Knowing God Series #6
“Our infinitely Pure God”
Introduction
After a brief study of the “Fear of the Lord” which has to do with a proper knowledge of God I felt led to follow up with a series on knowing God better. Proverbs teaches the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. I began the summer with a deep desire to really know God better by studying what the Bible teaches concerning His person and works.
Hosea wrote to a culture in a position not unlike our American culture today. The proud pursuit of prosperity, possessions and pleasure crowds out a genuine pursuit of God. Hosea called them to return to return to God. He called them to return because they had turned away from God. There are some who would never admit to technically turning away from God, but in reality their heart is far from Him. God is not their prime pursuit. A mere cursory look at their activities and actions clearly demonstrate a loss of their first love. God said this to the same people.
This people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote...Isa 29:13
Hosea the prophet called the people to return to God.
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." Hosea 6:1-3
Hosea promised the people that if they returned God would heal, revive, restore to life.
Are you feeling distant from God? Do you feel torn and wounded by life? Maybe God is trying to get your attention. At certain points in our life we need wake up calls; crisis moments. We need such moments throughout our life because we tend to stray often. We lose our first love.
We lose our fire and passion for God. Hosea urged the people of Israel to return to the Lord and press on to know the Lord. The word used here is also used for pursuing an enemy, to passionately and purposefully run after, hunt, chase.
Does that describe our relationship with God?
His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth."
One of the reasons I chose to enter into this series is a personal desire for God’s refreshing.
So why is it so hard to keep a fervent pursuit of God? Why don’t we return to the Lord? Hosea succinctly identified the problem.
Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, and they do not know the LORD. Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him, And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also has stumbled with them. They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them. Hosea 5:4-6
Our church culture today demands the blessing without the sacrifice. Everything else seems more satisfying than knowing God. We need a crisis. We need a jolt of reality. Like the prodigal son, we need to come to our senses and declare, I shall get up and humbly return to my Father. Today we leave our exploration of the attributes that flow out of the infinite greatness of God to explore the next foundational attribute from which six others flow. As I have mentioned before, I believe that all God’s standard attributes could be deduced from just three of them.
God is infinitely Great
God is infinitely Pure or Righteous
God is infinitely Good
I. The nature of God
II. The Attributes of God
A. God is infinitely GREAT in His ability / capacity
God created us in His own image. Man possesses certain attributes that belong to God; not to the same degree yet similar.
He crowned us with splendor and majesty.
He gifts us with creative and ability.
He commissioned us to rule and reign over the earth.
He destined us to reflect His greatness and so a longing for greatness resides in every heart. At the rebellion, man’s greatness became marred by His sinfulness. God also destined us to live righteous and holy in truth because He is holy, just and true.
B. God is infinitely PURE in His morality
The infinite purity of God spawns six equally important aspects of God’s character.
1. God is HOLY
God is absolutely separated from all that is contrary to His own moral standard. He is above and separated from all evil because He is holy.
2. God is RIGHTEOUS / JUST
An absolute standard for right and wrong flows out of God’s unchangeable nature. He is the absolute moral standard and He perfectly adheres to that standard. He always acts righteously because He IS righteous. He cannot act otherwise. Righteousness and holiness form two sides of the same morality coin.
3. God is TRUTH
Not only does God always do right and never does wrong, He is the ultimate standard of reality.
He speaks truth because He is truth. The God of truth. Jesus is the truth. Spirit of truth. Being the infinitely pure God that He is, God has perfect reaction/response to any violation of His standard.
4. God feels WRATH / ANGER
God reacts to evil in our world wherever and at whatever level it may manifest.
5. God feels JEALOUS
God feels passionate about absolute fidelity to Him and to His standard.
6. God executes perfect JUDGMENT as the sovereign JUDGE
Out of His infinite purity, God must judiciously respond to anything that violates His infinitely pure person. Every image-bearer enters this world with a sense of rightness, and justice embedded in their heart. Deep within every human being is a longing to be and do right; to be pure. They may not embrace God’s standard of what is right and wrong but the need to be right still exists. At the rebellion, man decided to become the judge of what was good and evil apart from God. Since Adam, every person enters the world with a warped view of righteousness.
