Holy, Holy, Holy: A Quick Talk on The Holiness of God

hey guys uh my name is jackie hill perry and i am so excited to be uh present with you kinda uh for if gathering this year um it would have been obviously um a different and more gratifying experience to be with you as in present tangible being able to touch you high five with a mask on all those things but the way the world is set up we have to distance for time and so i'm grateful even that we have the technology to still be able to virtually meet in some ways i have a really simple goal today and that's to talk about holiness to talk about the holiness of god and how we live in light of that how do we you know pursue holiness in the world that cares nothing about it i think the term holiness is really loaded i think we come to interact with it uh in ways that come from assumptions that may or may not be biblical i know for me the the way i used to think about holiness was i used to think about holiness and think about the people who i would have deemed holy which was my aunt my aunt merle is one of the holiest people i know but the interesting thing is that a lot of the reasons i attributed the label holy to her was because she doesn't curse she doesn't listen to secular music i've never seen her wear pants and i don't mean like she goes about like with just her legs and her thighs out i mean she only wears dresses like that's that's it and they're the longest dresses i've ever seen i don't even know uh where she got that much fabric from um and so for her or for me she was my first experience of holiness someone who is living differently than the majority i think if she was my only version of holiness that would lead me to believe that i must be like her to be holy that i must wear long dresses that i must not listen to certain music that i must uh you know engage with the world from a distance but i think the better uh sight or the the the one that we're supposed to look at when it comes to understanding holiness is god because god is holy uh we are commanded and called not to be like the holy people we've seen but we're commanded and called to be like the god who has revealed himself in his son so why should we be holy well because the scripture tells us to if you turn in your bibles to first peter chapter 1 verse uh 14 it says as obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance but as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct since it is written you shall be holy for i am holy to understand holiness we have to look at god god himself is holy in isaiah 6 before the throne uh isaiah stood and saw god and they saw the angels the seraphim who covered their eyes and covered their feet and they sang a song about god uh if the seraphim were some pundits from our modern context what they might have sung is lord lord lord or love love love but what they sung was holy holy holy is lord god almighty god's holiness is literally who he is and what he is you cannot talk about god without talking about his holiness you cannot imagine god without imagining his holiness that is who he is that is who he has always been and that is who he will always be as holy it means two things it means that god is morally pure or ethically righteous he cannot sin can do no wrong can do no injustice but it also means that god is transcendent meaning he is above and beyond us creatures he is not a creature he is independent he is a sovereign he is uh knowledgeable of all things he is absolute reality and truth he uh is unlike us he is unique he is distinct he is different he is special he is separate that is what it means for god to be transcendent i think usually when we think about the term holiness we just land on the more purity part that god is righteous and holy he don't do bad stuff and so even when we think about holiness we only think about god's holiness in relation to sin but it's actually fuller than that and bigger than that is that yes god is pure but it's also that god is high that he is distinct that he is different that he is set apart uh by definition that's what holiness means it means to cut or to separate and so god's purity and god's transcendence sets him apart from everything that that that everything that there is uh if you consider two things or one way to understand that is if you were to put god in a category as in this is who god is and label it god at the top and then beneath it label everything that exists you will see that the primary difference between god and everything else is that everything else was made and god was not that everything else is dependent and god is not that everything else is contingent but god is not that everything else is a derivative but god is not he exists as he is that's what it means for him to be the i am that i am is that he is what he is and he will always be what he is i know it sounds complicated but when you're talking about a transcendent god it will be mysterious at times looking to god then if he is both morally pure and transcendent how does that change us what does that do for us well i think one is that it shows us that in his moral purity god cannot sin against you um we live in a world and in a society that everyone born after adam is born into sin so that means that we are surrounded by people who have a tendency to sin against us many of us know what rejection is know what abuse is know what abandonment is we've been lied to objectified talked about uh treated as if we are less than these are sins against us and even some of the sins that we've acquired for ourselves are a