Our God is Holy (Part 6)

Lord, help us. Help our hearts and our minds to be quick, to be ready to hear, to be attentive, to be focused. Lord, definitely not on what I say but on what the word says, that Lord, they might understand more about your holiness and how it applies to us. So guide us, Lord help us to be a people that are more holy. You have called us a holy people.

You have made us holy and yet Lord you’ve there remains for us Lord a duty to be holy. And so guide us in our study today, help it to be profitable and fruitful to us, we ask in Jesus name, amen. Alright, Leviticus 11 is where we begin. We’re actually gonna look at three verses in the book of of Leviticus to help us to get a kind of a better understanding of this. Now, the holiness of god, we know is a little bit different than the other attributes of god that we study. In other words, we studied the omnipotence of God, we studied the omnipresence of God, we studied the omniscience of God, we looked at God’s aseity, I mean if you remember what that means?

Trivia? Self eternal, self existent. Ascieity is God’s self existence and we’ve studied God’s eternality and the eternity of god and we’ve looked at all of these other things, these attributes of god and what’s true of each one of those is that those all of those different characteristic characteristics of god are true but all of them belong to god and god only.

They cannot be transferred or mimicked by us in any way. It’s not possible for a human being to be self existent. It’s not possible for a human being to be omnipresent or omnipotent. And so we looked at each one of those and we talked about each one of those is a defining attribute of God. In other words, it is something that makes God, God. It’s what makes Him retain the attribute of being God.

Now, the holiness is is the first attribute we’ve come to that’s a little bit different in that way. Now, we know we’ve we’ve already learned what holiness is and and that is when it refers to god, god is holy. It refers to the for lack of a better term because we’re using human language to describe an attribute of God, there’s limitations. But this idea that God is different than everything else. He is unique, He is separate, He is other than everything else. Some people call it otherness.

The fact that God is not in any way common or like anything else that exists at all. And that’s one of the meanings of the word, the idea of something being holy and we saw that when we were looking at the holiness as it is applied to objects and places and things that don’t have any moral you know, attribute. In other words, things that aren’t good or bad, they’re just like random objects are called holy.

Now, as we as we further study the idea of holiness and you are all familiar with this and these verses we’re gonna read or you’re already familiar with them. One thing we do see is that holiness is not something that is applied only to god. In fact, he applies it to us and he tells us to be holy. So, in this way, this attribute of god is something that is transferable.

That is it can be, it is an attribute that we can also have in addition to the lord having it and this is the first one we call this is the first one of God’s attributes that we have studied that is possible to be done with us. All right, this is called, if you wanna write a 10¢ word down, you can be a little theologian, here it is. This is called a communicable attribute of God, communicable.

It’s kind of like a disease, we can pass on to somebody else. But communicable means you can be holy, like God is holy, you can be holy. You cannot be omnipresent like God is omnipresent, that would be a non communicable attribute, but you can be holy and there are other attributes of God. For instance, God is gracious, that is something else that can be communicated to us and we can have that same attribute.

So, Leviticus 11 verse number 44, if you would look at that. Okay, look at what it says. For I am the lord your god, you shall therefore sanctify yourselves. What does the word sanctify mean? Sanctify. Set aside. Set apart. In other words, have, if you have a let me think of a good example here.

Ladies do this when you go to the grocery store, right? There’s a special thing. Well, I know in our house. Go, my wife will go to the store or she’ll order, we like to do the DoorDash thing and I’m sure you do too and have things delivered. Well she’ll order some things and there’s certain things that she orders that are only for her and not that we always honor that request because they always end up getting eaten by somebody at some point, but she orders them with the intention that they’re for her because of her special diet and things. And so she’ll order this mass of groceries and we’ll get them home and so you have a few things, just a few items that are set aside from the mass of the groceries. You know what that is? That’s she has sanctified food. That’s what we mean by that.

And that’s that’s actually what it means. And can you can but can you see when you think of sanctify like that, you know, in the common, in a common way, that helps us understand the idea of holiness because that’s a little bit like holiness. Is it not? Remember the the separateness, that idea we looked at before. And so, it says in in verse 44, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves and ye shall be holy for I am holy.

Now so God says, ye shall be holy for I am holy. Neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So notice, the Lord says, I’m holy, you need to be holy too. That’s what he’s telling us to do that to have that same attribute that he has, but in what context is this spoken? If you look at verse 43, he says, you shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall you make yourselves unclean, note that because we’re gonna come back to that, unclean with them that you should be defiled thereby.

