God’s holiness is the absence of impurity and the presence of perfect righteousness.
Isaiah 6:1-5 gives us a picture of God’s holiness:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9He said, “Go and tell this people:
“ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken. —Isaiah 6:1-12
God is holy like the sun is hot.
The Holy Spirit is working to make you holy like God is holy.
4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, —Titus 3:4-5
You were declared holy at the moment of your salvation.
The presence of God in you makes you holy.
The Holy Spirit is working to make us holy in how we think, feel, and act.
As a child of God, nothing can separate you from God’s love.
14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” —1 Peter 1:14-16
The Holy Spirit works to make us holy by:
1. Convicting us of sin
2. Providing power to kill sin
3. Giving us a desire for righteousness
4. Providing power to live righteously
The Holy Spirit convicts us by making us aware and remorseful when we sin.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin in a way that leads us toward God.
16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever c you want. —Galatians 5:16-17
The conviction of the Holy Spirit produces in us an internal conflict when we sin.
We respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit through confession to God and to other believers.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:8-9
Like physical pain keeps us from further physical harm, conviction keeps us from living in sin.
We confess to a mature, trusted believer to grow in holiness.
Revival is personal holiness gone viral.
Big Idea:
The Holy Spirit is making us holy by convicting us of sin. We respond through confession.
Study Guide Questions:
1 Peter 1:14-16 makes it clear that we are to be holy. Where is the Holy Spirit working to bring holiness in your life?
What are the barriers to confession that you experience?
Do you have people in your life who are trusted, mature believers to whom you can confess?
How have you responded when people have confessed sin to you?
The Roman Catholic church uses a confessional as a required part of their spiritual life. Would we, as an evangelical church, benefit from this if we separated the use of the confessional from the doctrine of the absolution of sin?
How can you be a trusted, mature person whom others view as able to hear their confession?