Exploring the Profound Holiness of God
The salient point of this discourse centers on the profound concept of holiness, particularly as it pertains to the divine nature of God. Pastor Josh Massaro elucidates that God's holiness epitomizes His perfection, sinlessness, and utter purity, characteristics that distinguish Him from humanity, which is inherently flawed. Drawing upon the text from Isaiah, the pastor further reflects on the implications of recognizing God's holiness for believers, highlighting the necessity of acknowledging our moral inadequacies in the face of divine perfection. The podcast serves as an invitation to understand the significance of holiness both in the context of God's character and as a call to pursue holiness in our own lives. Ultimately, this exploration underscores the importance of recognizing our dependence on the Holy One for forgiveness and salvation.
Takeaways:
- In this enlightening episode, we delve into the profound concept of God's holiness, elucidating its implications for believers.
- The holiness of God is characterized by His absolute perfection, sinlessness, and utter purity, which defines His divine nature.
- Through the lens of Isaiah's vision, we comprehend our moral inadequacies in relation to God's unparalleled holiness.
- The recognition of God's holiness underscores our intrinsic need for salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ.
- As we reflect on God's holiness, we are compelled to worship and honor Him, acknowledging His worthiness of our devotion.
- Holiness not only defines God's character but also serves as a standard for believers, prompting us to pursue righteousness in our lives.
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00:00 - Untitled
00:15 - Introduction to the Word of the Week Series
03:11 - Understanding God's Holiness
05:11 - Understanding God's Holiness
07:21 - The Holiness of God and Our Need for a Savior
10:48 - The Holiness of God
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Speaker AIn this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical words that have great significance to our faith.
Speaker AThe name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are familiar with in scripture.
Speaker ASo come along with me, let's study the Word of the week.
Speaker APastor Josh here with another word of the week.
Speaker AThe word of the Week this week is holiness.
Speaker AWhat does it mean when we say that God is holy?
Speaker AThe holiness of God refers to his perfection, his sinlessness, his blamelessness, the fact that he is completely and utterly pure in every way.
Speaker AThere is no sin found in Him.
Speaker AWe see a few different occasions in Scripture, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament where it says holy, holy, holy three times.
Speaker AYou see that word holy describing our Savior.
Speaker AWe're going to look at the one here in Isaiah, because I want us to study here this week what holiness is in the context of who God is.
Speaker AAnd then also what does that mean for us?
Speaker AWhat does God's holiness mean for us as believers?
Speaker AAnd so, uh, here this week, I'd like us to start here in the Book of Isaiah.
Speaker AYou can follow along with me here.
Speaker AAnd this is a description of Isaiah and his experience with the Lord and his recognition of the holiness of God.
Speaker AAnd so we see In Isaiah, chapter 6, verse 1, it says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Speaker AAbove it stood the seraphims.
Speaker AEach one had six wings, and with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and, and between he did fly.
Speaker AAnd one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
Speaker AThe whole earth is full of his glory.
Speaker AAnd the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried.
Speaker AAnd the house was filled with smoke.
Speaker AAnd so here we see the proclamation of God's holiness, His.
Speaker AHis all powerful nature, his all knowing nature, his omnipresence, all of his attributes that we believe according to scripture, all of his attributes are tied to his holiness.
Speaker AWe know that God is loving, but we know that he is completely loving and perfect in his loving nature.
Speaker AThat's his holiness there.
Speaker AHe's forgiving, but he's completely forgiving in his nature.
Speaker AAnd so one would say that holiness is the defining element of who God is and, and, and what his character is all about.
Speaker AThere's so many Other things that we could talk about.
Speaker AWhen it comes to God's character, He is infinite, right?
Speaker AHe's beyond us.
Speaker AHis thoughts are above our thoughts.
Speaker AHis ways are beyond our ways.
Speaker ABut I think it's important for us to understand the holiness of God in contrast to the.
