1. Because Christ died for it. Hebrews 13:12 Jesus Christ suffered and shed his own blood
on the cruel cross that we may be sanctified! He did not just die that we could be saved from our committed sins, but he died so that we may be free from all of sin. He suffered without the gate, that he may sanctify the people. By rejecting holiness we are in fact rejecting his death upon the cross. The reason he died was that we might be sanctified.
If we reject this second work, we are rejecting him. Heb. 6:1 1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,." And then verse
6 tells us that if we don't go on into perfection we crucify Christ again. Holiness is important because Christ died of it. 1 Thess. 4 gives us what the will of God is, sanctification. Benjamin West, the great painter, speaking of Gilbert Stuart, a brother artist famed for his beautiful coloring, used to say to his pupils, "It's no use to steal Stuart's colors; if you want to paint as he does, you must steal his eyes." When we are
baffled in our efforts to live as Christ lived, the record of His life, however wonderful it is, will not enable us to be like Him. What we need is His heart, His nature. Only divinity within us can recognize divinity without. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot know Him as God. Until we are filled with the Holy Ghost and completely sanctified we are not all that Christ wants us to be . Jesus Christ died for our sanctification and this is the first reason why it is so important. Holiness did not begin with John Wesley or George Straub, Jesus Christ died for our sanctification.

2. Because the Carnal Nature drives us without it. Romans 7:20-24 Paul wrote these verses describing his battle to do the whole law of the Old Testament. Yet, he recognized the sin nature in his heart and he battled with it to try to overcome it. So many today get
tied up in this chapter of Romans but fail to finish the chapter and read the next one. Paul was battled with the sin nature which was driving him to do things that he did not want to do, but with the inbred nature of sin in his heart he could not fully conquer sin. Paul was disillusioned and crying out for deliverance from his sin nature, however it's a good thing that Paul did not go to many of our preachers today and ask if there was deliverance for
he would have probably never found deliverance. But in the next chapter it tells of how he was delivered in verses 1-6 (read!). We must be delivered from that sin nature in our hearts. The absolute necessity of the indwelling Spirit of God is demonstrated by the forester. Whitewashing and spraying never reaches some parasites attacking the tree, so the forester bores into the very heart of the tree, and introduces chemical solutions which mingle with the sap and circulate through every branch and leaf. Thus is the old tree rendered absolutely safe from its foes. Is this not exactly the work of the Holy Spirit in the
lives of believers--to so indwell them as to render them safe from their foes? His ministry is very much like that of the antiseptic. To be effective the antiseptic must come in direct contact with the putrefaction in the flesh. Just so the Holy Spirit must be permitted direct access to the innermost secret sins of the believer if there is to be real spiritual blessing.
The second reason why holiness is so important, is because our carnal nature must be
removed because it will drive us back into sin if it is not gotten rid of. Holiness is important because it removes the sin nature from our heart.

3. Because our Celestial home-heaven demands it. Hebrews 12:14
If you desire to make heaven your home someday you must be sanctified. Holiness prepares us for heaven. No sin can be allowed into heaven because heaven is holy place that can not tolerate any sin. This includes the sin nature in our hearts. If we are not delivered from that nature than the work is not complete in our hearts. If God can not
completely cleanse us from all sin, than that would imply that God can not completely defeat the power of sin. Thank God, that he has conquered the power of sin, and his has provided full salvation to this who desire it. He suffered without the gate that we may be sanctified and make heaven our home some day.

A minister told how one Sunday night when he was quarantined in his house because his child had diphtheria, he watched his church next door; his church that he could not now enter. He was the lights shining through the windows. He watched the people going in. Then the service started, and he listened to the music. At last he couldn't stand it any longer. Silently, like a thief, he stole out at his back door, and crept up close to the window and listened. Within all was bright; outside he stood in the chill darkness. "I realized for the first time in my life, " he said, "what it meant to be shut out, what a terrible thing it meant to be shut out. And someday I should stand at the gate of Heaven. What a terrible thing if that door should be shut against me!" God does not want that! Nor do you! But we must to neglect the only means of opening that gate, even the acceptance of him who suffered without the gate that he might sanctify you. Heaven demands that we be holy in order to go there some day and this is why holiness is so important. No one will make it to heaven without be holy.

Conclusion:
Holiness is so very important. "Holiness is our watchword and song". Holiness is what we are all about. We must sing it, shout it, loud and long! Holiness is important because Christ died for it, the carnal nature drives us without it, and our Celestial home-heaven demands it. Holiness is essential. The Bible is a book on holiness; it tells of a holy God, a holy Christ and the Holy Ghost. God made a holy man, who lost his holiness through sin. The Bible reveals a plan of salvation that restores man to a holy state through a holy Christ; it tells of a holy heaven where nothing unholy can ever enter. It promises that man may dwell forever with a holy God and holy saints and angels. "Follow peace with all men
and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord."-Hebrews 12:14 Holiness is important today, in fact, it is of supreme importance if you desire to make it to
heaven. I encourage you today that if you have to already received the Holy Ghost since you believed, that you do so today. Holiness is important because Christ died for it, the carnal nature drives us without it, and our Celestial home of heaven demands it for entrance. Make holiness important in your life today.

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