Holiness by definition is sanctification, and sanctification is holiness. To be holy is to be consecrated and set apart to the glory of God. It implies perfection, purity, and godliness. Yet, used in our common vernacular it engenders thoughts of grand cathedrals, ornate priests, or saints of old. You wouldn't think the common man could be holy, would you? Yet, the very purpose of Christ’s mission was to make us holy. To sanctify us. What is sanctification? It makes you and keeps you holy.
Colossians 1:21-22: “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:”
We have forgiveness from sins because of the blood of Christ. We have justification for sin because of the sacrifice of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit because of the resurrection, and ascension of Christ. We have sanctification, because Christ sent the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you are sinning you are an enemy of Christ and crucifying the son of God afresh. You are alienated and made yourself an enemy by your wicked works. If you are still sinning you are not redeemed, if you are redeemed you are no longer sinning; because the sins of your past are gone and the nature that you have in you to sin has been changed. The daily practice of sinning is done away with, and the newness of life without sin has begun.
This is not by works that we/you have done (the scripture says), but because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that makes you holy and keeps you holy. This was God’s intention from the beginning. That we should be sanctified, that we should be holy. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” (Ephesians 1:4)
1 Corinthians 3:17: “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
When God loosed Zacharias (John the Baptist father) tongue, he began to prophesy over his son John and spoke of Jesus’s mission. In that sermon he said: “That he would 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 1:74-75)
How? How can we serve him without fear in holiness? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us makes us holy and makes us a temple of the living God. We become God’s habitation because of Christ. He nailed himself to the cross, sanctifying himself for the glory of God, that we might be sanctified (so says John 17). This makes us holy; holy in deeds and truth. No sin. No sin within, and no sinning without. It’s gone, it’s all gone, and it can stay gone by the power of the Holy Ghost. Today can be the last lie you ever tell. The last look of lust towards a woman, the last hangover, the last look of condemnation from God the Father. Today can be your last day as a sinner. It can be gone, you are loved, you are wanted, Christ died for you to be sanctified and made holy. Repent and believe, take Christ at his word.
2 Timothy 1:14: “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”
Holiness doesn’t put you in a bubble where you will never be tempted. It doesn't make you into this spiritual superman where the devil ignores you. Satan still comes knocking, tribulation happens and yet you find a power within to keep you from sinning. This is the Holy Ghost. Sanctification. The “keeping” power. The Holy Ghost makes and keeps you holy. Your hand does not reach, the eyes don't linger, and the feet don’t follow after mischief because the Holy Ghost is powerful enough to change us, keep us, and direct us. Our role is to yield and be obedient. As the Apostle Peter writes: “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16)
