Phases Of Holiness: Part 1

Continuing the series on Holiness…

Over the last few weeks I’ve given you several sermons on the Holiness of God. As we read through the scriptures about Holiness, we see a glimpse into the throne room with angels worshipping our creator on account of one main characteristic of God - his Holiness. We see this in Isaiah 6 and in several passages of Revelation, where countless angles in one accord sing ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty’ as they glorify the creator. When we have the revelation about the Holiness of God, we automatically worship him. 

God is blemish-less and Holy. He says ‘Be Holy as I’m Holy’. We are called to partake in the Holiness of God. Holiness is more precious than life. Jesus had this quality in him, Joseph had that quality in him, where they would rather die than be impure or unholy. We also spoke about internal and external holiness over the last few weeks. Some people only focus on external holiness, where their emphasis is on the physical attributes such as clothes of jewellery. God has not dictated how much each of us should spend on our clothing and jewellery. It is up to us to decide that based on our spending capacity. But if you merely pretend to be Holy and pure by wearing white clothes with a heart that is vindictive and full of anger, there is no Holiness in you as God examines our hearts. Jesus called such people “whitewashed tombs”.

Holiness starts from the heart. What comes from our heart, what we speak and behave dictates what resides in our heart. Passover is a celebration of a festival with unleavened bread which indicates doing away with wickedness, malice etc. We also spoke about refiner’s fire, where similar to how a refiner melts away the impurities in gold to purify the metal to its essence and truest form, God also sanctifies us. God will intervene in our life to remove all the impurities from us and cleanse us. Our Father keeps us away from sin. Our Jesus also advocates on behalf of us to Abba Father. 

Today let’s dive into the phases of Holiness. 
Holiness comes into our lives in three phases: 

1. Positional Holiness 
2. Progressive/ Practical Holiness 
3. Perfect Holiness 

Let’s deep dive into Positional Holiness. It is essentially holiness derived from the position that we are placed in. It relates to the Holiness that we derive for instance at the commencement of our spiritual walk with Christ. 

1 Corinthians 6:11 says, ‘And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.’

Washed, Sanctified and Justified - are the three key words here. 
There are two agents that led to this sanctification which is firstly “the name of Jesus”. There is power in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. The name of Jesus is a holy name. It is written in the Bible to not use the name of the Lord in vain. Sometimes people use the Lord's name to make false promises which is also a sinful act in itself. 
Secondly when the Spirit of the Lord enters our hearts there is sanctification that happens within us. 

When we were born again in his Spirit, all the sins that we had committed up until then were forgiven by our Father. All our past sins are erased.  And why are our sins forgiven? Our sins are forgiven because we are positioned with Christ. His Holiness was imputed on us. With his Holiness being imputed on us, we became Christ-like giving us the title of Son of God and Daughter of God. Jesus’s Holiness became our Holiness which was freely given to us. We are entitled to this Holiness as we are Sons and Daughters of God. Due to the position that we have with Christ we freely received his Holiness. Every new creation in God are saints in the body of Christ as this Holiness transpires in them. We are made complete in Christ through his Spirit. Charles Spurgeon said ‘Holiness is not the way to Christ, but Christ is the way to Holiness’. Without Christ no one can reach Holiness.