The Lord Thy God Is Holy

Q: What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

The Bible emphasizes that God is holy, which is His most praised attribute, as seen in Psalm 99 and throughout Scripture. The Bible teaches that God's holiness is fundamental to His nature and is mentioned as His primary attribute. Psalm 99 declares, 'The Lord our God is holy,' emphasizing that God's holiness is crucial for understanding His character and actions. Holiness signifies being free from any blemish or defect, establishing His absolute perfection. This means that all of God's actions are inherently just and right, as affirmatively stated in Psalm 145:17, 'The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works.' Therefore, to understand God, we must grasp His holiness, which also reflects in His attributes of love and mercy.

Q: How do we know God is holy?

We know God is holy through Scripture, which repeatedly declares His holiness, as in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. God's holiness is revealed through numerous scriptural references, making it the most celebrated attribute. In Isaiah 6, seraphim cry out, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.' This establishes the preeminence of His holiness over His power and wisdom, as it undergirds and perfects all other attributes. Furthermore, in Revelation 4, the living creatures in heaven continually proclaim God's holiness. The essence of God's holiness means that He cannot look upon sin, as indicated in passages like Habakkuk 1:13. Holiness encompasses not just perfection, but also moral purity, which is evident in God's judgment and grace.

Q: Why is understanding God’s holiness important for Christians?

Understanding God’s holiness is vital as it assures Christians that God acts justly and rightly in all His ways. For Christians, grasping God's holiness is crucial because it provides assurance that God is absolute in His justice and righteousness. As Abraham stated, 'Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?' (Genesis 18:25). God's holiness guarantees that He cannot act unjustly, providing a foundation of trust for believers. This understanding affects not only how Christians perceive God’s actions, but also encourages a proper response in worship and obedience. It grounds our understanding of His love, mercy, and even judgment, affirming that these attributes flow from His perfect nature.

Q: What is the relationship between God's holiness and His power?

God's holiness ensures that His power is exercised justly and rightly, preventing misuse of His omnipotence. The relationship between God's holiness and His power is foundational; holiness governs how His power is expressed. Without holiness, God's vast power could lead to tyranny or arbitrary governance. Psalm 30:4 emphasizes giving thanks at the remembrance of His holiness, ensuring that His power operates within the realm of justice and righteousness. As Stephen Charnock noted, without holiness, the attributes of power and wisdom would be meaningless. Thus, God's holiness guarantees that His power is always used to fulfill His just and perfect will.

