughly consecrated to God, He does not waver. He is
not affected by the “fear of man” or praise of man.” This marks the difference between those
who are consecrated to God and those who are consecrated to the people. We are following a
Master Who made Himself of no reputation. John Wesley was bitterly attacked by opposers of
the holiness message. His brother Charles told him that he had better write, showing the public
the falsity of the charges, which he could easily do. He replied that he had made a series of daily
appointments to preach the gospel in north of England and in Scotland, and if he stopped at
home to reply the attacks, those people would not hear the gospel. “I gave my reputation to the
Lord many years ago and He will have to take care of it now.” He went right away and left his
reputation in the hands of God- his reputation had a good keeper. Would you dare to do that?
Those who are so fearful about their reputation usually do not have a reputation worth worrying
about. If we die to the opinions of those who would hinder our supreme loyalty to God, we shall
surely get great victory.

How can I be sanctified?
Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace. The textbook of holiness lays down the essentials
to sanctification. This Book teaches that we are sanctified by – God the Father (Jude1)
God the Son (Ephesians 5:26)
God the Spirit (1 Peter 1:2)
God’s Sacrifice (Hebrews 13:12)
God’s Truth (John 17:17)
Our Faith (Acts 26:18).
The meritorious cause of sanctification is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the conditional cause
is our faith in Christ. On the divine side, the essentials for the sanctification of His people are all
ready. The Gracious Father is ready (Luke 1:73-75). The interceding Christ, through His
sanctifying blood has made the way accessible (Hebrews 13:12). The will of God which is our
sanctification is present (Thessalonians 5:23,24). All the essential conditions necessary have
been fully provided.
Then what can delay the blessing? One thing and only one- the absence of the sole condition
required of us: FAITH.
“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isaiah 7:9).
“Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive
them, AND YE SHALL HAVE THEM” (Mark 11:24).

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