Well, as we continue our studies on the holiness of God, we're gonna turn to Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six, of course, it is perhaps the preeminent passage of the word of God regarding God's holiness. And if you're asking a Christian with some knowledge of the word of God, where does the Bible manifest God's holiness? Many would say, well, it's in Isaiah chapter six. And of course, here you see Isaiah's vision of the Lord and his glory. Isaiah 6, verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his tree and filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved to the voice of him that cried, and the voice was filled with smoke. 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 a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. 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, and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, lo, This has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Amen. This is the word of the Lord, and again, may it come as a blessing to all of our souls today. I take you back to really the foundations of our studies on God's holiness, reminding you that oftentimes looked at from two perspectives. Again, these are not conflicting perspectives. They are very much in harmony, but various writers have looked at this subject, perhaps organizing it in various ways. There are some who point out the holiness of God as referring to his supreme majesty. Undoubtedly, you see that here in Isaiah chapter 6. Again, the glory of God, the majesty of God. In the opening verses, then the cry of the holy ones, verse number three, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Terms describing the majesty and the supremacy of the one true and living God. And yet clearly also there is this sense of morality. And so attached to God's supremacy is God's supreme sinless morality and impeccability. And so Isaiah's response in verse number five is, woe is me. How can I dwell in the presence of such a holy God? Indeed, how can I live when my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts? So verse number three, the Lord of hosts. Verse number five, the Lord of hosts. And again in verse three, looking backwards towards his majesty. And yet verse number five, the application to the sinner is a sense of their unworthiness in the presence of God. Following which comes of course the wonderful blessedness of the coal from off the altar. Again that wonderful symbol of Christ's atoning value as the wrath of God is taken by the Saviour and so that merit is then applied to the sinner and their sins are purged. the holy God dealing with sin in a holy manner. So we're looking at the subject of the holiness of God in these two separate areas, but particularly we're going to focus in the area of God's impeccable morality. When we think of that in the scriptures, we saw last time that this holiness of God is really revealed in the person of Christ Jesus. We saw last Thursday morning in terms of incarnate holiness in the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, we see these consistent features that point out God's holiness in the sense that God is absolutely opposed to sin. He is impeccable in his morality and so the birth of Christ was marked by holiness. Christ himself called that holy thing. His life marked by opposition to sin. He is holy, harmless, undefiled. His death and resurrection again being marked by holiness, God's aversion To sin, as Christ dies upon the tree, a holy God, His justice is satisfied in a holy manner. And in ascension, Christ, the sin bearer, enters into the holy place. These are the things that again demonstrate very clearly the holiness of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. But I want to consider this further by looking at other ways in which the holiness of God is revealed in the scriptures or in the world. I'm going to look at this in three separate areas. We won't get this all covered today. But we're going to show how the holiness of God is revealed in creation. then in scripture, and then in salvation applied. Now, when I say in scripture, I'm referring to the integrity of the scriptures themselves. And we'll come to that in a few moments. I'm not referring to the fact the whole Bible reveals God's holiness, but actually how the Bible itself is a revelation of the holiness of God. So let's begin with creation. How does creation show God's holiness? Well, you have it here in verse number three. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Now what you're seeing here really is that the created order manifests the majesty and the supremacy of God. So in this sense, creation is showing the glory of God in his supreme separateness. He is altogether, if you like, outside creation. Distinct from creation. He is the eternal God. And the eternal God makes creation. Brings creation to pass out of nothing. In that sense, creation shows God's glory. It shows how he is, again, so above and beyond all of his creation, every creature. And again, you turn across to Revelation 4, and you'll see in the worship, in glory, there is this same reference made. Revelation 4. And the verse number 8, again, very similar language that we have in Isaiah chapter 6. These are very close parallels. And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, he liveth forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worshiped him, and he liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. You're seeing this connection in the worship in glory. You're seeing this connection between the holiness of God and then his honor and glory in verse number 11 in virtue of his creation. We are meant to behold creation and give glory and honor to God. You see this created world Beyond this world, this created universe, all things created by God's hands are meant to inspire awe and wonder in our hearts. They are ways in which God has shown his supremacy. What creature could do the works of God? He's altogether above us, beyond us. He is glorious and splendid and majesty. His holiness is seen in his creation as these verses show. Is it any wonder there is such opposition to the doctrine of God's creation? If part of God's purpose in creating this world is to show his supremacy, his majesty, his authority over creation, is it any wonder that rebellious sinners would oppose the doctrine of God's creative power? It doesn't surprise us, does it? You see every attack being made against us because it's ultimately an attack against the holiness of God. So people understand and they're conscious. They know that there is a God with whom they have to do, who is far supreme over all that they understand in their lives. And they've got to give an account of this God. They have to give an account to the holiness of God and therefore understandably, they seek to attack that very doctrine. We've got to affirm it. It's God's glory. Also, not only does creation generally show the supremacy of God and his majesty over creation, but it also does show his moral integrity. God made all things, and all that he made was very good. This idea that in the original creation there is intrinsic integrity, not just God's goodness in his gifts to his people, to his creation, but also The absence again of evil in God's world. We might come back to this in a future study. How does a holy God permit evil? It's this huge unanswerable question we have. We can give suggestions, but ultimately we're not going to answer all those problems. But the Bible is clear that God made this world and it's very good. And what the fall does, it shows brokenness when mankind rebels against the holiness of God. So we're living in a fallen world. Still it shows, in a broken sense, God's goodness, but still reveals it to us. Still shows God's power and Godhead. We still see these things in creation, but now it's broken. It's under the curse. It's groaning. We're still seeing a display of God's glory. we're seeing a display of God's glory, but also the rebellion against that in this created world. And so creation in general again shows the majesty, the glory, and the holiness of God. Any comments on that before I go further? Just any questions, you're good to go on. Okay. We also see this in the angelic host. Again, you think of the language in Isaiah chapter 6. Again, you have the Seraphim mentioned there, these holy ones. They're in the presence of God. They're serving the Lord. They're acting as God's messengers. They're the ones who can take the coal. They can bring the coal. They can apply the coal. This is angelic host. They're regularly in the Word of God referred to as holy angels. Mark chapter 8 says this about Christ coming in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Acts chapter 10, Peter is warned from God by a holy angel. These beings who can readily take the adjective holy and that not be false, it's true. These are the holy angels. And you see it also in Revelation chapter 14. If you're in Revelation, turn across there, Revelation 14. And again, these are regarding the angels and The warnings of judgment, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without measure in the cup of indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." And these are the messengers of God who can exist in the presence of God, in distinction from those angels that sinned. So God, in a way, manifests his glory in this angelic company. You are described with this word, holy. Shows again that God's presence must be marked by holiness. We're seeing these terms in which they reveal the majesty of God. But one last area in which God reveals his holiness in creation, and that actually is in the creation of man. If you turn back to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians four. One of the things we've got to kind of stand against in modern kind of more general evangelical thoughts is that when God made man, he made him kind of like balancing on a teeter-totter, as you might call it, we would call a seesaw. You know, a man's balancing a foot either side of this teeter-totter, and what way is he going to go? He's kind of in a state of moral neutrality, and he may choose to do good, or he may choose to do evil. He's in this morally neutral state. Well, that's not what the Bible teaches regarding God and his creation of man in his original state. Ephesians 4 is describing God's work of new creation. but describes it in terms that fall back to God's work of initial creation of Adam. And so regarding our own duty and sanctification, we're told in verse number 24, Again, that language, after God is created, is language that teaches us regarding the image of God in man. Man made in God's image. But what is that image? Verse number 24, it is created by God in righteousness and true holiness. Man was set apart by God with a true holiness