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God’s Holiness • 12.07.25
God’s Holiness
Exodus 3:1-6; Isaiah 6:1-7
How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?
Manuscript:
Good morning, church family! (Welcome guests + introduce self)
What a sweet morning of worship as we enter into the Advent season, anticipating the celebration of our Savior’s birth. We of all people have hope that cannot be thwarted or taken from us. I am looking forward to celebrating this hope all throughout December! We are also going to have the privilege of celebrating the Lord’s Table at the end our service today. So not only will we celebrate his birth, but also his saving work at the Cross and empty tomb.
Dismiss 4th + 5th graders
Ushers + Bibles (Exodus 3; page 54)
Today we are beginning our last sermon series of the calendar year. We are ending our year studying The Beautiful Gospel over the month of December. Our pastor team thought this would be an appropriate capstone for the year, especially as we eagerly anticipate the celebration of our Savior’s birth. Why do we celebrate Christmas? What is so important about it? The answer lies in the gospel message aka the good news of Jesus Christ. We will unpack this in detail each Sunday and at our Christmas Eve service.
As we kick off this series, I want to share with you four essential components of the Gospel message. These are what we will spend the month diving into.
The purpose of this series is to help our church and our community understand the essentials of the Christian faith so that you may believe and have eternal life. For those who do believe, I trust it will be a helpful and joyful reminder of the essential truths you have trusted in and are called to share with others.
As we heard in our sermon two weeks ago, we live in a society that is largely misinformed about these essential components and teachings of the Christian faith. Which has led many to accept false doctrine and arrive at an unbiblical faith which leads to condemnation. My intent in this series is to help us worship the One, True God by knowing the truth of the beautiful gospel he has given us. How wonderful would it be to have the assurance of eternal life this Christmas? I can think of no greater gift to receive than the forgiveness of your sins and salvation of your soul. What a delight it would be to have certainty that you are a part of God’s family and have the hope of eternal life. I want to encourage you to commit to coming for each of these sermons, so you can hear these truths developed each week.
We also have an Advent Devotional created to go along with this sermon series. So, if you’re desiring to do a little study ahead of time with your family, please grab a paper copy in the back after the service, or you can find it linked on our eBulletin on our website. These are designed to be completed ahead of Sunday’s service. So, once you leave here today, you’ll be in week 2 of the devotional.
As you may have noticed, today we are focused on God’s Holiness. And during our time together, we are seeking to answer the question:
How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?
Let’s begin by defining our terms. What is holiness and what is the gospel?
Holiness means God is set apart—utterly unique, morally perfect, blazing in purity.
The word gospel means the good news, specifically the good news of Jesus Christ for salvation from our sins and peace with God. This is what the angel announced to the shepherds about the birth of Jesus so many years ago:
Luke 2:10–11 (ESV)
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
To understand why this is good news of great joy, we have some studying to do! We must start at the beginning of Creation as revealed in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:1–5 (ESV)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
If we were to keep reading, we would continue to hear about God’s power on display as he spoke creation into existence. My point in bringing us back to the very beginning is to demonstrate that God is the pre-existent Creator. The uncaused Causer. The source of all things. As we heard all last month from Psalm 24:1
Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
This world and everything in it are his; he is the Supreme Authority over it. He is the one who assigns meaning and purpose to the creation and, as the creation, we respond to him. To put it more plainly, the universe revolves around God, not us.
So, when we consider our question for today: How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?
The first part of our answer is…
And of all the things that can be said about God’s character, perhaps most importantly of all is that God is holy! He is set apart—utterly unique, morally perfect, blazing in purity. Let’s look at a couple of key passages that reveal this incredible reality to us.
Exodus 3:1–6 (ESV)
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
This passage captures the beginning of Moses’ calling as God’s prophet to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity in Egypt. But our focus is on the details of the interaction that God has with Moses. God’s holiness is on display in multiple ways. First, he appears as flaming fire in a bush that does not burn up. Often, in the Bible, God’s holy presence is revealed as fire, we see it here in the bush, later in the pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness or engulfing Mount Sinai when the Lord descended on it in fire and even later in the fiery presence on the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies. This is why we speak of his holiness as blazing purity.
