"the Holy Nature Of God"

“The Nature of God”

August 11, 2019

1 Peter 1:3-9; 13-16

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

I want to attempt to take on a subject that is way over my head –the nature of God. Many people better educated and smarter than I, have written volumes about this subject, but I feel compelled to say a few words about it. There are so many people today professing to know God that clearly don’t have an understanding of who He is or whom He has revealed Himself to be. They formulate theologies that contradicts His clear revelation to us. I feel I have an obligation to pass on to you the truth as God has revealed it to me. I can’t do anything about false teachers and preachers but I can try to ensure you know the truth.

Everyone has access to the internet these days and many put themselves out there as spiritual teachers and guides and are simply not qualified to do so. They are not mature enough, educated enough or spiritual enough. Some live in open rebellion to God. Some haven’t even read the Bible through. Some gather their facts from some pretty sketchy sources. Someone said,

“If you want to call yourself a Christian, you’ll need to embrace the definitions offered by Christianity. If you don’t you may still be a theist, but you won’t be a Christian theist.”

It is so important to have the correct facts. I’m convinced so many teachering in Christendom have the wrong concept of God and is passing it on as fact.

The Bible says,

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” James 3:1

I fought tooth and nail with God about my call to preach and even backslid for a time over it. I didn’t enter the ministry lightly. When I finally did surrender to the call of God, I entered college knowing I didn’t know anything about God or His ways or pastoring and so sought hungrily for knowledge. I still know so little about God, but He has led me and taught me a few things. By His grace, He has enabled me to pastor for almost 42 years now and I hope to end my service to Him strong and true.

As we begin our look at God I think the place to start is His holiness. God is holy. God is always holy. In everything He does He is holy. We must not forget that. Holiness is the major quality of His being. The angels in heaven, day and night, sing,

“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

Revelation 4:8

Again, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.