The Holiness of God

The Fear of the Lord and the Holiness of God

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to Paul's letter to the Romans and find your place in chapter 3 and look at verse 18. Now I will tell you that tonight we're going to be looking at several passages, two in particular that are not my opening text, but this opening text is going to drive us to the very heart of the issue which we are going to be addressing tonight.

And as we've already seen, we will stand for the reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant.

Word.

This is the culmination of Paul's indictment against not only the Jews but mankind as he has demonstrated that all are sinners and will, in just a few verses, say all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but the culmination of this indictment is a collection of verses which he pulls out of the Old Testament and puts together finalizing in this one sentence.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Father in heaven, I ask that as we open the word of God tonight and as we address the subject that is so vital to our understanding of you, your holiness, I pray first and foremost, O Lord, that you would keep me from error.

For God, I am a fallible man. I am capable of preaching error and I do not want to for the sake of your name, for the sake of these people, and for the sake of my own conscience, God, keep me from error.

I pray that as we look at this subject, this vital and important subject, Lord, that we would seek to unpack the depth of it while at the same time knowing that we will not even scratch the surface. Lord, I pray for every man, woman, and child in this room.

For the believer, I ask, God, that this would be a message that would edify them, that would challenge them, that would encourage them, perhaps call them to repentance. And Lord, for the unbeliever in this room, I pray that this word would remind them that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved than that of the Lord Jesus Christ, because you are a holy God, we are unholy men, and we need a Savior who is holy, Jesus Christ the righteous, in whose name we pray, amen.

It is stated several times in the Bible that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And if that is true, and it certainly is if it is the word of God, it is true that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then the lack of fear of God is foolishness.

The lack of fear of God is foolishness. And so when we open our Bibles and we read from the Apostle Paul's writing to the Romans and we get to Romans chapter 3 and we come to this place in the text where he says there is no fear of God before their eyes, we understand that what he is saying in that text is that man, because of his relationship to God and not fearing him, is a foolish creature.

It is a foolish thing to not fear God. And as I was considering that subject, as I was preparing this message for the evening, I began to think about just how uncommon it is to find the fear of the Lord in churches today.

How uncommon a thing it is to find people who revere the holiness of God in churches today. I have, as the brother said, a YouTube channel. I do a lot online and one of the programs that I produce is called Church Soup.

It's a news program where oftentimes I will play clips from churches simply to make comments on things that are happening in the modern church. And some of these clips are so far into the arena of ridiculousness, it is proof positive that there is no fear of God before their eyes.

I have a tagline, it says this, and I hope it was a blast for them because it was certainly a blast for me. Because it's over and over and over and over that men are willing to blaspheme our God. That they're willing to stand behind pulpits and blaspheme God.

That they're willing to stand upon the chancel and blaspheme God and have no fear to spit in the face of the creator of the universe. And have no concern for who it is they are insulting. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now why am I talking about the fear of God? I thought I was supposed to be preaching about holiness. Well, if you follow the narrative of Scripture and you walk through the stories of the Bible, you will find that the times when God's holiness is revealed, when the veil of God's holiness is pulled back just for an inch, you see the greatest times of fear fall into the hearts.

Of men.

Holiness Revealed in Peter's Fear and the Definition of God's Otherness

I cannot help but think of Peter, when he was on the boat and had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. You remember the story? And he comes and Jesus stands in his boat and he preaches the sermon.

And then he said, let the boat out into the water and throw the net down. And Peter said, oh, we've been fishing all night, but at your command I will do it. And so he goes and he drops the net and he pulls in the great haul of fish.

And you know what Peter did right after that, right? He began the Peter and Jesus Fishing Company, LLC. Because that's what the natural person would have said, if a man can catch fish like this, this is the guy I want to be in business with.

No.

What Peter did, if you remember that narrative, it's in Luke 5, verse 8, it says when Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. You see, when he recognized who it was that he was in the presence of, when he recognized that he was staring at the very Son of God, that he was talking to someone who could command the sea and all the deeps, he said, leave me alone, for I cannot stand in your presence.

I am a sinful man.

That's what it means when we say that God is holy. We are recognizing His nature as being absolutely distinct. It is absolutely different. It is absolutely separate. When we talk about the holiness of God, if you want a simple definition of the holiness of God, it is God's distinction from all other things.

And we can distinguish God in two ways. In His ontological transcendence and in His moral excellence. Ontological simply means His being or His essence. And God transcends all other things in His being.

The Bible says there is nothing like unto Him. No one like unto Him. This is why the doctrine of the Trinity is so valuable, because it reminds us that there's nothing like God. There's no one like God.

You are not triune. Nothing in nature is triune. You can't point to something and say this is like God or that is like God. There is no analogy for God, because God is holy. He is transcendent in His nature.

He is ontologically transcendent. He is also morally excellent. And by excellent, meaning high above, rising above, above all things, pure and perfect, He is, as Dr. R .C. Sproul said, and you knew I was going to quote Dr. Sproul if I'm preaching the holiness of God.

And if you don't know, Dr. Sproul wrote a tremendous classic on that subject, and it.

Is in the bookstore.

