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Now we desire by a few Scriptural texts and a few suggestions to deepen the reader's conception of the state of holiness. Everything in the realm of Christianity, or the kingdom of God, from heaven to earth is holy. Let us here give you a brief Bible lesson, kindly asking you to carefully read each text.
1. God is holy. “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isa. 6:1–3.
If the reader here obtains a just conception of the holy character of God it will give him an understanding of the true nature of Christianity and the manner of life of a Christian. A gentleman once asked me if it was wrong or unbecoming to a Christian to attend the present day street carnivals. We replied in about these words: “If you gain a true conception of the holiness of the Almighty you will not need to ask me such a question.”
2. Heaven is holy. “Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.” Psa. 20:6.
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3. Christ is holy. “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” Heb. 7:26.
4. The angels are holy. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” Mat. 25:31.
5. God's commandments are holy. “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7:12.
6. God's arm is holy. “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isa. 52:10.
7. God's mountains are holy. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” Isa. 27:13.
8. God's hill is holy. “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” Psa. 15:1.
9. God's name is holy. “My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.” Psa. 145:21.
10. God's works are holy. “The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” Psa. 145:17.
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11. God's people are holy. “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” Deut. 7:6. Read Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:22; 1 Pet. 1:15; 2 Pet. 3:11.
12. God's people are his holy temple. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 3:17.
13. God's church is a holy church. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Eph. 5:25–27.
14. The way to heaven is a holy way. “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; … the redeemed shall walk there.” Isa. 35:8, 9.
Let us repeat: God is holy; heaven is holy; the angels are holy; Christ is holy; the Spirit is holy; God's Word is holy; the way to heaven is holy. Reader, we want you to picture before you a holy heaven and the holy way that leads to heaven. Read this text: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.” Heb. 12:14.
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Looking into the Word of the Lord we find that man was chosen to holiness. Eph. 1:4. That God calls him to holiness. 1 Thes. 4:7. That God designed that man should serve him in holiness. Luke 1:75. That God chastens man in order that he might be partaker of his holiness. Heb. 12:10. That God purposes that man shall be saved from his sin and bear fruit unto holiness. Rom. 6:22. That God commands him to be holy in all manner of conduct. 2 Pet. 3:11. God commands him to be holy because he is holy. 1 Pet. 1:15, 16. Looking unto God's great and holy plan in redeeming man, and the holiness of heaven, and God sitting on his holy throne, and Christ the Holy One at his right hand, and the holy angels shouting praises, how can you entertain a hope of ever entering that glorious land without holiness?
Perfection.
Many have stumbled at the command to be perfect. That finite man may be perfect in this sinful world sounds ridiculous to many unregenerated hearts. This is because they do not understand God nor his power to deliver man from sin. With the many exhortations and commands to perfection contained in the Holy Scriptures is it not singular that man will yet say, “We can not be perfect in this life”? Many people who oppose the doctrine of Christian perfection do not at all understand it. They consider it to be an end of all growth, consequently they do not [pg 084] understand its nature. There is a perfection of celestial beings not to be experienced by mortal man; but there is a perfection unmistakably taught in the Scriptures which Christians are privileged to experience and enjoy in this life.
Christian perfection relates to right desires and actions and purity of affections. Paul in closing his epistle to the church at Corinth says: “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” Surely every one must concede that there is a perfection to which Christians can attain. When Christians are exhorted to be perfect is it not folly to say, “They can not be perfect”? Could we not with equal propriety say, “We can not be of good comfort”? “We can not live in peace”? “The God of love and peace will not be with us”? etc.
The apostle in writing to the Philippian brethren uses language which clearly implies that some of them had attained to the experience of perfection. He says, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.” Phil. 3:15. Some of them certainly were perfect. In verse twelve he does speak of a perfection to which he had not attained. This he expected to attain in the glory world. Christian perfection is a life that accords with the Holy Scriptures. Whosoever receives the correction, and reproving and the instructions in righteousness contained in the Scripture will become a perfect Christian. 2 Tim. 3:16.
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Whosoever lives as the Word of God says that Christians should live, the same is a perfect man. Paul prays that God would make the Hebrews perfect. Heb. 13:20, 21. Peter petitions the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after we have suffered a while to make us perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle us. 1 Pet. 5:10.
Jesus was made perfect through suffering. God chastens us that we might be partakers of his holiness. The gold and silver to be made pure and perfect must be refined in the crucible. We to reflect the beauty and glory of God must, too, pass through the refiner's fire. The apostle Paul in writing his first epistle to the church at Corinth says: “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect.” 2:6. Certainly there were perfect Christians in the church at that place. To the Ephesian brethren he says that