The Holiness Of God Series

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.