The Holiness of God

[0:00] good evening let's pray before we start the preaching of the word thank you father for having the opportunity one more time to be gathered with your people to rejoice in the singing and preaching of your word we pray that you bring your word father in power in the strength of your spirit that the word may meet lord our needs for everything father we ask you for your goodness and presence in our midst at this hour in jesus name we pray amen we've been in the radio program talking about the attributes of god and it's been really a blessing as we study those topics and find so much to learn and particularly to apply to our lives to the point that many times when we study those things we don't expect primarily we think that we're going to teach them to others but we find ourselves being edified more and more i've been preaching in philippians for since the beginning all this one year already but i stopped the series to get into this topic of the attributes of god today i want to talk about the holiness of god i want me to touch on three main aspects one is what is the what is holiness what is the holiness of god how that the holiness manifests in creation and the implications of that holiness for salvation and for our life the first thing is about holiness what is holiness and the main thing to keep there the the meaning of the word is to set apart but in relation to god in what i was studying from systematic theology of wayne gruden he defines the holiness of god as god being completely separated set apart from seeing a moral corruption and devoted completely to his honor and god's the only being that by worshiping honoring himself does not commit sin and we see in the scriptures over and over how god called his people to praise him to adore him to bring honor to his name and at first i make looks like something vain but when we go and look closely it's exactly the opposite he's the only being excellent perfect in all of his attributes in such a way that if god allows we to worship something else he's not giving us the best he cannot worship anything else but him and

[4:01] we see since the beginning of scripture how his holiness shaped in many ways the things that we see in scripture in the bible one is the difference between the god of scripture and those pagan deities in the old testament one of those is molek we see how sacrifices were made to this god to the point that children were being passed through fire to appease those false deities in jeremiah chapter 32 verse 35 the lord says and they built the high places of baal which are in the valley of the song of hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to molek which i did not command them nor did it come into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause judah to sin so we see there how the people that were worshipping this false god and in particular the ammonites that were of those pagan nations that were close to israel worshipped this idol and they will offer what they thought was the most precious sin that they had that was their children no doubt something of incredible value but we even see that the god of creation of all the universe even that offering will not satisfy god's justice and holiness and how all the opposite is an abomination to offer a human sacrifice to try to please the god of heaven and earth we may see that another case is a veil that we saw in that text that people will offer animal sacrifices to worship dead people and that too was an abomination to god since the beginning of scripture in genesis we see how the holiness of god start setting god aside of all of those false divinities and put him in a unique place in such a way that man could not imagine how to please god unless god revealed to us in psalms 106 verse 28 to see what we're talking about veil we see the scripture says they joined themselves also to veil of pier and eight sacrifices made to the dead pier was apparently the mountain the location where they will worship this false deity and god condensed that once more so god we see there that by virtue of his holiness is completely set aside and the same thing he was demanding to the children of israel to not contaminate themselves in any way with other people and that's

[8:01] one of the things that we see in scripture over and over where god will not allow the children of israel to marry or have intimate dealings with the surrounding nations because they will end up adopting their customs and religions and rituals and end up committing idolatry and as we read scripture we see that over and over so we see that his holiness is unique and special and not only how god asked the people of israel to behave but in creation we see in creation since genesis chapter 1 where god creates the universe human beings in the creation we see that in verse 4 and verse 12 of chapter 1 verse 18 21 how god as the days of creation are progressing says that those things are good he's seeing that everything that he's creating is pure another way to translate that word good will be beauty and we see how god is pleased with what he's creating and in verse 26 of genesis chapter 1 i read then god said let us make man in our image according to our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over the cattle over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth verse 27 so god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him created them male and female he created them so we see there not only the way that god is separated and the things that he has his people but now we see in creation how god create everything perfect without corruption without blemish and in the case of human beings we at the end of creation in day number six we read in verse 31 that when god made man in genesis 131 says god saw everything that he had made and indeed was very good so the evening and the morning were the sixth day not only god found it good but very good at the end of creation every sin was created without blemish perfect without sin without corruption and we see again that quality that attribute of holiness and perfection even in the things that god creates we we human beings he makes something particular that is we are created in his image in his likeness in that what is called part of his attributes the quality and nature of god he communicates to us some of those so some of god's attributes can he has communicated to us and one is reason and intelligence we can reason and understand the way the universe works because god is a rational intelligent being and he created an universe

