Is God good? Holiness

spanners… breaking open padlocks … tightening or loosening nuts and bolts… they are set apart, holy for this task…

toothpaste… to mark a wall for a picture hanging…

God is holy!

Exodus 19:9–13 NIV

9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

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He is set apart from the world.

How could a holy God, set apart from the world, love me, a weak creature?

Especially creatures - people/humans - who are rebellious, disrespectful, who fail to stop to give their creator any thought. How could a holy God love me?

And if he is holy, and set apart from the world, what does he know of my life; my suffering; my pain; my burdens? Does a holy God, who claims to be good, really understand my suffering?

This fits with how many people have viewed God. They describe God as the Unmoved-Mover… Moves everything, but is moved by nothing… dispassionate, not affected by people, not swayed by anything.

Muslims believe this.

But is this the God of the Bible?

The classic tragedy of the bible…

the creator creates a world to have a relationship with himself;

the world wants to be autonomous, doing its own thing, rejecting its Creator;

God enters the world in the person of Christ, is again rejected, also mocked and brutally executed on the cross;

and even so, men and women refuse to acknowledge the Creator - the almighty and holy God.

So to our questions - if he is holy, and set apart from the world, what does he know of my life; my suffering; my pain; my burdens? Does a holy God, who claims to be good, really understand my suffering? - we could simply pose another question, “Has anyone, anywhere experienced more suffering than God?”

Rather than unmoved mover, God is

The Deeply-Moved-Mover

Knowing that Jesus is God, we his suffering at the cross

Mark 15:17–20 NIV

17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Mark 15:33–34 NIV

33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

These moments and more [bones on display, casting lots for his clothing, piercing his hands and feet], retold here in Mark’s gospel, were prophesied by David, in the poem of Psalm 22.

In the final moments of his life, as blood loss began to draw away his strength and asphyxiation stole his very breath, Jesus searched for words that would convey to the large crowd of onlookers his innermost feelings. He chose the opening line of Psalm 22, and so that all could hear he cried out ... “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This is not a cry of self-doubt from Christ’s lips, as if he is here questioning his identity and mission. It his deliberate and agonizing identification with the suffering [of David the] poet of Psalm 22 and therefore, with all those who have cried out to God ‘Why?’ There on the cross ... God intentionally enters our pain and misery, getting his hands dirty and even bloody. This is God at his most vulnerable and yet at his most glorious.

Dickson, John. If I were God, I'd end all the pain (pp. 41-42). Matthias Media. Kindle Edition.

An Invitation

God, at his most vulnerable, (the cross) is an invitation to you and I to see his holiness and his love displayed; It’s an invitation to accept the mercy that he offers us through the death of Christ.

Remember our question - How could a holy God, set apart from the world, love me, a rebellious weak creature?

Well, he loves all his creatures, so much so that he would die for them; he would enter his creation and suffer on its behalf, on your behalf.

Is God good? Certainly is. He suffers for our sake. Doesn’t stand back, watching from a distance, but enters our pain.

There is a scene in Braveheart, the story of William Wallace, where all the clans have come to fight, Wallace leads men into battle, then raises his arm to call in the other clans, to his astonishment, the other clans leave quietly as their own countrymen suffer. How often have we heard of similar stories of people unwilling to enter the suffering for the people?

God doesn’t walk away as we suffer… he enters our suffering.

It is in this suffering that our holy God shows mercy beyond what could be foreseen.

We see his mercy at the cross!

Romans 3:23–25 (NIV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.

Verse 23 - Here is the contrast between God’s holiness and our wretchedness; our sinfulness… Like comparing the size of a grain of sand to the solar system… just no comparison… God is glorious; holy; righteous beyond our imagining.

Compare him to yourself… he knows everything about you… not just watching the film of your life, but watching all the behind the scenes material that others don’t get to see, insight into your life that only God is privy to… not in a creepy stalker kind of way, but in a good creator looking out for his creation kind of way… he knows what others cannot see or observe, he knows what you would not speak of, he knows your true motives… and he loves you!

by his grace - undeserved generosity - he Justifies freely - declared righteous in God’s sight, instead of seeing our sinfulness and rebellion, he sees Christ’s goodness, his righteousness.

How?

Redemption - Jesus has redeemed us from slavery to sin… (redemption price of slaves)

What was the redemption price… sacrifice of atonement, by shedding his blood for us at the cross.

Our response?

faith in Jesus.

God’s invitation to you tonight/today is to trust Jesus. Trust that he entered our suffering, dying in our place so that we could be bought back from sin, bought back to a relationship with our holy creator God.

This, is life changing for now, and when Jesus returns...

… on the Day of Judgement, when all the behind-the-scenes material is revealed, so to speak, and God rights the wrongs of history, the cross will be our only hope. We won’t be trying to convince the Almighty that we were really ‘good’ after all. We won’t be pointing the finger at all the easier targets—those people who were worse than we ever were. We’ll just be looking to God to make good on his promise that this Day was delayed precisely so that those who respond to him during the merciful interval between creation and ‘new creation’ may experience both the forgiveness of ‘sins’ now and the renewal of the universe then.

Dickson, John. If I were God, I'd end all the pain (p. 44). Matthias Media. Kindle Edition.