Not Without Holiness

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they… But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows… But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (From Heb. 1). There’s enough powerful truth in these few verses to fuel many impacting sermons, and have done so for me many times over. But there is actually a point being made in this first chapter of arguably the most powerful book in the Bible, and I would like to merely point out what that is. All it will take is the first several verses of the second chapter to show us exactly what that fear worthy point is: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak” (Heb. 2:1-5).

Well, there it is my friend, and the ‘it’ is the fear of the Lord. Our accountability under the covenant that God’s Son suffered and died for, which covenant he is the mediator of; is much greater than the accountability of those under the old covenant which was founded on the blood of bulls and goats, which covenant never imparted divine life to the souls that were under it (Heb. 9:13,14; Gal. 3:21). That is the entire point of the apostle’s comparison of the two covenants, particularly the superiority of Jesus over the angels, in regard to the mediation of the two covenants. The fact of the matter is that we are without excuse to retain any kind of sin in our lives, seeing that God sent his Son to suffer, die, and raise from the dead; to give us power from on high to conquer both sin and death, even as he himself did (Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:2). We can either cleave to doctrines that allow for sin to remain in the lives of believers, or we can forsake vanity and “purify [ourselves] even as he is pure,” by means of that same power that Jesus has provided us with (I Jn. 3:3; Rom. 1:16; I Cor. 4:20). The choice is altogether ours, seeing that God “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Pet. 3:9). Just remember that there will be NONE who die apart from true holiness that will be raised from the dead when Jesus comes again, even as the scripture confirms: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6). Make no mistake about it, the resurrection of the dead is the only salvation that exists, and only those who “keep [themselves] pure” will attain unto it (Lk. 20:26; Jn. 5:29; Acts 23:6; Eph. 4:4; I Thess. 5:8; I Tim. 5:22; Philip. 3:11;I Tim. 5:22; Mat. 5:8). “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” (Rom. 8:24,25). Amen.