Holiness
Pastor Brett Gray
June 23, 2024
Big Idea: Be submerged in God’s holiness, because it is both majestic and transforming for the believer.
A. God’s
(Psalm 71:22b)
1. God Is Devoted to His Own
a. The shekinah glory of God: awakens in people a sense of “absolute nothingness.” Some have called this “awful majesty”2
Exodus 15:11 “Who is like you, O LORD , among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness”
Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
2. His Majestic Holiness is
(Psalm 111:9)
3. His Majestic Holiness is
(Psalm 78:41)
• Important Concept: This is the part of God’s holiness that is not communicated to us.
B. God’s
• Practical Holiness = God’s separation from sin, wickedness, and evil in that everything he is and does is not contaminated by sin.
(Psalm 24:3)
Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to the, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”
• Important Concept: This is the part of God’s holiness that is communicated to us to some degree.
C. God’s
(Psalm 11:4; 15:1; 134:2)
• Observation: Qodesh (adjective) in the book of Psalms is primarily used to describe a location where God dwells in his holiness.
• Observation: Second, it describes God himself as holy
(Psalm 28:2)
1. In the Old Covenant God Dwelled Within
a. The Tabernacle
b. The Temple
2. In the New Covenant God Dwells Within the
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Philippians 1:20)
D. The Holiness of God at the
1. God acted in holiness to
Isaiah 47:4 “Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—is the Holy One of Israel”
Mark 1:24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are –the Holy One of God.”
2. God acted in holiness to
Colossians 2:13-14 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
E. Practical Suggestions To Be
1. Read the parts of the Bible that may frighten you
a. Isaiah 6 (Isaiah’s encounter with God)
b. Ezekiel 1 (Ezekiel’s encounter with God)
c. Revelation 1 (John’s encounter with Jesus)
2. Sit in silence reflecting on the sinful depths of your heart
Isaiah 6:5 “And I said: ‘woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I swell in the idst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King , the LORD of hosts.’”
3. Rejoice in the forgiveness you have in Christ
(Romans 4:7)
Revelations 1:17-18 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as through dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hades.’”
1 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 241.
2 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 4th Rev. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1941), 73.