Now the subject of our lesson
this morning is this, the Lord our God is holy. He's holy. A couple of weeks
ago we looked at the Bible doctrine that God is, in the beginning
God, and that there is only one God. Then we looked at the Trinity. There are three distinct persons
in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But
there is only one God. What's He like? What's He like? I've been thinking for the last
two weeks on looking at the attributes of God, His characteristics. You know, attributes are characteristics.
of a person. It's the quality of a person.
It describes who the person is. And as I thought about them,
I thought, you have to start with this one. You have to start
with this. God is holy. Because that's spoken
of as concerning him more than any other attribute. God is holy. Holy is the first attribute that
we must start with. If God is not holy, then he's
not God. And he cannot be said to be good.
The Lord said there's none good but God. And if he's not holy,
then he's not good and he's not God. We would have just another
devil on our hands if that were so. But he's holy. Our God is holy. We are told
in the scripture Now, we're going to be turning to some scripture
because we need to see this from the Word of God. In Psalm 30,
look at verse 4. Verse 4, verse 4, verse 4, verse 4, verse
4, verse 4, verse 4, verse 4. of His holiness. Not His power, although we're
very thankful that God has all power. Not His wisdom, though
we are thankful that God is all wise. But His holiness. His holiness. What would God's
power be without holiness? Holiness ensures us that His
power is going to be used properly. in a just manner, in a right
manner. It says, give thanks at the remembrance
of His holiness. It says the same thing over in
Psalm 97, 12. Why? Because His holiness ensures
thus that He will do right. He will do right. I'm glad God's
holy. I am. Every child of God here and throughout
this world, they are glad that Almighty God is holy. Because
he'll do right. Abraham said the judge of the
earth will do right. Well, what ensures us that? His
holiness. His holiness. He will do right. And listen, here's another reason
we rejoice at the remembrance of his holiness. He'll do right
and he'll show mercy. Let me illustrate this. God cannot be love. Scripture
says God is love. God cannot be love, perfect love.
That's what holiness is, perfection. It's absolute perfection. So
if God is love, and it's perfect love, it must be shown. That's why he tells us, love
not in word only, but in deed and in truth. You see, his holiness
ensures That God who is love was going to show love. That
God who is gracious is going to be gracious. You say, what
about the angels that fell? What about the ones that didn't? I tell you what, there's more
that did not fall than the ones that did. He's going to exercise. He's
going to exercise all his attributes to perfection because he's holy. He's holy. I didn't say he owes
it to us. I said he's going to show it
to us. He's going to demonstrate it on us. Holiness, one writer said this,
holiness is the nobleness of his nature. It's the beauty of
all his attributes. When we read through the Word
of God, and I got a lot of this from Stephen Sharmock. I don't
know if you've ever read him. You know, I've got four pages
of notes here on holiness. He has a book. I mean, it's two
or three hundred pages on God's holiness. And it's good, but
it's a lot of reading. But when we read through the
Word of God, what is it that's mentioned the
most? I've already told you in the beginning. It's His holiness. His holiness. It is mentioned
more times than His power, than His wisdom. and His mercy, it's
holiness. It's holiness. And the reason
why is this. It best describes who He is.
It best describes who He is. The Lord our God, as it says
here in Psalm 99, the Lord our God is holy, free, free from
all blemish, free from any defect. God is absolutely perfect. And we have to start with this
attribute. He's absolutely perfect. There's no sin in any way, shape
or form in God. Look over in 1 John 1. 1 John
1. In 1 John 1, verse 5. This, then, is the message which
we have heard of Him. Here's the message, and declaring
to you that God is light. God is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all. God is light, God is holy, and
in Him is no sin at all, which means this. Whatever He does
is right. Whatever the Lord does. I don't
understand A lot of what he does. I understand this. I understand
this. What our Lord does is right.
Because he's holy. He's holy. It's right. I bow
to it. We bow to it. Because he's holy. Turn over to Psalm 47. Psalm 47. Our God is often said to sit
upon the throne. Now let me give you, out of His
Word, the throne that He sits upon. Psalm 47, look in verse
8. God reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne. His holiness is said to be here
at His throne. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. It doesn't just say that He sits
upon a throne and reigns. It's not that He's sitting upon
a marble stone or a throne. His throne that He sits upon and reigns
over all is holiness. You know, they appointed singers
in Israel to praise His holiness. They appointed singers. It's
over in Chronicles. I should have wrote it down,
but I didn't. But they appointed singers to praise His holiness. Stephen Charnock said this, we
do not read of God's mighty name. We do not read of God's wise
name. But we do read of God's holy
name. His holy name. And then it's
the most praised attribute. You know, the angels, the seraphims
and shepherds, they don't fly around crying, power, power,
power, or wise, wise, wise. They could, couldn't they? They
could because God has infinite power. He's infinitely wise.
But the number one attribute that they praise in heaven is
His holiness. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. He says in verse 1, In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and His train, His glory filled the
temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
He couldn't even look upon God. This is a creature who had never
seen. Here's a creature that had never sinned. Here's a creature
that was made perfect. And he couldn't even look upon
God. He had to cover his face. Cover his face. He said he covered
his feet. He covered his face. He covered
his feet. And with two of the wings he
did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of His glory. Now turn over to Revelation chapter
4. Let's see how long this song keeps going on. Look in verse 8. And the four beasts had each
of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes And
they rest not day and night, they rest not, they did not cease
saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, is,
and is to come. That is the most praised attribute
in heaven. They cease not to cry day and
night, holy, holy, holy. That's what they do. His name
in Psalm 111, verse 9, it says, holy and reverend is His name. It's His name. Holiness is the attribute by
which He swears by. And if you're going to swear
by something, you swear by that which is greater. Something that's
just to you is greater. Can't swear by any greater. Let's
go over to Psalm 89. It's also written in Amos, but
we'll go to Psalm 89. Psalm is easier to find than
Amos. And they say the same thing, so we'll go to the Psalm. Psalm
