What is Necessary for Effective Service to God?

Holiness is necessary for effective service to God. Paul wrote to Timothy, “If a man cleanse himself from [ignoble purposes], he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work” (II Timothy 2:21).  Holiness and usefulness are linked together.  We cannot bring our service to God in an unclean vessel.

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 42

He Disciplines Us Because We Need Discipline

Holiness is also required for our own well-being. “The Lord disciplines those whom He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son” (Hebrews 12:6). This statement presupposes our need of discipline, for God is not capricious in administering it.  He disciplines us because we need discipline.

To persist in disobedience is to increase our necessity for discipline.  Some of the Corinthian Christians persisted in disobedience to the point where God had to take their lives (I Corinthians 11:30)

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 41

What is Required for Fellowship with God?

Holiness then is required for fellowship with God.  David asked the question. “O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent?  Who may dwell on Thy holy hill?” (Psalms 15:1)  That is to say, “Lord, who may live in fellowship with you?”  The answer is given in the next four verses may be summarized as “he who leads a holy life.”

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 40

He Does Not Create One Without the Other

Therefore, we may say that no on can trust in Christ for true salvation unless he trusts in Him for holiness.  This does not mean the desire for holiness must be a conscious desire at the time a person comes to Christ, but rather that the Holy Spirit who creates within us saving faith also creates within us the desire for holiness.  He simply does not create one without the other.

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 39

Is Your Faith in Christ Genuine?

So the writer of Hebrews is telling us to take seriously the necessity of personal, practical holiness.  When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives at our salvation, he comes to make us holy in practice.  If there is not, then at least a yearning in our hearts to live a holy life pleasing to God, we need to seriously question whether our faith in Christ is genuine.

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 38

That on Which Our Holiness Depends

Active obedience means Christ’s sinless life here on earth, His perfect obedience and absolute holiness.  This perfect life is credited to those who trust in Him for their salvation.  His passive obedience refers to His death on the cross through which He fully paid the penalty for our sins and placated the wrath of God toward us.  In Hebrews 10:5-9, we read that Christ came to do the will of the Father.  The the writer said, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ  once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).  So we see that our holiness before God depends entirely on the work o Jesus Christ for us, by God’s will.

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 36

The Value of Frequent Contemplation on the Holiness of God

Frequent contemplation on the holiness of God and his consequent hatred of sin is a strong deterrent against trifling with sin. We are told to live our lives on earth as strangers in reverence and fear (I Peter 1:17).  Granted, the love of God to us through Jesus Christ should be our primary motivation to holiness.  But a motivation prompted by God’s hatred of sin and His consequential judgment on it is no less biblical.

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 33

Our Peaceful Coexistence with Something God Hates

Therefore every time we sin, we are doing something that God hates.  He hates our lustful thoughts, our pride and jealousy, our outburst of temper, and our rationalization that the end justifies the means.  We need to be gripped by the fact that God hates all these things.  We become so accustomed to our sins we sometimes lapse into a state of peaceful coexistence with them, but God never ceases to hate them.

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 32

We Would Do Well to Consider These Words

No, God’s holiness does not make allowance for minor flaws or shortcomings in our personal character.  Well might we Christians, though justified solely through the righteousness of Christ, ponder carefully the words of the writer to the Hebrews: “Make every effort…to be holy; without holiness no one will ever see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14)

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 30

Because He is Holy, All His Actions Are Holy

The absolute holiness of God should be of great comfort and assurance to us.  If God is perfectly holy, then we can be confident that His actions toward us are always perfect and just.  We are often tempted to question God’s actions and complain that He is unfair in His treatment of us.  This is the devil’s lie, the same thing he did to Eve.  He essentially told her “God is being unfair to you.” (Genesis 3:4-5).  But it is impossible in the very nature of God that He should ever be unfair.  Because He is holy, all His actions are holy.

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, Navpress, copyright 1978, page 27-28