in his original estate. He was not morally neutral. He was made very good. And that very goodness is described here in terms of true holiness. Language, again, that challenges us. Now what we understand, of course, is that man, Adam, was made truly holy, but not impeccable. We discussed this last Lord's Day. Christ not only had the ability not to sin, It is true he was not able to sin. That was not true of Adam. Only God was in that sense of true impeccability. There is nothing in God that could give birth to sin. But in man, again, man made by God with the freedom to choose sin. And in the inscrutable wisdom of God, that God would manifest His glory, not only as Creator, but as Savior. Man was given this freedom in which he could fall into sin, and he did. But his initial creation was made in true holiness. The Bible describes these things. And again, the language for us and the encouragement for us is that By God's grace, we are being made more like unto true holiness. Indeed, our final end will be true holiness without potential for the fall. No further fall. Those who are, again, dying in Christ, they are the spirits of just men made perfect, and they cannot fall. That's the wonders of God's grace, the power of God. We're kept by the power of God unto salvation, a salvation that is eternal. That's just some areas. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but some ways in which we should acknowledge that God's holiness is not just seen in terms of redemption. It's seen in terms of God's initial creation as well. And it's something I don't think is really very much developed in our thinking. So I leave that with you at this time. So let's move on then and think about how God's holiness is then also revealed in scripture. As I said here, I'm referring to the scriptures themselves. The second area in which this holiness of God is further revealed. Not generally so. Let's turn to Romans chapter 1 please. Romans chapter 1. Paul, of course, writing to this church, he's the servant of Christ Jesus. And Noah, verse number two says, regarding the gospel of God, which you promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures. I don't know if when you were a young child, did you take notice of the front of your Bible? I certainly remember my first Bible had on the front of it, Holy Bible. There were other things that can be used to describe the Bible. True Bible. Righteous Bible. Again, those who were putting the Bible into print understood there was something about the Bible that allowed it to take that adjective wholly with great meaning and significance. Wholly. And so you see, in the language of the Word of God, both Old and New Testament, You see, language that denotes the holiness of the scriptures themselves. The God who speaks the word by his Holy Spirit gives words that are marked by intrinsic holiness. Now, what does that mean? Well, we'll come to that, but let's just prove it to begin with. Turn back to Luke 1. I wanna show you, this is not just a one-off reference that's there in Romans 1. Luke 1. And the verse number 70 again in very similar ways regarding the promise of the seed of David according to that covenant promise. Verse number 70, As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets. How can the prophets be given this term holy? What do you think? How does this term holy reflect to the prophets? Any ideas? I've been speaking a long time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they themselves are set apart by God. And it's the fact that God has chosen these men from various backgrounds and places. You read the prophets and you'll see various heritages and lineages in their work. But they're all set apart by God and they're given a divine task. And so they're holy prophets in terms of their office. So by office, they are holy as they are selected by God, chosen by God to do God's work. That's one of the ways the word holiness is used in the scriptures. But there's also another aspect of this. Turn across to 2 Peter 1. So they're holy in virtue, yes, certainly of their office, but also of their operations, of their activities. 2 Peter 1 verse number 21, And here you've got the repetition now of this adjective holy, both referring to the third person of the Trinity, but also the holy men of God. So they're not only holy in their office set apart by God, but they're holy in their operations as they're guided and directed and moved by the Holy Ghost. This is the reason whereby the scriptures, though written by men, can be called the holy scriptures. Again, when you read Romans 1 verse 2, you should stop and question, how can these scriptures be holy? There's human agency involved. There are men and Moses writes in a different way to Amos. And so there are distinctions and the attributes of the individual writer is clearly preserved, but they're still holy men. but they're led and directed and inspired by the Holy Ghost. And the same is true in a sense from those who write the New Testament turn to Ephesians chapter 3. I'm not going to encourage you, if you think back to your studies, in John 14 through 16, we notice there that there was a promise given of the Spirit of God, that the Spirit of God was going to come upon the apostles and guide them into all truth. But here, Ephesians chapter 3 verse number 5, which in ages past, referring again to the gospel, the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. So