[12:01] that has rationality that is an amazing outstanding thing to say things from the outside seem to be working randomly but everything works in a perfect way and that's why we are here today and even in the middle ages scientists that were of christian influence will see the universe and thought that they could study the universe because it was created by an intelligent rational being that is god and they expected to be able to understand that universe something that the unbeliever could not say because they believed that the universe came by itself randomly not created but an almighty or knowing god we see how creation is perfect there in the beginning in genesis 1 how god give us not only the intelligence the reason but moral qualities that is part of his attributes in this case we can image that holiness that something that love that god has not at the same degree but we can be a reflection and that was what we were created for in the beginning to reflect to image forth god's moral qualities that he communicated to us in creation all of us know this story how god won do a warning to adam and eve that the day that they violated his commands and eat from the tree they will die and the promise of god does not fail they disobey god they are tempted by satan they fall and with that death come corruption and not only that eternal separation from god that is condemnation in hell so man before the fall had a fellowship a communion with god and we see how the command that god gave them as being that were morally responsible and spiritually responsible before god had implications in the here and now to their bodies and to creation they started aging sickness came into this world and they physically died and not only that eternally too by condemnation by being lost without god and lost all the fellowship that they enjoyed so we see too that back then in the times of christ religious people philosophies came that had a different view again than scripture we see how a movement called gnosticism that comes from the word gnosis means knowledge and how this group thought that the body was something despicable not to appreciate not worthy of anything and the soul was the pure special thing to them so they felt that when we die that is a good thing to happen because our souls are liberated from the cage from the prison of the body but as we see in the scripture that is not the case god created our physical bodies and they have tremendous values for him we see how the gnostics believe that the material world or that we see around with our senses was not created by the

[16:01] almighty god but an inferior evil deity because to them that was not good even a philosophical movement called dualism that sees the soul and the body as two completely unrelated things undermining the value of the body and putting the soul the spirit as the main thing to worship when we go to scripture we see a completely different picture where god considered life priceless and even his creation so the scripture don't see this dichotomy between the soul and the body even though they are separate god sees them as valuable and worth redeeming both to the point that in this day and age we see in the church in christian churches a super emphasis in the spiritual things where somebody may say unsafe i know god he's my christ he's my savior but still he's not my lord and the person may live a life of sin completely controlled by their desires and they consider themselves christian if we trace that back in time we will see that it's not new because as we saw before narcissism and dualism believe the same thing to the point that today i don't know exactly how long that doctrine has been around but there's the doctrine of the cardinal christian that believe that you can be safe but you are not completely surrendered to christ lordship in your life and still you are controlled mainly by your senses and your desires and your wants but when we go to scripture that is not backed up by scripture there's no such a type of christian in the bible there's no spiritual christian and a kind of christian that is an oxymoron in itself all of that to show that when we study scripture we see that god and his attributes has profound implications to the way that we see life to our cosmo vision the way that we see the universe working and our life itself not only we see how god is we see the creation how he manifests differently but we see two the implications for our salvation and human beings we see that because of god's holiness and man's fall there's a separation there's a gap that we cannot bridge on our own that cause separation from him to the point that we can never be directly in his pressing in this falling nature one of the things that we see in scripture is the patriarchs how the bible talks about abraham and jacob isaac even moses seeing the lord but if we look closely in exodus chapter 33 we see we see how moses is asking god that he wants to see his glory and how god expressed to him

[20:01] that no man can actually see him in full glory in verse 20 of chapter 33 of exodus i read but he said god you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and leave so all those verses in scripture that we see that jacob abraham saw god face to face is using human language we see what is called anthropomorphic language language in the form of humans to express god's glory being manifested in a particular and special way no doubt to human beings but not his full glory and everything comes back to his holiness god is so separate from sin and corruption that again in this fallen nature we cannot be fully in his presence even the lord jesus christ in john chapter one makes this clear we see in a scripture there in the chapter one of the gospel of john where christ says in verse 18 that no one has ever seen god but the only song that is in the bosom of the father he has made him known christ is the embodiment of what god is what we know of god was manifested in this earth more completely in the person of christ the apostle paul even later than that in the epistle of timothy has something to say about it and it's important to remember that paul had a vision of god that was unique that was not even given to him to reveal and he had an extraordinary conversion as we as read in the book of acts and even paul says in first timothy chapter six verse sixteen relation to seeing god and i'm going to read the text who alone has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see to whom be honor and everlasting power amen so paul too confirms one more with jesus christ and scripture in the old testament that no man has ever seen god so what we see through scripture with those prophets that were great man of god that god manifested to them are glimpses of his glory in a particular way but not seeing this holy pure god in all his majesty because in the sinful fallen nature that we have we cannot see him and that's what christ came to do to fully show us who was god when he took his human nature as the second person of the trinity salvation only can take place because of christ and we see again the pattern the we see the cohesion the coherence of this who god is how he manifests that in creation how god is alone separated from corruption now the implications for salvation how christ comes and