Notice also that when God spoke to Moses, he instructed him not to come near and to take off his sandals, for the place on which he is standing is holy ground. God’s presence is so holy that he consecrates or makes holy the very creation around him. This is both incredible and dangerous for anyone that is unholy in God’s presence. That is why God told Moses to keep his distance. Now let’s look at another extraordinary interaction with God that reveals his holiness. Isaiah 6 is on page 678.
Isaiah 6:1–7 (ESV)
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah roots this amazing vision from God in a specific year of history, the year King Uzziah died, 740 BC. He directs our attention to a King far greater than King Uzziah – he saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up! And what follows is an incredible description of seraphim who worship the Lord.
These are angels who are described in fantastic detail. Six wings, covering themselves before the Lord, likely to hide their gaze from God and to show humility before Him. Yet, as amazing as these angels are, they are focused on one greater than them. Their speech reveals the object of their worship so let’s hear it again.
Verse 3 - “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” They called this out to one another, and it is indicative of how incomparably great the holiness of God truly is. In Hebrew, this threefold repetition of holy means he is the holiest of all; the MOST HOLY! No one else can be given this title. He is unmatched in holiness. He is so great that his glory or splendor fills the entire earth. The seraphim are nowhere near as important or powerful as the God who reigns over all things! This God is unlike any other and is worthy of all praise!
Verse 4 reveals a terrifying shaking of the thresholds/doorway as their voices ring out. Then the house of God fills up with smoke… Can you imagine it? Talk about sensory overload! The sights Isaiah was seeing… the smell of the smoke (likely incense) … the shaking of the area he was in… the incredible worship he was hearing… The description of this vision engages nearly all the senses for the sole purpose of conveying the absolute holiness of God!
And it is this MOST HOLY God by whom we have been created. He is the prime reality from which everything else derives its purpose and meaning. So, what does that mean for us?
We have heard this repeatedly in Genesis 1:26ff over the past month. Here it is again:
Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
We are to be visible representatives of the invisible God. We have been created to represent and reflect his character here on the earth, thereby bringing him glory and inviting all of creation to worship God. If you are tracking with this calling for us, then that means we are required to be holy as God is holy! In fact, God reveals beyond a shadow of doubt that this is the expectation:
Leviticus 19:1–2 (ESV)
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
There we have it! God’s calling for us, plain as day… And lest you say, “Well that’s only for the people of Israel!” Here it is repeated by the Apostle Peter in the New Testament, speaking to Christians:
1 Peter 1:14–16 (ESV)
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Throughout human history, God’s calling for us has remained consistent. We are to be holy as he is holy. This is necessary for us to fulfill our purpose of bearing God’s image and bringing him glory. *pause*
However, an honest assessment of our own lives reveals that we are not holy as he is holy! Sin has corrupted the image of God in us. Let’s look again at the responses of Moses and Isaiah:
Exodus 3:6 (ESV)
6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Isaiah 6:5 (ESV)
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”
These men recognized the deficiency of their own character as well as the rest of their peers. They understood that to be in the presence of the holy God as an unholy person was to risk judgment and death. Moses’ understanding was correct as he received the following warning when God came down on Mount Sinai:
Exodus 19:18–21 (ESV)
18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish.
God’s utter holiness is a problem for sinners like us! And lest you try to argue that you are not a sinner, allow me to show you God’s perspective on that:
Psalm 14:2–3 (ESV)
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
This is a sweeping indictment of humanity that is repeated multiple times throughout the Scriptures. The grand narrative of the Bible reveals that ever since Genesis 3 humanity has been corrupted by sin. And it is the reality of God’s utter holiness that makes sin such a big deal for us! Our sin problem prohibits us from being holy as he is holy. Sin prevents us from carrying out the purpose for which we have been created! We’ll speak to that in more detail next week… But for today, as we consider this question of “How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?” Our final component to our answer is:
It is God’s holiness that reveals our need for a Savior. Before you get to the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, you must first understand the bad news of the depth of your sin problem. God’s holiness reveals that we are not “mostly ok” people who just need a little help… No, the reality is - we are dead in our sin and unable to rescue ourselves.
Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death…
It is God’s holiness that reveals our sin problem. And our sin must be addressed if we are going to be at peace with God and have the hope of eternal life with him. Without God’s holiness, there would be no problem with sin nor any need for the Cross of Jesus Christ. Why would Jesus have to come? Why would he have to die? There would be no standard we’ve missed the mark on. No standard by which we must be judged. But because he is perfectly holy and calls us to be holy, now our sin problem must be resolved!
Thankfully, his holiness also guides his gracious action. Let’s think through how we’ve seen this in our passages today:
The further you go into the Old Testament, the more God reveals himself and his requirements to the people. I know many struggle to read the Old Testament, but it really is so helpful for understanding who God is, what he expects of us, and why Jesus had to come to rescue and redeem us! It also helps us understand the grand redemption plan of God, that he is committed to making a people for himself and desires to be in relationship with those people!
God is the one who initiates the cleansing or atonement of Isaiah’s sin. We don’t see Isaiah ascending to God, but rather God sending the seraphim to him. Holiness is not only revealing separation from God, but it is also the basis for God’s redemptive plan/power. This is most clearly revealed in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
This is why the angels announced they brought good news of great joy! God the Father sent God the Son to cleanse his people from their sin. God addresses the gap between his holiness and our lack of holiness in Christ. During his life and ministry, Jesus is the one who makes the unclean clean. He is the one who has the authority to forgive sins. Just as when God sent the seraphim to cleanse Isaiah of his sin, so the Son has been sent to cleanse us of our sin.
This is what Jesus accomplished at the cross and in the resurrection for all who believe in him.
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus takes on the stain of our sin in exchange for his righteousness! That is an awesome exchange with an incredible outcome.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s plan of redemption was to send His Son to save sinners like us. It is possible for you to have eternal life through receiving the free gift that God has provided through faith in Jesus Christ. Your sins can be forgiven, and you can receive Christ’s righteousness! This was always the plan!
For those of you who have been with us all year, you may remember this glorious prophecy from the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:11 (ESV)
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Remember, this prophecy was shared ~700 years before Jesus’ incarnation on earth. It was always God’s plan to send His Servant, the Righteous One, to make many righteous by bearing their sins. This entire redemption plan is driven by the character of God, namely that he is perfectly holy and has created/called us to be holy as he is holy.
So, how should you respond to God’s holiness?
Allow God’s holiness to keep you from trivializing sin or cheapening grace. Sin is in fact the very thing that condemns us and keeps us from eternal life. It is a VERY big deal. We must not make light of it or make room for it in our lives. Grace required the sinless Son of God to die for our redemption. We must never act like salvation and the forgiveness of sins is a small thing that requires little of us. We must not think that God is pleased if we pray a prayer or make a confession of faith, but never change to follow him, to be holy as he is holy! To live in such a way cheapens grace. The sinfulness of sin ought to drive us to our knees in confession as we seek out God’s mercy and grace each and every day. And the beauty of grace provided through Christ’s death in our place ought to drive us to live a holy life.
Where do you see sin still at work in your life? Are you looking for it? Do you intend to uproot and destroy it? Do not make peace with sin! You must be committed to rooting out sin in your life and taking it as seriously as God does.
Where do you see God’s grace at work in your life? The grace of God as revealed in Christ ought to cause your hearts to overflow with joy and to be committed to living a holy life after his own example. “God, how could I not live for you after you willingly died for me!?” Live in light of the grace you’ve received.
Allow God’s holiness to drive you to reverence and worship Him. Do you have passionate worship of God in your life? If you’ve never recognized your need for forgiveness and salvation, then this is where you need to start. Worship God in his holiness by crying out to him for forgiveness and salvation through Christ. Each of us must be brought low in humility as we exalt the perfectly holy God. We join our voices with the seraphim in crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” Yet it must not stop with our singing, it must become our way of life. We are always worshiping someone/something, let it be the Holy God. In your words, thoughts, and actions make it your aim to please God. As we’ve heard in previous weeks, even the most mundane actions, such as eating and drinking can be done to the glory of God. Will you commit to living a life of worship of the One, True God?
