Holiness and Faith - David Mitts

""But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."  Joh 16:13 (NASB)

Click here to listen to "Holiness and Faith"

In the times that we live in, it is becoming increasingly difficult to discern what is true and what is not true.  The voices of fear, doubt, and confusion scream loudly across the airwaves, and people rush about in a panic trying to control what they feel as a result. Yeshua prophesied that this time would come. Let’s look at Matthew 24, beginning at verse 4 through 14.

"And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. "You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."  Mat 24:4-14 (NASB)

Let’s comment on a few aspects of this section.

1. “I am the Christ”- decoded is I am your savior. These are the voices who expound their political solutions based on false, one-world government ideologies such as state-sponsored health care, “free tuition”, debt eradication, socialism, and a "doctrine of sameness" where all people are supposed to be the same, what the false savior voice calls income equality, a total lie from the pit of hell.

a. ""He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?"  Luk 16:10-11 (NASB)

b. Faithful implies the application of the instructions of the Holy Spirit who knows each by name and speaks to us based on that relationship with unique, not same, identity and destiny.

2. Wars and rumor of wars: decoded divisiveness. Many people have a fantasy about peace that is really a childish notion birthed in a utopian lie that we can work it all out if we can just be tolerant of one another. Sounds good on the surface but what is never mentioned is that until Yeshua is fully Lord of all people, this is impossible. Why? Because someone will always be in charge and will use fear not love to rule.  They will impose their relative values, ie abortion, euthanasia, sterilization, taxation, power control through defensive weapon control, separation of people based on ideology etc. 

a. ""Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD."He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it."  Mat 10:34-39 (NASB)

i. The sword that divides is the sword of the spirit, the inner conversation of the heart. This is why training in hearing the voice of God is essential in this hour!

ii. This divisiveness is being intensified in this hour. The issue for many Christians is the thinking that we are basically good and those who oppose us are basically misunderstanding us and if we could convince them of our goodness, they would see the error of their ways. Does that sound like what a sword does?

iii. The voices that oppose us don’t just disagree. They trust in a totally different voice called the world system.

iv. Trusting in the world system is trusting in power politics based in fear and economic and political power, what Yeshua calls trusting in mammon or riches.

b. "And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus *answered again and *said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" Looking at them, Jesus *said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life."  Mar 10:23-30 (NASB)

c. In this hour there will be divisions by design!

3. False prophets, iniquity, cold love, endurance, and true salvation.

a. False prophets have always minimized the threat of lawlessness.  This is the voice of tolerance for perversions, such as abortions, sexual deviancy, adultery, covenant-breaking, and godlessness.

b. These produce a coldness of heart towards God and others, which we are seeing.

c. Endurance is the key to true salvation. How do we build endurance? We run the race against weightiness. Weightiness is a word for glory.  By this, I mean that the glory of the world tries to resist us with its chief weapon, fear. We respond by falling more in love with God and others.

d. "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."  Rom 8:15-17 (NASB)

In this hour we have to more than ever understand what true holiness is.  Religious holiness is based on don’t touch this or look at that. It is based on an ideology of fear. It drove the church into developing codes of behavior to try in the flesh to control sin.

We segregate ourselves from whatever we deem as evil and in so doing join in with the very evil we are trying to inoculate ourselves against. This is the way of the false prophets of doom. The Apostle Paul in training the believers in Colossus spoke to this:

"If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."  Col 2:20-23 (NASB)

This is the definition of religious holiness, exclusion zones of “safe” behavior. From this, we get communes and cults. The obvious problem of shrinking our world to “safe” zones is that it is a strategy born of fear.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  2Ti 1:7 (NKJV)

The power key of the Spirit is where the conversation can be activated with God’s heart and perspective.  This the place of love.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love."  1Jn 4:18 (NKJV)

Love perfects our inner conversation. 

"For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump."  Gal 5:5-9 (NKJV)

The hope of righteousness by faith. This is the promise of God towards us who trust in Him. No weapon formed of darkness against us will prosper. Circumcision and uncircumcision refer to external differences. This is a result of separation theology, the haves and the have nots of the religious rules. What prevails is the inner conversation of our heart, working through the eyes of love. Religion or any labeling system is the leaven of hypocrisy that really just reveals the judgments of the heart, attempting to control fear in life through deciding who is right and who is wrong.

Then, we might ask, “what is true holiness”?

The Hebrew word is kadosh!

"Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.""  Exo 3:5 (NASB)

Kadosh means set apart for a distinct purpose. What made the ground where Moses stood holy? Why take off his shoes on this piece of ground? The phrase is “Adamat Kadosh”. The obvious answer is where God places His voice becomes holy ground. 

Holiness is determined by His Presence and His Speaking. Let’s go back to our chapter verse for this section:

""But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."  Joh 16:13 (NASB)

Holiness is a relationship to the voice of truth.  It is a condition of love! It is a description of the surrender of ourselves into the boundaries of Holy matrimony unto the lover of our soul!

When we are in love, we cannot be also in lust. Lust is a system of control. Love is the place of oneness, the losing of our self-protection. Holiness is really a calling into love. In love, our eyes change from those that see the flaws and imperfections of others into eyes that see the possibilities and beauty.

Activation: Looking with eyes of love, true holiness: Eye Gazing

The Science behind the Trust-Enhancing Eye Gaze

Researchers have found that eye gazing is related to the release of the bonding chemical, oxytocin. This is the same chemical that is released during breastfeeding, and it has also been found to play an important role in social behavior. Eye contact engages the moral brain. It has been linked to a decrease in bullying, an increase in empathy, and the cultivation of love and trust. As Dr. Mona Fishbane put it, “When we look into another’s eyes, we pick up on his or her feelings; we experience a resonance in our own body, feeling what the other feels.”

Spend some time, at least a few minutes gazing into another’s eyes with an open, I love the Christ in you, attitude of heart.