Every Christian intending to enter Heaven must walk in holiness while on earth.
We have learnt that (1) holiness is a state of spotlessness on your garment of righteousness. We have also seen that (2) every Christian is called unto a life of holiness (1 Thess. 4:7), because without holiness no one shall see the Lord (Heb.12:14). We have also seen that (3) every Christian is not only called unto a life of holiness, but also to perfect holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1). In other words, every Christian is called to walk in holiness.
We have learnt that (1) holiness is a state of spotlessness on your garment of righteousness. We have also seen that (2) every Christian is called unto a life of holiness (1 Thess. 4:7), because without holiness no one shall see the Lord (Heb.12:14). We have also seen that (3) every Christian is not only called unto a life of holiness, but also to perfect holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1). In other words, every Christian is called to walk in holiness.
2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Having therefore, these promises
(which promises? 2 Cor. 6:16-18), dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of (1) the flesh and (2) spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God.”
What does
it mean to perfect holiness? To perfect holiness is to maintain your holiness.
How? You maintain
your holiness by ensuring that there is no spot or wrinkle on your garment of
righteousness through the process of progressive sanctification.
The Bible says, “Let your garments always be white,
and let your head lack no ointment” (Eccl. 9:8).
The question is: How then can one maintain his garment of righteousness? How can one
ensure that his garment of righteousness is ALWAYS white? Just follow the following steps:
1.
Quickly repent and get restored: If any
stain happens to come on your garment of righteousness, quickly ask God for
mercy, forgiveness and plead the blood of Jesus Christ (Isa. 1:18; 1 Jn. 1:9).
Colossians 1:14 says, ``In whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. ``
In Isaiah 1:18 God said, “Come now, and let us reason
together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
In 1 John 1:9 Jesus said, “If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL
unrighteousness.”
In Proverbs 28:13 God said, “He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper: but whoso (1) confesseth and (2) forsaketh them shall have
mercy.”
“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged:
and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Prov. 16:6).
In Isaiah 43:25 God said, “I, even I, am He that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”
2.
You must guard your heart. Avoid
situations that will defile your heart [subconscious mind]. You must stay away
from situations that can stimulate you to think wrongly thereby providing easy
occasions of sin.
Depart
from iniquity and flee youthful lusts (1 Tim. 2:19-26). Joseph fled from youthful lust when Potiphar’s
wife wanted to gun him down.
Don’t
read bad novels. Don’t look at pornographic pictures. Don’t watch bad movies.
Rather let your focus be on the Word of God (Isa 26:3; Prov. 4:20-22).
In Proverbs 4:23
the bible says, “Keep thy heart [subconscious mind] with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.”
NKJV puts it this way, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring
the issues of life.”
NIV puts it this way, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring
of life.”
What does it mean to guard your heart? To guard your heart means to protect it against danger.
How do you protect
your heart [subconscious mind]?
You protect your mind by minding [watching] (1) what you see, and (2) what you
hear.
The
Psalmist said, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes...” (Ps. 101:3).
Examples:
a)
The case of David and Beersheba,
b)
The case of Samson and Delilah.
What you see or what you hear will
determine the picture that will be painted in your mind. That very picture is what you will
think about. What your think about will determine your feeling. How you feel
will determine the decision you’ll take concerning the issue at stake. The
decision you take will determine what you will do [your action]. Your action,
if repeated a number of times, will become your habit. And a collection of your
various habits is your character.
What you see is more
dangerous than what you hear.
Why? As regards what you hear, you will first of all have to imagine what it is
in order to form the image in your subconscious mind. This requires energy. It
is about this image that you’ll think. But as regards what you see, the image
[picture] will be drawn immediately in your mind just as it is. You don’t need
any extra energy to figure out what it is.
Except you guard your heart with all diligence, you’ll have so much
information that is contrary to the Word of God. This kind of negative
information will cause you to walk in the flesh instead of walking in the
Spirit. The negative information will not allow you to see yourself the way God
sees you. And unless you see yourself the way God sees you, it is impossible to
walk in the Spirit. If you don’t walk in the Spirit, you cannot maintain your
holiness.
How can one guard his
heart? To effectively
guard your heart you must diligently attend to the Word of God. The
Word of God is the thought of God written down on the pages of the Scripture.
When the very thoughts you have in your sub-conscious mind are replaced with
the thoughts of God, then you can say that the mind of that person has been
renewed. A renewed mind is a sound mind.
But you need to guard this mind diligently so that it does
not get corrupted (Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 2:15; Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:1-3; Ps. 119:9; Ps
119:11).
In
Colossians 3:16 the Bible says, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
2
Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth.”
In
Joshua 1:8 God said, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but
thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do
according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way
prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Psalm
1:1-3 says, “Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the
way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Psalm
119:9 says, “Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy Word.”
Psalm
119:11 says, “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against Thee.”
3.
Renew your mind with the Word of God
(Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23),
and continually fill your mind with the Word of God (Col. 3:16; Isa. 26:3).
