On God: How a Holy God Is Both Far and Near (Partial Recording)

God’s Holiness: How a Holy God is Both Far and Near Connecting the Dots Series 9/29/21 “We tend to have mixed feelings about the holy. There is a sense in which we are at the same time attracted to it and repulsed by it. Something draws us toward it, while at the same time we want to run away from it. We can’t seem to decide which way we want it. Part of us yearns for the holy, while part of us despises it. We can’t live with it, and we can’t live without it.” - R.C. Sproul What is holiness? “Without the holiness of God, sin has no meaning and grace has no point.” – Mark Dever “And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, ‘My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.’” Job 42:7-8 Old Testament ‫קָ דֹוׁש‬adj. sacred, holy — 1. of God, as separate, apart, and so sacred, holy: a. exalted on theophanic throne; heavenly throne; in victory. b. separate from human infirmity, impurity, and sin. c. ‫קְ דֹוׁש י ְִש ָראֵ ל‬ = divine name (originating fr. trisagion), pl. intens. ‫קד)ו(ׁשים‬. 2. a. of place, sacred, holy, chambers of priests, camp of Isr., + ‫ מָ רֹום‬of heaven; of the court of the tabernacle, of Jerusalem. b. persons: priests, Aaron, Levites, prophet, Nazirite, Isr.; remnant in Jerus.; ‫ קדׁשים‬sacred; ‫ קדׁשים‬sacred ones, saints (song). c. angels. d. ‫ קדׁשים מים‬holy water. e. time, of Sabbath. New Testament ὅσιος, (a) holy, pious (implying the right relation to God); τὰ ὅσια, the pieties, the pious deeds, Ac. 13:34: (b) (Hebrew Chāsīd means not only godly, pious, but also beloved of Yahweh), ὁ ὅσιος, the Holy One (i.e. the Messiah). ἅγιος, set apart by (or for) the God, holy, sacred, e.g. ἁγία πόλις (of Jerusalem) Mt. 4:5; τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, practically synonymous with τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ; ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ (Mk. 1:24) of the Messiah; οἱ ἅγιοι, of the Christians as the new people of God, taking the place of the Hebrews: τὸ ἅγιον, τὰ ἅγια, the temple; τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, the inmost part of the temple, the inner shrine. How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 1 - Holiness carries the notion of _______________, _________________, ___________ and _______________ from those things that are bad and ____________. - To be holy is therefore to be _______ _______ or ________. How holy is God? "When we preach the love of God there is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with His love at the center of that holiness." ~ Oswald Chambers - Our God is not only holy, but He is ____________ _________ (Is. 6:3) - Our God is so holy, his ________ is holy (Is. 57:15) - He is _______ ________ from all that is not holy. - Like all of God’s ______________, God’s holiness is intertwined and unified with his ___________ attributes. You cannot separate the attributes of God. “The holiness of God is not to be conceived of as one attribute among others. It is rather a general term representing the conception of God’s consummate perfection and total glory. It is His infinite moral perfection crowning His infinite intelligence and power.” – A.A. Hodge (1823-1886) “Holiness is the most sparkling jewel of God’s crown. It is the name by which He is known.” – Thomas Watson (1620-1686) “Holiness is to be regarded not as a distinct attribute but as the result of all God’s moral perfection together” – R.L. Dabney (1820-1898) How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 2 “When Scripture calls God, or individual persons of the Godhead, ‘holy…’, the word signifies everything about God that sets him apart from us and makes him an object of awe, adoration, and dread to us. It covers all aspects of his transcendent greatness and moral perfection and thus is an attribute of all his attributes, pointing to the ‘Godness’ of God at every point.”1 – J.I. Packer (1926-2020) God is so holy, He is far away - Because God is holy, he is _________ all else. God is __________________. - Transcendence means that God is __________, __________ ___, and ______ everything. -Millard Erickson: “[God] being distinct from and even removed from [the universe].”2 - All of Scripture describes God as the ________ ________, above and set apart from all. - He sits far above the earth (Isaiah 40:22; Acts 7:49; Hebrews 1:3) - Nothing can contain Him (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 2:6; Jeremiah 23:24; Acts 17:24) - His thoughts and ways are far above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33) - God is