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Delighting in a Holy God · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Samuel lives in Nashville, and Samuel has a confession to
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  Speaker 1: make today on the podcast before all of us. He
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  Speaker 1: knows that God is holy, entirely pure, sinless, radiantly unstained,
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  Speaker 1: and he also knows, as a Christian, he's supposed to
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  Speaker 1: love God in his unspotted holiness, but he doesn't. God's
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  Speaker 1: purity feels distant, cold, off, putting today on as Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John delighting in a holy God. Pastor John and I
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  Speaker 1: have a confession to make, Samuel writes, I feel like
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  Speaker 1: God's holiness is important, but it also feels very distant
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  Speaker 1: from me and totally overwhelming too. It's not something I
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  Speaker 1: find myself attracted to study, and oh, how I want
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  Speaker 1: this to change in me. In Psalm ninety nine, which
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  Speaker 1: we just read a couple of days ago, God's holiness
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  Speaker 1: is a central theme that underscores his exalted position. The
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  Speaker 1: Psawmist declares, the Lord reigns, Let the people's tremble. He
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  Speaker 1: dwells between the cherubim, let the earth be moved as
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  Speaker 1: verse one. This imagery of God's supreme authority emphasizes his
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  Speaker 1: holiness and the awe it should inspire. Additionally, the Psalmist
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  Speaker 1: boldly proclaims holy is He in verse nine, a statement
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  Speaker 1: that highlights God's utter set of partness from anything impure.
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  Speaker 1: Why is God's holiness so essential for us as believers?
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  Speaker 1: And why do I not feel drawn to God's holiness
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  Speaker 1: like I know I should be? Passa John, what would
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  Speaker 1: you say to Samuel.
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  Speaker 2: To answer those last two questions about why God's holiness
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  Speaker 2: is essential for us and why we might not be
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  Speaker 2: drawn to it? We need to go straight to the
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  Speaker 2: issue of what it is. We need a faithful des
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  Speaker 2: description of God's holiness. Pretty much everybody agrees that the
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  Speaker 2: very basic meaning of the word in the Bible was
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  Speaker 2: separated from what is common, which means that originally holiness.
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  Speaker 2: This will sound strange. Could refer to holy prostitutes because
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  Speaker 2: they were separated in pagan temples from common prostitutes. Or
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  Speaker 2: it could mean wholly in the sense of exceptionally pure, virtuous,
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  Speaker 2: separated from all that is sinful. But the basic meaning
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  Speaker 2: of the word began as separated from what is common.
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  Speaker 2: So let's start there and see if we can figure
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  Speaker 2: out in four or five steps how that relates to God.
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  Speaker 2: How can we speak of God as being separated from
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  Speaker 2: what is common. How does the term holy come to
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  Speaker 2: be so important in describing God? So? First, God has
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  Speaker 2: no standard of right and wrong, good and bad, pure
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  Speaker 2: and impure, beautiful or ugly, holy or unholy outside himself. Right,
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  Speaker 2: he doesn't have any book to appeal to. He wrote
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  Speaker 2: the book. He was just there, absolutely what he is.
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  Speaker 2: For humans, goodness or holiness is always derivative. We depend
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  Speaker 2: on God to define goodness or beauty or holiness for us.
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  Speaker 2: Who does God depend on nobody? So too, God's godness
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  Speaker 2: is very being, the way he is and was from
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  Speaker 2: all eternity is his own standard of holiness, or another
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  Speaker 2: way to say it. Since holiness means separated from what
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  Speaker 2: is common, God is infinitely separated in being, in being
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  Speaker 2: in a class by himself, infinitely above, infinitely distinct from
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  Speaker 2: all else he is. He just absolutely is completely distinct,
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  Speaker 2: separate other and the big fancy word is transcendent. Third,
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  Speaker 2: in his infinite otherness or transcendence or separateness, there is
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  Speaker 2: no deficiency. He's lacking in no perfection. When the panorama
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  Speaker 2: of all of his attributes, all of his perfections, is
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  Speaker 2: seen in all of its perfect harmony, it's beautiful and
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  Speaker 2: therefore it's of infinite value. Nothing compares to God, nothing
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  Speaker 2: has competing value to God. All other values are dependent
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  Speaker 2: derivative that they depend on God's infinite value and beauty. Fourth,
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  Speaker 2: which means God has two dimensions of holiness. Not only
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  Speaker 2: is he separated from all that is common, infinitely above
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  Speaker 2: and unique and other transcendent, but in that separateness, that transcendence,
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  Speaker 2: he has no secondly imperfections, which means we can now
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  Speaker 2: speak of his transcendence as morally beautiful, valuable. His holiness
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  Speaker 2: means not only that he's way out there, separate, transcendent,
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  Speaker 2: but also morally pure, perfectly pure, without any taint of
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  Speaker 2: darkness or sin. That was RCI Sproll's favorite shorthand for
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  Speaker 2: God's holiness, transcendent purity. It's hard to improve on that
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  Speaker 2: toward phrase. And then, finally, fifth, to complete this description
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  Speaker 2: of God's holiness, we need to describe how it relates
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  Speaker 2: to his action, his thoughts, his emotions, and the way
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  Speaker 2: they relate to God's holiness. Is this All his emotions, thoughts,
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  Speaker 2: and actions accord with, agree with are in sync with
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  Speaker 2: his transcendent worth and beauty. What God feels, what God thinks,
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  Speaker 2: what God does flow from a right valuing his own right,
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  Speaker 2: valuing of his infinite worth and beauty. That's what makes
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  Speaker 2: things right or wrong for God? Do they accord with
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  Speaker 2: his infinite worth? Now, why is this so utterly essential
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  Speaker 2: for us as Christians? Two massive answers. I'm just going
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  Speaker 2: to pass over two of them because I think the
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  Speaker 2: third might be more helpful for Samuel, who's asking this question.
