Practical Holiness
Christians are saints, that is, “holy ones,” set apart by God the Father, purified by the blood of Christ, who takes us, collectively, as a husband takes his bride (Eph 5:25). The ring of betrothal is the Holy Spirit’s circumcision of the heart, which marks the covenant promise of everlasting marriage (2 Cor 5:5). The period and process between betrothal and the marriage supper of the Lamb is preparatory. Like the stone cutter fitting each stone for its proper place in the future, finished temple, so is the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification.
The body and soul of the unbeliever are of the sanctuary of sin. The synagogue of Satan is scheduled for the wrecking ball. All who find themselves in that filthy edifice will come to destruction and an eternity on the burning trash heap of hell (Gehenna), which is a type of the lake of fire (Rev 20:14–15).
Salvation by God, the architect and builder of His church (Mt 16:18; Heb 11:10), is to salvage some of the dead stones. Christ is the Living Stone (1 Pet 2:4), making them living stones in His spiritual house (1 Pet 2:5), His holy temple in the Spirit (Eph 2:22).
He makes all things new (Rev 21:5). When He sends His Spirit to His elect, they have a new Spirit leading, guiding, and teaching them. The Spirit comes to God’s chosen people because the Father sanctified them in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4, 5). Union with Christ is the basis for all that is new.
The father of all flesh is the first Adam, who sinned against God (Gen 3), and as the federal head of humanity, he poisoned his progeny with original sin, and all have his sin nature (Rom 5:12–21). Man’s position and state is slave to sin (Rom 6:6). We are citizens of the world, the domain of darkness (Col 1:13). Man’s wages, earned by incessant sinning, is death (Rom 6:23). Man’s standing, on the day of judgment, is unrighteous, guilty, sinner. That is, unless he is joined to Christ (1 Cor 6:17). This will only happen if he is born again of God, by the Holy Spirit (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3).
The new birth (regeneration) gives the Father’s sanctified elect a new light and new life. This new man retains his same flesh, but where sin and death ruled his every thought, word, will, and affection — now, grace from God is his new principle. God has given this new creation, a new heart (Spirit indwelling), and a new mind (mind of Christ).
Holiness practically manifests, as this new creature (2 Cor 5:17), the spiritual man (1 Cor 2:15), is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is Christ in him, the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Christ is his new Lord, operating His reign, by His Spirit, within (2 Cor 3:17). When the Spirit causes this new believer to walk in God’s statutes (Ezek 36:27), he is said to be walking in the Spirit, walking by faith, walking in Christ, walking in love.
Christian, you have a new name, a new identity, because you have a new anointing that makes all things new for you. Your new position (betrothed) comes with a new process (getting ready for the wedding). Just as Jesus quietly entered a world He intended to transform, so the Holy Spirit has quietly entered your soul to transform you.
God the father did not fail to sanctify you in election. God the Son did not fail to sanctify you to right standing with God (holiness), by His blood atonement, nor did He fail to perfect you with complete sanctification (Heb 10:10, 14). You have a sure place in His finished temple. The Spirit is making the final adjustments, to your fitting into the place prepared for you. Rejoice!
For now and the rest of your life in this body of death, He is revealing more and more of Himself to you. More light comes. More grace comes. More truth comes. More of His life manifests in you, to display the glorious riches of His grace toward you. He has made you alive and has made you holy, to show you as a light in the dark world, to display the beauty of holiness in contrast to the ugliness of sin. You are being conformed to the image of the Son of God (Rom 8:29).
You have received the Holy Spirit, His token, and the power to bear witness of this great change that has happened to you (Acts 1:8; 2 Cor 5:5). Therefore, walk in a manner worthy of your calling…in practical holiness.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 6, 2021