unknowable to all except Himself (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) - He resides outside of matter and time, holding all together while nothing upholds Him except Himself (Genesis 1:1-2; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:1-4) - Connecting the Dots with Transcendence: - God is Spirit, not limited by space or time (Ps 139; Jn 4:24) - God is immutable, unchanging due to internal or external forces (Nm 23:19; 1 Sm 15:29; Ps 33:11; Mal 3:6; Hb 6:18; 13:8; Jam 1:17; 2 Pt 3:8-9) - God must be worshipped as He has requested (Lv 10:1-7; Amos 5:21-27; Jn 4:21-24) God is so holy, He is far away…from us? “No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.” – Matthew Henry 1 Packer, J.I. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Carol Stream Illinois, 1993. 43. 2 Erickson, Millard. Christian Theology, 3rd Ed. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2013. 273. How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 3 - We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and are called to demonstrate his communicable attributes. - God is so holy, he is the _____________ of holiness. - “Be HOLY for I am HOLY” - God - Israel was to set themselves apart in their diet (Leviticus 11:44-45) - Israel was to honor as holy those things which God said were holy (Lev. 19:1-8) - Israel was to honor their parents and reject pagan gods (Lev. 20:6-9) - Israel to obey all of God’s laws, separating themselves from the pagan people in the land they would inherit (Lev. 20:26) - Israel’s priests were to pay close attention to themselves, ensuring their purity and the purity of their families (Lev. 21:1-9) - Israel was to keep their camp and individual habits clean and purified (Deuteronomy 23:14) - God’s people are to be pure and soberminded in all of their conduct (1 Peter 1:15-16) - Yet, we ______ _______ holy (Romans 3:10, 23) “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.’” Isaiah 6:5 - If God is holy, and I am not, then what? Psalm 24:1-3 1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters. 3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? Psalm 24:4-6 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Selah How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 4 - We are only able to be in the presence of God if our sin is atoned for (see Is. 6:6) - Why would a holy God come near to an unholy people? God came near to us to make us holy "God has one destined end for mankind - holiness! His one aim is the production of saints. God is not an eternal blessing-machine for men. He did not come to save men out of pity. He came to save men because He had created them to be holy." ~ Oswald Chambers -The simplicity of God means that God’s love and holiness work in perfect __________. - God is holy. God is transcendent. God is immanent. - Millard Erickson: “God’s presence and activity within nature, human nature, and history.”3 - Out of love, God comes close to us and His desire is to make us holy - The simplicity of God also means that God’s __________ and holiness work in perfect union. - We are not simply made holy (Hb 9:16-22) - God came in the flesh and dwelt among us (Mt 1:23) - Connecting the Dots with Immanence: - We cannot escape the presence of God (Ps 139; Jer 23:24) - God is intimately involved with our lives (Acts 17:27-28) - God is intimately involved with the world around us (Matthew 5:45; 6:25-30; 10:29-30) - God dwells with His people (Isaiah 63:11; Micah 3:8; Haggai 2:5) - God is near to all who call on Him (Ps 145:18; Acts 17:27; Hb 4:14-16) -God’s holiness exudes from himself and influences the world (Ex 3:5; Joshua 5:15; Acts 7:33) Keys to remember: Danger #1: Overemphasis on Transcendence 3 Erickson, 274. How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 5 - Leads to Deism – God is creator and uninvolved with creation - Leads to Christological problems – Jesus was not God in the flesh, miracles don’t happen - Leads to Neo-Orthodoxy (Karl Barth) – “God is the altogether other”4 who is hidden, undiscoverable, and only on occasion encountered exclusively through divine moments of reading the Bible. Danger #2: Overemphasis on Immanence -Leads to Open Theism/Process Theology – God is learning of events at the same time as us -Leads to Pantheism – God is in all things -Leads to Panentheism and “Cosmic Christ” (Richard Rohr)5 – All things come, or emanate, from God, thus we can all attain to being “Christ” Danger #3: Oversimplification to Grasp the Unity of Immanence and Transcendence - Albert Einstein’s 4-dimensions – time becomes an additional dimension, which God transcends thus he is outside of time as we understand it. Further Reading: Childers, Alicia. Here’s Why Christians Should Avoid The Teachings of Richard Rohr. Crossexamined.org. https://crossexamined.org/heres-why-christians-should-avoid-the-teachings-of-richard-rohr/. 