Allow God’s holiness to motivate your pursuit of holiness because the God who is perfectly holy is committed to perfecting holiness in his people. As Paul was able to confidently write to the church in Philippi:
Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
For those who are in Christ, God is committed to your sanctification (the process of growing in holiness). What he began (making you holy in salvation/justification) he will complete (glorification). This is the outcome for all who believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and salvation of their souls. Pastor Mark shared this beautiful truth last week:
Romans 8:29–30 (ESV)
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
There is great peace available to those whose faith is in Christ. You can know that you know that you’re on your way to heaven. The evidence is in the good work of sanctification that the Lord is doing in you, convicting you to put off sin and put on holiness. By so doing you are increasingly being conformed to the image of his Son, so that you might be ready to join him in heaven one day.
Does your life give evidence of this pursuit of holiness? Are you eager to be holy as he is holy? I hope you are able to point to specific evidence from this past week/month of how you are actively putting off temptation and sin in order to put on the pursuit of holiness. If you are not doing this or struggling to know how, please ask for help! That is the beauty of the church, we are in this together. We are to pray for one another and counsel one another. Your small group is a great place to do this. If you have a deep friendship with another brother or sister in the church, open up to them and ask them to help you put off sin and put on holiness. We also have a free biblical counseling ministry if you believe that would be a beneficial next step for you. But don’t stay stuck in sin!
I will close with this… God’s holiness is not a problem for the gospel—it is what drives the plan of redemption. This is a positive reminder, now let me share a negative one.
Theologian Millard Erickson says, “When one measures one's holiness, not against the standard of oneself or of other humans, but against God, the need for a complete change of moral and spiritual condition becomes apparent." (Christian Theology, pg. 312)
That’s what you need to understand this morning. God’s holiness requires complete change of our moral and spiritual condition. And that is only possible through faith in Christ.
I wanted to leave us with both a positive and negative reminder of why God’s holiness fits into the gospel. I hope studying God’s holiness today has helped you see the beauty of the gospel more clearly. I also pray that we would all be aware of our need for a complete change through faith in and obedience to Christ. This is the only way we are going to be holy as he is holy!
Communion
We are going to close out our services by worshiping the Lord through the celebration of communion or the Lord’s table. Communion is an opportunity for Christians to be unified as we come together to remember all that the Lord has done for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. This is an opportunity for Christians to remember that we have embraced the promised hope of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and salvation of our souls!
We will celebrate by partaking of both the bread and the cup as a symbol and reminder of Jesus’ body broken in our place and his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Communion is an opportunity to remember how great a price was paid so that we could be saved from our sin. It is a sobering, yet joyful celebration for Christians. Sobering that the Son of God would give himself for us as a ransom. Joyful that he did, and the result is a living hope that cannot be taken from us! Jesus is victorious; therefore, we have the hope of heaven with Him!
At this time, I’d like to invite the ushers forward with the elements.
Before we pass them, I want to share the biblical requirements for joining in this celebration.
This celebration was given by Jesus to his followers. We invite anyone who has trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation to join us in this celebration today. If your faith is not in Jesus Christ alone, then we would encourage you to let the elements pass by you and simply consider what you’ve heard so far during the service this morning and reflect on what is keeping you from trusting him.
The second requirement we see in Scripture is a call to examine ourselves. This is the idea of making sure that you’ve confessed any known sins and sought to turn away from it. It would not be wise to partake of the table if you have sin in your life for which you are not repentant. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 that taking the table while living in sin is eating and drinking judgment on yourself. I would ask you not to do that, for your sake and the sake of God’s glory. Instead, I would encourage you to use this time to confess that sin and make a plan to address it right away. If you know you need to be reconciled to someone else in this church, please take care of that during this time. The table is time to protect the unity of the church.
The ushers are going to pass the elements now as we have a time of silent reflection and prayer to prepare for the table. Please use this time to reflect on all that we’ve talked about today and to prepare yourself to take communion by confessing and repenting of any known sin. After the elements have been passed, I’ll lead us in prayer and taking communion together.
Ushers pass elements
Silent prayer. Corporate prayer.
1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Take bread.
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Take cup
Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!
