139 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
139 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
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THE HOLINESS OF GOD
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Holiness is an attribute of God which is so full that one
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wonders where to start. However, of all the attributes of God,
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this one is mentioned or referred to more than any other. "God
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is oftener styled Holy than Almighty, and set forth by this part
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of His dignity more than by any other. This is more fixed on as
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an epithet to His name than any other. You never find it ex-
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pressed 'His mighty name' or 'His wise name,' but His great name,
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and most of all, His holy name. This is the greatest title of
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honour; in this latter doth the majesty and venerableness of his
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name appear" (Stephen Charnock, taken from _The Attributes of
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God_ by A. W. Pink). To deny God of holiness is in essence to
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deny God. For if God be not holy, then, He would not be pure,
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and He could not create nor make laws nor judge righteously. In
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essence, He would be unholy which is a contradiction to the very
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nature of God.
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I. What is holiness? Simply stated it means to be holy or
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pure; to be without sin or any defilement from the heart. To say
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the word is almost enough to define it--it has a sound of purity.
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Also, the word carries the meaning of separation; to be set
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apart. And truly God is set apart from all other beings in every
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way.
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Holiness is one of those attributes of God which is com-
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municable. By this, we simply mean that God communicates or
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gives it, in a limited way, to man. Let us not think that we
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shall every be as holy as God.
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II. Wherein does God's holiness lie? God's holiness is in
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and of Himself originally; man's holiness can only be in and of
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God. There is no holinesss prior nor superior to God's. He is
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the source and fountain of all holiness. Even the holy angels
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derive their holiness from God and not from within themselves.
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For God to swear by His holiness is for Him to swear by Himself
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(Heb. 6:13; Ps. 89:35; Amos 4:2; 6:8).
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In Psalms 27:4, David said, "One thing have I desired of the
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Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of
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the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
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Lord, and to inquire in His temple." What is "the beauty of the
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Lord" but the beauty of His holiness (II Chron. 20:21). Not to
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see the beauty of holiness is not to see the beauty of God. In
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Exodus 15:11, God is declared "glorious in holiness." Listen
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again to Charnock: "Power is God's hand or arm, omniscience His
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eye, mercy His bowels, eternity His duration, but holiness is His
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beauty." Therefore, to see the beauty and glory of God is to see
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His holiness.
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While the majority of Christendom stresses and emphasizes
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the love of God, the Scriptures magnify His holiness. Therefore,
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we can see the importance of knowing more about God's holiness
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because to do so is to see His beauty and glory.
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III. How holy is God? When we think of something being
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pure, without spot, having no sin nor any such thing, we think of
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it as being holy. In fact, we who are the people of God look
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forward to the day when we will be with God in glory and not have
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any sin. But when this comes to pass, we will not be as holy as
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God is (I Sam. 2:2). Though the redeemed will be without sin and
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will stand before God "holy and without blame" (Eph. 1:4), yet,
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their holiness is not derived within themselves. And if they
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were to become inherently holy after the work of God in their
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lives, there would remain the time prior to this when they were
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not holy, but were living in darkness (Eph. 5:8). In God there
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is "no darkness at all" (I Jn. 1:5). God is so pure that ab-
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solutely considered, He cannot "look on iniquity" (Hab. 1:13).
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The idea that God can look at sin and iniquity and pass it by is
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false. God, who is omniscient, sees and knows all things, even
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sin and iniquity. He is so pure and holy that He will bring
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"every work into judgment" (Ecc. 12:14; 11:9; Pv. 24:9). It is a
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greater contrast to compare God's holiness to that of man's than
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to compare the sun to a cinder of coal.
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Those holy angels who have never sinned and have retained
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their purity from creation are holier than man. However, God's
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Word says that even they are not pure in the presence of God (Job
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4:17-18). Yes, even they have to cover their faces in heaven
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when singing of the Lord's glorious holiness (Isa. 6:2-3). This
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is not to say that the angels are impure in any way, but that
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their holiness cannot be compared to God's. And remember that
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God derives His holiness from Himself, but the angels, like man,
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receive their holinesss from God and not from within themselves.
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The only reason the angels remain sinless and unfallen is because
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of God upholding them.
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IV. How is God's holiness manifested? First, the holiness
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of God is seen in creation. When God created the heavens and the
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earth and all things therein, He said that "it was very good"
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(Gen. 1:31). When one drives across this earth and sees the
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towering mountains, luscious valleys, the green trees, and beau-
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tiful flowers, along with the various and sundry cattle, beast,
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and all creeping things, together with the stars, moons, suns and
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planets, with the mighty oceans, he is made to say that God cre-
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ated all things good. The creation as we know it has been under
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the influence of the curse of sin for about 6,000 years. There-
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fore, as we now view the creation it is vile, filthy, wicked and
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ugly compared to its original state. With all this, we can still
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say with the Psalmist, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
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and holy in all His works" (Ps. 145:17).
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Second, the holiness of God is seen in His works of provi-
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dence. God did not create and then withdraw Himself. No, He is
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continuing to keep the earth on its axis, the stars in their
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sockets, the sun and moon in their paths, and supplies man and
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beast with daily bread (Heb. 1:1-3; Mt. 6:26-32; job 26:7; 38:39-
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41). To see trials and wickedness on every hand, and, yet, know-
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ing that all these things work to the good of the people of God
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and His glory (Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:11), one is made to know that
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only a holy God can do such things.
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Third, the holiness of God is seen in His law. This is that
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perfect standard which reveals God's character. Here we only
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need to look at Rom. 7:12 and Ps. 19:8-9.
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Fourth, the holiness of God is shown in its greatest
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strength in His hatred for sin. It was the holiness of God that
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drove Adam and Eve out of the garden; cursed Cain; destroyed the
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world in the days of Noah; took David's child and let not the
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sword depart from his house; and, destroyed Israel and Judah with
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the Assyrians and Babylonians. But the highest display of the
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holiness of God was when Jesus Christ died on the cross. Stephen
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Charnock said, "Not all the vials of judgment that have or shall
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be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of a
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sinner's conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced
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against the rebellious demons, nor the groans of the damned crea-
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tures, give such a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, as the
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wrath of God let loose upon His Son. Never did Divine holiness
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appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Saviour's
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countenance was most marred in the midst of His dying groans.
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This Himself acknowledges in Psa. 22. When God had turned His
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smiling face from Him, and thrust His sharp knife into His heart,
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which forced that terrible cry from Him, 'My God, My God, why
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hast Thou forsaken Me?' He adores this perfection--'Thou art
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holy,' v. 3."
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May we like the angels in heaven "rest not day and night,
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saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is,
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and is to come" (Rev. 4:8).
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Jimmy Barber
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February 26, 1991
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Copyright, 1991, Veritas Publications
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829 Angelina Place
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Memphis, TN 38122-5417
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