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Pastor Scott L. Harris
Grace Bible Church, NY
February 1, 2009
Spiritual Warfare, Part 8 – The Belt of Truth, Part 5
Lies Against God’s Holiness
Ephesians 6:14
Introduction
This morning we come again to the Ephesians 6 as we discuss Spiritual Warfare and more specifically the armor God has given to us that we might stand firm against the schemes of our adversary, the devil. Please keep in mind that though we are in the midst of a great conflict we need not fear our enemies. We are to be strong in the Lord and His strength (Ephesians 6:10) and He is greater than our foes (1 John 4:4) and His perfect love to us will cast out all fear (1 John 4:18). We also need to keep in mind that other humans are not our enemies regardless of what they may try to do to us. Instead our struggle is against the spiritual forces that use people and also confront us directly (Ephesians 6:12). If we are not careful here we can easily be sidetracked from the main conflict to the minor skirmishes.
We have only gotten as far as the first piece of armor which Paul describes in Ephesians 6:14, “stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth.” We will be examining the belt of truth again this morning and for several more weeks to come since truth is so foundational in our defense against the evil one and his followers. Without truth we would be like a Roman soldier that forget his belt resulting in getting tangled up in his clothing and armor. The belt held all the rest of the equipment in place. It is truth that ties all the rest of our spiritual armor together that we might be agile in defense and offense in spiritual warfare. Without truth we will stumble and fall becoming easy targets for Satan. We must be girded with truth.
Pilate rhetorically asked, “What is truth?” Truth was standing before him in Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Jesus Himself declared that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). The devil on the other hand is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44), yet he has been very successful in getting people to believe his lies as the truth. Ultimately, all his lies are against the character, nature and declarations of God.
In the four messages on the belt of truth we have covered some of the great lies Satan has made in his effort to usurp God. He lies about God’s existence (See: The Belt of Truth: God’s Existence), God’s infinite nature of being eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and sovereign (See: God’s Infinity). The devil slanders God’s truthfulness (See: God’s Veracity) and His wisdom (See: God’s Wisdom). These lies keep non-Christians from Christ and Christians from walking with and serving Christ.
This morning I want us to consider another area in which Satan lies about God and slanders His character. God is holy & righteous.
God Is Intrinsically Holy.
I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. One of the reasons Satan can be so successful in getting us to believe his lies and slander against God is that we tend to project on God our own characteristics. We are inclined to think of God in human terms as if He is a reflection of us rather than we as dim reflections of Him.
We must come to grips with the fact that God is not like us even in those areas where we do reflect something of His characteristics. When we think of God’s holiness and righteousness, we dare not think of those characteristics in relative terms as we do for ourselves. We compare ourselves with others to gain a relative sense of holiness or righteousness. God is completely, totally, absolutely, utterly, positively holy and righteous.
God declares Himself to be holy. In Leviticus 19:2 God told Moses to speak to the children of Israel and say, “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God [am] holy” and God repeated this again in the next chapter (Leviticus 20:26). Peter applied this to Christians in 1 Peter 1:16. The Lord is called the “Holy One of Israel” 31 times in the Old Testament and the “Holy One” an additional 11 times. The Lord declares that His name is holy (Ezekiel 36:20f) and that He is jealous of it (Ezekiel 39:25) and that it is not to be profaned (Leviticus 22:32) or defiled (Ezekiel 43:7). In both Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 both Isaiah and John give account of the visions each of them had of God on His throne in heaven. Both of them describe seeing the Seraphim, which are a type of angel of high rank, that are calling out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord . . . ” These declarations immediately bring up the question, “what does it actually mean to be holy?”
The root idea in both the Hebrew (qodesh) and the Greek (agioV/ hagios) words for “holy” is to “be set apart” or “to be separated unto.” God is holy because all his perfections set Him apart from all His created works. His infinite perfection in relationship to time, space, knowledge and power separate Him from everything created as the only eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and sovereign being. There is nothing that exists that compares to God in any of these areas. That is why those attributes of God are referred to as His non-communicable or non-moral characteristics. They belong to Him and Him alone. That is why the Lord can declare of Himself in Isaiah 45:5, “I am the Lord , and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God” and in Isaiah 46:9-10, “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; [I am] God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'” God’s attributes of infinite perfections separate Him from everything else that exists. That is why the Lord God is Holy. There is nothing else like Him.
