Be Ye Holy: The Fire That Burns Out Sin

The apostle Peter writes to a scattered, suffering people — strangers in a hostile world, hunted and despised for the name of Christ. Into their trial he sounds not a word of comfort first, but a thunderclap of command: "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." Peter reaches back to Leviticus, to the God who set Israel apart from the nations, and he plants that ancient demand squarely in the heart of the New Testament church. Holiness is not a Levitical relic. It is the unchanging requirement of an unchanging God, and He grounds it not in our striving but in His own nature. He is holy; therefore His people must be holy. There is no softening this verse, no explaining it away. It stands like a flaming sword at the gate.

But mark well what kind of God commands it. He is not a tyrant ordering what He will not supply. The same blood that washes away the guilt of our sins is the blood that cleanses the very root and fountain of sin within. "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light... the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). The new birth makes us children of God; but the carnal nature, that inward bent toward rebellion, still wars against the soul of the regenerate. God did not save us to leave us divided between two masters. By a second definite work of grace He sanctifies wholly — He purifies the heart, crucifies the old man, and burns out the carnal mind upon the altar.

This is why our Lord ascended and sent the Comforter. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is fire — and fire consumes. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matthew 3:11). When the hundred and twenty tarried in that upper room, the cleansing flame fell, cloven tongues sat upon them, and they spake with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. That same Pentecost is for you. The evidence has not changed; the power has not waned. The Holy Ghost still fills clean vessels, still looses the tongue in praise, still endues with power from on high to witness and to overcome.

A holy God demands a holy walk, and a holy walk demands separation. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing" (2 Corinthians 6:17). You cannot carry the fire of God in one hand and the friendship of the world in the other. The fear of God must return to His house — that trembling reverence which hates sin because He hates it, which counts no entertainment, no appetite, no companionship worth the grieving of the Spirit. Holiness is not a garment worn on Sunday; it is a fire that burns continually, searching, purifying, refining until the dross is gone.

So come to the altar. Do not turn from this page and reason yourself out of God's command. If sin remains, repent of it now; if the carnal nature still stirs, present your body a living sacrifice and let the fire fall. Tarry until you are filled. Consecrate every chamber of your life, holding nothing back, and let the Holy Ghost take full possession.

For the trumpet is about to sound. The Lord is coming soon, suddenly, in the clouds — and He comes for a church "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). Be ye holy. The fire is ready. Will you let it burn out your sin today?