Holiness

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth."

Psalm 15:1-5 the righteous may fellowship with God

"Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, and who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."

Holiness is required for our well-being

Prov 3:11-12

"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

Holiness is necessary for effective service

2 Tim 2:21

"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."

Holiness is necessary for assurance of salvation

2 Cor 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Rom 8:14

"...because those who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God."

1 John 3:1-3

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

Battle for Holiness

Though we are delivered from the kingdom of sin and its rule, we have not been delivered from its attacks.

Rom 7:21

"So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law..."

Gal 5:17

"For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want."

Seat of indwelling sin is the heart

Mark 7:21-23

"For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly."

Luke 6:45

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

Sin works through our desires and misleads us

James 1:14-15

"...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

Eph 4:14, 22 Sin tends to deceive our understanding or reasoning

"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ... You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires..."

Gal 6:1 We can be tempted even when helping someone else escape sin

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted."

We escape sin by guarding the heart

Ps 139:23-24

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Prov 4:23

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

Heb 4:12 This is primarily done through Scripture

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."