Closing Song
Dismissal (Me)
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God’s Holiness
Exodus 3:1-6; Isaiah 6:1-7
How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?
Manuscript:
Good morning, church family! (Welcome guests + introduce self)
What a sweet morning of worship as we enter into the Advent season, anticipating the celebration of our Savior’s birth. We of all people have hope that cannot be thwarted or taken from us. I am looking forward to celebrating this hope all throughout December! We are also going to have the privilege of celebrating the Lord’s Table at the end our service today. So not only will we celebrate his birth, but also his saving work at the Cross and empty tomb.
Dismiss 4th + 5th graders
Ushers + Bibles (Exodus 3; page 54)
Today we are beginning our last sermon series of the calendar year. We are ending our year studying The Beautiful Gospel over the month of December. Our pastor team thought this would be an appropriate capstone for the year, especially as we eagerly anticipate the celebration of our Savior’s birth. Why do we celebrate Christmas? What is so important about it? The answer lies in the gospel message aka the good news of Jesus Christ. We will unpack this in detail each Sunday and at our Christmas Eve service.
As we kick off this series, I want to share with you four essential components of the Gospel message. These are what we will spend the month diving into.
The purpose of this series is to help our church and our community understand the essentials of the Christian faith so that you may believe and have eternal life. For those who do believe, I trust it will be a helpful and joyful reminder of the essential truths you have trusted in and are called to share with others.
As we heard in our sermon two weeks ago, we live in a society that is largely misinformed about these essential components and teachings of the Christian faith. Which has led many to accept false doctrine and arrive at an unbiblical faith which leads to condemnation. My intent in this series is to help us worship the One, True God by knowing the truth of the beautiful gospel he has given us. How wonderful would it be to have the assurance of eternal life this Christmas? I can think of no greater gift to receive than the forgiveness of your sins and salvation of your soul. What a delight it would be to have certainty that you are a part of God’s family and have the hope of eternal life. I want to encourage you to commit to coming for each of these sermons, so you can hear these truths developed each week.
We also have an Advent Devotional created to go along with this sermon series. So, if you’re desiring to do a little study ahead of time with your family, please grab a paper copy in the back after the service, or you can find it linked on our eBulletin on our website. These are designed to be completed ahead of Sunday’s service. So, once you leave here today, you’ll be in week 2 of the devotional.
As you may have noticed, today we are focused on God’s Holiness. And during our time together, we are seeking to answer the question:
How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?
Let’s begin by defining our terms. What is holiness and what is the gospel?
Holiness means God is set apart—utterly unique, morally perfect, blazing in purity.
The word gospel means the good news, specifically the good news of Jesus Christ for salvation from our sins and peace with God. This is what the angel announced to the shepherds about the birth of Jesus so many years ago:
Luke 2:10–11 (ESV)
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
To understand why this is good news of great joy, we have some studying to do! We must start at the beginning of Creation as revealed in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:1–5 (ESV)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
If we were to keep reading, we would continue to hear about God’s power on display as he spoke creation into existence. My point in bringing us back to the very beginning is to demonstrate that God is the pre-existent Creator. The uncaused Causer. The source of all things. As we heard all last month from Psalm 24:1
Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
This world and everything in it are his; he is the Supreme Authority over it. He is the one who assigns meaning and purpose to the creation and, as the creation, we respond to him. To put it more plainly, the universe revolves around God, not us.
So, when we consider our question for today: How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?
The first part of our answer is…
And of all the things that can be said about God’s character, perhaps most importantly of all is that God is holy! He is set apart—utterly unique, morally perfect, blazing in purity. Let’s look at a couple of key passages that reveal this incredible reality to us.
Exodus 3:1–6 (ESV)
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
This passage captures the beginning of Moses’ calling as God’s prophet to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity in Egypt. But our focus is on the details of the interaction that God has with Moses. God’s holiness is on display in multiple ways. First, he appears as flaming fire in a bush that does not burn up. Often, in the Bible, God’s holy presence is revealed as fire, we see it here in the bush, later in the pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness or engulfing Mount Sinai when the Lord descended on it in fire and even later in the fiery presence on the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies. This is why we speak of his holiness as blazing purity.
