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Justification, a new outlook?

Oh Lord let your righteousness fall, may we be filled with your righteousness (I almost said killed), let your righteousness fall like the new born dew and mist after a night of rain, oh let it fall let it fall. Let's talk about righteousness for a while. We know that the bible teaches us that we are to be holy but what does that mean? It means we are to be separate. But that is a vague definition, there are Hindu monks in the Himalayas who live a life of asceticism, they are as separate as can be but are they holy? In their faith tradition they are extremely holy. This is not a trick question. Like is there 'Christian holiness, Muslim holiness, Buddhist holiness, Hindu holiness, true holiness is like finding a needle in a hay stack because it requires one thing; sacrifice. If you study Hinduism the Hindu priests sacrifice to their goddesses and gods but does that make them holy? In the Roman Catholic church the priests are considered holy because they have been ordained for the sacrifice of the mass, does that make them holy? When a preacher puts a big robe on, and stands in front of an arena of thousands of people, with bible in hand...does that make him holy? Back to sacrifice. Was Jesus holy? Was Krishna holy, yes to millions of Hindus. Was Buddha holy? They think he was. So just what makes something truly holy? Sacrifice, let me explain,

When Jesus died on the cross he sacrificed himself. Does that mean that if we sacrifice ourselves we will be holy? No, we'll just be dead, but if we were saved when we died we would truly be holy. Let me ask you a question. Were the Jews killed in the Holocaust holy? I think the real answer to that question is that they were sacred, enough said. So how is a finite, limited human being made holy? we are made holy through the death and resurrection of the true person of sacrifice, but I must define sacrifice.

Sacrifice is the giving up of ones self for the remission or forgiveness of their sins, this sacrifice must be deity and the sacrifice must be complete. Once for all. When we sacrifice our lives for the one who sacrificed himself for us we are being made holy. It is only through this kind of sacrifice that we can say "I am holy" and still be a human being. Imperfect and all. The answer is sacrifice, but that is only the beginning.

Comments

  1. Anonymous12 December 2012 at 10:55

    It seems your idea of holiness ends with Justification. If you regularly follow JSM I can see how you would come to this conclusion. It is very true we are justified by faith. Abraham is the father of faith and the bible makes this abundantly clear. It is also true that we are sanctified by faith, however to truly be made Holy is to yield and receive the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit upon your heart. This is not a positional righteousness like Justification but it is an actual purification and cleansing of sin within the heart. Justification is a Judicial work, regeneration is a creative work and sanctification is a destructive work. Romans 6:6, there is a removal of the body of sin and it has no more power. This sanctifying work does not make you unable to sin but it does make you free to yield yourself to the righteousness of God and not to the unrighteousness desires of the unredeemed nature.

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