Biblical Commands for Holiness

Holy: to be set apart for God. How are you doing in that today? 
Mankind has a way of knocking down the things of God. You will often hear "you're holier than thou' or you are acting like a "holy roller".  Or you will find that many people expect the modern pastor to be holy but for them to be holy, well, not so much! 

Is holiness really something God is concerned about for ALL His people? 
This post will remind us all about the holiness of God. The fact is God is ALL about holiness! 

Please keep in mind that God is Holy, His Spirit is Holy, the Messiah is Holy, His Word is Holy, His Tabernacle and Temple were Holy, His priests and Prophets were Holy, His angels were Holy, His Ways are Holy, His law is Holy, His City is Holy the people that He called to Himself in Israel were called to be Holy and finally; the people that Christ died to redeem are called to be Holy. 
So if you are claiming to be a Christian and "not" striving to be holy in ALL things and you are just living your life in this carnal world like all of the lost others around you; are you even one of God's at all? 

Hebrews 12:14 says this: 
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord 

Think of it this way if you will. 

Faith in God without daily obedient holiness is like loving your wife or husband but not being faithful or loving to them daily. It just doesn't work does it? You are only a fake and you are only fooling yourself that you really have a marriage at all. 

Many are fooled into thinking they have a saving faith without holiness and that is why we speak out here. 

Holiness is not a word you will hear very often today in modern religious places. You may hear it spoken of occasionally but very few people understand what it is, most are never taught about it and sadly few have attempted to apply it to their lives as a fruit of their saving faith in Christ. Many will tell you that the believer in Christ has NOTHING to do as salvation is all of Christ. While we agree that salvation is indeed ALL of Christ, God's Word instructs His people in great detail on how to live HOLY before Him as  the evidence you are His. James says faith without works is dead. (See James 2:20) In this there is no doubt! 

We ourselves know that true biblical holiness is not often taught in the denominational systems  and people are conditioned to believe that all God requires is that you "go to church and try to be good". In fact rarely is church discipline (Matthew 18) ever used to hold people to a holy life yet worldliness and carnality are used to draw people into their pews through fun events, relevant topics, emotional music and many seeker friendly ways.
Here is a biblical test for you HERE.

But God's Eternal Word says there is more, much more to being in Him then what religious man will teach you today. We stand for ALL of His truth and proclaim it here without compromise in the hopes even just a few will hear it and seek ALL truth and not be swept away in man's error. 
See Colossians 2:8 

One very important note: A life lived in holiness is not working our way to salvation, as many will try to claim. We see examples all over the Word of those who claimed a saving faith in Him and then "walked" in holiness for obedience to Him as their God.  

Hebrews 5:9 says this: 
He made the way of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. 

And Jesus Himself said this in John 14:15 
If you love me keep my commands 

Jesus also said in Matt 5:48 
be perfect as the Father is perfect 

A desire for holiness and purity is God's spirit at work in you in ALL things due to your being made new in Him. It is not religious attendance on Sundays or membership at a man made religious organizations. With biblical discernment in mind let's examine holiness from a biblical perspective so we can understand it and begin to apply it to our lives for God's glory. (We will show you Holy verses from the Old Testament and also give you verses that relate directly to them in the New Testament for your reference.) 

Holy... the Greek word hagios and it means: 
sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated): to be set apart for God 

Holy (or holiness) really means to be pure before God and to be set apart for His glory and His cause not your own. Now that we understand what it is let us see where in God's Word we are instructed as His true people to be holy. 
To put it in terms today that you can better understand: 
Holiness is God's set apart (pure) ways from this fallen world while most people are living according to those fallen (sinful) world's ways to feed their flesh. 

The fallen world is the system that is not of God: 
carnal media, music, movies, competitive sports, lust of entertainment, fashion, easy believism, sexual immodesty, obsession with pleasure/hobbies, excessive material things, love of money, fame, pride etc... 

God's Word warns His people against being too close to the world: Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4 
You cannot be holy and set apart for God and be part of this worldly, carnal system around us. 

Are you a friend of the world or are you walking in set apart holiness for the Lord? 
Lets us read some verses from the Old Testament on holiness: 

Exodus 19:6 
And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel 
Here we see that God first set Israel apart for Himself as His chosen holy nation. (Later that would include all in Christ / see Romans 2:10 ) How did God set them apart? Just go read the 613 commands He gave them to show them their sin, control every aspect of their lives but also to make them different than
the nations around them for His glory. 
See the book of Leviticus.

Exodus 20:8 
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
God took a entire day of the week, Saturday, and set it apart for Israel to remember and keep holy before Him. (Later Christ becomes our Rest /see Hebrews 4)

Exodus 28:2 
And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. As His set apart holy priests, He had them wear special clothing for His Glory. (After Jesus walked the earth His people now are priests / see 1 Peter 2 and we put on Christ / see Romans 13:14) 

Leviticus 11:45 
For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 
God called the Israelites to walk in holiness because He is Holy. In 1 Peter 1:15 we see He also calls all those in Christ today to do the same; be holy in ALL your ways.

Leviticus 16:27 
The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place 
God required that animals be sacrificed to Him in His Holy place. Jesus Christ became that Holy sacrifice of ALL of mankind. / see Hebrews 9. 

Leviticus 20:26 
And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.  
Here you see that His people were set apart for Him and in the New Testament we see the call to be separate in our ways and He will receive us / see 2 Corinthians 6:17.

