Holiness is expected. Leviticus 19.2b says, "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy." God calls us to be like Him. He has extended grace to His people and once that grace is received the expectation is be dead to sin. Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery in John 8, "Go. From now on sin no more." In John 5 He tells the man who has been healed from thirty-eight years of lameness, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore,”
Paul said in Romans 6.11-14, "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." and then again in Galatians 5.1, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."
God has freed us from sin through the blood of Christ, and through the Holy Spirit offer cleansing from the desire to sin, and empowerment to live above sin. As God's people we are called to live as God would live; Jesus came to show us how. God didn't create us for sin, but for holiness. Jesus came and lived the life that we were all created to live. And we see God's expectation for holiness in the book of Leviticus. Yes, that statement, "Be holy for I am Holy" is there in chapter nineteen, but the theme of holiness is seen much earlier in the book.
In chapter four the heading is "The Law of Sin Offerings." In this we see the grace and mercy of God. We are sinful, but God refuses to abandon His people to sin, and offers them a way to be forgiven. Sin is serious, and to pay for sin, death is required as Romans 6.23 tells us. God made a way for an animal to be sacrificed for the sins of the people. A pure, spotless, perfect animal could be killed to make atonement for sin. And in Jesus, the perfect, spotless, Lamb of God, the final offering for sin was paid.
Sin is part of our world, and God has arranged for atonement to be made, but once atonement has happened, God's desire is holiness. If you look at Leviticus 4 you'll notice that is says, "if... sins,” That word "if" is used, not "when" but "if". IF it happens, IF you sin, then this is how you make atonement for it. But the word used is "if". We do not have to sin. We, once forgiven, are expected to live in holiness.
Holiness is expected, and therefore holiness is possible.
Jesus came to offer the final sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the world. Once we accept His salvation the journey to holiness begins. Holiness is not absolute perfection. Holiness is not the loss of our ability to sin. Holiness is not anything we do for ourselves.
Holiness is accomplished by embracing God. Holiness is done through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we live our lives as forgiven people we grow closer to God. And as we seek to know God more He reveals Himself to us. He pours out His Holy Spirit on His people. And as we are filled with the Holy Spirit our desire for God and the things of God, overpowers our desire for sin. We always have the choice to sin, we always have the ability to do what is contrary to God, but as we are filled with the Holy Spirit our desire is to please God and to live for God. Our desire is to be holy as He is holy.
God calls us to be holy, because He is and we are His people. And anything God calls us to, He will empower us to do. In Philippians 2.13 it says, "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Philippians 1.6 states, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." and in 1 Thessalonians 5.23-24 declares, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass."
Holiness is expected. Holiness is possible. Be holy as the Lord your God is holy.
To God alone be the glory!
Peace be with you
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