THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS

Today I am speaking on “THE HIGH WAY OF HOLINESS!” To make it to heaven in the life to come, you MUST walk in holiness in this world.

“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called THE WAY OF HOLINESS…” (Isa. 35:8-10).

The highway of holiness is a higher level. It is higher than the broad way that leads to destruction. It is a way of peace with God, with man and with yourself.

“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Ps. 37:37).

When you walk in holiness, you’ll enjoy peace even with your enemies. This is the only way that leads straight to Heaven. Walking in the highway of holiness guarantees your entry into Heaven.

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

There are two types of holiness: (1) Fake or 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.”

NLT puts it this way, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God - truly righteous and holy.”

What is fake holiness? Fake holiness is dressing 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? True holiness, according to Oxford dictionary, has to do with being spiritually perfect or pure, unstained by sin.

How does the Bible define true holiness? The Bible defines true holiness as:

1. True holiness means undefiled! It means that nothing has corrupted your life or record (Ps. 119:1-3).

2. It means that nothing has stained your garment of righteousness.

3. It is the total absence of sin, evil, or wrongdoing in your life.

4. It means a state of spotlessness, blameless or to be above reproach (Eph. 5:27).

“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. 5:27).

5. It is 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.”

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

“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).

It takes a person with a pure heart to see a pure God.

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

“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….”

6. 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.

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

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

9. True holiness is much more than the absence of sin. True holiness is the presence of righteousness, purity, and godliness.

10. 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 indwell 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 Christ’s death 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 become Born Again, 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.”

A holy person is therefore, a person whose garment of righteousness has no spot, stain, wrinkle, or blemish.

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.

What 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, your garment 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).

God has given to all His children ALL things that pertain unto life and godliness (God-likeness).

“According as His divine power hath given unto us ALL THINGS that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

But it is only in holiness that you can possess these exceeding great and precious promises.

“But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions” (Obad. 17).

To effectively work in the highway of holiness, you must be dead to self (Mk. 8:34, Gal. 2:20, 5:24).

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?

• Your friend, I.I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor, HOG)