How to Become a Perfect Believer in Jesus Christ 5 (Perfecting holiness)
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Corinthians 7:1 KJV
Loved one in Christ
Jesus, I believe you are learning from my teachings. This is episode five. In
this episode, I will take you through the holiness principles Apostle Paul gave
to the Church in Corinth. We must learn from the teachings of the Apostle Paul
because his letters are part of the canon. This means the Holy Spirit has
inspired the epistles of Apostle Paul. Teaching from the Apocrypha
(non-canonical) is unbiblical.
Apostle Paul emphasized
that God has poured many blessings unto us. If you read from second Corinthians
chapter six verses fourteen down to the last chapter, Apostle Paul makes us
understand that we should not equally yoke with the unbelievers because the light
has no fellowship with darkness.
In other words, the Apostle
is saying that the unbelievers have a set of philosophies. The thinking pattern
of the unbelievers differs from our philosophy (Holy Bible). Until the unbelievers repent
and become one with the principles of the Word and leadership of the Holy Spirit, we should not equally yoke with them (See Psalm 1:1-3).
Equally yoking with the
unbelievers distracts our fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The unbelievers
reject the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and it is our responsibility not always
to come close to them. They can corrupt our good conscience and make us resist
the Holy Spirit if we continue to walk with them (See 1 Corinthians 15:33).
In second Corinthians
chapter seven verses one, Apostle Paul made a profound statement. He said we
should purge ourselves from every immoral behaviour. Immorality means acting
outside the system of God and society. When a person acts contrary to the godly
rules set up by an organization, the person has acted immorally.
If an individual act in
disobedience to the laws and regulations of the organization, the person has
breached the law; therefore, we call such person immoral. Immorality deals with our behaviour and conducts.
The Holy Bible has a set
of moral behaviour we must follow. Breaking the moral standard of the Word
makes us immoral. As the Apostle wrote,
we must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit[soul]. The
best translation we can use for the word "spirit" in that context of the scripture
must be soul. Get my book “How to Walk and Live in the Spirit” for a
more profound revelation.
From the scriptures, I
can categorize holiness into three sectors.
1. The filthiness of the body.
2. The filthiness of the
soul and
3. The reverence of God,
Get my book, “The Mysteries of Fear,” for a more profound revelation.
The filthiness of the
body has to do with the external sins. For example, the fruits of the flesh
Apostle Paul described in the Galatians chapter five, verses nineteen to
twenty-one.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which
I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 KJV
It is our responsibility
to deal with the sins of the flesh because Jesus Christ has given us the grace
to dominate sin. The grace of God works with our will. When we submit our will
to the will of God, the Holy Spirit empowers us to control the lustful desires
of the flesh. There are some sins; God expects us to cooperate with the Holy
Spirit to enable us to conquer.
Remember, God has given us power over sin. When Jesus died for our sins and rose on the third day, He gave
us the power to rule over the desires of sin. We were one’s slave to sin (Adamic nature). Jesus
Christ has given us the divine power to dominate sin (See Romans 6:14-15).
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Titus 2:11-12 KJV
Don’t abuse the grace of
God. Don’t think grace allows us to sin willfully. God’s grace has empowered us
to pursue the kingdom righteousness. It is only unbelievers and carnal
Christians who live under the bondage of sin. A real child of God has no
pleasure in wickedness. Although we are all tempted to sin, we don’t have the
desire to sin. That is how a child of God lives (See 1 John 3:9).
We must work out our
salvation with fear and trembling as we submit our will to God’s will (See
Philippians 2:12-13). It is our responsibility to deal with some sins because
God’s grace is available. If you think you can live anyhow because of grace, the
devil has deceived you.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you,
always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God.
Colossians 4:12 KJV
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 KJV
God has called us unto
holiness. We must exhibit inward and outward holiness. There are some
Christians who reject outward holiness. They always say that God looks at the
heart. Yes, God looks at the heart. God also looks at our appearance (See 1
Timothy 2:9). We have a role to play if we want to enter the arena of holiness.
Don’t remain a baby
Christian. As the Apostle wrote to the church in Corinth, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness. Apostle Paul did not say, God will cleanse us
from all filthiness, He said, we must cleanse ourselves. This means it is our
responsibility as Christians to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:1-2 KJV
Apostle Paul further
states that it is our responsibility to present our bodies as a living
sacrifice unto God. We must present our body in purity because our body is part
of God’s temple. Jesus Christ has bought us with His blood, so we cannot live
anyhow. It is a service and sacrifice we render unto God and the church when we cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness (See 1 Corinthians 6:15-20).
Some carnal Christians
will foolishly say I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and keep
sinning willfully. Meanwhile, the Bible says that we have a role to play to
keep our salvation complete. Salvation is a process. Get my teachings on
youtube, the process of salvation.
It is in five episodes. I
have made it private. If you need my private teachings, kindly contact me, it
is not for sale. I have kept it private for some reason. The next filthiness
the Apostle talks about is the filthiness of the soul.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with
unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Matthew 15:19-20 KJV
Some sins emanate from
our hearts. Jesus Christ declares that our hearts can trigger the sin of
murder, fornication, false witness, blasphemies, and other invisible sins. I
believe you have read the story of David and Bathsheba, King Saul, and David,
the story of Ahab, Jezebel, and Naboth in the Holy Bible. If you have not read
them, kindly read because there are some lessons embedded in the old testament.
I wrote a book called “The Devil is Innocent.” I know that this book will trigger some people to accuse me of
challenging the scriptures. Please understand that
there are some sins; the devil has no business to do with. I know there are
some sins the devil and his minions push us to pursue. We know that the devil
is the father of lies. In him, there is no light. The devil can tempt us to
sin. We have the power to reject his temptation because Jesus Christ rejected
the devil’s temptation (See Luke 4:1-13).
If the devil tempts you
to sin and you submit to his temptation, you allowed him to deceive
you! The devil can speak to our mind. It is our responsibility to reject his
voice (See 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
There are some sins our
flesh and lustful heart trigger us to pursue (See Galatians chapter five). The
devil has nothing to do with such sins. Get me right, I am not defending the
devil, and I will never endorse the devil because he is an enemy to God and His
creation.
There are times we give
too much credit to the devil. When we give unnecessary credit to the devil, he
uses that channel to destroy. As the Apostle writes, we must deal with the sin
of the heart and live in the fear of God.
The fear of God means we depart from evil and hate sin with a passion (See Job 28:28, Proverbs 3:7). I am not promoting legalism. I am teaching the Word of God. When we delight ourselves in the Word, we become one with the Holy Spirit. Any man or woman who reverences God carries the wisdom of Jesus Christ.
The best way to deal with
the sin of the heart is to repent, renew your mind with the Word, pray more in
tongues, and fellowship with the Holy Spirit through anointed songs and prayer.
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To be continued…
Connect with this powerful song by Theophilus Sunday
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