Plug.

But Dr. Sproul said if you really want to consider what the holiness of God is, it is God's otherness. That there is none like unto Him. Nothing can be compared to Him. Nothing can be placed beside Him and be made an analogy to Him.

He is other. Whatever you can think of, whatever you can imagine, whatever you can put in your mind, He is other than that. There is none like unto Him. And you know what makes us more afraid than anything in all of the universe?

Things that are different. The greatest phobia men have, xenophobia. Fear of that which is different. Fear of the other. And God is the ultimate other. God is the ultimate one who is not like us. It is my purpose today to show you four ways in which the holiness of God should impact us as believers in Christ.

Four ways that this otherness of God, this transcendent being of God, this nature of God that's not like us, four ways that this should impact us as Christians, as worshipers, as people. I'll give you the outline for those who I know may be taking notes.

It is very simple.

The holiness of God should strike us. The holiness of God should humble us. The holiness of God should comfort us. And the holiness of God should transform us. Four ways. The holiness of God should impact us.

It should strike us, humble us, comfort us, and transform us. Now, we are going to look at two instances in the Word of God where the holiness of God is put on display. Both of these instances, I want to forewarn you, are some of the most difficult passages in the Scripture because both of these texts are texts that we find ourselves trying to come up with some justification for because it seems to us when we read these stories that God has an eruption of anger in a moment that to us seems unjust.

The Death of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10

If you have your Bibles, again, open them to Leviticus chapter 10. The book of Leviticus outlines the law of God given to the Israelites for their holiness, their worship, and their priesthood. The things that are to be done within the tabernacle.

And if you'll remember, the brother of Moses, Aaron, was made the high priest. And we're not going to read all of this, but if you were to go back a few chapters from chapter 10, in chapter 8, Aaron and his sons are consecrated and ordained for the priesthood.

In chapter 9, they perform sin offerings. And at the end of chapter 9, when the sin offerings are made, fire comes out and consumes the offering from God. So that ends this portion and leads into chapter 10.

So in your mind, consider the fact that a sin offering has been made, fire has come out, it has consumed the offering, and now we step into chapter 10 where it says,. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them.

Not.

And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Now Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.

And Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elphiphan, the sons of Uziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they went near, and they carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had.

Said.

And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes, lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled.

And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. For the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. Now there are several passages of Scripture which are difficult for the unbelieving mind to wrap its head around.

The death of the firstborn in Egypt is a difficult story, especially for the unbeliever. The story of Uzzah, remember Uzzah, as the ark began to topple, he stretched out his hand and he touched the ark and he was struck dead in that moment.

Unbelievers hear that and immediately their thought is, oh, what a terrible God. Just listen to men who do not believe the Bible is the word of God. Describe our God. Listen to men like Richard Dawkins or Dan Barker.

Richard Dawkins, one of the leading evolutionary biologists in the world. Dan Barker, head of one of the largest atheist associations in the world. You hear them talk about our God and they will look at passages like this and they will say, see here, the God of the Bible is a terrible moral monster.

He cannot even hold back his anger for a moment. He has to unleash like a petulant child. This is the picture that people get in their mind. Jonathan Edwards wrote a sermon which he preached more than once called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

And do you know where most people hear or read Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God? Eleventh grade English, where they're encouraged to read this as an example of the exaggerated view that the Puritans had of the wrath of God.

They want to show them that, oh, this was an example of how God and his nature were so twisted during the times of men like Jonathan Edwards. Because Edward was so daring as to say that God actually expresses wrath.

Edwards was so daring as to say that men actually deserve God's wrath. And so, Edwards becomes a punchline in an English class and part of the problem, the reason why is because the church won't preach like Edwards anymore.

We want our best life now. We want a God who is impotent. A God who is all love and no wrath. And so, when we read the story of Nadab and Abihu, who do we side with?

Nadab and Abihu, almost every time.

You read the story and the first thing you think, oh, these poor little boys, it's like the boys who got killed by the bears with Elijah and the bald head. Who do we always side with?

The boys.

We always side with the ones who are abusing God's prophet. We don't care about God's prophet, we don't care about God's name, we don't care about God's holiness, we care about the boys, who weren't little boys, by the way, they weren't little kids.

They were young men, insulting the prophet of God, bringing shame upon the name of God. We don't care about the name of God. We don't get offended by that. We get offended when God shows Himself for who He is.

That's what offends us. We don't get offended by the men who offend God, we get offended by the God who will not.

Be offended.

And when God demonstrates in a moment His unwillingness to be offended, we get angry. How dare you, God, show your name to be the most precious thing in all the universe? How dare you, God, to say that my presence will be kept holy?

How dare you, God, sanctify your very name? You see, this is our problem. There's no fear of God before our eyes. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord. Don't come to me later and ask what it was.

If you have an ESV, it says unauthorized fire. That's good enough. The issue is not what was in the censer, but what was in the heart. Because it says in the text that they did that which He commanded them not.

Whatever was in that censer was not what God had commanded. And here's the thing, they knew it. They were not ignorant. I tried to at least set the stage by saying two chapters before, you see these men called, you see these men ordained, you see these men given the rules.

