Thursday, 16 October 2008
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Be ye Holy for I am Holy
Exodus 15:11, 1 Peter 1:15-16
Exodus 15:11 "Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? 1 Peter 1:15 "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: "Be holy, because I am Holy."
The verse from Exodus 15:11 is one of the loftiest descriptions of the majesty and Excellency of God in the whole Bible. It is a part of Moses' triumphant song, after a great and awesome victory. It is the first song upon holy record, and it consists of gratulatory and prophetic matter it casts a look backward to what God did for them in their deliverance from Egypt; and a look forward to what God shall do for the church in the future ages. That deliverance was but a rough foretaste of something more excellent to be done towards the closing up of the world and the end of time, when his plagues shall be poured out upon the anti-christian powers, which should revive the same song of Moses in the church by us.
It is observed that many words in this song are put in the future tense, noting a time to come, and the very first word , verse 1, "shall sing; implying, that it was composed and calculated for the celebrating of some greater action of God's, which was to be done in the world. Upon this account, some of the Jewish rabbi's, asserted the doctrine of the resurrection to be meant in this way, "that Moses and those Israelites should rise again to sing the same song, for some greater miracles God should work, and greater triumphs he should bring forth, exceeding those wonders at their deliverance from Egypt. Yet it seems that Moses in the midst of his historical narrative breaks out in ecstasy and gives one of the most loftiest description of God in the Bible. "majestic in holiness"
Holiness is the blessedness and nobleness of his nature it renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures, that understand anything of this lovely perfection. Holiness is a glorious perfection belonging only to the nature of God.
He is called light, because of His holy nature, as impurity is called darkness both in this sense are opposed to one another: He is pure and unmixed light, free from all blemishes, sin, imperfection within His essence, nature, and operations.
"If we conceive him destitute of this excellent perfection, and imagine him possessed with the least amount of evil, we make him but an infinite monster, and sully all those perfections we ascribed to him; before we rather own him a devil than a God."
"It is a less injury to him to deny his being, than to deny the purity of it; the one makes him no god, the other a deformed, unlovely, and a detestable god."
"He that says; God is not holy speaks much worse than he that says, There is no God at all.
If any, this attribute is above all his other attributes. There are some attributes of God we prefer, because of our interest in them, and the relation they bear to us: as we esteem his goodness before his power, and his mercy whereby he relieves us, before his justice whereby he punishes us, as there are some we more delight in, because of the goodness we receive by them; so there are some that God delights to honor, because of their excellency.
None is sounded out so loftily, with such solemnity, and so frequently by angels that stand before his throne, as this: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isa. 6:3) "The four beasts rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty" (Rev. 4:8)
Do you hear in any angelical song any other perfection of the Divine Nature thrice repeated? Where do we read of the crying out Eternal, eternal, eternal; or Faithful, faithful, faithful, Lord God of Hosts? He singles it out to swear by it. "Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David" (Psa 89:35) "The Lord will swear by his holiness" (Amos 4:2)
He lays here his holiness to pledge for the assurance of his promise as the attribute most dear to him most valued by him as though no other could give an assurance parallel to it in this concern of an everlasting redemption which is there spoken of: He that swears, swears by a greater than himself; god having no greater than himself, swears by himself: and swearing here by his holiness seems to equal that single one to all his other attributes as if he were more concerned in the honor of it than of al the rest. It is a tacit imprecation of himself, If I lie unto David, let me never by counted holy, or thought righteous enough to be trusted by angles or men.
It is his glory and beauty. Holiness is the honor of the creature; sanctification and honor are linked together (1 Thess. 4:4); much more it is the honor of God; it is the image of God in the creature (Eph. 4:24)
If we were to draw a picture of God...... Power is his hand and arm, omniscience, his eye; mercy his bowels; eternity, his duration; his holiness is his beauty.
Holiness was the beauty of the temple (Isa 46:11); holy and beautiful house are joined together; much more the beauty of God that dwelt in the sanctuary. "The whole earth is full of thy glory; that is of his holiness in his laws. and in his judgement against sin, that being the attribute applauded by them before.
It is his very life, without it he would be a dead God.