God’s Attributes are Holy
Because the Lord is set apart from all things by His infinite perfections, then this holiness is also a characteristic of every other attribute of His. All of God’s communicable or moral attributes are also distinguished as being holy.
God’s perfection in righteousness sets Him apart from all sin and sinners. God’s righteousness is a holy righteousness, and it is neither earned by or imputed to Him. Righteousness is defined by the standard of God’s own example in all things. Righteousness cannot be known apart from Him and His commandments.
We have already talked about God’s veracity and wisdom in some detail in previous weeks, but let me remind you this morning that those attributes arise out of God’s perfections. God’s perfection in truth sets Him apart from all that is not true. God’s veracity is a holy veracity. God is not truthful because of any fear that a lie could be exposed or even of any possibility He could be corrected. God’s truthfulness is also not the result of achieving greater knowledge so as to avoid giving wrong information nor is it the result of achieving a better character of setting aside lying.
God’s perfection in wisdom arises from His perfections in knowledge, understanding, goodness, justice, mercy and grace so that He is set apart from all lack of knowledge and understanding and their perfect application. God’s wisdom is a holy wisdom and does not arise from any thing that can be learned. There can be no additional knowledge given to Him. There can be no increase in His understanding. There can be no improvement in His application of these for nothing can improve perfection.
God’s perfection in goodness sets Him apart from all that falls short of the perfect standard of goodness which is God Himself. God’s goodness is a holy goodness, and neither a learned goodness such as those of religious systems, nor a developed goodness such as those developed in philosophical ethics, nor a variable goodness such as that of situational ethics.
God’s perfection in justice sets Him apart from anything that would be unjust. God’s justice is a holy justice and without a changing basis of ethic, as are the laws of man. It is without partiality and cannot be influenced by any type of bribe or threat. It is applied perfectly in all His judgments for God never lacks in knowledge and understanding of either His law or the deeds of man or any other created being.
God’s perfection in jealousy sets Him apart from even the slightest taint of an improper jealousy. God’s jealousy is a holy jealousy and without any aspect of suspicion, fear or envy which are the factors that drive man’s improper jealousy. God values perfectly what should be valued and zealously guards the proper situations and relationships.
God’s perfection in anger and wrath sets Him apart from the improper anger and wrath of man or any other being. Wrath is an intense anger. The phrase “righteous indignation” is often used to distinguish God’s anger from man’s anger. God’s anger is a holy anger and His wrath is a holy wrath and always in harmony with all of His other attributes and perfections. His anger and wrath are completely free of injustice, wrong application, inappropriate levels, or mis-timing.
God’s perfection in love sets Him apart from all that fails in any aspect of love. God’s love is a holy love, and neither an earned love, nor a deserved love nor a love that can be manipulated. It is without selfishness and sets its desire on the highest good of the one loved even at the cost of self-sacrifice. God is the example and standard of love so much so that the apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
God’s perfection in mercy sets Him apart from every wrong use and application of mercy. God’s mercy is a holy mercy which is based in His perfection of love so that it never given out due to efforts to coerce, pressure or manipulate Him nor used by Him apart from complete harmony with His other attributes. God’s mercy tempers His anger and redirects the wrath of His judgment while never violating His righteousness or justice.
God’s perfection in grace sets Him apart from all actions falsely called grace. God’s grace is a holy grace and never arises out of any aspect of weakness nor is it every given to appease or manipulate. It is also always applied in complete harmony with all of His other attributes and perfections.
God’s perfections of patience and longsuffering set Him apart from any manner of indifference, apathy or passivity nor allow Him to be impatient or arbitrary. Patience is the ability to wait and persevere without losing heart or having ill temper. Longsuffering is the ability to be patient while suffering wrong at the same time. God’s patience is a holy patience and His longsuffering is a holy longsuffering. They arise out of His other attributes and so are never due to any weakness or inability or any lack of concern or interest on the part of God.