Romans repeats a truth from the psalms that there is none righteous, no not one. Because of Jesus, we can become righteous, holy and know truth. As regenerated children of God, we find ourselves reacting to evil with wrath and anger and a passion for fidelity to the will of the infinitely pure God. God will entrust us with judgment concerning those who have refused to embrace Jesus. There you have the roadmap for the next several weeks as we explore the truth of righteousness, holiness, truth, wrath, jealousy and judgment found in God and transferred in a minimal way to His creatures.
Logically we should start with the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God but I decided to begin with the Holiness of God. This aspect of God’s nature has been the catalyst for every revival in history.
A renewed realization of this attribute spurred countless groups and individuals to a deeper more vital relationship with God. My heart longs for it to do the same for us today.
1. God is HOLY
Let’s begin with a brief word study. The Hebrew root form is used nearly 1,000 times in the Old Testament. The Greek root form is used nearly 300 times in the New Testament. One would think this is a fundamental, even monumental, fact about God that deserves closer scrutiny. Both the Greek and the Hebrew root words convey the general idea of separation, set apart for a special purpose, to cut, to be unique, special.
These roots are translated into several English words.
Noun – holiness, sanctification, saint
Verb – sanctify, purify, consecrate, set apart.
Adjective – holy, pure, sanctified, sacred.
The words rarely appear in classical literature due, in part, to the fact that the general fallen mind had no use for such a concept, neither was it able to comprehend it. Rather than move toward a higher standard, we tend to lower the standards or adopt new ones in order to feel good about how “right” we are.
“Every man did that which was right in their own eyes (not God’s).”
Mythology portrayed the gods as powerful but horribly flawed in character and morals. Holiness finds its highest value in relation to the one true God. Holiness goes beyond the essential purity of the person or thing described; it is a word that communicates the extraordinary special nature of a person, place or thing. It designates someone or something that is different, special, and distinct.
Many of you have “holy things” in your home. They are things that have been “sanctified” (deemed special) regardless of actual value. At some time you “consecrated” them for a special use. i.e. Dishes, tools, decorations, sheets, clothes.
They are transcendent; above other things in your possession. We treat them differently, use them differently, think of them differently because of a decision to treasure them.
“Kids, these are my good dishes. Do not use them to feed the dog! They are only for special occasions.”
Many things in Scripture were “consecrated”, “sanctified”, “made holy” and thus called “holy”.
Holy Ground, holy assembly, a holy habitation (living space), Keep the Sabbath holy, a holy nation, holy men, holy gifts, Holy Place, consecrated clothes, sanctified plates, holy offerings, consecrated altar, special anointing oil, pure incense, God’s holy name, holy angels, holy temple, holy people (saints) prophets, covenant, faith. You get the idea.
Applied to God, it points to the fact that God is in Himself infinitely separated from all that is contrary to His own moral character and law and thus holy, special above, transcendent. He alone is absolutely free from defect of any kind. He is absolutely separated from any evil of any kind. He is holy! Because this concept is something so far out of our own experience, often some awesome effects and responses accompanied the revelation and realization of this truth in Scripture. Absolute purity is awesome.
“We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable.” Tozer
“Holy is the way God is. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other that it is. Because He is Holy, all His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.” Tozer
The Bible records numerous awesome encounters with the Holiness of God. God appeared to Moses in a flaming bush in the desert and was instructed to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground before a Holy God.
Who else among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is glorious in holiness like you—so awesome in splendor, performing such wonders? Exodus 15:11
God fried two sons of Aaron the High Priest for failing to follow worship protocol.
Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD meant when he said, 'I will be treated as holy among those who come near me. I will be glorified before all the people.' " And Aaron was silent.
Moses and Aaron failed to follow God’s explicit instructions and suffered the consequences.
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." Numbers 20:12
Joshua encountered the Holy Christ and was instructed to remove his sandals. Josh 5:15
Some men of Beth-Shemesh callously looked into the Ark and God struck down over fifty thousand of them.
And the men of Beth-shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?" 1 Sam 6.19
Most of the prophets experienced amazing encounters with the holy God and fell on their face.
Both Daniel and Ezekiel feel on their faces after visions of the throne room of God.
Holiness will forever be the theme of worship throughout eternity.
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed." Rev. 15:4
Isaiah recorded his encounter with the holiness of God early in his ministry in Isaiah 6.
In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne…
Uzziah ruled Judah for over fifty years and over time, his heart became proud.