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  Speaker 2: I'm passing over the fact that the infinite costliness of
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  Speaker 2: the death of Jesus would make no sense apart from
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  Speaker 2: the infinite standard of God's holiness. And second, I'm passing
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  Speaker 2: over the existence of Hell. A hell of eternal torment
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  Speaker 2: would be a total overreaction on God's part apart from
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  Speaker 2: the infinite outrage of sins scorning the infinite holiness of God.
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  Speaker 2: So neither the Cross nor Hell make any sense apart
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  Speaker 2: from the holiness of God. But here's a third reason
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  Speaker 2: why God's holiness is so crucial, And this might help
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  Speaker 2: Samuel be drawn in to want to study this, love this,
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  Speaker 2: be happy about this. I want to meditate on this
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  Speaker 2: and make it part of his very life. The apostle
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  Speaker 2: Paul never calls Christians. Christians never uses the word Christians
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  Speaker 2: thirteen letters, never uses the word He never uses the
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  Speaker 2: word that we use most oftens striking. What does he
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  Speaker 2: call us? What is his favorite term for Christians? And
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  Speaker 2: the answer is crystal clear. His favorite term is Saints.
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  Speaker 2: He uses saints to refer to Christians thirty nine times.
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  Speaker 2: Saints means holy ones, so thirty one times thirty nine
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  Speaker 2: times he calls Christians holy ones amazing. Why would Paul
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  Speaker 2: Love calling Christians holy once? Well, to answer that, we
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  Speaker 2: should probably answer the question in view of what holiness
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  Speaker 2: means for God? What does it mean for us to
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  Speaker 2: be holy? Because the Bible says several times you shall
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  Speaker 2: be holy for I am holy Verse Peter one, sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: For example, when we try to connect our holiness to
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  Speaker 2: God's holiness, what it looks like is this. We share
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  Speaker 2: God's holiness when we feel and think and act in
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  Speaker 2: accord with the infinite worth of God. Because that's what
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  Speaker 2: God's holiness is. Acting in accord with his infinite worth.
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  Speaker 2: That's what God's holiness is, and that's what our holiness is.
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  Speaker 2: He measures all of his actions by whether they accord
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  Speaker 2: with his worth. We measure all of our actions by
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  Speaker 2: whether they accord with God's worth. That's his holynes, that's
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  Speaker 2: our holiness. The difference, of course, is that we're sinners.
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  Speaker 2: We are sinners, and we don't deserve to share his holiness,
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  Speaker 2: nor are we able to share his holiness, which is
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  Speaker 2: why Jesus Christ is absolutely essential. Christ is essential. He
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  Speaker 2: makes it possible for God to be holy in passing
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  Speaker 2: over sins, our sins, and he makes it possible for
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  Speaker 2: us to be holy by forgiving us and cleansing us
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  Speaker 2: from all unrighteousness. The Ephesians one says that He chose
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  Speaker 2: us to be holy. The Ephesians five says he died
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  Speaker 2: to make us holy. All of God's holiness is absolutely
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  Speaker 2: intrinsic to himself. He doesn't borrow it, he doesn't depend
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  Speaker 2: on anybody for it. It didn't have to be purchased.
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  Speaker 2: He is holy, he defines holy. But for us, holiness
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  Speaker 2: is a gift, a gift to be set apart for God,
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  Speaker 2: a gift to be set apart like God. Act like God.
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  Speaker 2: We get to share in the moral beauty of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: Is not the answer, Samuel to your last question that
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  Speaker 2: you should be drawn to the holiness of God, not
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  Speaker 2: only because that's who God is, but also because sharing
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  Speaker 2: his holiness is what He chose for you. It's what
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  Speaker 2: Christ died for for you. And wonder of wonders, We're
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  Speaker 2: drawn to God's holiness because we will find that being
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  Speaker 2: made holy as He is holy will mean everlasting joy.
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  Speaker 2: Is it not wonderful that the fruit of the Holy,
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  Speaker 2: Holy Holy Spirit is love, joy and peace? Let that
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  Speaker 2: sink in the fruit of the Holy Holy Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 2: is joy. And it's no coincidence therefore that Isaiah would
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  Speaker 2: say in Isaiah twelve to six, shout and sing for joy, O,
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  Speaker 2: inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the
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  Speaker 2: Holy One of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, God is not only distant from us because of
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  Speaker 1: his holiness, he draws near to us in holiness. It's
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  Speaker 1: a precious, precious promise. This reminds me of Psalm ninety
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  Speaker 1: six nine. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness,
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  Speaker 1: the splend his splendor, his attractive beauty, a holiness not
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  Speaker 1: only to behold, but to share. And we share God's
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  Speaker 1: holiness when we feel and think and act in accord
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  Speaker 1: with the infinite worth of God. Because that's what God's
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  Speaker 1: holiness is a lot to think about here. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: Bestor John. And speaking of Paul's favorite term for believers,
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  Speaker 1: for saints, it's worth noting that the word saints is
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  Speaker 1: always a collective term of many Christians. It's never used
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  Speaker 1: of individual Christians, never a particular saint. And for more
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  Speaker 1: on that see episode twenty forty nine from a couple
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  Speaker 1: of years back for more on that point. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for joining us today. If you have a question to
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  Speaker 1: ask Pastor John, you can find a link to email us.
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  Speaker 1: You can find our complete episode archive as well in
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  Speaker 1: APJA twenty forty nine, all at the same place. Askpestor
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  Speaker 1: John dot com when obedience is evil? Interesting topic? Next time,
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  Speaker 1: when obedience is evil? I'm Tony Rankey. We'll see you
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  Speaker 1: back here on Monday for that