13. The Cross Obligates Holiness

The Cross Obligates Holiness The sixth fact is this:the cross creates the obligation for holiness(1 Peter 1:15), “But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” You will find that the command in that verse is grounded upon the message in the eighteenth verse (1 Peter 1:18-19): “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ …”—because Christ died, therefore we belong to Him and we are bound in honor to work out the plan of redemption, if we stand upon the redemption position; but nothing can set us apart for God, nothing can make us holy, except as the cross is working in us, because the cross alone can keep the hindrances to holiness in the place of death.