When he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Because of that defiant act, God struck the long-time ruler with leprosy because of which he was isolated from society and eventually died. Sometime in the year Uzziah died, Isaiah experienced a vision of the Lord sitting on a throne. With Uzziah no longer on the throne because of defiance, Isaiah encountered the real king still sitting on a different throne.
His description of the throne room stands out.
“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted”
This is a throne in the heavenly temple occupied by the true sovereign of the universe. The throne stands above everything else indicating the transcendence of God’s reign. Whatever one sees of the Lord, it is only what God allows of Himself to be seen. Isaiah probably saw the Lord Jesus sitting on the throne.
the train of His robe filling the temple.
An indication of God’s immensity and majesty and splendor. The royal robe worn by Queen Elizabeth in 1953 was 18 feet long and weighed 15 pounds. God’s robe fills the whole temple area.
Seraphim (holy angels) stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory."
Perhaps the same angelic group referred to in Revelation who continually declares God’s holiness.
Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come." Rev. 4:8
The angels unite in a mighty antiphonal chorus calling out to one another. The central truth to be communicated to Isaiah against the backdrop of a sinful nation and race of people is the absolute separateness of God from all that is contrary to His own nature and purpose. God is holy! Hebrew literature employs repetition to emphasize the importance of a thought. We would use holy, holier, holiest. God is more than holy. He is more than just holy, holy. Our God is holy, holy, holy; the holiest of all. Our God is completely and absolutely separate from anything contrary to his own moral law and His absolute transcendence, his glorious uniqueness fills the earth. God’s holiness in this case manifested by filling the temple with smoke while the angelic chorus rattled the foundations of the temple by the sheer volume of their declaration.
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
Perhaps the smoke stood as an indication of God as a consuming fire ready to break out in flames of judgment. What a wonderful rare privilege to encounter such a manifestation of the Almighty. How did Isaiah respond?
The Inward Look
Then I said, "Woe is me (oy vay!) for I am ruined!”
This is the expression of a sense of absolute doom.
“ruined = to cease, cause to cease, cut off, destroy, cease, completely cut off, cut off, destroy, destroyed, perish, ruined, silenced.
What caused Isaiah to completely come apart? What would give him such a sense of impending doom?
“Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips”
Isaiah realized that in light of God’s absolute holiness, there was no chance for a sinner to survive a visit from a Holy God. How different from our usual feelings about God showing up.
Isaiah focused on the most difficult offender to keep in line; the mouth. James indicates that if you can avoid mouth mistakes, the rest of your life must be perfect. The tongue is a deadly evil set on fire by hell itself. The issue is not any particular sin, but the utter sinfulness of the human race. I am doomed and completely cut off because I am in God’s presence with sin in my life.
“for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
It was not the smoke or the quaking foundations; it was the fact that Isaiah stood face to face before the holy God that shook him to the core of his being. There was no more hope for Isaiah to clean himself up for God than to get a window clean with an oily rag. He needed a special act of mercy by God Himself. Everything about God is holy. He is absolutely separated from all that is contrary to his own moral law. His purity goes beyond our comprehension worthy of admiration and awe. Next to God, we are unclean, defiled, unworthy, fit for judgment by a Holy God. No matter how good we think we are, it is not good enough. God’s holiness and justice prevents Him from grading on the curve. Judgment is deserved and necessary. Any revival begins with a greater awareness of God’s holiness and our own sinfulness. This awareness leads to repentance or a godly sorrow which inspires new resolve to live differently.
"Repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord… Acts 3:19
There is only one place to find the cleansing necessary to maintain relationship with God.
The Inward Cleansing
What rescued Isaiah from certain judgment into faithful service?
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven."
What man could not do, what the law could not do, God does through His son Jesus. The work of Jesus provides both ceremonial cleansing and actual. I will devote a whole message to the teaching concerning holiness in the believer through the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. Because God is holy we his image bearers have the hope of holiness.
The Outward look
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8
The focus today is God’s holiness. When was the last time we were on our face from a renewed awareness of the holiness of God and our own unworthiness. Just because God doesn’t launch lightning bolts at every sin don’t assume everything is alright.
"These things (sinful behaviors) you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. Psalm 50:21
He is not like us. He is infinitely pure; absolutely HOLY.
Are you ready to meet Him?
Some need to be vived, made alive. Others need to be revived. Are you deeds preventing you from returning to God? REPENT and return – Press on to know the Lord.
