“But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”

               -Numbers 32:23

There’s no such thing as secret sin. I remember being told many times as a child that no matter how earnestly I might try to keep something hidden from my parents, they would eventually find out and I would be punished for my actions. Perhaps this was said in part just to convince me that my mom had eyes on the back of her head as she often claimed, but, as someone who put this rule to the test enough times to know, I can certainly attest to the truth of this Scripture: sin will always be brought to light, no matter how well you think you’ve hidden it.

According to the Scriptures as recorded in 1 Corinthians 4:5, even if you’re sly enough to successfully deceive your spouse or your parents, the Day is coming when the Lord shall return, “Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” His eyes “are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3) Try as you might to get away with wrongdoing, your best efforts to conceal it are like that of a little child covering his eyes in the corner: he thinks he’s out of sight and can do what he wants, but in reality he’s the only one being fooled.

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”

               -Genesis 3:8

Even as members of a fallen race, most humans recognize sin as a shameful thing. The problem isn’t that we don’t see it, but that we often spend our time trying to cover it up rather than obtaining the forgiveness which is freely offered through Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24). If the Holy Ghost has used these words to lead you to repentance (Romans 2:4), then don’t hide any longer in the bushes as Adam and Eve did; confess to Him – and to those you’ve misled – your need for forgiveness, cast off the cloak of lies you’ve so long been clinging to, and be washed in His blood and covered with His grace. Only then will you “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

 

 

The Lord calls His people to be holy. And since holiness and worldliness have always been great foes, it makes sense that God commands us to avoid conforming to the ways of our fallen society. As Titus 2:14 reveals, God desires us to be a “peculiar people, zealous of good works”, and there is nothing at all peculiar about someone who looks and acts the same as everybody else.

Of course being different for the sake of being different isn’t the key either. Though Paul often spoke of our minds being “renewed” (Ephesians 4:23; II Corinthians 4:16), it was only in Titus 3:5 that we were told exactly how this renewing should take place: that is, “by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” This means that the work God desires to perform in your life cannot be accomplished by mere self-will or personal motivation; it takes an inward submission to the Holy Ghost which will then lead to outward holiness and, thus, a very noticeable difference between you and the world.

“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren”

            -Romans 8:29

If you are saved, be reminded today that as a child of the living God (Romans 9:26), conformity to the image of Christ should be your top priority. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” (I John 2:15) When you really think about it, why would we want to “fit in” with the world anyway when they have done all to ensure that God will never fit in with them?

 

 

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

            -2 Corinthians 5:20

Over the past week or so this verse has been on my mind more than ever before. As Christians, Paul reminds us that we are each “ambassadors for Christ” and that everything we do, whether it be good or bad, ultimately affects the world’s estimation of Christ Himself. Now I don’t know about you, but I know that there are at least a few things in my own life that simply do not belong and fail to represent Christ accurately. Of course we know from Romans 3:23 that every human on the planet falls short of God’s glory, but we are all nevertheless instructed to submit ourselves completely and totally to Christ’s authority and allow Him to live in and through us (2 Corinthians 4:10). When we do that, we can rest assured that God will be pleased in how He is being portrayed.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
                                               -Psalm 139:23, 24

Wherever and whoever you are, I believe it’s time for God’s people to come to a place of humility and soul-searching as we seek to be the best ambassadors for Him as possible. We do this, not because we desire to be saved, but as an act of sincere gratitude for the salvation we have already obtained. It is only when we do this that we can begin to fully know the indescribable joy that obedience to the Word of the Lord brings (John 13:17).

 

 

 

In Isaiah 64:6 we are reminded that, “…we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf.”  Those are powerful words and should completely obliterate any pride that might otherwise take root in our lives, and yet oftentimes we forget the significance of what this verse is telling us. It is only when we come to the humbling realization that our own righteousness is as a filthy rag in contrast to God’s that the words of David in Psalm 8:4 can really take on their full meaning: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”

“Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

              -Isaiah 6:5

Most people consider themselves to be decent and moral individuals, and, judging by the world’s standards, perhaps they are. If we compare ourselves to men like Adolf Hitler or even the neighbor across the street, it’s easy to feel proud of our accomplishments and perceived morality; yet when we examine ourselves in the light of God’s absolute holiness, we can do nothing less than echo Isaiah’s words, “Woe is me! For I am undone…for mine eyes have the seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

              -Isaiah 1:18

Not only is God holy; He is eternally holy. He has always been and will forever be without fault. Those without Christ, on the other hand, “…grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.” (Isaiah 59:10) Even those with Christ are nothing more than members of a fallen race, made to “sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” through grace and grace alone (Ephesians 2:6, 8), so that no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:28, 29). It’s not that we’re innocent; we’re simply forgiven. Let us never be so deceived to believe that it’s the other way around.

