HOLINESS, THE ULTIMATE KEY FOR THE ULTIMATE BREAKTHROUGH!

Today we are going to look at the seventh principle of breakthrough - “HOLINESS, THE ULTIMATE KEY FOR THE ULTIMATE BREAKTHROUGH!”

Many Christians do not receive their breakthroughs because they refuse to walk in righteousness and holiness. They believe that God will ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it didn’t matter. They don’t realize that God is a God of principles and He has a standard which stipulates that no sin will go unpunished.

The ultimate breakthrough is entering Heaven at last. That should be the greatest desire of every wise person in this present world because this world is temporal. It will soon pass away (1 Jn. 2:15-17).

Therefore, in view of the brevity of this life, Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk. 8:36-37)

Holiness is the ultimate key for the ultimate breakthrough. Therefore, to make it to heaven in the life to come, you MUST walk in holiness in this present world. Why? Because without holiness you can never enter Heaven not to talk of seeing God.

Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow peace with all men, and HOLINESS, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

Jesus said, “And there shall in no wise enter into it (Heaven) anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Rev. 21:27).

In Matthew 5:8 Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

Holiness is the nature of God. God is holy, and God wants His people to be holy.  God’s purity cannot tolerate any form of sin. This is an evidence of the degree of God’s holiness.

Habakkuk 1:13 says, “But You are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil (sin)…” (NLT)

Job 15:15 says, “The heavens are not pure (clean) in His sight.”

God is glorious in holiness (Ex. 15:11). There is none holy as the LORD (1 Sam. 2:2). God’s dwelling place is called holiness (Ps. 48:1-2). God sits on a throne not padded with vitafoam but with holiness (Ps. 47:8). God’s house number is holiness (Ps. 93:5).

Even the four beasts around the throne of God in Heaven recognize the holiness of God and day and night, they call attention to His holiness (Rev. 4:8-10).

Because God is holy, He cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin. Sin offends God and separates you from Him (Isa. 59:1-8).

If sin separates you from God, it also separates you from His blessings – breakthroughs. Sin stands between you and God, and therefore blocks the blessings of God from reaching you.

Anyone who dies with his life of sin un-forgiven separates himself eternally from God. God wants you to live with Him forever in Heaven, but He cannot take you into His holy presence unless your sin is removed.

There are two types of holiness: (1) False holiness, and (2) True holiness.

Ephesians 4:24 says, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and TRUE holiness.”

What is false holiness? False holiness is dressing and talking like a Christian, but behaving like the devil. You dress and talk like a Christian but you don’t do things like a Christian - according to the Word of God (Gal. 5:19-21). You do things according to the suggestions of your flesh (Rom. 8:1).

What is true holiness? The Bible defines true holiness as:

1. A state of spotlessness, blamelessness or to be above reproach. “That He (Jesus) 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. 5:27).

2. The state of having clean hands and a pure heart. Who shall enter Heaven and see God? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in His holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”

“And they that have this hope (of seeing the Lord face to face) must purify themselves even (just) as He is pure” (1 Jn. 3:3).

When we are talking about true holiness, we are looking at the condition of the heart. God desires a pure heart.

In Matthew 5:8 Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

“Man looketh at the outward appearance but God looketh at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:17).

In Jeremiah 17:9-10 God said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try (test) the reins (mind), even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him….”

3. True holiness means to be wholly dedicated and devoted to God, distinct and separate from the world’s way of living, committed to right living and purity.

4. True holiness is the absence of sin, evil, and wrongdoing.

5. True holiness is being spotlessly free from wrinkle or blemish (Eph. 5:26-27).

6. True holiness is being separated from what is unclean and dedicated to what is clean and pure.

7. True holiness is the presence of righteousness, purity, and godliness.

8. It is God Himself that makes us holy. God looks at you as though you had never sinned.

This is how it happens: When you become a Christian God makes you holy by forgiving you your sins, and gives you His Holy Spirit to dwell in your spirit-man. The Holy Spirit dwelling in your spirit-man therefore imparts holiness to your spirit-man.

In Leviticus 21:8 God said, “I, the LORD, am holy, and I make you holy.”

God makes us holy by setting us apart as special for Him. Deuteronomy 14:2 says, “You have been set apart as holy to the LORD your God, and He has chosen you to be His own special treasure from all the nations of the earth.”

Through the death of Christ on the Cross, God has brought us into His presence and made us holy and blameless before Him.

Colossians 1:22 says, “Through His death on the Cross in His own human body . . . He has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.”

How did He accomplish this? When you become Born Again, you are made righteous by God Himself.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus Christ) Who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God IN HIM.”

What really happens? When you repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, God the Father clothes you with a sparkling white robe of righteousness, a robe not stained or wrinkled. 

Job 29:14 says, “I put on righteousness; it clothed me.”

Revelations 19:8 reads, “For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.”

How much do you have to pay to buy this garment of righteousness? You do not have pay any price to earn this garment of righteousness. It is a free gift given to you by God the Father.

“For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:17-18).

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

Remember: you don’t have to do anything to get saved. But you MUST do something to remain saved. You MUST say no to sin.

Does continuing in sin remove your righteousness? Continuing in sin doesn’t remove your garment of righteousness from you. However, it soils (stains) it thereby removing your holiness. That very thing that removed your holiness removed you from the presence of God, and also removed your name from the Book of Life. Outside His presence there is no blessing – no peace but frustration in Hell.

After you have received the gift of righteousness, God the Father demands that you maintain that garment till the very day you appear before Him. And this is why Apostle Paul said, “….work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).

Many people are in hell today, not because they are not wearing the garment of righteousness, but because they have been deceived by the false messages on grace. As a result, they did not put any effort to work out their salvation by maintaining their garment of righteousness.   The Bible says, “He that endures (maintains his garment of righteousness) to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22b). Simply put, it is your responsibility to say no to sin! If you don’t, though you are wearing the garment of righteousness, you’ll still split hell wide open. This is the truth.

Whenever that garment of righteousness is without spot or wrinkle, you are said to “be holy.” A holy person therefore, is a person whose garment of righteousness has no spot, stain, wrinkle, or blemish.

Remember that God demands from all His children inward and outward holiness. He instructs us to perfect holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1).

What then does it mean to perfect holiness? Perfecting holiness or the maintenance of holiness is therefore the result of doing righteousness.

“Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness (does things God’s way) is righteous, just as He is righteous (1 Jn. 3:7).

As long as you continue to do righteousness, the garment of righteousness that God the Father put on you when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, will remain unstained.

In Ecclesiastes 9:8 the Bible says, “Let your garments always be white (unstained; without spot or wrinkle), and let your head lack no oil.”

You MUST continue in holiness to be blessed. “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they CONTINUE in faith and charity and HOLINESS with sobriety” (1 Tim. 2:15).

Conclusion: The Word of God should settle God’s stand in this matter: Without holiness no man shall see the LORD (Heb. 12:14). Therefore, continuing in sin will enslave you to the power of sin and hinder you from experiencing God’s best for your life. It will cause God to turn His face away from you. 

Remember that God the Father turned His face away from Jesus on the cross simply because Jesus was carrying the sin of the whole world, sin that He did not commit. How much more will God turn away His face from you when you sin? You will lose Heaven forever if you happen to die in sin.

But here is the Good News: No matter where you are, Jesus is able to keep you from falling and to present you spotless to the Father on that day (Jude 21-24).

• Your friend, I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor, HOG)              5^th March, 2017.