Speaker AThe sin that we are characterized by as human beings.
Speaker AAnd so I want us to see Isaiah's reaction here in Isaiah chapter 6 to the recognition of the holiness of God.
Speaker AAnd it says in verse number five, then said I, woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Speaker AAnd.
Speaker AAnd then so we go a little bit further here.
Speaker ASo, so he recognizes his moral failure in the sight of God's holiness.
Speaker AAnd I think that's one of the things that we have to understand because in our life, sometimes we are tempted to think that we are good people, that.
Speaker AThat we are people that are inherently good.
Speaker AAnd what the Bible says, that in and of ourselves and our flesh, we are sinful, we are flawed.
Speaker AAnd even later on in the book of Isaiah, it says that our, our sin, our, excuse me, our good works are like filthy rags.
Speaker AAnd therefore, even if we think that we are good people and we are earning our.
Speaker AOur worth and our goodness and our morality, we still fall short.
Speaker AAnd so it says in verse six of Isaiah, chapter six, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
Speaker AAnd he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged.
Speaker AAnd so what we can ultimately see here in this passage is that we all are in desperate need of the Holy One to offer forgiveness to us, offer cleansing to us.
Speaker AAnd so the fact that God is holy refers to the fact that he is different, that he is distinct.
Speaker AAnd so literally, holiness refers to something or someone that has been separated from the common you so set aside for a specific purpose.
Speaker AAnd so in this case, we know that God is set apart from us in his holiness and his perfection.
Speaker ANow we're going to look later on in the study about how we as Christians are called to be holy.
Speaker ALater on the New Testament, it says, be holy, for I am holy.
Speaker AAnd so we're going to talk about how we as believers can walk in the path of righteousness, how we can understand the holiness of God.
Speaker ABut before we do that, we must understand God's character and his holiness.
Speaker AAnd so God is different in every way.
Speaker AGod is eternal.
Speaker AHe's all powerful.
Speaker AThat's omnipotence.
Speaker AHe's omniscient.
Speaker AHe knows everything.
Speaker AHe's omnipresent.
Speaker AHe's everywhere.
Speaker AThat that is what makes God different than the creation that we deal with today, with our humanity.
Speaker AAnd He.
Speaker AHe is distinct in that.
Speaker AAnd so God's holiness is in his difference, in the fact that he is different in all those ways, but also different in the fact that he is not flawed by sin, that he's not marred by sin like we are as well.
Speaker AAnd so in.
Speaker AIn this passage, in Isaiah and in other passages of Scripture, we're just reminded about how much we are falling short of the glory of God.
Speaker AThat doesn't mean that we can just throw our hands up in the air and quit and just say, you know what?
Speaker AI'll never be like God, so I can live the way that I want to live.
Speaker ANo, the Bible shows there the need for our salvation, the need for our reliance on the Holy One to extend holiness to us.
Speaker AAnd so one of the responses to God's holiness and understanding, understanding his sinless nature, because by the way, the Bible does say that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Speaker AWe know that he does not change.
Speaker AAnd so just as he is holy back here in the Book of Isaiah, so he is holy today.
Speaker AAnd we have to understand that.
Speaker ASo one of the results of understanding God's holiness and believing in God's holiness is that we fall short of that holiness.
Speaker AAnd we need a Savior.
Speaker AAnd, and we know the message of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ came.
Speaker AAnd the Bible says in Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, he who knew no sin became sin for us.
Speaker AAnd so the Holy One gave Himself for us so that we could understand forgiveness, so that we could understand his holiness.
Speaker AAnd so it brings us to a recognition that we need more, we need a Savior.
Speaker AWe need something else in our life other than our own good works.
Speaker AAnd so holiness brings us to a place of a need for a Savior.
Speaker ABut also God's holiness brings us to a place of stirring our heart to praise and adore our Savior, to.
Speaker ATo understand that he is worthy of our worship.
Speaker AThere's a lot of things in this world that we worship that are not perfect.
