Holy Ones in the New Testament: What “Saints” Really Means

Now, then, there comes another passage that does not contain the word ‘holy ones’. Now it has a number on it also, that’s number one, but it has at the top ‘sanctification’ or ‘holy-fication’. So I’m looking at this first page, and it says, “holy-fied,” and there is also you at the bottom of the page: “made holy” or “holy-fication”. So, we have ‘holy-fication’, and then we have another word that says ‘holy-fy’. We now have three words: holy-fication, holy-fy, and holy-fied.

The last page I did not…I was not kind to you. I did not type these passages out to you. I have left it for you to look these up, change them in your New Testament, and deal with them as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The last one is in Hebrews 2:11, and there are only those two references at the very bottom of the page. I’m going to repeat what’s there. There is the word holy, holy one, or holy ones. Then there is holy-fication. Holy-fied, past tense, and then holy-fy. It is the Holy Spirit that does the work of “holy-fying” us.

Well, believe it or not, tonight you had a prophecy, which simply means: I have spoken on the subject of Jesus Christ. Do not despise what you have heard. Now, whether or not you have good feelings about the one who said, it is a matter between you and the Lord, but do not turn down what you have heard because of who said it or because you got your feelings hurt or because you don’t like what the church is or is doing or because you’re in a bad mood.

Saints, there is such a thing called holy-fication, the process of having been made holy. Now, remember you’re all new Christians; you’ve never heard this before; you are a new church and new people; and now you have heard this, and you have believed that you are holy. Now it remains for you to encourage one another, to remind one another, and to strengthen one another concerning who you are. I didn’t say who you are in Christ, but just who you are.

You know that Moses stood before the Lord. The Lord put Moses in a rock, and Moses buried his face in the rock. God walked by with his back turned toward the rock. And when Moses came out, he was glowing. He put a veil over his face, not because his face was glowing, but because it was fading. You and I have gained a place in Christ that does not fade. It is only the veil of the flesh that keeps you from being exhibited as what you really are. Do you understand? If it were not for the veil of the flesh, the unbeliever would see you and fall dead at your feet…or possibly think they were dead at your feet. That’s the only record we have of anybody in the presence of a holy God…they always fall down as one dead.

Now, brothers and sisters, I don’t know what’s going to happen to you from here on out, but I can tell you this. I have just delivered to you about as high a gospel as can be delivered on this earth, and it’s time now for the church in Lithia Springs to get busy making it real. Therefore, I’m going to ask you to do something that will break your jaw. Do it. For the next six weeks, every time you meet someone, you either say, “Joe, you’re a holy one.” Or you say, “Hello, holy one.” Six weeks. I don’t know where the calendar comes out in six weeks from this day, but I’m asking the brothers to make note of it. And now I am putting you under the law of Christ to admonish, build up, edify, strengthen, comfort, and exhort one another with two words: “holy one” and “holy ones”.

Now, I’m going to ask you to do everything in your power for the next two weekends to come to the meeting and speak out the highest thing you can. That will sanctify your standing in Christ by declaring to one another what you have discovered about being holy. It’s not just to call somebody a holy one or say you’re a holy one. No, there are things to be discovered. I’ll give you an example. Almost every passage you will read is corporate. Paul will say, to you who are holy and to those in Achaia who are holy. We are sending help to the holy ones in Jerusalem and help from the other holy ones in other places. I send you greetings from the holy ones who are in Philippi. It is almost universal in the epistles that it is not only plural, but it is church plural. I think in all of that I have typed up here and sent to you, that there are only one or two verses that could be isolated as a statement spoken to one individual as their place in Christ.

Now, brothers and sisters, you have been given a mighty… You are a brand-new Christian. You are now rejoicing in your holy state. I now pronounce you: holiness. You’re now joining the holiness movement. (laughter) You are each and all holy, and every time you say it to another, it will help you. Now, when you come to that meeting next week, and the week after that, you come back again and again to bring to the holy ones who meet in Lithia Springs the discoveries you have made and make it strong and make it forthright. Declare it.

I ask you all to read, to breathe, to eat, every one of these passages as I have; I would ask you to do the same, especially the passages, to discover their depths and bring them to the church. You can speak of what it means to you. You can bring it to what it means to others in that room. You might be very impressed with how you should relate to the other holy ones and to other saints. A large part…a segment of those passages is over and over again speaking about your relations to the other churches more than I have ever noticed in my life.

Now, from this point on, I am depending on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to ignite these realities in your life, build you up, and make them real. Holy ones, see if you can help the other holy ones in this Ekklesia, grasp more of what you heard, and what they are. Seek to get this deeply woven into the being of everybody. Become evangelistic and encouraging and be courageous to say these things to learn not only what the passage states, but what you yourself, by means of your spirit, have discovered.

You’re really excited about fact the fact Jesus Christ found you and loved you and chose you in Himself, that you might put on His righteousness, that you might be with Him forever, that He is so wonderfully abundant rich, but the richness that God sees, the glory that God sees is equal to your view of Him on the most excited day you’ve ever been about Jesus Christ. That excitement exists in Jesus Christ as He considers the riches that are you; the preciousness, the riches, and the glory that are you. That is, when He came to the Father, and the Father said, “I want to give you an inheritance.” What do you want? He looked around the universe and said, “Oh, I would really like to have the holy ones.” That’s about as good as I could see, sister, but I will tell you this: your spirit should be able.

You are a brand-new Christian. I realize you’ve never heard this before. Listen, I wish somebody would produce a book that told me that all things have been crucified before I got there. That I came out of the womb as a believer…holy. And that is not all that we have learned or will learn. But boy, let me come out of that womb into a world where I have no enemies, for Christ has destroyed them all on the cross, but to find out not what a Baptist discovers every Sunday, that he’s a Christian sitting out there rowing a boat, but I have found that I have come into a family of people who all of them have the holiness and innocence and purity and life…of God the Father.