And then in verse 45 and and that’s the reason he says verse 44, he says, you need, you don’t need to eat these unclean animals because I am the lord your god, you need to sanctify yourself and be holy. That is distinct. Verse 45, for I am the lord that bringeth you out of the land of Egypt to be your god. You shall therefore be holy for I am holy.

Alright, look at chapter 19. Look at chapter 19. Chapter 19 verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto all the children, all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them, ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy. Notice he continues, Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father and keep my Sabbaths, I am the Lord your God. Turn ye not into idols nor make to yourselves molten gods, I am the Lord your God.

So notice he says, I am the Lord your God. I the Lord your God am holy in verse two and he repeats, I am the Lord your God along with these other commandments that they should be, honor their father and their mother and they should not turn to idols. So, here’s the thing. So, when god says, I want you to be holy like I’m holy. He follows that up usual or in that context, he says a command and that command is, you need to avoid these things.

So there’s a relationship between being holy and God’s commandments and avoiding the things God says to avoid, okay? And we’re going somewhere with this so we have one more passage, look at Leviticus rather, chapter 20.

Leviticus chapter 20 verse verse number six. And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy for I the lord your god, for I am the lord your god and you shall keep my statutes and do them, I am the lord which sanctify you.

So, again, in the context of his commandments, he says, be holy. So, in each of these verses where the lord says, I’m holy, you need to be holy. He says that right after or right before telling Israel, his people, giving them instructions to avoid the pollutions, the immorality, and the wickedness of the nations around them. In other words, he says, you don’t need, you must not be like them.

This is what they practice. You must be different than they are. Why? Because you must be holy because I am holy. You see that? Okay. So, it is not just a matter and this is where, you know, this is where like, some of the Amish or some of the Mennonite groups or some of the Christian groups that have existed throughout the throughout history.

They’ve taken this idea of holiness and kind of you know, stretched it out to the idea is just to be different, the idea is just to be unlike everyone in the broader world. But that’s not primarily what God is talking about. We’re gonna see there’s two aspects that are here. We’ll see in just a minute. There’s two aspects to this idea of holiness in a practical sense.

But the thing I want you to see from this is if you if you remember that when we were talking about the holiness of God, the Bible says in in in Romans one, it says that we as believers are called to be holy. Remember that? We talk about holiness as a matter of God’s calling. In other words, this is not and and that doesn’t mean that that God’s saying, now you need to do these things in order to be holy. No. God called us and with the privileges of our salvation, one of those is we are his holy people. And that’s where the word what? It’s related to the word saints, which is the which is actually the word holy applied to us. Okay? So God has called us saints. The moment we believe we’re a saint.

That’s irrespective of our lifestyle. That is a that is a a matter of our calling. That’s a privilege of salvation. Okay? And this is where it gets difficult. So, God calls people who are sinful holy.

He does. God calls people who are sinners righteous, right? We have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ though we ourselves, we know that we are we are sinners. See, to deny that, first John tells us that to deny that is to is to deny the truth. So, god all the time by virtue of the calling and the privilege of salvation calls us things. He calls us sanctified even though we might be trying our best to fit in with the world. He calls us sanctified.

You you see that the problem with that? There are many times in scripture where god declares a thing to be so. Even though to our eyes, it doesn’t look to be so. Right? God says as a believer, God says that you are holy. So when you go, know, Wayne, when you go work at the place where you work where they assemble the windows, you’re in that, you’re among that employee group, you look just like everybody else basically, right? You dress just like everybody else, same uniform, same safety gear, whatever you have, have all, everything’s the same, but by virtue of God’s declaration you are not the same, you’re holy.

So that is a matter of God’s statement, God’s declaration of us. Now, here’s the key. God has called us holy and because of that fact he says, now you are holy, now be holy. See that? You are holy, now be holy. Now notice the grace of God that he has given to us. The the inheritance we might say, the possession we have, we’re God’s holy people is something we got on the front end of this.

We came to Christ and we trusted in him. We put our faith in him and at that moment, he cleansed us and he gave his righteousness and he also gave us holiness. We are his holy people. He set us apart. The Bible says Romans eight, he sanctified us. It’s done. He sanctified us from the rest of humanity. We are And that happened on the front end, that was instantaneous, the moment our faith rested in Christ.

