THE HOLINESS OF GOD
BREAD
11 “Who
among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who
is like you--majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? Exodus 15:11 (NIV)
25 “To
whom will you compare me? Or who is my
equal?” says the Holy One. Isaiah 40:25
(NIV)
5 “To
whom will you compare me or count me equal?
To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?” Isaiah 46:5 (NIV)
2 “There
is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like
our God.” 1 Samuel 2:2 (NIV)
13 Your
ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? Psalms 77:13 (NIV)
28 Ascribe
to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, 29 ascribe
to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring
an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his
holiness. 1 Chronicles 16:28-29 (NIV)
3 Declare
his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. 4 For
great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the
LORD made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and
glory are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to
the LORD glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an
offering and come into his courts. 9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth. 10 Say
among the nations, “The LORD reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the
peoples with equity. Psalms 96:3-10
(NIV)
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. Isaiah 6:1-4 (NIV)
1 The
LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to
them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.’” Leviticus 19:1-2 (NIV)
13 Therefore,
prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the
grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As
obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in
ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for
it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)
BUTTER
“There is a danger
of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God, but the
intense, blazing holiness of God.” Oswald Chambers
“His holiness is a pledge for the assurance of His promises. Power is His hand, omniscience His eye, mercy
His heart, eternity His duration, but holiness His beauty. It renders Him lovely and gives beauty to all
His attributes. Every action of His is
free from all hints of evil. Holiness is
the crown of all His attributes, the life of all His decrees, and the
brightness of all His actions. Nothing
is decreed by Him and nothing is acted by Him that is not consistent with the
beauty of His holiness.” Stephen
Charnock
“That which will elevate the soul
must be more excellent than the soul.”
George Swinnock
“It is not the constant thought of their sins, but the vision of the
holiness of God that makes the saints aware of their own sinfulness.” Anthony
Bloom
“The pervasive sinfulness of human beings becomes evident
when contrasted with the radiant holiness of God.” Richard J. Foster
“A true love of God must begin with delight in His
holiness…; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this.” Jonathan
Edwards
“The nature of divine holiness is freedom from all evil. God is separate from every shade of
evil. He acts according to the likeness
of His own excellence and abhors everything contrary to it. There is no darkness in His understanding,
and no spot in His will. His mind is
possessed with all truth, and there is no deviation in His will from it. He loves all truth and goodness, and He hates
all falsity and evil. He loves
righteousness and has no pleasure in wickedness. He values purity in His creatures, and
detests all impurity whether inward or outward.
He knows what is right, and must do what is just.” Stephen Charnock
Regarding the pursuit of holiness, Scottish Pastor Robert Murray M’Cheyne writes: “I know you will apply hard to German, but do not forget the culture of the inner man – I mean of the heart. How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with greatest care. Remember you are God’s sword, His instrument – I trust, a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity and perfection of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”
“To
love Jesus is to love holiness.” David Smithers
“All we ever want for you is to be: radical about grace and relentless
about truth and resolute about holiness and vows and the real hills worth dying
on.” Ann Voskamp
“Professing
Christian, is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy, your heart is
unchanged; and if your heart is unchanged, you are an unsaved person. If the Savior
has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of
holiness, He has done nothing in you of a saving character. The grace that does
not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His
people not in their sins but from them ". . . for the holiness without
which no one will see the Lord."1 "Let everyone who names
the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."2 If not saved from
sin, how shall we hope to be counted among His people? Lord, save me now from
all evil, and enable me to honor my Savior.” C. H.
Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“My
people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.” Robert
Murray M’Cheyne
HEART
SAVOR
·
God has called us to holiness through His power for His
glory, for our good.
·
As believers in Jesus, our hearts are the sanctuary of the
living God and as such we are to display His fruit – love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This manifests His holiness to a watching world.
·
God is so totally other and He has no equal.