very similar language used for the New Testament as is used for the Old Testament. And so you're seeing that God in his holiness, has revealed himself in a holy manner. And the scriptures themselves are marked by the integrity of the holiness of God. And so Psalm 12, turn across to Psalm 12. Again, you'll note how the words of God are described here. Psalm 12, in verse number six, the words of the Lord are pure words. A silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times." Again, that's in distinction to the words of the ungodly. They're not marked by purity, they're marked by iniquity. But the words of the Lord are pure words. Even though they are authored by men, the ultimate Author of all the Scriptures is the Holy God, the Holy Ghost. And so you have the preservation of the purity of the Word. Hence, the Word of God is holy. What does that therefore mean? It means there is no error in the Word of God. There can be no false words in the Word of God. Or if I put it this way, when false words are in the Word of God, they're pointed out as being false. Because the Bible records ungodly men speaking ungodly things. And so there are records of things that are not true, but they're clear. The Bible is, again, full. Every part of it is true and righteous and reliable. There are no errors. The Bible is incapable of falsehood. It cannot lie. It cannot reveal that which is not true. And so you have this sense of the holiness of the Word of God. What an incentive this is to study it. I said on, I lost track of my days, Friday, prayer meeting. I don't know about you, but I sometimes get to the end of a Bible reading plan and I get to the last day of December and kind of breathe a sigh of relief. Done another plan for another year. Whatever the plan may be. And then you wake up the next day and you've got to start again. January 1st, you've got to go again. You've got to keep going. You've got to keep studying the Word of God. And here's a tremendous incentive in that regard. You're reading words that are true. You won't find that anywhere else. Here's words that are absolutely authoritatively true. So the scripture revealed the holiness of God in that sense. But they also, let's look at a couple of other areas before we close today. The law of God also reveals the holiness of God. And more specifically, so the scriptures generally, we get that, but we're referring to the law of God here, particularly God's moral law. So Psalm 19, you're in the Psalm, Psalm 19. And the verse number eight. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoice in the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Again, these terms referring to the scripture, you see similar language in Psalm 119. And again, these various terms that are used, the law of God, the commandments of God, the ways of God, the testament of God, all of these things. But here the word pure is used. this absence of any defilement, no errors in the law of God. You get same language over in Romans chapter seven, as Paul reflects upon his own experience of God's grace and the challenges that he faces. Romans 7 verse number 12, wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. This has got tremendous application. I do not understand the life of me. Why there are those in the modern evangelical church who say that God's law has no bearing upon the Christian's life. Unless it's repeated in the New Testament. And so they will caveat that. I understand that. We're living to follow Christ's example. But what they do in that language is they depreciate the value of the law of God revealed in the Old Testament scriptures. The moral law of God, yes, on Mount Sinai, but also the principles contained in the general equity of the civil law. We understand that we are not living in a theocracy like Israel where, but as our confession says, the civil law of God reveals principles of general equity. that are good and righteous and upright. Again, you're building a house with a flat roof. It's good to put a wall around the roof so that people don't fall off. That's still good. That's still a holy principle to preserve life, to be careful in all of our ways. And so we have here in the scripture itself, this revelation of the law of God is itself holy. Of course it is. If holiness is the opposition to all sin, well, the law of God reveals what sin is. It shows us this is what a holy God expects. The law of God reveals the character of God. A holy God gives this law for us to abide by, to embrace, and to live under. So again, you might find yourself in those, perhaps in families, and again, they're not sure regarding the place of the Old Testament scriptures. They're not sure regarding the place of the law of God. Here you're saying, here's what a holy God expects of you. Love God, love your neighbor. What does it look like? It looks like this. This is what love a neighbor looks like. This is what love of God looks like. You keep this holy law of a holy God. Again, it's important regarding our civil government, important regarding this world in which we live. This law is holy. Okay, no comments on that? Yeah, I'll take George and then Don. That was like, I put a paperboard in the store and all the intentions in the tabernacle, the whole system was set up for today, God's holy day. You can't exhaust this study. No, amen. I'm going to come back to that, George. It's a very important