The Holiness Of God

Temple Baptist Church - 11-28-2010

Exodus 3:1-6

Introduction:

A. One, if not the, greatest problems of our day is a lack of the fear of the Lord. This is a problem in both the lives of the saved and lost. A lack of the fear of the Lord makes us:

1. Irreverent in our Attitude toward God. We have a tendency to “humanize” God by bringing Him down to our level. This is an effort by the world to make sinful man comfortable in the presence of a holy God!

2. Casual in our Approach to God. I preached on this subject a few weeks ago. He is the Lord! He is Holy! He is to be respected and reverenced as such! I will say again that “there is no place in the Bible where God’s people approached God in a casual or irreverent manner.

3. Without a Proper Fear of the Lord, a sinner will not be saved! “He that cometh to God must believe that he is!” Not believe what we want to believe about God but believe what the Bible says about God!

B. R. C. Sproul makes this insightful observation from Isaiah 6: “The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.” He is a thrice holy God!

C. The Bible definition of the fear of the Lord is found in Psalm 19:9 which says, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” A proper fear of God causes the believer to live a holy life before Him.
D. It is of small wonder that the world is in the shape that it is in when people no longer have a proper fear of the Lord. Sin is rampant today and, as in the days of Noah, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

E. The church is also in a mess for the same reason! Churches of our day are becoming worldlier in both their worship and their appearance. If God is a thrice holy God, and the Bible says that He is, then He must be approached in a holy manner! Even God’s people do not have a right perspective of the holiness of God. Many of our churches today are just circuses that entertain worldly people instead of pointing the world to this thrice holy God.

Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. (Holiness has now become “legalism” in religion’s economy and God’s people see no real need for living in a biblical manner. As we walk with the Lord, we are to walk “before the Lord” in holiness.)

F. The holiness of God is an attribute essential to our relationship with God.

1. Without perfect holiness, God would be as imperfect as man and there could be no salvation.

2. Without perfect holiness, God would be accessible to the unrepentant sinner.

3. Without perfect holiness, God would not be God!

G. The Bible asks this question–Revelation 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are mad manifest.

1. God is infinitely and immutably holy. Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

2. The Holiness of God is unequaled–Isaiah 40:25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

H. The Holiness of God is ascribed to Him by:

1. Angels in heaven–Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

2. Angels that are fallen–Luke 4:34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

3. Men–1 Timothy 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hat seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

I. God is holy in:

1. His Work – Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

2. His Way – Leviticus 11:44-45 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

3. His Will – Leviticus 19:2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

4. His Word – Psalm 19:8-9 8-The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9-The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

1. The Holiness Of God Is An Unreachable Standard For Personal Righteousness (Impeccable-Immutable—Yet Imputable)

a. Man Thinks That God Unconditionally Accepts His Person – Habakkuk 1:13a Thou art of purer eyes that to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. (God does not “accept us regardless” of what we do and who we are!)

b. God did not accept Cain or his offering – Genesis 4:5-7 5-But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. (God accepts us only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.)

c. God’s holiness makes sinful man accountable in judgment – Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

2. The Holiness Of God Makes Our Salvation All Of Grace (The holiness of God makes the gospel a glorious necessity.)

a. The Calling Of Salvation Is Gracious - 2 Timothy 1:9 Who had saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

b. The Gift Of Salvation Is Gracious - Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

c. The Forgiveness Of Salvation Is Gracious - Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

3. The Holiness Of God Is Our Seal Of Eternal Salvation

a. Our Resurrection Depends Upon His Holiness - Romans 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

b. Our Sealing Depends Upon His Holiness - Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.