Holiness (Part 1) For Part 2 Click Here
Rev. Dean C. Berg

In the late 1950’s, the Healing Revival that had been sweeping this country for eleven years was beginning to wane. The late Donald Gee said that things had been moving so rapidly, they were running to keep up with everything that was happening. (Have you ever felt that way?) He said that it wasn’t until the movement began to slow down that they were able to make observations concerning what they had just been part of. He went on to pen these words concerning the revival. "This Pentecostal movement is something which God has started at high speed, but the faster we go the greater the need of holiness. The more power we have, the more we need to have every obstacle cleared out of the way. That which cannot be noticed in an old dead church can wreck a revival in a Pentecostal church. May God give us holiness with our Pentecost, for we surely need it. No revival can continue with the blessing of God upon it that does not have a high standard of holiness."

Charles Finney in his book, "God's Call", said “How much will you take for your birthright? How much will you accept for your share in Christ? For how much will you sell your soul? At one time He was sold for 30 pieces of silver and ever since, the heavens have been raining tears of blood on our guilty world. If you were asked by the devil to set a sum for which you would sell your soul, what would be the price named?”

This is a great question for every believer to ask themselves.

Finney goes on to share about a Methodist preacher named Lorenzo Dow. Rev. Dow met a man as he was riding along a road to fulfill an appointment. Dow said to the man, “Friend, have you ever prayed?” “No,” was the answer. “How much money will you take to never pray?” “One dollar” he said. And so Dow paid the man a dollar and rode on. The man put the money in his pocket and went his way thinking. The more he thought, the worse he felt. “There,” he said, “I have sold my soul for one dollar! It must be I have met with the devil! Nobody else would tempt me so. With all my soul I must repent, or be damned forever!”

How often do we see good Christian people bargaining to sell the Pentecostal revival, the power of Christ for less than 30 pieces of silver – for even a dollar? Holiness was preached by every writer of the New Testament except Jude, and even he refers to it. However, in our culture, the standard of holiness has drastically taken a back seat. My wife and I know a woman who had been a Christian for a number of years and attended a good church. She came up to us after one of our services and said, “I never knew I was accountable for anything.” Too often, this is the case in the lives of many good Christian people. I heard a friend of mine say, “Today it’s almost like the name Holy Spirit has just become a name, instead of the word HOLY actually meaning something.”

Although references to holiness abound in scripture, the subject has become an illusive message from the past and is very much misunderstood in many Christian circles today. Holiness is seen as a standard of human behavior or some complicated spiritual exercise. It is seen as wearing your hair a certain way, or as the absence of drinking, smoking, chewing or running with those who are doin'! But just because we wear our hair a certain way or wear certain styles of clothing, it does not mean that we are holy. Likewise, just because a person does not drink, smoke or chew does not reveal that they are holy either. Holiness is much more than a rubber stamped form of human behavior. It is largely part of a believer’s personal relationship with God and how God speaks to them when it comes to living out their Christian life before Him. In short, it simply means this; to be separated unto God to do what God wants you to do, the way God wants you to it, when God wants you to do it. Have you separated your life to do this? If not, Why not?

Romans 12:1 tells us this is acceptable unto God.
Hebrews 12:14 tells us no man will see the Lord without this.

Smith Wigglesworth said, "You must every day make higher ground. You must deny yourself to make progress with God. You must refuse everything that is not pure and holy. God wants you pure in heart. He wants you to have an intense desire after holiness." He went on to say, "I find nothing in the Bible but holiness, and nothing in the world but worldliness. Therefore, if I live in the world, I will become worldly; on the other hand, if I live in the Bible, I will become holy."