Speaker AThey are flawed.
Speaker AWhether it be a person or a product or just a lifestyle, we worship these things that don't deserve worship.
Speaker AAnd so what we're really told in Scripture is the only thing that we are to worship is the Lord.
Speaker AThe only person that we are to worship is the Lord.
Speaker AAnd so the holiness of God stirs our heart to worship.
Speaker AIt stirs our heart to praise him for who he is and his perfection and how he offers that gift of salvation to us.
Speaker AAnd so we should not shy away from the fact that the Bible clearly states that we must rest in the holiness of God.
Speaker AThat's the standard.
Speaker ANow, none of us can be completely holy in the way that we act in our daily walk.
Speaker AThe Bible does say that one day we will have the opportunity to live with the Lord and be freed from that bondage of, of sin forever.
Speaker ANow, even in our salvation, we're free from the bondage of sin.
Speaker ASo I want to be clear about that.
Speaker AWe, we no longer have to sin because we are redeemed.
Speaker ABut the Bible does say that we are still wrestling with the flesh.
Speaker ABut the Bible says also that one day we will be with him and we will no longer have that sin nature, and we will live in eternity in perfection with Him.
Speaker ABut in the meantime, as we are living on this earth, we are called to continue to trust in his holiness.
Speaker AAnd so we are called to be holy, which we're going to be looking at more next week.
Speaker AIn First Peter, chapter one, there is that challenge that we should be holy because God is holy.
Speaker ABut what we're learning here this week is that God is holy.
Speaker AAnd that brings us to a place of understanding that we are inadequate, we are insufficient, and he is the only one that brings that adequate sufficiency and that salvation and that hope.
Speaker AAnd so I hope that that's something that we can all recognize in our life, that none of us can earn that through our own holiness.
Speaker ABut ultimately it is the holiness of God that we are to rest in and trust in and know that he has offered His Son as the perfect sacrifice for us.
Speaker AAnd so holy, holy, holy.
Speaker AWe, we know that in the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, we see the same praise extended to the Lord.
Speaker AAnd, and I think it's important to note that.
Speaker ASo we started in Isaiah and we'll end in Revelation, Revelation chapter four.
Speaker AWe, we go to a place there where it is essentially the folks there worshiping.
Speaker AAnd it's a revelation, four, eight.
Speaker AAnd the four beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within.
Speaker AAnd they rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come.
Speaker AAnd so there is this worship, this eternal worship, worshiping God for His holiness, worshiping him for his eternality, worshiping him for his all powerful nature, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come.
Speaker AAnd I think that as a believer we must rest and understand his holiness today.
Speaker AAnd that drives us to live lives of holiness in our own lives.
Speaker AAnd so next week we'll look at what it means to be holy.
Speaker AIt doesn't necessarily mean to be sinlessly perfect in every way, but it does mean that we are set aside sanctified for a specific use.
Speaker AAnd so we'll talk more about that next week.
Speaker AWhen it comes to the topic of holiness, well, remember, God is holy, God is perfect, God loves you, he's worthy of our worship.
Speaker AAnd God has extended that gift of grace to you in, in the, in the work of the gospel and salvation.
Speaker ASo I pray that this is something that we can think about and grow in here this week.
Speaker AAnd we look forward to talking to you next week when we talk about the holiness of God imparted unto us.
Speaker ASo thank you so much.
Speaker AGod bless you.
Speaker AWe will come back to you with another Word of the Week next week.
Speaker AHey, I really appreciate that you listen to the Word of the Week podcast.
Speaker AIf you have any questions about the podcast or about our church, Middletown Baptist Channel Church, you can find more information about us on Facebook or YouTube or you can find the podcast on NBCpodcast.org you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro at middletown baptist church.org Stay tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deeper into words that impact our life according to scripture.
Speaker AThank you so much.
Speaker AGod bless.
Speaker AWe'll talk to you soon.
