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Scripture Text
1 Peter 1:15-16 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.
Introduction
Last time we were examining the command in God’s word to be holy. As we ended I said “We see holiness as unattainable. Why? Is it possible that we don’t fully understand what is being said here?” We need to also be reminded; this is a command from God.
Word Study
Interestingly the root of the Greek word for holy describes an “awful thing”. We have this type of thing in our language as well; let’s use the word “died”. We all know what that means. Now add three letters to it and you get “studied”.
Back to the word holy: as in English add a couple of letters and now an awful thing is made pure. How cool is that, contained within the word holy is our original state and the work that God performs when we are saved. If you have a Greek dictionary here is what you will see: Sacred-set apart, Morally/Physically Pure, Consecrated-dedicated.
Okay, here goes, our works do not make us holy. We were made holy when we received Christ. The command we received is “be ye holy”. We have been transformed; we must show the world what God has done for us. We have the freedom now to say no to sin; project that changed life for the world to see.
Word of Caution
When we make holy unattainable then we make excuse for sin. God would never command us to do something out of our reach so when He tells us to be holy, we can obey. We have learned that God is the one who made us holy, consecrated and separated; we are to show that transformation.
Someone might think… “Nobody’s perfect”. First of all I’d invite them to make sure they understand what holy means and then my response would be “Are you doing your best to show the holiness God invested in you?” (this is the command we were given)
Closing Thoughts
So what is our conclusion here? Peter is challenging us to use what God has given us. We have been set apart and dedicated to God’s service. Because of our salvation we have been purified by the blood of Jesus. We were consecrated; we were made holy. Stand up and act like it, show the world what holiness is, a gift from our Heavenly Father.
Until Night,
A Servant
Servants' Journal 
A Fellow Servant
April 4, 2014 at 7:22 am
Great post brother. Like the prodigal son had the robe placed upon him so Christ imputed His righteousness upon us making us holy, as Peter says,peculiar people.
A Servant
April 4, 2014 at 7:47 am
Thank you. The words “earn” and “works” do not belong along side salvation and holiness. However, once we receive the gift of God we can earn the respect of those around us by following the example of Christ. We work because we are saved. This is the proper place for these words.
SLIMJIM
April 5, 2014 at 4:48 am
Great Word of caution; we should not use the excuse that we’re not perfect as an excuse or license to sin.
Even our holiness is the result of the Gospel; I think it’s important to see our motives always that’s driving our obedience: is it to puff up oneself or is it out of loving obedience to God as a result of one’s understanding and appreciation of the Gospel?
A Servant
April 5, 2014 at 6:17 am
I am about to step out for a while. I am fried to a crackly crunch. I’ll post something on Monday about it but I just wanted to say thank you for the support and the exchanges.
SLIMJIM
April 5, 2014 at 12:39 pm
Praying
A Servant
April 5, 2014 at 3:56 pm
Thank you Jim. I could have continued but the passion has to be there, I want to speak with the only authority that counts, God’s authority. My posts, even if they bear the truth, are still man’ words without the Spirit’s sanction and leading. You may not have experienced speaking in your own power, it can sound convincing, but deep down you know it was in your own power.
I hope God leads you to do book studies, the bible is still the ultimate self help book.
I appreciate the encouragement and the exchanges. Lord willing I’ll be back soon.
Freedomborn ... Aussie Christian Focus
April 27, 2014 at 1:27 am
Wishing you the very best A Servant, for your power break, I love your honesty some would say their going on holidays, by the way ours did not work out as planned but Ron told me today he is organizing for another one starting some time this week or on Sunday next week but I will continue to Blog this time but less, although I did catch up with some of the backlog because of the constant rain last time.
Your message has much Truth A Servant, and God’s Truth is powerful and comes from Him, not the carnal flesh, it doesn’t know or understand Truth as confirmed in (1Corinthians2:9-16) it is just foolishness to those who walk in it because they don’t have The Holy Spirit and nor does Satan, but he uses lies to confuse and deceive through those who don’t know the Truth.
How do we know we have God’s Truth, we do as Jesus tells us to do, seek, ask and knock and then we are perfected and made complete which is what Paul said we are to aim for, having put our flesh to death by the Spirit (Romans 8 :12-15 – Colossians3:4-6 -Galatians24 -26 – 2Corinthians7:1) God’s Nature or seed cannot co – exist with Adams, the word CANNOT in the Greek, as seen below, means Absolutely Never! which means, we don’t only not sin we CAN’T!
1 John 3:9 No one who is Born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he CANNOT go on sinning, because he has been Born of God.
Sadly some do not know what to ask for, but we know worldly wealth, power and wisdom etc lead to a dead end, unless we know God’s Truth we will accept error. In my own walk with the Lord and with not being Born with God’s wisdom and so finding myself very confused and having doubts by all the different teaching in Denominations etc, I asked for His wisdom and received it, (James1:5-6) as I’m sure you and others have done and so with having asked for The Holy Spirit (Luke11:13 – please see link below A Servant, it will save detail here but you may have already read it ) we never have to doubt God is Love and we Love Him and others too, when we are in Christ Jesus, we walk as He walked in Holiness and Righteousness.
God’s Love is the most powerful force in the universe and it is all about His Truth, because He is Love and when we walk in His Love we walk in His Truth, but this is not Saccharine sweet, it’s honest and if needed rebukes and corrects, it does not accept evil but God’s Love never gives up Loving. I think this about sums up your message well A Servant.
Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Wisdom- http://freedomborn.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/the-gaining-of-wisdom/
Christian Love from both of us – Anne
limbiley
May 9, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Hello sir
Back from my travels and above all else I missed our interactions,glad to be back and a lot if catching up to do,
God bless