point regarding the gospel in the Old Testament revealing the holiness of God. And I'll come back to that in about three minutes, maybe less, depends how long, Don. OK, so I want to hammer this a little bit. And I can't understand for the life of me how people, I will go hit the Arminian doctrine, but how you can see these things, how you cannot see these things. Holy men of God speak as they will move. The Holy Bible, how did that all transpire? It's all a grace. Now, Glenn and I choose not to be called Calvinists because we don't follow John Calvin, but the bottom line is how do we get this Bible? How do we understand? How did this happen? By the will of man, like Ronan said? It ties in. Yeah, that's really important. If I could take you back, Dan, one of the ways we've looked, we've been doing this study now for over a year, you know, in terms of God's existence and attributes. And one thing we've seen consistently is that God's attributes are revealed in creation, providence, and redemption. I could have done the same here. I chose a different approach this time just to keep things fresh. But you see the same principles. God's character is revealed in creation, providence, and redemption. And so the whole point of all of this is that we see more and more of God. Because God cannot work in this world without making himself known. Same as we. You know, you do anything in this world, you reveal something about yourself. How you speak. How you act. what you do in work. You're always revealing something about yourself, your skills, your abilities, your character. You're always revealing yourself to others. That's what we're doing continually in this world. We may be able to pretend and put a show on. You may give the impression to your boss you're hardworking when you're not. I get all that, but you're still revealing yourself. And so when God works, he continually reveals his character, but in absolute fullness and purity and truth. And so we see God's holiness in this regard. But let me just finish today by pointing out to you something that's perhaps not recognized, and that is the gospel itself is referred to as holy. 2 Peter 2. And this is what ties in with what George has just said. So in the Old Testament scriptures, we have this sense of, well, there we see God's holiness. But in the New Testament we see God's love and grace as if these things are in some sort of conflict. But God's love to his people in the Old Testament is shown in the holiness of God in the types and the shadows and the ceremonies that allow a sinful people to approach God and for God to dwell in the midst of that people. And so everything in the tabernacle is set apart. Every piece of furniture, every priest, every garment, it's all set apart for God. That God's holiness is preserved and yet the sinner is reconciled. And so therefore when you come to the New Testament and you 2 Peter 2 verse number 21, For it had been better for them, he's referring to those who are turning back, They're going to fall away, apostasy is there. It is better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. Holy commandment, the gospel here. Repent and believe the gospel. is a pure word that reveals the holiness of God, a God who's opposed to sin. And when he sees sin in the sinner, tells the sinner to deal with that sin, to turn from it and to find mercy in God. So it's a holy commandment. Seen in the types and shadows of the Old Testament, but then revealed in its primacy in the gospel of Christ Jesus in the New Testament. This is how God deals with sin in a holy fashion. The Holy God opposed the sin, and yet Jesus Christ shall save from sin. That's his name. His name is Jesus. He shall save his people, not in their sin, but from their sin. It's impossible for a Holy God, three persons, a Holy Father, a Holy Son, a Holy Spirit, to redeem mankind and leave them in their sin. That's impossible. God delivers us from every effect of sin. It's a holy commandment, a holy gospel, as God redeems us and ultimately makes us holy as he is holy. And so this is some of the ways in which the scriptures, you know, reveal the holiness of God and God's holiness is revealed in these ways generally and in the law and in the gospel. We'll come back in two weeks time. We'll come back and consider really how God's holiness is then seen and how he applies redemption. So this gospel, a holy commandment, we'll see, well, what does a holy God do in a sinner? that really manifests holiness in the application of salvation to our souls. So amen. May God encourage us again in these things, teach us, lead us on in these matters that we grow in our knowledge of the Lord and praise him in all of our ways. Let's please pray together as we close this morning. Heavenly Father, we thank you again that you've shown yourself in all of your workings. In your word, in your miracles, in your providential care for us, O God, you reveal yourself to be set apart from sinners, to be supreme over your creation. You are God and we are your creatures and we worship and praise your name. We bless you, O God, for you alone are holy. And yet we pray for the grace, O God, to be holy as thou art holy. So grant us help today, may our worship throughout this day be pleasing. May it be marked, O God, by, again, integrity, by sincerity, by spiritual devotion. O Lord God, meet with us, we pray, and bless us together in Jesus' name. Amen.