God’s perfection in faithfulness sets Him apart from the changeable nature of man and all other creatures. God’s faithfulness is a holy faithfulness which is in harmony with all His other attributes, but it primarily arises out of being immutable. God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). God always keeps His promises. He never forgets and never fails. That is why we can trust Him. Man on the other hand is fickle. While the Christian has hope in change for God is at work conforming us to the image of His son, the normal state of man is to become more degenerate. Even if that does not evidence itself outwardly by violation of social customs, it does continue in the heart of even the socially acceptable as they become more independent of God in self righteousness.
All That Is Set Apart to God is Holy
One final aspect of holiness I want to briefly explain is the second definition of holiness, “to be separated unto.” Anything that is separated unto God is also holy. Things become holy when they are set apart for the service of God regardless of any intrinsic value. It may be just a piece of wood used as a pole, or a piece of furniture, or a utensil made out of any of several metals, or some cloth, or a bull, a goat, a ram or a dove. The value of the object whether great or small is inconsequential to its value once it is separated unto the Lord.
That is why the Tabernacle and the Temple were both holy as were the various pieces of equipment used in them. The offerings became holy when they were given unto the Lord. We are holy to the degree that we are set apart to God and His service. The key element to remember in this type of holiness is that the object is not holy in and of itself, but holiness is attributed to the object because of its relationship to God and service to Him, and it is this holiness that makes it important.
Lies & Slander Against God’s Holiness
Satan’s lies and slander against God’s holiness are attacks on the attributes and qualities that separate God from us. The devil’s effort is to reduce God into a being who is similar to and on the same continuum as us. Our adversary wants to remove from us the truth that we are made in the image of God and are but poor and flawed reflections of Him and replace that with a concept of God being a reflection of us. This is the primary lie of false religions, cults and philosophers. They reject the God of the Bible for a god of their own design with which they can be familiar or appease or manipulate on their own terms. Their gods reflect themselves.
Pick any of the gods of the false religions and start listing out the characteristics attributed to them. You will not find any god that is intrinsically holy. Any holiness ascribed to them is derived or attained. None of their gods have the complete list of infinite attributes as does the God who reveals Himself in the Bible. None of them have all the Lord’s qualities of being self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable and sovereign. While there is claim that some of the god’s might have some of these attributes, none of them have all of them. The pantheistic religions usually have a god or goddess that is over the others, but even their supreme god does not have these qualities. Muslims claim that their god, Allah, has many of these attributes, but even the staunchest Muslim is forced to admit that Allah is not immutable. Allah is noted for changing his mind resulting in the Qur’an (Koran) having to be studied with a careful view of when each Sura was given because whatever was said last overrules anything said earlier which it contradicts. This is referred as the doctrine of abrogation. As I heard one devout Muslim explain, you can do everything commanded in the Qur’an, but Allah can decide your eternal destiny however he desires when you come before him in judgement. In other words, Allah is fickle.
Add the moral attributes to this contrast between the God of the Bible and all other gods and there simply is no comparison. Is there any god of any religion or cult that has God’s holy moral attributes which I mentioned earlier? Is there even a claim that the god of any other religion or cult has the veracity, righteousness, goodness, justice, jealousy, anger, patience, longsuffering, love, mercy, grace and faithfulness of the God of the Old and New Testaments? Only a God with those Holy qualities could harmonize all of them with His redemption of man through the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ.
But rather than concentrating on the effect of Satan’s slander on those in false religions, I want to expose the greater danger to those of us who claim to be followers of the God of the Bible. We are also in danger of believing Satan’s slander and thinking of God as something less than He is resulting in an improper familiarity, a nonchalance, even a cavalier approach to God. God is holy and is to be approached and treated with reverence.
Nadab & Abihu, the oldest two sons of Aaron believed this lie and Leviticus 10 records the result. “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'”
Nadab and Abihu did not treat the Lord as holy and died as a result. They were given specific instructions regarding the incense and offering it. They did not follow those instructions, and Moses instructions following this give some indication that they may have been drunk. The Lord is holy. He is to be treated with reverence.