2/3/2021. Erickson, Millard. Christian Theology, 3rd Ed. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2013. Packer, J.I. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Carol Stream Illinois, 1993. 43. Sproul, R.C. The Holiness of God. Tyndale House Publishers: Carol Stream, Illinois, 1998. 4 Erickson, 284. “However, [Rohr] separates Jesus and Christ into two separate entities, with Jesus being nothing more than a ‘model and exemplar’ of the human and divine united in one human body. And in Rohr’s view, Christ is a cosmic reality that is found ‘whenever the material and the divine co-exist—which is always and everywhere.’” Childers, 2/3/21. 5 How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 6 Quotes on Holiness: • “Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.” – Oswald Chambers • "The holier a man becomes, the more he mourns over the unholiness which remains in him." ~ C.S. Lewis • "It is an undoubted truth that every doctrine that comes from God, leads to God; and that which doth not tend to promote holiness is not of God." ~ George Whitefield • "If you don’t delight in the fact that your Father is holy, holy, holy, then you are spiritually dead. You may be in a church. You may go to a Christian school. But if there is no delight in your soul for the holiness of God, you don’t know God. You don’t love God. You’re out of touch with God. You’re asleep to his character." ~ R. C. Sproul • “Holiness, as taught in the Scriptures, is not based upon knowledge on our part. Rather, it is based upon the resurrected Christ in-dwelling us and changing us into His likeness.” – A.W. Tozer • “’Holy solitaries' is a phrase no more consistent with the Gospel than holy adulterers. The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.” – John Wesley • “Revenge, lust, ambition, pride, and self-will are too often exalted as the gods of man's idolatry; while holiness, peace, contentment, and humility are viewed as unworthy of a serious thought.” – Charles Spurgeon • “Necessity is laid upon us. We must fight. There are no promises in the Lord Jesus Christ's epistles to the seven churches, except to those who 'overcome.' Where there is grace, there will be conflict. The believer is a soldier. There is no holiness without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found to have fought a fight.” – J.C. Ryle • "Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word." – J. C. Ryle • "If you think you can walk in holiness without keeping up perpetual fellowship with Christ, you have made a great mistake. If you would be holy, you must live close to Jesus." ~ Charles Spurgeon How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 7 • "When Holy God draws near in true revival, people come under terrible conviction of sin. The outstanding feature of spiritual awakening has been the profound consciousness of the Presence and holiness of God." ~ Henry Blackaby • "The holiness of God teaches us that there is only one way to deal with sin- radically, seriously, painfully, constantly. If you do not so live, you do not live in the presence of the Holy One of Israel." ~ Sinclair B. Ferguson • “In order to live a life of holiness, we must first receive new life from God - we must be born from above.” – J. Vernon McGee • “Without holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place. The Lord of heaven is a holy Being. The angels are holy creatures. Holiness is written on everything in heaven... How shall we ever be at home and happy in heaven if we die unholy?” – J.C. Ryle • “The foundation of true holiness and true Christian worship is the doctrine of the gospel, what we are to believe. So when Christian doctrine is neglected, forsaken, or corrupted, true holiness and worship will also be neglected, forsaken, and corrupted.” – John Owen • “Nowhere can we get to know the holiness of God, and come under His influence and power, except in the inner chamber. It has been well said: "No man can expect to make progress in holiness who is not often and long alone with God." – Andrew Murray • “Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without grace.” – St. Augustine of Hippo • “Whatever "call" a man may pretend to have, if he has not been called to holiness, he certainly has not been called to the ministry.” – Charles Spurgeon How a Holy God is Both Far and Near 8