Notice also that when God spoke to Moses, he instructed him not to come near and to take off his sandals, for the place on which he is standing is holy ground. God’s presence is so holy that he consecrates or makes holy the very creation around him. This is both incredible and dangerous for anyone that is unholy in God’s presence. That is why God told Moses to keep his distance. Now let’s look at another extraordinary interaction with God that reveals his holiness. Isaiah 6 is on page 678.
Isaiah 6:1–7 (ESV)
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah roots this amazing vision from God in a specific year of history, the year King Uzziah died, 740 BC. He directs our attention to a King far greater than King Uzziah – he saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up! And what follows is an incredible description of seraphim who worship the Lord.
These are angels who are described in fantastic detail. Six wings, covering themselves before the Lord, likely to hide their gaze from God and to show humility before Him. Yet, as amazing as these angels are, they are focused on one greater than them. Their speech reveals the object of their worship so let’s hear it again.
Verse 3 - “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” They called this out to one another, and it is indicative of how incomparably great the holiness of God truly is. In Hebrew, this threefold repetition of holy means he is the holiest of all; the MOST HOLY! No one else can be given this title. He is unmatched in holiness. He is so great that his glory or splendor fills the entire earth. The seraphim are nowhere near as important or powerful as the God who reigns over all things! This God is unlike any other and is worthy of all praise!
Verse 4 reveals a terrifying shaking of the thresholds/doorway as their voices ring out. Then the house of God fills up with smoke… Can you imagine it? Talk about sensory overload! The sights Isaiah was seeing… the smell of the smoke (likely incense) … the shaking of the area he was in… the incredible worship he was hearing… The description of this vision engages nearly all the senses for the sole purpose of conveying the absolute holiness of God!
And it is this MOST HOLY God by whom we have been created. He is the prime reality from which everything else derives its purpose and meaning. So, what does that mean for us?
We have heard this repeatedly in Genesis 1:26ff over the past month. Here it is again:
Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
We are to be visible representatives of the invisible God. We have been created to represent and reflect his character here on the earth, thereby bringing him glory and inviting all of creation to worship God. If you are tracking with this calling for us, then that means we are required to be holy as God is holy! In fact, God reveals beyond a shadow of doubt that this is the expectation:
Leviticus 19:1–2 (ESV)
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
There we have it! God’s calling for us, plain as day… And lest you say, “Well that’s only for the people of Israel!” Here it is repeated by the Apostle Peter in the New Testament, speaking to Christians:
1 Peter 1:14–16 (ESV)
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Throughout human history, God’s calling for us has remained consistent. We are to be holy as he is holy. This is necessary for us to fulfill our purpose of bearing God’s image and bringing him glory. *pause*
However, an honest assessment of our own lives reveals that we are not holy as he is holy! Sin has corrupted the image of God in us. Let’s look again at the responses of Moses and Isaiah:
Exodus 3:6 (ESV)
6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Isaiah 6:5 (ESV)
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”
These men recognized the deficiency of their own character as well as the rest of their peers. They understood that to be in the presence of the holy God as an unholy person was to risk judgment and death. Moses’ understanding was correct as he received the following warning when God came down on Mount Sinai:
Exodus 19:18–21 (ESV)
18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish.
God’s utter holiness is a problem for sinners like us! And lest you try to argue that you are not a sinner, allow me to show you God’s perspective on that:
Psalm 14:2–3 (ESV)
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
This is a sweeping indictment of humanity that is repeated multiple times throughout the Scriptures. The grand narrative of the Bible reveals that ever since Genesis 3 humanity has been corrupted by sin. And it is the reality of God’s utter holiness that makes sin such a big deal for us! Our sin problem prohibits us from being holy as he is holy. Sin prevents us from carrying out the purpose for which we have been created! We’ll speak to that in more detail next week… But for today, as we consider this question of “How does God’s holiness fit into the gospel?” Our final component to our answer is:
It is God’s holiness that reveals our need for a Savior. Before you get to the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, you must first understand the bad news of the depth of your sin problem. God’s holiness reveals that we are not “mostly ok” people who just need a little help… No, the reality is - we are dead in our sin and unable to rescue ourselves.
Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death…
It is God’s holiness that reveals our sin problem. And our sin must be addressed if we are going to be at peace with God and have the hope of eternal life with him. Without God’s holiness, there would be no problem with sin nor any need for the Cross of Jesus Christ. Why would Jesus have to come? Why would he have to die? There would be no standard we’ve missed the mark on. No standard by which we must be judged. But because he is perfectly holy and calls us to be holy, now our sin problem must be resolved!
Thankfully, his holiness also guides his gracious action. Let’s think through how we’ve seen this in our passages today:
The further you go into the Old Testament, the more God reveals himself and his requirements to the people. I know many struggle to read the Old Testament, but it really is so helpful for understanding who God is, what he expects of us, and why Jesus had to come to rescue and redeem us! It also helps us understand the grand redemption plan of God, that he is committed to making a people for himself and desires to be in relationship with those people!
God is the one who initiates the cleansing or atonement of Isaiah’s sin. We don’t see Isaiah ascending to God, but rather God sending the seraphim to him. Holiness is not only revealing separation from God, but it is also the basis for God’s redemptive plan/power. This is most clearly revealed in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
This is why the angels announced they brought good news of great joy! God the Father sent God the Son to cleanse his people from their sin. God addresses the gap between his holiness and our lack of holiness in Christ. During his life and ministry, Jesus is the one who makes the unclean clean. He is the one who has the authority to forgive sins. Just as when God sent the seraphim to cleanse Isaiah of his sin, so the Son has been sent to cleanse us of our sin.
This is what Jesus accomplished at the cross and in the resurrection for all who believe in him.
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus takes on the stain of our sin in exchange for his righteousness! That is an awesome exchange with an incredible outcome.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s plan of redemption was to send His Son to save sinners like us. It is possible for you to have eternal life through receiving the free gift that God has provided through faith in Jesus Christ. Your sins can be forgiven, and you can receive Christ’s righteousness! This was always the plan!
For those of you who have been with us all year, you may remember this glorious prophecy from the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:11 (ESV)
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Remember, this prophecy was shared ~700 years before Jesus’ incarnation on earth. It was always God’s plan to send His Servant, the Righteous One, to make many righteous by bearing their sins. This entire redemption plan is driven by the character of God, namely that he is perfectly holy and has created/called us to be holy as he is holy.
So, how should you respond to God’s holiness?
Allow God’s holiness to keep you from trivializing sin or cheapening grace. Sin is in fact the very thing that condemns us and keeps us from eternal life. It is a VERY big deal. We must not make light of it or make room for it in our lives. Grace required the sinless Son of God to die for our redemption. We must never act like salvation and the forgiveness of sins is a small thing that requires little of us. We must not think that God is pleased if we pray a prayer or make a confession of faith, but never change to follow him, to be holy as he is holy! To live in such a way cheapens grace. The sinfulness of sin ought to drive us to our knees in confession as we seek out God’s mercy and grace each and every day. And the beauty of grace provided through Christ’s death in our place ought to drive us to live a holy life.
Where do you see sin still at work in your life? Are you looking for it? Do you intend to uproot and destroy it? Do not make peace with sin! You must be committed to rooting out sin in your life and taking it as seriously as God does.
Where do you see God’s grace at work in your life? The grace of God as revealed in Christ ought to cause your hearts to overflow with joy and to be committed to living a holy life after his own example. “God, how could I not live for you after you willingly died for me!?” Live in light of the grace you’ve received.
Allow God’s holiness to drive you to reverence and worship Him. Do you have passionate worship of God in your life? If you’ve never recognized your need for forgiveness and salvation, then this is where you need to start. Worship God in his holiness by crying out to him for forgiveness and salvation through Christ. Each of us must be brought low in humility as we exalt the perfectly holy God. We join our voices with the seraphim in crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” Yet it must not stop with our singing, it must become our way of life. We are always worshiping someone/something, let it be the Holy God. In your words, thoughts, and actions make it your aim to please God. As we’ve heard in previous weeks, even the most mundane actions, such as eating and drinking can be done to the glory of God. Will you commit to living a life of worship of the One, True God?