And so he gave us the goods, this isn’t like COD, no, gave us the goods and then afterward he says, now this is where you stand with God. This is your condition. This is the privilege and benefit I’ve given you already. It is yours. Now be that.

Now, be that. God says, you are holy to Israel. You’re a holy people. Now, be holy. To us, god says the same thing. First Peter, we’ll see in a minute. God says, you’re a holy people. Now, be holy as I am holy. It’s just a a fact of, it’s a fact of scripture that we need to let sink into our minds. Number one, god always front loads us with the blessing and then in response to that blessing, he says, now live it out.

Now, we don’t live it out to get it, but it’s the practical application, the practical, the practical truth lived out. We’re already washed. We’re not trying to make ourselves clean. We’re already righteous in the sight of God. We’re not trying to be righteous, but yet God says be righteous. Right? We’re holy before God by virtue of Christ and his cross and being in Christ and yet God says now be holy. Now here’s the problem. On the antinomian side, which is antinomian just is another word for saying people that don’t care about rules or laws or you know, living practically righteous and there’s a strong there’s a there’s a strong case. In other words, here’s how it usually goes.

Well, they’ll say, well, I’m accepted in Christ and so I don’t need to be legalistic, that’s how that term’s abused. I don’t need to be legalistic because I’m accepted in Christ already and the spirit of that is well, it doesn’t really matter what I do because I’m accepted in Christ. No, that is not true. Yes, it is true that God has front loaded all of us with the blessings of salvation and that is a done deal. In fact, the Bible says in Romans eight, we’re already glorified with Christ. It’s done.

Amen. And yet, he says, I’ve given you the blessings now. Live it out in practice. So he says, you are accepted, now live acceptably. So it’s it’s not that often abused and it’s abused on one end but it can be abused on the other end too where you’re constantly chasing this thing and being browbeat with it and and you know, because are you ever living up to the standard, you know, but that’s not true either. God is, god has blessed us with the blessings of salvation and so now we must live it out. He has made us holy. Now, let’s let us be holy.

We are holy to him, so we should be holy to him. Now look if you would at, Leviticus, chapter 10. Look at Leviticus chapter 10 verse 10. I want you to notice an association with the idea of holiness. Leviticus ten ten, and that you may put difference between holy and unholy and between clean and unclean. Just, as we go through these various verses we’re gonna look at, I want you to note the idea of unclean, clean and unclean.

Here he says, there should be a difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean and that’s, you know, that’s mainly talking about ceremonial things in this in the law. Let’s look forward at Isaiah chapter actually, we’ll skip that one. Go to Romans chapter six. Romans six, we’ll come back to Isaiah in a minute. Romans chapter six.

Look at verse number 19. Romans six nineteen, I speak after manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded your members servants to, what does it say, uncleanness to an end to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. You see the relationship between righteousness and holiness? Not exactly the same but they are related. Notice, you were unclean, now be holy.

Look forward at first Corinthians chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three verse number 17. If any man defile the temple of god, him shall god destroy for the temple of god is holy which temple ye are? Notice the idea of defiling, that’s like unclean. He says, God says, you don’t need to defile the temple of God because the temple of God is holy. This holy versus unclean. Look at chapter seven, same book, verse 14.

Chapter seven verse 14, the Bible says, For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean, but now are they, what does it say? Holy. Look at second Corinthians chapter seven, look at that.

Second Corinthians chapter seven verse one. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves, notice clean unclean, from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting, what does it say, holiness in the fear of God. One more, first Peter chapter one. First Peter chapter one.

Verse number 14. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, lusts are related to uncleanness, but as he which hath called you as holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy.

So, what we have in the in this as we as we walk through the Bible and we see the relationship between holiness and uncleanness, how that’s contrasted. We have a picture here. We have a picture. Now we know So we know holiness means something that is distinct and hallowed for a specific use, we know that.

But we also see that holiness is related to uncleanness or is contrasted with uncleanness. And so what you have in the idea of practical holiness, practical holiness is the mixture of those two. Here’s how God describes the world. The Lord describes the world, that is the mass of humanity, as wholly unclean, not wholly with a h but w h, holy unclean. That in other words, this world practices what it practices, it throws itself at sin and fornication, it throws itself at wickedness and lust and idolatry, it throws itself at all kinds of abominations.