2 Samuel 6 records another similar incidence. David wanted to move the Ark of God to Jerusalem. That was a good thing, but he did not give much consideration to how it should be done. The Ark of God had been returned to Israel by the Philistines, who had captured it earlier, when they sent it back on a new ox cart pulled by two unaccompanied milch cows (See 1 Samuel 5-7). David followed that example instead of going back to the instructions Moses gave concerning it in Exodus & Leviticus. David had a new cart built and had 30,000 men of Israel with him to join in the celebration of bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. We pick up the story in verse 6. “But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset [it.] 7 And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah , and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.” Uzzah’s concern was a proper one. He did not want the Ark to be damaged when the cart hit a rough place in the road, but his solution to the danger was completely irreverent for all that was being done was in disobedience to God’s commands.
Both of these are dramatic stories, but the point is clear. God is holy and He and those things which are holy because they are set apart unto Him are to be treated with reverence. The failure in both cases was a wrong belief that made God less holy than He is resulting in treating Him with less reverence that is due Him.
Language is usually the first area of decline in respect. Consider how people refer to God and use His holy name. Non-Christians and many Christians alike routinely profane God’s name by using it in irreverent manners. Using God’s name as a cuss word or even as an exclamation is taking His name in vain. That is actually worse than treating Him with familiarity as an equal for it is treating Him as less than an equal. People would not use their mother’s name or refer to her in the way they treat God and His names. Referring to God in any manner that is less than reverent is a result of believing the devil’s lies that either God is not holy and / or He can or will not do anything about the irreverence. But God is holy and He can and will do something about those who blaspheme, and it will be done in His timing but it will be in keeping with His attributes of patience and longsuffering, but eventually His justice, anger and wrath will also be expressed.
Most Christians will assent to the theological truth that God is holy, but in practical terms it often does not affect how they approach Him. There has developed, especially within American Christianity, a casual approach to a relationship with God. Believers have an intimate relationship with God and can call Him, “Abba, father” – “daddy” (Romans 8:15), but those terms of endearment are still reverent. God is not “the old man upstairs” or the “great whatever in the sky.” While we can count Jesus as our closest friend (John 15:14,15), too many too often treat Jesus as a “good buddy” to “hang out with” and toss away the decorum and respect that is due Him.
Consider the detail given in Exodus & Leviticus alone to the manner in which the Israelites would approach God to worship. The people were to make careful preparation before they would approach God. Their celebrations of worship were to be done in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 29:2; 96:9). When the glory of God filled the Tabernacle (Exodus 40) and later the Temple (1 Kings 8:10) the people and priests were forced away by that glory of His majesty. The glory of the holiness of the Lord forced them out and they could only look on in awe from a distance. God’s holiness forced a separation between them.
Jesus Christ has enabled us by His atoning sacrifice of Himself to come directly into the presence of God the Father at His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). Do you really think this is to be done in a casual manner? It has become common even in churches that claim to be Bible believing to promote their celebrations of worship as a party to attend. The atmosphere has much more in common with a Rock concert designed to get the people excited and make them feel good rather than in bringing sinful people into the of the presence of a holy and awesome God in whom there is no unrighteousness. That is not to say that there cannot be or should not be excitement and joy in the worship of God, but it is to say that true worship is from those who will do so in spirit and truth (John 4:24) and its manner is to be reflective of the beauty of holiness. You should leave with a sense of awe of who God is, what He is like and what He has done rather than just feeling like you had a great time. Worship is about giving praise, honor and glory to God and not about being entertained. Consider for a minute how you prepare yourself and approach worship of God for both private and corporate worship? Are you mindful of the holiness of God or has He been reduced in your mind something more akin to a respected religious figure, an influential teacher, an important political person or a media celebrity?
Then there is the matter of personal prayer. Because we can come before God at anytime with anything on our hearts there is a danger of taking Him for granted and forgetting to whom exactly we are praying too. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that God is there as a servant waiting to fulfill our desires instead of us being His salves seeking to fulfill His will. One reason our prayer lives can descend into a wish list is because of this danger of falling for Satan’s lies against God’s holiness. Too many professing Christians treat God more like a clerk at the catalog desk than the majestic creator of the universe Whom we are entreating with our supplications. When His holy nature is overlooked or forgotten then you can be sure that the attitude in approaching Him will not be reverent ranging from mild selfish thoughtlessness to nonchalance to downright disrespect.
Some might think these comments about being reverent in the worship of God is distant from the topic of spiritual warfare, but it is right at the heart of it. The devil’s desire is to usurp God and if his lies can keep people from worshiping God properly, then he is accomplishing his purposes.
