Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Deeper Teaching by Kenton Cheek

Holiness is a lifestyle set apart and dedicated to the purposes of God.  To be born again, one must believe, repent, confess and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.  This experience is a defining, pivotal moment in a person’s life such as that in their biography, everything that happened prior to conversion is their old way of life and everything after is walking in the newness of life, in step with the Spirit.  There should be a night and day difference.  At the moment of the new birth, the Holy Spirit indwells the very core of the believer’s being, purifying him or her from all unrighteousness and setting them apart for holy purposes of worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry, and fellowship. 

Every human being is descended from Adam and Eve who were made in the image of God, but that image has been corrupted by sin.  God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and perfectly pure and righteous.  Therefore, He is the most holy Being in all the universe, above and beyond all others.  There is no one else like Him, there is no other god beside Him.  Through the new birth experience, a son of Adam or daughter of Eve becomes a son or daughter of the Most High God.  The Father desires to conform His children back into the image of the Son and this process of sanctification and spiritual growth begins at salvation and is the result of a partnership between the individual and the Holy Spirit. 

We are called to be holy because He is holy and we are to reflect His glory as the moon reflects the brilliant light of the sun, illuminating the Earth even in the darkest night.[1]  Followers of Jesus are to be in the world, but not of the world.[2]  Our residency is on Earth, but our citizenship is in Heaven.  Christians are to be different, with lives marked by compassion and godliness.  Transformative grace gives us holy desires to please God and the way we do that is by living as Jesus would if He were us.  This is explained in I Peter 1:13-23. 

From the beginning God calls His people to be set apart for His purposes in order to reflect His holy nature.[3]  In the Old Covenant this was expressed in a lifestyle cultivated by obedience to Mosaic Law, in the New Covenant sanctification is an outflow of the salvation experience leading to eternal life.  The way to lead a holy, sanctified life is to partner with the Holy Spirit in creating a lifestyle guided by the principles and precepts of God’s Word the Holy Bible.[4]  Leviticus 20:26 reveals, “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”[5]  Yahweh wanted Israel to live differently so that they would be a light of truth and love to all the world.  This imperative of holiness is echoed and confirmed in I Peter 1:15-16.

The prophets of the Old Covenant were continually calling the people to repentance and holy living.  Isaiah 57:15 tells us that God makes holy those who are humble and contrite in spirit, a reality that is true for both the Old Testament saints and those in the New Covenant.  Isaiah 35:8 says, “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way.  The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.”  In the New Testament, the Christian life is called the Way.[6]  All those who follow the Lord are to travel on the Highway of Holiness.  This includes keeping sexual expression inside the covenant of holy matrimony.  I Thessalonians 4:3 says, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality.”

Salvation is an event (the new birth),[7] process (sanctification and spiritual growth),[8] and a goal (glorification).[9]  All three elements must be reality for the restoration to the New Eden to be complete.  The process portion begins at the new birth and should continue throughout the life of the believer.  We are justified (might right with the Father) through the blood of Jesus and from that changed heart and new nature as a son or daughter of God, we are sanctified at the new birth and the process of becoming more like Jesus.  A lifestyle marked by compassion and holiness shows to others that the person is truly born again.  We must continue in the faith if our journey is to have eternal value.[10]  I Timothy 4:15-16 says, “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Sanctification is the fruit of a changed heart and a renewed mind.  As the process of salvation, it is by grace through faith.[11]  We partner with the Holy Spirit to cultivate a holy lifestyle and He works in us and through us.[12]  “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”[13]  Sanctification is part of and evidence of salvation.  We are to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”[14]

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes a person a temple of God.  I Corinthians 3:16-17 tells us, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”  Temples are to be kept sacred with holy living.  Temples can be desecrated, so it is vital to our spiritual health as the House of the Lord to lead a lifestyle of repentance and holiness.  

As the temple, our lives are to be holy sacrifices as worship to Him.  According to Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  The Christian is to reject their old patterns of behavior and thought they had before salvation and instead live as Jesus did, obeying Him out of love.  To be a living sacrifice is to give one’s entire life to God’s control and function in His authority.

The Spirit renews our minds and having the mind of Christ changes how we live.  It affects our relationships.  Philippians 2:1-5 gives this guidance, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”[15]

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[1] Philippians 2:14-16 NIV

[2] John 17:14-16

[3] I Samuel 2:2

[4] Psalm 119:9

[5] Leviticus 20:26 NIV

[6] Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22 NIV

[7] John 3:7 KJV

[8] I Corinthians 1:18 ESV

[9] Romans 6:22 NIV

[10] Hebrews 12:14 NIV

[11] Ephesians 2:8-10, II Timothy 1:9 NIV

[12] Philippians 1:3-6 NIV

[13] Philippians 2:12-13 ESV

[14] Matthew 3:8 NIV

[15] Philippians 2:1-5 NIV