The word holiness is found first in Exodus 15, followed by 42 more references to the word, with hundreds using the word holy. This includes our text which is Hebrews 12:14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Since it is so urgent that we discover holiness, and walk in it, then we must ask the question that is the title of my message, What Is Holiness? The first step in ever beginning to understand what holiness is, or ever grasping even a glimpse as to its meaning is “you must be born again.” I Chronicles 16:29 commands “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” No one can do this until they have experienced the new birth. They can feign worship, or they can join in and mimic others who worship. They can even convince the onlookers that they are worshipping. But no one can worship a Holy God in the beauty of holiness until he is a new creature in Christ Jesus; reborn of the Spirit of God through faith in the shed blood of Jesus and His finished work at Calvary. See, what we have in the Church is a lot of people trying to live a holy life, and worship a Holy God, and they don’t have the Holy Ghost living in them. They are worshipping, and it looks beautiful to the eye, and the crowd loves it, but it’s not in the beauty of holiness unless the worshipper has been made holy by the new birth. Holiness is beautiful, but it’s beauty is marred when vessels who are unholy try to portray it. Malachi 2:11 speak of Israelites who profaned God’s holiness by worshipping idol gods. II Chronicles 20:21, Jehoshaphat appointed singers that they should praise the beauty of holiness. This was during the Law era when holiness was pronounced by God upon people who kept it. These singers were commanded to praise the beauty of holiness. Who was that? Their words reveal the identity of the beauty of holiness. They shouted, “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever.” Jesus is the beauty of holiness, and He must be praised with holy life, not just with the lips. Psalm 29:2, they were giving to the Lord the glory due His name. The wicked cannot do that. The unregenerate can’t do that.
And see, the reason a born again child of God can praise Him in the beauty of holiness is because now that we are clean, we can see how filthy we was before He washed us. Once we have been made holy, we can see how unholy we are, and this brings on a beautiful praise that only can flow from the inner being of a redeemed child of God. We can shout about holiness because we have been made holy through faith in the only one who can make one holy. We can live holy lives by the power of His holiness that moved in when sin moved out. The moment the new birth occurs in the heart, holiness takes over. The inner man is washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (I Corinthians 6:11). His Spirit is the Spirit of holiness! Romans 1:4 says the spirit of holiness is what declared him to be the Son of God, with power! His power can keep us holy.
The new birth is a wonderful beginning, but no one should want to be satisfied to just settle down there and stay a baby. I state again, it’s a great place to begin, but that is what it is, it is just a beginning. It was His will that you get there, but it is also His will that you go on to greater things (Hebrews 6:1). II Peter 3:9 says that it is not God’s will that any perish, but that all should come to repentance. That’s His will, but it is only a small foundational part of His perfect, total will. The same God that was willing for you to come to repentance also wants you to on on from there. Salvation is your foundation on which to build. I Thessalonians 4:3 says, “for this is the will of God, even your sanctification.” That is as much His will as coming to repentance was. Sanctification and holiness are the same Greek word “hagios” and they mean set apart, pure, clean, and fit for holy service. It’s God’s will that you repent, be born again, saved, rescued and delivered. He wants you to be forgiven and made new. But it is also His will that you live separate from the world. Sanctified means set apart. What profit is it if He lives in you, but you don’t live for Him. The new birth put a desire in you to please Him, to pursue His holiness. If your experience didn’t do that, you got the wrong package. So many get forgiven, and some even have a genuine born again experience. But they never do anything with it. They stop with one slice, when Jesus died to give them the entire loaf. They are satisfied with just a taste when Jesus wants to feed them an entire daily supply of His milk and meat. He is the bread of life. He is the water of life, and there is no limit to how much of Him we can feast on. As long as we are seeking, He never stops giving. As long as we hunger and thirst, He will fill us with as much of His holiness as we desire. So holiness begins with desire, and that desire only is real if it started at the new birth.