Holiness: The Fruit of the Love and Fear of God
Holiness is the nature of God, and he requires his children to be holy. We are commanded to be holy; it is not optional if we are children of God through Jesus Christ.
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
“But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written, ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15-16
God, by the power of His Spirit, produces holiness in His children with their cooperation. Holiness, therefore, is a communion of intimacy between man and God. One party cannot produce it alone. Man must cooperate with God by submission and obedience to God. And in this submitted man, the Holy Spirit then produces God’s nature. It is a symbiotic relationship; God has his part to play, and man has his part to play.
Holiness is not a work of the flesh.
True holiness cannot be produced in the flesh or by works of the flesh. When this is attempted, the result is empty religion, legalism, self-righteousness, and believers who do not have love and compassion for others. This is the danger, and a real danger, because without love we cannot claim to know God. Self-righteousness is not the holiness God requires or produces in us.
Often, carnal fear produces this counterfeit holiness. The person fears hell but does not have a holy fear of God. He fears punishment but does not love Jesus. This type of holiness eventually is no holiness at all since it is external, but it has not changed the heart.
Holiness is a product of love for God.
True holiness results from loving God and our fellow men. This love is produced by God in us as we get to KNOW him. To know God is to fear him and love him. A man who truly loves God and, therefore, his neighbor CANNOT and will not become more sinful, worldly, and licentious. That kind of love is demonic. Instead, his love for God will lead him to become more holy and Christ-like, not just in desire but in deed.
We become like that which we love. A man may think he loves God and claim to love God all he wants, but if the fruit of his life is sin, worldliness, and compromise, what he has is not love but possibly some feel-good emotionalism. True love for Jesus produces in us a great desire to be like Him and please Him. It cannot be otherwise.
Jesus himself said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15), and “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” (John 14:21)
A child who loves his father will not desire to dishonor his father but to please him. If he says he loves his father but constantly dishonors him, he has not begun to know what love is. He may have some warm feelings towards his father, but those feelings are not love.
Holiness, and the knowledge and fear of God
A real knowledge of God’s great mercy, grace, and love leads us to not only love him but also fear him. This fear is not worldly fear but reverential fear. As we stand in awe of this great God, we just want to please him. No one can know God and understand his character and then desire to sin more and be more carnal.
To know God is to fear him. As we stand in awe of His majesty and holiness, we can’t help but want to be like Him: holy. When Moses stood before God’s presence on Mount Sinai, his face shone with the glory of God. He radiated God’s glory after being close to him. Moses had a holy fear of God, which transformed him into the meekest man on earth. This is what happens to us as we get to know God, cultivate a relationship with Him, and fear Him. Just like Moses, we too are transformed by God’s glory.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
“Then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:5
God is holy, and his children must be holy.
A tree produces its like fruit. God produces holiness in his children. If we are children of God, we will become more holy as we grow in our relationship with our Father and our Savior. If we are becoming more like Satan, something is wrong, and perhaps it is the devil and not God we have been having a relationship with. Satan, after all, masquerades as an angel of light.
Many think they are in a relationship with God but are in a relationship with the devil instead. This is because the fruit of their lives is more sin, carnality, lust, and worldliness, and less fear of God. A tree is known by its fruit. They have run after a god who tells them only what they want to hear, and the fruit reveals that this god is not Yahweh.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Holy One of Israel. In heaven, he is worshiped as holy! This God can’t produce sin in his children. His entire intention in sending Jesus to die for us was to bring many sons to glory who are like the Lord Jesus. These children are redeemed by his blood and regenerated by his Spirit of holiness to be holy as he is holy.
“But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.” 1 Peter 1:15-17
A counterfeit faith produces no holiness.
If God is our Father, it follows that we should be holy like him, or at least desire to be like him. He works with our willingness: “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” Isaiah 1:19
A counterfeit faith produces lukewarmness and passivity regarding sin. It promises its followers that God loves them in and with their sins and will never punish their sins. It twists the grace of God to offer comfort in sin and uses the blood of Jesus as a cover for continuing in sin. It offers a false relationship with God based on convenience and not obedience. It is dangerous because it produces not holiness in its adherents, but worldliness, passivity towards sin, lukewarmness, and lack of fear of God in favor of a carnal emotional love of God.
May God help us to know him, love him, and fear him, and, as a result, to be holy because he is holy. Remembering that he has said, Without holiness, no man shall see him.
“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 Corinthians 7:1
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