Definition: The separation from Sin, and conformity to God's moral standards. This is a commandment, not a choice, but a you will do it. Complete holiness is the desire and duty of every Christian. It must for the extent of it, be universal. We must be holy, and be so in all manner of conversation, towards all people, friends and enemies; in all our intercourse and business still we must be holy. For the pattern of it we must be holy, as God is holy: we must imitate him, though we can never equal him. The consideration of the holiness of God should oblige us to the highest degree of holiness we can attain unto.
The English word holy can best be understood if the spelling is changed to wholly. Holy means "Wholly given over to God." People are likely to think that the word Holy refers only to persons who are very good. When we see someone who is spiritually faithful we will generally reply that the person is holy, it may or may not be true. Holiness in any man is to be seen in the completeness of his committal to God and the singleness of mind with which he is devoted to God. "Be ye holy" is best understood as a call to being altogether committed to God in all areas of life. One becomes holy when his greatest aim and purpose in life is to worship and serve God. This is not a long drawn-out process that takes years but it is a daily commitment to Christ.
Many a person has thought that it would be necessary to get himself cleaned up and have everything right before he could begin to live a holy life. If I were to wait until then, I would never get to live a holy life. I must come to God first and let him take an active part in the cleaning-up within my heart and soul. Holiness is related in the sense of the setting apart unto God. The soul is the source of holiness within man and the mind is the roots in which the soul is fed..... Thus we must renew our minds daily...
The NT teaches that the believer is sanctified positional before god, with the holiness of Christ imputed to him, at the time of his conversion, by virtue of his being presented in Christ (1 Cor 1:2, 30). He is being sanctified experiential as he keeps reckoning upon his position in Christ, refusing to yield the members of his body to sin, and presenting himself to God (Rom 6:11-13). He must deliberately "follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). He will be ultimately sanctified in the sense of full conformity to Christ in glorification (Rom 8:30-31).
Our duty to God. (Romans 12:1-2) We see what is godliness.... It is to surrender ourselves to God, and so to lay a good foundation for Christian service. This is beginning of all duty and obedience to God.
Present our Bodies.... Living Sacrifice- A christian makes his body a sacrifice unto God. A body sincerely devoted to god is a living sacrifice. It is Christ living in the soul by faith that makes the body a living sacrifice. Holy love kindles the sacrifices, puts life into the duties and everyday walk. Alive, that is to God. This sacrifice that we make is so different to the Old Testament in that the animal once placed on the alter was killed, thus becoming a dead sacrifice. This sacrifice must be a total giving not partial. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you.."
Sanctified Sacrifice- When the Lord said "Sanctify yourselves..." (Lev 20:7) He meant "Put away other things, leave off everything else, and commit yourself only to God. When people are set apart for God, the basic principle is that of love. They are committed entirely, permanently, to God in love. They are sanctified unto Him and away from the world they make a decision to serve God and not Mammon (Matt 6:24) This person has realized that there are all kinds of things in the world but nothing that equals God. This is the person that God is pleased with. How important is this subject in Matthew 16:26 it says; "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul".
Holy Sacrifice- From this sanctified life there comes a holy life. There must be a real holiness which encompasses the Body, Soul and Spirit. Our bodies must not be made the instruments of sin and uncleanness (Read Romans 6:1), but must be set apart for God and from the World, to be used for holy purposes. God commands that we be holy (Lev 11:44 "I am the Lord your God; consecrate ourselves and be holy, because I am holy" 1 Peter 1:15-16 "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written "Be holy, because I am Holy") Peter in the his second epistle writes in chapter 3:11 "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives..." God chooses us for the beginning of time, before the creation of the world to be holy according to Eph 1:4 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight..."
Holiness, therefore, is the characteristic mark of a believer in both the OT and NT. He that would stand in the holy place to worship God must have clean hands and a pure heart and not have sworn to a lie (Psa 24:3-4). To dwell in God's holy mountain - in His presence - one must walk with integrity and do no wrong to his neighbor (Psa 15). God chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4). Our holiness is god’s direct and perfect will for us (1 Thess 4:3). Thus, every activity of life becomes sacred, for the Christian. For when a man's aim is that of conformity to the will of God, who executes moral righteousness for all, life cannot be divided between the secular and the sacred.
blessings,
pastor
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