Satan’s lies against God’s holiness are aimed to keep us from becoming serious about our own sin and walking in holiness. I am sure you have also encountered a lot of people who think they are good enough to be accepted by God just the way they are. They catalog sins according to their own list of what is really bad and what can be over looked and assume that God’s list is the same as their own. Since such man made lists always leave an excuse for or means of overcoming their sins on their own, they conclude that God will accept them as they are. That is Satan’s lie.
The Roman Catholic church made up its list of sins classifying some as mortal and some as venal. What does Scripture say? Well, there are some specific lists, but they do not make a distinction between what is forgivable and what is not. In Romans 1 Paul points out idolatry, homosexuality and atheism as sins and then in vs 29-31 he adds, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; [they are] gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful . . .” In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Paul gives another list saying, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor [the] covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
Paul’s lists include both mortal and venal sins as classified according to Roman Catholicism, yet we find in the verse following the list in 1 Corinthians 11 that the mortal sins are forgiven on the same basis as the venal sins. “And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 11:11). We also find in the Bible that the venal sins are just as deadly as the mortal ones for it only takes one sin to be guilty and all are guilty “for all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). No man loves God with all his heart, soul and mind as God commands. No man loves his neighbor as himself as God commands. James 2:10 adds, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one [point,] he has become guilty of all.” Regardless of how anyone wants to categorize sin and what they place in their list, the Bible declares that all unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17) and all sin earns the same wages of death (Romans 6:23).
Here again we find that when the non-Christian falls for Satan’s lie, he does so at the cost of his soul. God is holy and no man will see the Lord without holiness (Hebrews 12:14). Man is sinful and therefore not holy and so is separated from the Holy God by that sin. Apart from Jesus Christ there is no means by which a man can be made righteous before God.
The Christian too must take his sin seriously for your daily fellowship with God and hence your ability to live the Christian life is dependent on your seeking to be sanctified, that is, living in practical holiness. If you do not live in holiness then you grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:29). If you hide your sins in your heart then the Lord will not hear (pay attention to) your prayers (Psalm 66:18). Hebrews 12:4-11 warns us that because the Lord loves us, if we continue in sin then He will chasten us to correct us. You will be like David in Psalm 32:3-4 where he describes his condition before confessing his sins. “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.”
Don’t fall for Satan’s lies against God’s holiness. Every Christian is commanded to be holy for God Himself is holy (1 Peter 1:18). 1 John 3:7-10 makes the point directly that personal holiness is to mark the believer. “Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
God is holy. Do you think of Him as holy, or do you think of Him as somehow being similar to you? Do you treat Him with the reverence that His holiness deserves, or have you fallen for Satan’s lies and slander against Him?
The next sermon in this series is: (See: Spiritual Warfare Part 9; The Belt of Truth, Part 6: Lies Against God’s Righteousness & Justice )
KIDS CORNER
Parents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents at lunch. Older Children – 1) Count how many times word “holy” is mentioned. 2) Talk with your parents what it means that God is holy and how you should treat Him because He is holy.
THINK ABOUT IT!
Questions to consider in discussing the sermon with others. What are some of the ways in which God has declared Himself to be holy? What does it mean that God is holy? Explain. How do God’s non-communicable attributes – eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and sovereign – separate God from every other being. How does God’s intrinsic holiness affect all of His other attributes? How do God’s perfections in each of the following characteristics set Him apart even from man who does reflect those characteristics to some degree: righteousness, veracity, wisdom, goodness, justice, jealousy, anger, love, mercy, grace, patience, longsuffering, faithfulness? How do objects and people have holiness attributed to them? Man is made in the image of God and is at best a flawed reflection of His characteristics of personhood and moral attributes. How does Satan twist that into the opposite? How does that twisted belief foundational to the false religions, cults and philosophical systems? In what area of holiness do even Muslims have to agree that Allah fails? Is there a claim for any false god to have or be superior to the moral characteristics of the God of the Bible? How was the failure of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10) related to their understanding of God’s holiness? Why was Uzzah struck down by the Lord (2 Samuel 6)? How does language usage show the first step of decline in respect? How do people, even Christians, commonly take the name of the Lord in vain? How is a causal approach to God an attack on His holiness? What Biblical evidence is there that God cares about the manner in which He is worshiped? What should be the sense / emotional reaction of someone that has truly worshiped God? What is the proper manner of approaching God in prayer? In what ways to Christians often fail in this? Why do men create their own lists of sins? What do they desire to achieve by such lists? No man can see the Lord without holiness (Heb. 12:14), how is a man made holy before God? Why must the Christian take his sin seriously? What are the dangers if he does not? Do you treat the Lord with the reverence that His holiness deserves.