Allow God’s holiness to motivate your pursuit of holiness because the God who is perfectly holy is committed to perfecting holiness in his people. As Paul was able to confidently write to the church in Philippi:
Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
For those who are in Christ, God is committed to your sanctification (the process of growing in holiness). What he began (making you holy in salvation/justification) he will complete (glorification). This is the outcome for all who believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and salvation of their souls. Pastor Mark shared this beautiful truth last week:
Romans 8:29–30 (ESV)
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
There is great peace available to those whose faith is in Christ. You can know that you know that you’re on your way to heaven. The evidence is in the good work of sanctification that the Lord is doing in you, convicting you to put off sin and put on holiness. By so doing you are increasingly being conformed to the image of his Son, so that you might be ready to join him in heaven one day.
Does your life give evidence of this pursuit of holiness? Are you eager to be holy as he is holy? I hope you are able to point to specific evidence from this past week/month of how you are actively putting off temptation and sin in order to put on the pursuit of holiness. If you are not doing this or struggling to know how, please ask for help! That is the beauty of the church, we are in this together. We are to pray for one another and counsel one another. Your small group is a great place to do this. If you have a deep friendship with another brother or sister in the church, open up to them and ask them to help you put off sin and put on holiness. We also have a free biblical counseling ministry if you believe that would be a beneficial next step for you. But don’t stay stuck in sin!
I will close with this… God’s holiness is not a problem for the gospel—it is what drives the plan of redemption. This is a positive reminder, now let me share a negative one.
Theologian Millard Erickson says, “When one measures one's holiness, not against the standard of oneself or of other humans, but against God, the need for a complete change of moral and spiritual condition becomes apparent." (Christian Theology, pg. 312)
That’s what you need to understand this morning. God’s holiness requires complete change of our moral and spiritual condition. And that is only possible through faith in Christ.
I wanted to leave us with both a positive and negative reminder of why God’s holiness fits into the gospel. I hope studying God’s holiness today has helped you see the beauty of the gospel more clearly. I also pray that we would all be aware of our need for a complete change through faith in and obedience to Christ. This is the only way we are going to be holy as he is holy!
Communion
We are going to close out our services by worshiping the Lord through the celebration of communion or the Lord’s table. Communion is an opportunity for Christians to be unified as we come together to remember all that the Lord has done for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. This is an opportunity for Christians to remember that we have embraced the promised hope of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and salvation of our souls!
We will celebrate by partaking of both the bread and the cup as a symbol and reminder of Jesus’ body broken in our place and his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Communion is an opportunity to remember how great a price was paid so that we could be saved from our sin. It is a sobering, yet joyful celebration for Christians. Sobering that the Son of God would give himself for us as a ransom. Joyful that he did, and the result is a living hope that cannot be taken from us! Jesus is victorious; therefore, we have the hope of heaven with Him!
At this time, I’d like to invite the ushers forward with the elements.
Before we pass them, I want to share the biblical requirements for joining in this celebration.
This celebration was given by Jesus to his followers. We invite anyone who has trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation to join us in this celebration today. If your faith is not in Jesus Christ alone, then we would encourage you to let the elements pass by you and simply consider what you’ve heard so far during the service this morning and reflect on what is keeping you from trusting him.
The second requirement we see in Scripture is a call to examine ourselves. This is the idea of making sure that you’ve confessed any known sins and sought to turn away from it. It would not be wise to partake of the table if you have sin in your life for which you are not repentant. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 that taking the table while living in sin is eating and drinking judgment on yourself. I would ask you not to do that, for your sake and the sake of God’s glory. Instead, I would encourage you to use this time to confess that sin and make a plan to address it right away. If you know you need to be reconciled to someone else in this church, please take care of that during this time. The table is time to protect the unity of the church.
The ushers are going to pass the elements now as we have a time of silent reflection and prayer to prepare for the table. Please use this time to reflect on all that we’ve talked about today and to prepare yourself to take communion by confessing and repenting of any known sin. After the elements have been passed, I’ll lead us in prayer and taking communion together.
Ushers pass elements
Silent prayer. Corporate prayer.
1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Take bread.
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Take cup
Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!
Closing Song
Dismissal (Me)