89. Psalm 89, look in verse 35. What have I sworn by my holiness? And I will not lie to David.
God took. He could have said power. He
could have said wisdom. But I'm going to tell you something.
Without holiness, power and wisdom is meaningless. Every attribute
of God would be meaningless to us without holiness. You mark
that down. Without God being holy, everything
else would be a disaster for us. Everything else. So he swears by his name, by
his holiness. He swears by it. And then God
is holy in all his works. He's never created anything sinful. Adam was made, it says, upright.
When He created the angels, He created them holy and innocent
and perfect. He created them that way. Everything our Lord has done,
everything He created, He created in holiness. It says in Genesis
131, at the end of all creation, it says that God, look here in
Genesis chapter 1, I'm not going to try to just quote it. I want you to see this in the
Word of God. In Genesis 131, and God saw everything that he
had made and behold, listen, it was very good. It was perfect. You know, you and I can say,
well, that's a good job. Well, you did a good job there,
but perfection cannot be attached to anything we've done. or doing. But when God created the heavens
and the earth and everything was finished, He said it's very
good. There's no sin in it. No sin
in it. Look over at Psalm 145. Psalm
145. And we really take comfort in
this. Look in verse 17. The Lord is righteous in all
his ways and holy in all his works. Everything our Lord does is done
in holiness. Holiness. Nothing but absolute
perfection can come from God. That's why he says it must be
perfect to be accepted. He cannot and will not accept
anything short of perfection. And boy, here's the good news.
In Christ we are perfect. That's why he has made us. Listen,
he made us accepted in the beloved. We didn't make ourselves acceptable
because we can't make ourselves perfect. But he can and he did. He did. He can accept nothing
short of perfection. He says this, over in, I think
it's 1 Peter, Be ye holy, for I am holy. I love what Stephen
Sharnock, I believe it was, said. He said, God doesn't say, Be
ye powerful, because I'm powerful. Be ye wise, because I'm wise. Be ye holy, because I'm holy. His law is said to be perfect,
holy, over in Romans 7. There's nothing wrong with God's
law. The wrong is always in us. But
over in Romans 7, it says the law is good and holy. The Scripture teaches us over
in Habakkuk, chapter 1. Look over there. Now, if you have a Bible like
I have, it's 1161, page 1161. Over in Habakkuk, he says in verse 12, Are thou not from everlasting?
eternal, art thou not the eternal God? O Lord my God, mine Holy
One." How many times is that said in the Scriptures? The Holy
One of Israel. O Lord my God, mine Holy One. We shall not die, O Lord. Thou
hast ordained them for judgment, and O mighty God, thou hast established
them for correction. Now listen to verse 13, and underline
this one. of pure eyes than to behold evil,
and canst not look on iniquity." Can't do it. He can't behold. He's of pure eyes. He's holy.
He can't look upon evil, and he can't, listen, he can't look
upon it, and he can't look upon iniquity with indifference. You
and I do. The human race, they look upon
these things with indifference. Unless it's like murder or something
like that, Well, you know, that was a little white lie. With
God, there is no little white lie. I tell you what, Adam disobeyed
God one time. Kick your son, kick your daughter
out of the house for one sin. God kicked Adam out of the garden.
The whole human race fell in Adam. The whole human race right
now is under condemnation And it started from one man's disobedience. From one man's disobedience,
sin entered the world and death by sin. And all that we see going
on in this world of death and all the, you know, just the sorrow
and the heartaches, it came from one act of disobedience. He ate
a fruit. He ate a fruit. You say, well,
that doesn't sound bad. Well, if you could see it from
God's perspective, you'd see all... We would see the eating
of a fruit, but God saw all the evil that sin is. The seed of
every wicked thing that's ever happened in this world, the seed
of every wicked thought that's ever happened in the human mind,
that seed was in that one act of disobedience. And what you
and I see is now the fruit of it. All the killing, all the wars.
That's the fruit of that one seed, one act of disobedience. We couldn't
see that, could we? God sees that. And one sin, one
sin with God must be punished. Must be punished. It cannot be
overlooked. Can't be overlooked. Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold iniquity and evil." Can't do it. Can't look upon it. I reckon that the greatest display
of God's holiness in hatred of sin is not the flood, It is not the
burning up of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's when sin was found on His
Son. And He was nailed to a cross,
and it says in Scripture that He spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. He didn't spare Him. He never committed one act of
sin. He never thought of sin. Not one thought of sin. He is
holiness. He's the embodiment of it. He's
God. But when He was made to be sin, He spared not. He spared not the
torment. He spared not the fire of God's
wrath. He took it out on His Son. And everyone, everyone in Christ
is holy. Because the sin issue has been
done away with. And you've been made a new creation, a new creature
in Christ Jesus. And that new creature, that new
creation is going to go home to be with the Lord one day.
It's going to go home. Lay his whole body of corruption
in the ground. Let me show you one more thing
here. I said the greatest display is
at the cross. But I want you to, in Psalm 22,
I want you to listen to the Lord, our Lord, God in human flesh. I want you to listen to this. Psalm 22. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring,
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou fearest not. And in
the night season I am not silent." But what does he do? He praises his Father. He praises God. And the one thing
he praises is this, but thou art holy. Thou art holy. He's saying, why? Why have you
forsaken me? Why won't you answer me? It's
like it's as if he said, why? I don't understand. But I know
this. I understand this. You're holy. You're holy. Like I said, I don't
understand why God does what he does, all that he does. I
don't understand a lot of it. But I understand this. I know
this. God's holy. And because of that, he'll do
right. He can do no wrong. He can do
no wrong. Once again, let us give thanks
in our prayers every day. Let us give thanks at the remembrance
of His holiness.

The Lord Thy God Is Holy

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How do we know God is holy?

Why is understanding God’s holiness important for Christians?

What is the relationship between God's holiness and His power?

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The Lord Thy God Is Holy

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How do we know God is holy?

Why is understanding God’s holiness important for Christians?

What is the relationship between God's holiness and His power?

Sermon Transcript

About John Chapman

Comments

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