Numbers 4:15 
And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. “These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry. 
God instructed they build a Holy tabernacle where His Spirit resided to be near His people. 
We see in these verses that we are now His dwelling place via the Holy spirit that is in His true believers who are born again in Him. See Romans 8:9 and 1 Corinthians 3:17

Deuteronomy 28:9
“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. As God sets His people apart as hol,y He expects that we keep His commands and ways. If you read this verse you will see this is echoed as well for us today by Christ. See John 14:15. 

2 Chronicles 5:7 
Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. 
The Lord had a  Holy Temple of stone built for His Spirit to dwell and He had special set apart priests that, alone, could do His work within it. In the New testament we are His temple / see 1 Corinthians 3:17  and all born again believers His priests / see 1 Peter 2. 
So now that we have a good insight into the Holiness of God and how He wanted a set apart people to Himself in the Old Testament; we need to ask what does the New Testament writings tell us about how we are to live today as His people? There is much indeed.
 
Acts 2:27 
For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 
Jesus was the Holy One of God who came to make a way for others to eternal life via His cross. 
We know that God is Holy, We know His spirit is Holy and we see the Messiah is Holy. So it must be understood that His true people will be holy as well or as we asked you in the beginning can you even be considered His? God's Word says no.  Are you and I striving for holiness in His name daily or are you just religious?

Acts 3:21 
whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. By this verse we know His prophets were holy as He worked through them. Are you and I seeking holiness as we live each day for His glory as evidence we are His?

Romans 11:16 
For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 
Here Paul reminds us if we are of Him; we will be holy 
How does holiness guide and affect our every single decision today?

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service In this verse we are told that living as a holy sacrifice is our reasonable service to God. It is everyone's calling if they claim eternal life in Him. 
Are you and I acting as living sacrifices with our every breath or do most just perform vain religious rituals? 

1 Corinthians 3:17 
If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 
We are today His holy temple. Are we carrying ourselves in ALL that we say and do as a Holy temple to God? 
Do we really view ourselves as the holy temple of the Living God every minute we live, or just when religious services are under way? (This is being double minded; in the Holy Lord and in the carnal world as well.) 
 
Ephesians 1:4 
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love 
Since God has chosen us, we see that He expects and requires we are holy before Him and all men. 
Do we walk in a holy blameless way for His glory or are we living our life here to soothe our own flesh? 

Colossians 1:22 
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight 
Here we see that Christ died to present us holy and only He could do that for us. What is our response to such an amazing gift (his Death /new life) in how we live for Him? 

1 Thessalonians 5:27 
I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren. The Apostle Paul called the followers of Christ, holy brethren. 
Do you view yourself and your closest friends as holy? If not, why not? 4

Titus 1:8 
but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled Here we see that the overseers (elders/pastors) are to be holy as well in their service to God 
Are your elders/pastors holy in all their ways as examples or are they often more like the carnal world around them? (They set the standard as examples and often they are the most worldly people in the body...how sad.)

1 Peter 1:15 
but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 
Here Peter echoes the Old Testament verse we posted above with the call for holiness in ALL our ways. 
Can we say today we are holy in ALL our ways or are we fooling ourselves? (God won't be fooled.) 

1 Peter 2:5 
you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. He we are told that all believers are part of a holy priesthood before God. Are we living as holy priests daily or do you just act that way when in a religious building on set days then it is back to the world's ways? 

2 Peter 3:11 
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness 
Again, a reminder to be in holiness and have godliness in our conduct as His people. Are you in holiness or do you sit before a television and use the world's carnal ways to entertain ourselves and partake in what the lost world loves (competitive sports/movies) as a habit of your life? 

Revelation 4:8 
The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” 
In this verse it uses the word Holy three times and that is a clear and loud indication of God's Holiness. (Anytime a word is used threes times it is a VERY bold proclamation of truth.) 

Do we see God and ourselves as Holy beings or have we been affected by the error filled religious culture around us that says; "relax, because no one is perfect"? (Indeed we are not perfect but please know this; we cannot let our fallen nature guide our path to pleasing a Holy God can we?) 

We have seen many verses that teach us about the Holiness of God and what He requires for His own. We are told to examine ourselves to make sure we are in the faith (See 2 Corinthians 13:5.) 

Have you done this yourself?  We need to do it daily and we care so we remind others of it as well. 

This is a good time to ask yourself:
Are you in the pursuit of a holy life today because you have a true saving faith in you? Does how you life line up to God's Holy Word? 
Are you more like a religious person that is trained by what man expects of you and NOT what God's Word requires? 

Do others around you view you as a person who is known for seeking holiness daily? Are you just like the lost masses around you set in their own beliefs, yet far from God's truth as many "go to church" weekly but lack holiness? 
Please take some time to ponder what the word Holy means, how it describes God and everything associated with Him. 

Then ask yourself: do I line up with His standard or do I need much work ...just like me? (How we get there is by studying His Holy Word and rejecting all error around us no matter the cost.) 

It is a fact that people making up their own truth (relativism/rebellion/false gospels) and man made denominational religion (vain and sinful) are the root cause for many false converts and a lack of holiness to His Word.  
Holy; to be set apart for God. How you doing in that today? 
See the biblical gospel and 10 pt test of your body HERE.