Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

WITHOUT HOLINESS

This entry was posted on 12-02-2009 and is filed under INDISPENSABLE THINGS.

"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 11:14 NKJV).

Do you ever wonder what it will be like when we see God for the first time? When we see Jesus our Savior for the very first time? No artist or painter really knows what the Lord looks like. All I know is that when we see Him we shall see Him as He is, for that is what the Bible tells us in 1 John 2:2. But there are requisites to seeing the Lord, and one of them is holiness. Today's text reminds us that without holiness no one will see the Lord.

We don't hear much about holiness today. Yet without it no one will see God! I think that should put it on the front burner, don't you? Holiness of life is essential to gaining eternal life. That means we must make every effort to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in what we think, say and do. We just must! We do have an obligation in this matter. Paul told the Christians in Corinth, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1). It is interesting to see the fear of God connected with our efforts to "cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates and defiles body and spirit, and bring [our] consecration to completeness...." (Amplified New Testament). The world worships filth and wallows in filth. The Christian desires to be clean and to stay clean. Defilement will keep you out of heaven (Rev. 21:27). Holiness will help you enter in. We must heed the message of the living Christ: "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." (Rev. 22:11). Remember, saying "yes" to God means saying "no" to everything that offends His holiness and purity.

Hymn: "Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; Much time spend in secret with Jesus alone. By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see." (William D. Longstaff)