The Holiness of God
(topical)
Intro:
Examples of holy items: my mother’s china...special; Emeril uses "truffle oil"; truffles are underground mushrooms that can bring hundreds of dollars apiece...holy (special)
Yet God is holy in an much greater and deeper way
Main Idea: God¡¦s Holiness is crucial to grasp; it is a key to our understanding of Who it is we serve and worship.
TS----„³ By examining God¡¦s holiness from a number of angles, we can begin to grasp a little of what is involved.
I. The Holiness of God Defined
1. Non-ethical holiness
(1) Above, superior, and separate from His creation
(2) Awesome, sacred, unique
NIV Psalms 113:4-6
4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
NIV Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
NIV Exodus 15:11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
NIV 1 Samuel 2:2 "There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
2. Ethical Holiness
(1) pure, light without darkness, sinless, incapable of wrong doing
(2) consistent with that which is right
NIV Habakkuk 1:12-13
12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
NIV Isaiah 6:1-5
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
NIV 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
II. Attributes Which Seem to Flow from His Holiness
1. Righteousness (being/doing right)
NIV Romans 3:25-26
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--
26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
NIV Psalms 7:9 O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.
2. Justice (the quality of being fair)
(1) God does not treat everyone equally, but fairly¡K
(2) Cases in an emergency do not receive EQUAL treatment, nor
are they given equal attention.
(3) God sets the standard first (the Lawgiver)
(4) God judges by the standard (judge and jury)
NIV Genesis 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
NIV 2 Timothy 4:8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
III. How God Shows His Holiness
1. By hating sin
NIV Proverbs 15:9 The LORD detests the way of the wicked but he loves those who pursue righteousness.
NIV Proverbs 15:26 The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him.
2. By delighting in righteousness
NIV Leviticus 19:2 "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: `Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
Psalm 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.
3. By refraining from doing evil Himself
God can bring calamity or permit evil, but He Himself does not do evil; He does use evil to accomplish His ends, however.
NIV Job 34:10 "So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong.
4. By separating Himself from sinners
NIV Isaiah 59:1-2
1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
5. By Punishing sinners
NIV Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death¡K
Hebrews 2:2-3, ¡§For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?¡¨
6. By providing an infinite sacrifice to save others: the death of Christ both demonstrates His love AND holiness
NIV Romans 3:22-26
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--
26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
IV. God¡¦s Holiness and Us
1. We are to aim for holiness
NIV 2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
2. The Gospel is About Reconciling an Unholy People to a Holy God
3. Confession of sin and the resulting forgiveness is based upon the justice of God; His grace was seen in providing a way for His justice to be satisfied (propitiated)
NIV 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
4. The reason for church discipline is because the Church is God¡¦s Church and God is holy:
NIV 1 Corinthians 5:4-8
4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,
5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
5. God disciplines us as individuals both out of love AND His holiness:
NIV Hebrews 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
NIV Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
CONCLUSION
1. Is your God a Holy God?
2. Have you been reconciled to Him through the loving and Holy sacrifice of His Son?
3. Do you take seriously the call to be holy as He is holy? Not that you can do it, but do you hunger for God so much that you want to be like Him? Or is your spiritual appetite suppressed because of too much junk food?
