Transcript
Holiness is not one of God's attributes. It's the summary of all of His attributes. When I think of the holiness of God and why the Bible emphasizes that so powerfully, I think of the fact that He's holy in everything that He is. He's holy in power. He's holy in faithfulness. He's holy in sovereignty. He's holy in justice. He's holy in grace. He's holy in mercy.
Holy, Holy, Holy
He's holy and you get that in Isaiah 6. The prophet, Isaiah, has this vision of standing before the throne of God and the seraphim are flying back and forth, and they're saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with His glory."
Now, what that scene is supposed to say is God's so holy, I can't just say "holy" once. I have to say it three times. He's holy, holy, holy. And then that's not enough. I say the whole earth is filled with this glory of His Holiness. And so, what does it tell me in everyday life? It tells me God is utterly, absolutely incapable of lying to me, incapable of doing things that are bad. He's incapable of holding a grudge or mockery and disgust. He's incapable of failing me. He's incapable of promising me something that He has no intention to deliver. He's utterly, completely reliable in every way. What He says is true. What He promises will happen. What He wants for me is best because He's holy.
But there's more to this doctrine for my everyday life. It's that holiness becomes a standard for my living because the Bible says, "Be holy as the Lord your God is holy." And so, I'm given this absolutely unachievable moral standard to live by for my whole life. Everyday, I get up and I still am climbing the ladder of that thing.
Confronted With My Own Unholiness
What a beautiful thing that is because that just morally protects me because everyday, I'm confronted with aspects of my own unholiness, ways that I'm not like God and I cry out again, "Oh, please help me today to take another step for being more like what you are." I wish I could say that I'm holy in everything I say and everything I do and everything I desire and every decision I make, that it's all holy, but I can't; but that's what I'm called to.
Now, like every other doctrine, where does that drive me? To the cross of Jesus Christ because my only hope of ever being holy is God's grace and the only reason I stand as if I'm holy is because of Christ's life lived on my behalf, His death died on my behalf, His victorious resurrection. And so, I'm able to stand before God as holy, even though I'm actually not, and I quest for that holiness every day of my life. It just this doctrine just restructures the way you think about yourself and think about life.
