Pursuing Fellowship With The Lord By Perfecting Holiness In The Fear Of The Lord
"Holiness is God's total glory crowned." --A.A. Hodge
John MacArthur's sermon "There Is No Other: The Holiness of God" emphasizes the God of perfect holiness is the same throughout all of time and never changes. He references the following passages of scripture below.
Genesis 1:31
Exodus 15:11
1 Samual 2:2
Isaiah 57:15
Job 34:10
Ecclesiastes 7:29
Psalm 19:7
Romans 7:12 and many others.
To understand the completeness of God's glory is not for this fragile state. However, God illustrates how one can see a glimpse of his perfect holiness through His infallible word through examples such as creation, the law, His judgment, and heaven. Pursuing fellowship with the Lord is done by perfecting holiness in the fear of God. God commands holiness through obedience. As the Holy Spirit reveals sin, our job is to repent and allow God to change this sin in us.
His Holiness Reflected in Creation
It's important to note that worshipping creation is witchcraft and this act does not reflect the holiness of God, as believed by Wiccans. The Creator of the heavens and earth is worthy of praise alone.
"God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:31, NASB.
Creation reflects the image of God's essential nature. This was noted before the creation of man and after the creation of man.
"Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices." Ecclesiastes 7:29, NASB.
Man was made in His image, perfect away from sin, and created with a free will to choose so as not to have false love. Where there is choice, there is true love and choices that show what is loved more just in how humans ran from God first by sinning and how God ran to the aid of the human race first to fulfill His own promise by sending His son, Jesus.
Holiness Expressed Through the Law and His Judgement
"The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple." Psalm 19:7, NASB.
The Law, also referred to as the Letter of the Law, refers to instruction. It is derived from the Hebrew word, "Tora."Jesus came to fulfill the law, His set of instructions, as no human could ever atone for their own sins with the law as they could not keep it perfectly.
"So then the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." Romans 7:12, NASB.
God is the only perfect and righteous judge who has the capacity to impart perfect judgment, as seen in 2 Timothy 4:8.
His Holiness Expressed Through the Account of Heaven
Heaven is perfect and cannot be touched with sin. It is given through the two accounts of John and Paul in spirit and through the prophet Ezekiel in a vision. God gave this vision to only a select few. Take heed of the popular books on the bestseller lists that state that many have died and seen heaven and came back to tell the story.
"And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne; like an emerald in appearance." Revelation 4:2, NASB.
The parallel verse to the one above is Ezekiel 1. God's perfect holiness left John and Paul without words to fully describe what they were seeing.
Reflection on Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God
The vastness of God's holiness can't be seen by human eyes nor touched by human hands. His ways are higher than our ways, as are His thoughts. Even in spite of this, the Holy Spirit guides and corrects to spiritually sharpen His followers to bring them to perfect holiness in heaven.
See John MacArther's sermon at his website and ministry Grace to You, under his sermon "There is No Other: The Holiness of God."
Study of the Law at Bible Study Tools.
For more on the attributes of God, please see the Attributes of God series in the following links below.
The Attributes of God
Attributes: Letter A
Letter B
Attributes: Letter C
The Attributes: Letter D
To see visual historical evidence to the Bible, please see Sergio and Rhoda's videos.
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