means to cope you know some of us withhold love because our love was taken advantage of at some point some of us are easily given to anger or frustration because we have a hurt inside of us that we refuse to name so much of our own sinfulness is in response to the sins against us and i think that not really believing or esteeming the moral purity of god sets us up to actually project onto god the potential sinfulness that we're used to in other people let me say that again i think that when you don't really latch on to the fact that god is sinless you tend to treat him as if he has the potential to sin against you so when he says to submit when he says to repent when he says to take up uh your cross daily and die when he commands you to do certain things as lord you don't think he's safe enough for you to obey and so you don't you go to all these other alternatives that you have deemed as safe because of your unbelief in the moral purity of god when you really think about the fact that god is holy so all he is is good therefore all he does is good therefore all he commands is good i think that gives you motivation to actually trust him and out of that trust flows fruit flows obedience and another way believing and trusting in the transcendence of god helps us because it says that god is incomparable that there is no one like him that there is nothing like him uh when you look throughout the scriptures you will see the psalmist and the prophets continually appeal to the distinctiveness of god for the reason why they should trust him if god cannot be compared to anything and everything then why in the world we would we expect anything and everything to be as good as he is what is it of idols that we think about when we are trusting in an idol whether it's coffee whether it's sex whether it's relationships whether it's money uh what are some other things that we we tend to exalt whether it's ourselves whether it's social media when we are looking to idols the expectation is that they could be like god for us right we look to a thing to to be transcendent to be sovereign to give us peace to give us comfort to to provide for us things that they don't even have in in and of themselves and idol is a lifeless thing so how could we expect then for a lifeless thing to offer us life when this life is dependent on us to give it to it and not for it to give it to us that's the difference between idols and god is that god has life in and of himself that he doesn't need to borrow it ask for it uh pray for he is life he is the way the truth and the life he is the resurrection and the life and so looking to god to be all that he is helps us to trust him to be all that we need i think those are two ways in which seeing the holiness of god and believing it helps us to trust which helps us to obey uh when we do that when we look to god to be who he is second corinthians talks about what happens second corinthians 3 verse 18 says this and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another i feel like for so long i thought that to be holy i just simply had to read the bible and say okay okay i'ma obey that i'ma do that don't lie gotcha don't steal gotcha don't lust or commit adultery gotcha but i think what happens is if if we're obeying purely on the basis of duty i think we end up frustrated we end up tired we end up bitter uh because our faith is not anchored in the beauty of god but rather in trying to earn some moral standing with god apart from jesus but i think when you behold the lord and you see that god is different and distinct and special there's no one like him and there will never be anybody like him that he is morally pure and sinless and spotless and without blemish when you behold that what you see is beauty and in seeing his beauty you want to know him and love him and you also trust him and out of that comes fruit because when jesus says hey cash your cares on me for i care for you what unbelief would lead you to do is say oh he's lying he doesn't he doesn't care for me so let me let me fix my burdens myself let me let me do all these things myself so much of our anxiety comes out of us assuming that god is lying when he says that he can handle it but if we trust and look to jesus as being morally pure therefore not being able to lie that when he says that he cares about your cares you believe him and you give him to him obeying him bearing fruit of peace do you see how that plays a part in looking to god seeing who he is trusting who he is and that out of that coming of worship coming of relinquishing of our rights um unto the one who deserves them and will never abuse them so that's how we be holy man is we look to god to define it and we look to god to help us walk it and be in it holiness is not something to be afraid of holiness is not something to look down on holiness really makes god beautiful if he wasn't holy he wouldn't be a beautiful god but because he is he is worthy of our worship so then as we become like him as we behold him what happens is that we become beautiful people we become lovely people we become kind and compassionate and gentle we have joy and we walk in self-control and patience these are fruits of the spirit these are fruits of holiness and so yeah if i have anything else to say it's behold the lord look at him and become like him thanks guys

Channel: Jackie Hill Perry Channel

Views: 56,085

Rating: 4.9863672 out of 5

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Id: fagvnz-GQi0

Length: 13min 17sec (797 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021