God's Holiness And Justice Series

God’s Holiness and Justice

Acknowledgments: Insights from message by Dr. Henry Schorr, Centre St. Church, Calgary AB Canada

Dr. R. C. Sproul - book - ’The Holiness of God’

Today were going to speak about God’s justice and holiness. In order to worship God correctly we need the Bibles perspective of God’s holiness and justice. When we get a glimpse of God’s holiness we will begin to trust him through the circumstances and valleys of this life.

God’s holiness is a reflection of His love and care for you. Now we understand a little of God’s holiness but his justice is least understood. God’s justice and holiness go together like a razor and a razor blade.

But as we read the Bible we wonder why God does the things he does. When we read the Old Testament we wonder why God punishes people so severely and even takes their lives. They are inseparable. God’s justice comes from his holiness.

Sometimes we don’t mind talking about God’s holiness but are reticent to speak about his justice. In fact if we were honest many of us would admit that we feel God is just not fair. The truth is many people have read about the justice of God, how he dealt with people and nations in the Old Testament, and said that is too much for me. They walk away without that God’s justice is driven by his holiness. So first lets think about God’s holiness.

There are four things we can learn about God’s holiness:

1. God is in a class all by Himself

In Isaiah we read ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.’ Let me give you a little hint. In ancient times there was a literary technique called repetition. The writer is emphasizing the most important point. That is why the word holy is repeated three times.

God is way above us in holiness. Were not even in the same league. Isaiah discovered that when it comes to righteousness and moral purity no human can stand before a holy God. God is untouched by the human decay and sinfulness of this world. There is no defect and no mar in our holy God. God’s holiness overwhelmed Isaiah. He is brought to a point of total humility because he not only saw God’s holiness but how sinful he was before our majestic holy God.

People who have been caught in a tsunami, avalanche, hurricane, or tornado understand this in part. They say they are just awestruck, terrified, and speechless at the moment. They get a sense of the almighty power of Almighty God.

The disciples of Jesus experienced this first hand. One day they were in a fishing boat on Lake Galilee. A huge storm came up and the boat was ready to sink. Jesus was asleep at the stern. They lost it. They shook Jesus awake and yelled ‘hey don’t you even care if we drown?’ Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and the waves. The wind was instantly gone. The lake was instantly calm. The disciples marveled and said ‘even the wind and the waves obey him.’ Do you see what happened here? They knew the lake, they new the weather patterns. They were rugged fishermen. But they could do nothing about this ACT of GOD, this disaster that threatened their lives. They were in the same boat with someone who had total power over nature. They saw that Jesus was no ordinary man. They knew that Jesus was in a class all by himself. Even nature was subject to him. That is what Isaiah also experienced.

2. God’s holiness reveals what we are. The Bible says when Isaiah saw this vision of God he was seated on a throne, high and exalted. Isaiah experienced the holiness and majesty of God. That is something we will all experience. If we do not experience it in this life we will experience it in the next. The Bible says that one day ‘every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.’ Not some tongues, but every single one. You’re included, every Muslim, every atheist, all your family members. None will escape bowing down to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, so why don’t we start today?

Some of you refuse to do that because you do not want to give up

control of your life. What your really saying is I know what I need better than God does. I can make my own decisions. I can solve my own problems. That is where Isaiah was. Oh, like you he was in a place of worship. But his heart was not right until he saw a vision of God’s holiness.

Years ago Evelyn and I were Directors of a Christian Family Camp Weekend. The keynote speaker was a friend of mine, Bernie Smith. Now Bernie was an awesome man of God. The kind of guy, who would wake up at 4:30 AM daily, read the Bible and pray for two hours. None of us could live up to Bernie, including his wife Margaret. Now Bernie was at times strong willed. So he said in his serious voice that if he was on the Board of the Camp there would be no tuck. For those of you who are not familiar with camp tuck is basically junk food time. Around 2 in the afternoon the tuck bell goes and you get cold pop, chips, maybe some licorice. Bernie said the camp should only have fresh fruit for snacks. He didn’t just talk the talk, he walked the walk. This guy ran marathons into his seventies. And you know he was right; sugar just wires the kids and is unhealthy for all of us. But Bernie’s wife was different. Since Bernie got up so early he always had a nap from 1:30 to 3:30 PM so he slept through tuck. So picture this, its 2 PM one day and the tuck bell rang. I see Margaret, Bernie’s wife coming toward me. Her arms are loaded up with cold pop, chips, and licorice. So I say hey Margaret didn’t Bernie say that we should only have fresh fruit. She looks back at me and says ‘yea but don’t forget the preacher is sleeping.’