The Highway Of Holiness (Isaiah 35:8-10)

Champion of the Gospel with Jonathan Heng

What is holiness?
How do we walk in the power of holiness?
Holiness is to have the rule and reign of the Holy Spirit within, allowing Christ to live in and through us. It is an inward spiritual experience of resting and dwelling in the grace of God. Genuine holiness stems from the heart, mind and tongue that is yielded to Christ.
It is far more than just conforming to some external and outward performance of good works. It is concerned with "being" instead of "doing".
While good fruits and practical works will manifest when a person is holy, it is only a reflection and result of a living relationship with Jesus. If we are trying" to be holy by practising "good works", it will not work, "UNLESS the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it... " (Psalm 127).
We are holy because of the finished work of Christ on the cross and we are resting in His grace through faith.
It is not something we do, attain or work up for. Rather, it is something we believe in: that God accepts us as holy by virtue of the righteousness of Jesus and as we abide in and submit to Him by faith, "For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches" (Romans 11:16). This is righteousness through faith, not through human abilities. Walking in holiness is the fruit of hungering and thirsting for the Presence of Jesus in our lives. True holiness is about inner truth and purity, not legalism, law or bondage, "and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:9-10).
It is one thing to preach about self-denial, dying to the flesh and the world, but the Good News is that we must also proclaim that the Gospel has the power to enable us to live a Spirit-filled life when the resurrection power of Jesus fills our hearts!
One of the marks of holiness is that it brings us to a greater devotion and intimacy with Christ. Devotion to Christ is measured by our desire to grow in His likeness. It is concerned with the heart, "For out of it springs the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23).
Also, holiness is to have the fear of the Lord, which is to hate what God hates and love what He loves, "And by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil" (Proverbs 16:6).
Jesus is the root of holiness, we are the branches of His holiness. But then He wants us to produce fruits.
As we abide and yield to Christ, we are holy and then fruits will just "supernaturally naturally" be produced in our lives (and not that we must produce fruits to prove that we are holy).
The greatest joy of holiness, I believe, is to know that we are pleasing to God and are hearing His voice.
While genuine holiness will produce the joy and favour of the Lord, I want to say that not everyone will rejoice with us walking in His ways.
Following Jesus could also cause us to be despised and rejected by others who are probably jealous of God's anointing, blessings, favour and grace poured over our lives. They desire the joy and favour we are experiencing but because they have not known the truth of walking in holiness, they might sometimes persecute those who are godly. But my encouragement and exhortation is this, "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).