[24:02] has no sin at all live a perfect life in hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 the scripture says that christ was similar to us in everything but without sin so we see that he lived a perfect life carried the sin of his people on the cross and god because of his justice and righteousness crushed him like says the scripture in isaiah 53 but not only because of the death of christ are we saved that will not have been enough christ lived a perfect life fulfilling every single aspect of the law so if christ has not completely fulfilled that we will not be saved because we will be unrighteous in his eyes christ lived a perfect life and that righteousness is put is imputed to our favor when we repent and believe and that is the only way that we can have fellowship communion restored with a holy

[25:19] God because God sees us covered with the righteousness of christ we see how again this holiness has such a pervasive impact in everything that we see in this side of life and for us seeing that is going to have an impact an effect something that we see in isaiah a prophet that was a lover of god a pious man and when isaiah has that vision of god again without seeing him in his full glory i'm going to read in chapter 6 of isaiah verse 1 through 5 what the prophet wrote isaiah 6 verse 1 in the year that king uzziah died i saw the lord sitting on a throne high and lifted high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple above it stood seraphim each one had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one cried to another and said holy holy holy is the lord of host the whole earth is full of his glory and the post of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke i said woe is me for

[27:08] I'm undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes has seen has seen the king the lord of host we see that Isaiah thought that he will die when he got that vision again the holiness of God was so overwhelming that he felt that he will drop dead right there he felt that he will die right there in the moment so God in his goodness does not show to us in all his glory unless we may lose our life in this falling nature and what the implications of that are for we that by his grace have been saved for the redeemed people that God has that is the walking in newness of life the having met

[28:09] God in conversion the being saved by him is going to have a strong impact in the way that we live in Ephesians chapter 1 I'm going to read verse 3 and 4 Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 bless be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love we see that that attributes that not only God has but

[29:10] Christ manifested and that is imputed to us by his justice that God sees us covered by him is to have a particular impact in our life that we are to imitate and to walk in newness of life in Ephesians chapter 2 in the next chapter of the same book we see in verse 8 9 and 10 that says that we were saved by grace through faith and none of that is from us but a gift of God not by work so nobody should boast and in verse 10 is the important part that says to walk in those good works that he prepared for us beforehand so we see again the implications of that salvation that is a natural flow of that holiness of God in order for we to commune and fellowship with him in the book of

[30:13] Peter the first epistle in chapter 1 verse 14 through 16 I will read this text as obedient children not conforming yourself to the former lost as in your ignorance but as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I am holy and the apostle Peter is just quoting the old testament in Leviticus the same expression that God said to the children of Israel about his holiness how that attribute that quality that property of God is so manifested so then to close up we saw what is holiness the holiness of

[31:15] God how God manifests that holiness to his people how we see that holiness in creation and not only in all that he created but in us too how we got that unique and tremendous privilege of being able to image forth some of those attributes that he communicated to us like the moral quality of being able to walk reflecting his holiness and the implications that they have for our life here and now so in such a way that we cannot see this dichotomy this division that even in the modern church are with what we profess and the way that we walk or how we behave because they are closely tied together according to scriptures and a couple of applications that we may take from this is to ask ourselves if we think of

[32:29] God as being holy first and foremost of being separated completely unique where he's at and that we are to meditate on this truth to think of ourselves where we are we are here today spiritually speaking in our walk with God if we think about one or two years ago if we see progress if we see that we are walking in newness of life if we see that being reflected in us and to meditate in this truth meditation that we maybe think of something that is only for oriental religions is not it's something that we have to practice in our spiritual life meditation will be so to speak the digestive system of the soul in the same way that we have a stomach and intestines that absorb and digest food the pancreas deliver all of those organs that help us eat a meal and get the benefit get the vitamins the nutrients of that in the same way by meditating on a text about

[33:48] God's attributes we can internalize that and pray especially that God through the spirit through his holy spirit enable us to apply that that we may live in such a way that we bring honor to his name so these implications are for the here and now as we see not only for something that we professed in the past however many years ago we did it for salvation but to be growing every every day more according to his image and another thing that we can do is to pray to commit ourselves to consecrate to be consecrated to God remember that the Lord is completely devoted to his honor we are called to be devoted to his glory too and if you are here today without the Lord this is not for a non-believer but

[34:51] God commands you to repent and believe the gospel that you may get to know him that you may have communion with him because of the fallen nature and sin that will only take somebody to eternal perdition so let's pray that the Lord bless his word and apply it to our hearts thank you Lord for your goodness for your mercy to us because you have given us salvation the Holy Spirit scripture prayer as means to a name Lord as means to grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ and ultimately to magnify your holy and great name come in power

[35:57] Lord with your spirit edify your people and if somebody don't know you here bring them to Christ for salvation in Jesus name we pray amen confessed