4.
Meditate on the Word of God continually
(Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:1-3; Ps. 119:9, 11, 105, 130; Jn. 15:3).
You
must put on the new man.
Ephesians 4:24 says, “And that ye put on
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Colossians 3:10 says, “And have put on the new man, which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:”
5. Cultivate
spiritual thinking. You must ensure that you are the one in control of your
thoughts. Intentionally occupy your mind with wholesome things (Phil 4:8). Spirit-controlled thinking or spiritual thinking can lift your thoughts,
stabilize your emotions and bless your entire life.
In Philippians 4:8 the Scriptures give us a list of what we ought to be
thinking about:
Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest
[right], whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue [whatsoever is admirable], and if there be any praise
[if anything is excellent or worth of praise], think [meditate] on such
things.”
To think or meditate is to fix [focus] your thoughts on
something. Think about what is true and honourable and right; things that are
pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy
of praise [NLT]. The word “think” means “to dwell upon,” “to meditate upon” or
“to focus/fix your thoughts upon.”
Dwell, think, meditate or focus your thoughts on such things!
a) “Whatsoever is true,” that is, whatsoever is reliable, whatsoever agrees with fact.
Truth is the opposite of lying and deception. You must never let your mind
dwell on any piece of gossip you hear, because it may not be true [factual]. We
must be ready to hear the other side of the story, and not hear only the one
side. Ephesians says that we are to “guard our loins with the belt of truth.”
We are to think about the truth. To think about the truth is to think about the
Word of God and Christ. Both are called “the truth” (Jn 17:17; Jn 14:6).
Ephesians 4:16 says, “Guard your loins with truth.” Guard
your loins with the Word of God. Meditate/think on the Word of God.
b) “Whatsoever things are honest” – that is whatever is
earned or received by fair methods, not by cheating or falsehood [OBT or 419].
For most of us, it is not the big things that test our honesty, but the little
things. We may never get to embezzle one billion Naira from the government
purse but we have to guard against considering stealing towels from a motel,
stealing biros from fellow students, borrowing something and never returning it
back, accepting too much change from a store manager or fuel station. Satan tells you
that “If you receive too much change from a petrol station that that is good
because after all the people adjusted their meter; I’ll keep these extra coins
as a sort of refund, you say.”
c) “Whatsoever things are just” – that is, things that
are right and fair and impartial. It is right to give a customer a full measure
when selling gari or rice in business. God hates false measure. It is right to
expose doctrinal error and false teachings when presenting the Word of God. It
is right to treat all your children alike. We must never plan in our thoughts
to do anything that is unfair or partial.
d) “Whatsoever things are pure” – that is, free from any
sort of defilement. Purity speaks especially about chastity in the area of
sexual relationships. It is very hard in our society today to live through a
single day without having your mind bombarded with thoughts of sex in some kind
of distorted form.
Unclean thinking is enhanced by abbreviated dress, seductive pictures,
pornography and dirty stories. For this reason, the follower of Christ does not
attend movies, he carefully censors his reading materials, and he avoids
participating in jokes that are not pure. Most television programmes and
commercials are not acceptable to him.
Ephesians 5:4 says, “Let there be no filthiness (indecency), nor
foolish (silly and corrupt) talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not
convenient (fitting): but rather giving of thanks (to God).”
e) “Whatsoever things are lovely” – that is, things that
are beautiful, winsome and pleasing. Christians should cultivate the traits of
courtesy and pleasantness. He should avoid the snapped answer, the harsh reply,
and the sarcastic response. It is not nice to see a husband who cannot answer
the wife in a gentle tone. It is not nice [lovely] to see a child that
challenges his/her parents. It is not nice to see a child of God that dresses
in a way that drive people away from Christ instead of bringing people to
Christ. It is not lovely to see children of God who refuse to be fully
committed to Christ. It is not lovely to see children of God who don’t pay
their tithes. Such things are not lovely.
The promises of God in His Word are lovely.
f) “Whatsoever things are of good report” – that is,
things spoken with good will towards others; things which are the opposite of
gossip, slander and the spreading of rumours. Courtesy to others, respect for
parents, loyalty between husband and wife – these are always things “of good report.”
g) “If there be any virtue”: that is, any
particular kind of goodness or excellence. For instance, our climate has the
virtue of not being too hot at certain seasons of the year.
h) “If there be any praise”: that is, something worthy of praise.
6. Don’t miss
fellowship:
Hebrews 10:25 says, Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so
much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
1 John 1:7`says, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanseth us from ALL sin.
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.”
Following the above listed steps will guarantee that
you’ll eventually enter Heaven. Walking in holiness is the surest way to enter
Heaven.
Holiness will exalt you and position you to experience
God’s best in every area of your life. You can make
it! All it takes is making up your mind.
Watch out for the next
edition of Good News from
the Pulpit!
- Your friend: I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor) 03.08.2019
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