 

Looks can be very deceiving. In fact, some of the worst sinners that can be found are often the ones who outwardly appear to be the most holy. Though this doesn’t mean the outward aspect of our life is unimportant, it does mean we should give first priority to making sure all is well with our soul rather than vice-versa.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.”

                                 -Matthew 23:27

Notice here that Jesus doesn’t condemn the Pharisees for their outward appearance of holiness; His point is simply that they had a very distorted concept of what holiness consisted of. Rather than recognizing the fact that true holiness begins inside and works its way out, they had come to believe just the opposite. In essence, they put more faith in what they could do outwardly than what God could do inwardly. It got so bad that anybody who dared to violate their sacred traditions was labeled a heathen, even if those traditions had no Biblical foundation (see Matt 15:9). On one occasion, the Pharisees even questioned Christ’s spiritual integrity simply because He didn’t wash His hands before He ate (Matt 15:2)!

The truth is, inward holiness will always be accompanied by outward holiness. Yet this does not mean that every instance of outward “holiness” necessarily  indicates its presence within. Like the old math law which says  “all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.”, every one who is holy looks holy, but not everyone who looks holy is holy. Am I making any sense? God’s first and foremost priority is to purify our heart, which will then purify our actions. He doesn’t try to do things in reverse, and neither should we.

First of all, let me apologize that I haven’t been posting much lately. Especially this week, my life has been pretty busy and finding the time to sit down and write hasn’t been easy. Hopefully that will change in the near future and you can start seeing more posts from me on your dashboard!

Anyway, over the past 24 hours, my mind has been circling the concept of perfecting holiness (see II Corinthians 7:1). And in case you’re wondering why it is necessary for us to perfect holiness, remember the words spoken to us in Hebrews 12:14: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Holiness needs to be perfected in each of our lives because holiness and intimacy with God go hand in hand; and it is only when we have that type of  intimate walk with God that we will be able to be all He’s calling us to be.

You see, Paul recognized that holiness is too great a thing to be completely attained over night: that is why he used the work “perfect” in a continuing sense. Though the blood of Jesus covers our sins completely and totally when we repent and are saved, it is His desire that we forsake sin and seek to live a life free from any trace of it whatsoever.

But despite this, we each no doubt have areas in our life that could use some attention. Whether it be something that is flat out sinful (idolatry, a short temper, hate…) or perhaps an area that we could just stand to be more Godly in, such as spending more time in prayer and/or Bible study, we all have room for improvement. This is true regardless of who you are, how long you’ve been saved, or what church you attend. This truth serves to remind the proud of their need to draw closer to God, and to remind those who would otherwise be disheartened that even longtime Christians must continue fighting sin and keeping their hearts free from it.

As you have read these words, maybe your mind has drifted to an area in your life you know needs attention. I know mine has. If so, let me challenge you to spend the next few minutes thinking and praying about how you can perfect holiness in this aspect of your life. Whether it means erasing a few things from your calendar, or erasing a few things from your life, let’s work together to ensure that, when Christ comes, we are thoroughly prepared.

"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness."

                            -I Thessalonians 4:7 

As Christians, we have all been called by God to pursue a life of holiness. That may sound simple, but those of you who have read the book of Romans know that holiness is something none of us can possibly attain through our own efforts (see 3:9-12, 8:7-8). Why then are we instructed to strive for it? Because God Himself is holy, and requires nothing less of us than to be holy also (Leviticus 11:45). And though none of us can become holy by ourselves, the Holy Ghost can and will enable us to do that which would otherwise be impossible (Philippians 4:13).

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:"

                            -Hebrews 12:14

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

                            -Matthew 5:8

As today's text states, uncleanness (i.e. sinfulness) is the opposite of  holiness, and we should therefore stay as far away from it as possible. In fact, according to these verses, a lack of holiness will keep us out of heaven, but the result of a having a pure/holy heart is to see the face of God! What greater reward is there than that?

Sadly, the doctrine of holiness and its importance has been abandoned by many most churches today. But, contrary to what you may have heard, holiness is still important to God and, as a result, should be important to us as well. Let us do as Paul admonished us in Ephesians 4:22, 24 and put off the "old man", and put on the new man of "righteousness and true holiness."