And that is how God describes, you look at Romans chapter three, it’s very clear, there’s no fear of God before their eyes, their throat is an open sepulchre. Their tongues they use to see. You know, all of those things. This is how God describes the whole of humanity. And then within within humanity, he sees he has a group of people that he calls saints, the holy ones, who are to be distinct from that. Yes, they are distinct but not just distinct like, you know, they’re supposed to like wear a separate uniform or so. No, no. They are distinct but they should also live distinct from the mass of humanity.

In other words, Christians should not be practicing the wickedness of the world in which we live. We should not be practicing the, if I could say it, the uncleanness in its various forms of this world in which we live. This is what the Lord means when he says, be ye holy. Separate, this is moral holiness distinct.

And this is why it’s such a shame and a reproach when someone who is a believer lives in a way that brings reproach upon the name of Christ because he or she is holy and yet lives in a way that is so contrary to that fact in the uncleanness of this world and that’s why we see that dealt with so harshly in the scripture. Look if you would at Isaiah chapter six.

So, let me ask you a question as we turn there. Does god care how you live? Does god care how I live? Oh, absolutely. On a practical level, he wants us to be separated, distinct from and avoid, know, keep our distance from the uncleanness is found in this world. Isaiah six verse one, In the year that the king Uzziah died, I also saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

And above it stood the Seraphims, each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain 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. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Verse five, this is Isaiah’s reaction to seeing this vision of the thrice holy God.

Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone. Notice what he says, because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. You see that that picture of the mass of humanity? Isaiah was in that mass but he recognized he was not clean, right? He was defiled. In this case, he’s referring to his words being a prophet.

For mine eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. Yes, the lord expected his words, that’s what he’s talking about, his mouth, his life to be different than the people of unclean lips in you know, among whom he lived. The lord expected that life to be different. It should be upright. It should be godly. It should be pure. It should be moral. It should be ethical.

There should be distance between a believer and the pollutions that are so common in this world, right? God says, be holy. One more passage and we’ll be finished. First Thessalonians chapter four. First Thessalonians chapter four.

Verse one. Verse one says this, furthermore, then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. You know, I get so sick of these people say, oh, you know, I can’t plea we can’t please God, we can’t please God. What they mean is, it doesn’t matter the way we live. We can’t please God.

God is pleased with Christ. Here it says, to please God. If you’ve been if you follow the religious jargon of our day, you’ll find people that that talk like this. Anyway, verse two. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God even your sanctification, what is he talking about? That ye should abstain from fornication. That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel, that is his body in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, that’s sexual lust, sexual appetite, even as the Gentiles which know not god. Notice in verse five, the Gentiles, you know what he’s talking about? That’s the common man. That’s the unclean humanity.

That’s what Isaiah’s talking about. That’s what the Lord’s talking about. Those things that are common, that are not holy. That no man, verse six, should go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because the lord is the avenger of all such. As we have all have forewarned you, have also forewarned you and testified. For god hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his holy spirit.

So he says he says he mentions two things specifically. Number one, sexual immorality. He mentions fornication, concupiscence, lust. There’s another thing he mentioned there that are called uncleanness in this passage and the second one is dishonesty. Defrauding our brother. Defraud means you deny him that which is his right to have. In other words, you’re misappropriating things, you’re in some way not being faithful, extorting, things like that. And God says even things like that, oftentimes in Scripture uncleanness is related to sexual immorality.

But here, it’s not just that. It’s also the uncleanness that is common in humanity, unclean humanity, where people are constantly betraying one another, lying, misappropriating, practicing all sorts of dishonesty. Not only that, but practicing dishonesty and unfaithfulness with their spouses, with other people’s spouses, and it goes on. They’re just layer upon layer. That is unclean humanity. God says, come out from among them and be separate. That’s holy.

We’re not better, in fact we know we’re not. The only reason we’re holy is because of God’s pronouncement. But as a result of that the Lord says, no, you should actually in practice live differently, uprightly, righteously, honestly, ethically, godly, and eschew and like Job, eschew evil and distance yourself, even rebuke darkness. Right? And that’s what it means when we see that God says, be holy. It’s not just about being different.

You can wear a funny looking hat and be different. But it’s that distance between the wickedness of this world that the Lord calls us to have when He says be holy. Let’s pray together.