Sermon Notes – 2/1/2009
Spiritual Warfare, Part 8; The Belt of Truth, Part 5: Lies Against God’s Holiness
Introduction
We are to be strong in the Lord and not _______Satan, for God loves us perfectly and is greater than him
____________are not our enemies, the spiritual forces of wickedness behind them are our enemies.
Without ________we will stumble and fall becoming easy targets for Satan
God Is Intrinsically Holy
We tend to believe Satan’s lies & slander because we project upon God ___________characteristics
God is ________ like us even in those areas where we do reflect something of His characteristics
God declares Himself to be _______- Lev. 19:2; 20:26; 1 Peter 1:16; Ezek. 36:20f; 39:25, Isa. 6; Rev. 4
Holy means to __________________ or “to be separated unto.”
God’s non-communicable attributes belong to Him alone – He _________is God – Isaiah. 45:5; 46:9-11
God’s Attributes are Holy
_______of God’s communicable or moral attributes are also distinguished as being holy
God’s perfection in ______________sets Him apart from all sin and sinners
God’s perfection in truth sets Him apart from all that is ___________
God’s perfection in __________sets Him apart from all lack of understanding and its perfect application.
God’s perfection in goodness sets Him apart from all that falls short of the ________standard of goodness.
God’s perfection in __________sets Him apart from anything that would be unjust.
God’s perfection in jealousy sets Him apart from even the slightest taint of an ____________jealousy
God’s perfection in ____________sets Him apart from the improper anger of man or any other being
God’s perfection in love sets Him apart from all that _________in any aspect of love – 1 John 4:7-8
God’s perfection in ____________sets Him apart from every wrong use and application of mercy
God’s perfection in grace sets Him apart from all actions ___________called grace
God’s perfections of __________& longsuffering set Him apart from being impatient or arbitrary
God’s perfection in faithfulness sets Him apart from the __________nature of man and all other creatures
All That Is Set Apart to God is Holy
Things become ________when they are set apart for the service of God regardless of any intrinsic value
An object is not holy in & of itself, but holiness is attributed to it because its relationship to ________
Lies & Slander Against God’s Holiness
The devil’s effort is to _________God into a being who is similar to and on the same continuum as us.
This is the primary lie of false religions, cults and philosophers in creating gods of their ____________
No false god is intrinsically __________, if they are holy it is either something derived or attained
No false god has the complete list of ____________attributes ascribed to the God of the Bible
Muslims claim Allah has many of these attributes, but even they admit Allah is not ____________.
There is not even a claim for any false god to match God’s ___________ attributes.
Only a holy God could ______________ all of His attributes in His redemption of man through Christ
Satan’s slander of God’s holiness results in Christians treating God with less __________than is due Him
Nadab & Abihu – __________
___________ – 2 Samuel 6:6-7
Language is usually the first area of ___________ in respect
Christians and non-Christians alike __________ God’s name through cursing and taking it in vain
We can call God, “Abba” (daddy) and Jesus is our closest friend, but we must give Him the ________due
God cares about ________ He is worshiped – as demonstrated in the detail of Exodus & Leviticus
While we can come before God’s throne due to Christ’s sacrifice, we are not to do so in a ______manner
Worship should fill you with _______ of who God is, what He is like & what He has done
Prayer is bringing supplications to the majestic __________ of the universe, not a wish list to a sore clerk.
Satan slanders God’s holiness to keep us from proper ________of Him and walking in holiness ourselves.
All sin lists made up by man do not match the Scriptures in specifics, punishment or means of _________
God is holy and no man will see the Lord without _________(Hebrews 12:14). Salvation is _____in Christ
Every Christian is commanded to be ________ for God Himself is holy (1 Peter 1:18)
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