They understood that the one who approaches God must recognize that He is holy. They knew it.

And they said, what if we didn't?

What if just for a moment we said, we're going to do it our way? And so God, in that moment of rebellion, chose to level upon them the same fire that He had just a short while earlier leveled upon the altar of sacrifice.

Remember I said in chapter 9 it ends with the sacrifice having been consumed by fire. The same fire of consumption that consumed the offering now would consume these men.

And they died.

Now if there's anyone in the story that I do have trouble not sympathizing with, it's.

Aaron.

Aaron watched as his sons in their foolishness, in their rebellion, did what they did. They watched as God's fire consumed them. Aaron and Moses spake unto Aaron and said, for the one who draws near to me, I will be recognized as holy.

I will be sanctified. That's what sanctified means, by the way. The word holy throughout your Bible, sanctity, sanctification, even the word saint all comes from the same idea, that which is set apart.

And God says, for the one who draws near to me, I will be set apart. And in your heart right now, while I just said I can sympathize with Aaron, but in our heart right now, do we really recognize that God was right?

Did we not just say a few moments ago the two characteristics of holiness is one, that God is ontologically transcendent, meaning He is outside of our nature, but two, that He is morally excellent, that He's perfect.

The death of Nadab and Abihu was not a mistake. The death of Nadab and Abihu was not God fumbling and accidentally dropping fire on two men. It was intentional, it was purposeful, so Moses looks at his father and he says, this is what God meant when He said, the one who draws near to me, I will be recognized as.

Holy.

And you know, he wasn't even allowed to mourn, if you follow the narrative. That's why I read down to verse 7 as I did. I don't have the time this evening to exegete because we're going to look at another text, but I just want you, when you're reading it to yourself later, to notice that He says, do not rinse your clothes.

He says, the people, they will wail over the burning, but not you. God's not being unfair, God's not being mean, God's not being harsh, He's teaching a lesson because Aaron is still in the presence of God.

You will not call into question what I have done because you draw near to me and the one who draws near to me must recognize what?

I'm holy, I'm holy.

Ananias and Sapphira and the Holiness of God in Acts 5

Now, with your Bibles open, turn with me to the New Testament. There is a very real sense in which we are Marcians at heart. But, if you don't know who Marcian was, he was an early heretic who believed that the God of the Old Testament was not the God of the New Testament and that the God of the Old Testament needed to be expunged and he ended up taking the Scriptures apart and only keeping the parts that were about God's love and God's mercy and God's faithfulness and all of those things and he took out all of the things about God's wrath and all of that.

You've heard of people today doing that, right? I did a sermon a few years ago called the Marcians are coming because they are. There are people who will not preach verse by verse through the Word of God because they do not want to read the parts they do not like.

We get to the New Testament and we find ourselves in Acts chapter 5 and we read a story which is so close in narrative to what happened in Leviticus chapter 10, I would almost be bold enough to say that they are parallel passages even though I cannot go there in the sense that I don't believe they truly are parallel, but they are so close that it's almost as if they are.

And by the way, I gave you the context for Leviticus 10, let me give you the context for Acts chapter 5. In Acts chapter 4, the church is expanding this new community of faith, this new covenant community is expanding, and as the people are in need, people are selling things that they have, giving it to the apostles so that the apostles can distribute to the needs of.

The people.

We'll see later in chapter 6, they'll actually choose men who will be those who are in charge of distributing these things that are taken because the church was in need at this time. We're all familiar with this.

Well, at the end of chapter 4, a very common name comes up, the name Barnabas. Barnabas sells a piece of property and he gives the money to the church, and the church uses that money to help the people in the church.

That is the context that leads into chapter 5. Because chapter 5 begins, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold the possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.

But Peter said, Ananias, why have Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land, whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?

By the way, that's proof positive the early church was not communists, because it was his to do with what he chose. He could have sold it. He could have given as much as he wanted. It's not the issue that he had to sell it, and it was not the issue that he had to give.

It.

The issue is the lie. If you have a problem with that, go talk to Jonathan when we're done. But he says, why have Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land, whilst it remained, was it not thine own?

And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And at Ananias' hearing, these words fell down and gave up the ghost, and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?

And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

Then she fell down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her.

Husband.

Verse 11 is the key. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. Now if you compare these narratives, you'll notice some striking similarities. One, both brought an offering that was ultimately rejected.

Number two, there were two people in both narratives, both of them that were struck down by God. Number three, they were both family members. One a set of brothers, the other a husband and wife. Four, both stories recount their bodies being carried away.

Number five, both events caused great fear to fall upon the community of faith. But number six, I think is worth mentioning. Both of these happened during a time of major change in the history of the people of God.

The story of Nadab and Abihu happens as they are making their way through the 40 years, and God is giving the scriptures, He's giving the outline for how He is to be worshipped. He is, as it were, birthing Israel as a nation, a theocracy.

He is giving them the standard by which they will live. And the standard is, the one who approaches me will recognize that I am holy. Why do we have this big tabernacle? Why is it surrounded by all of these things?

Why does it have this fence? Why is it that the man who goes in there has to do all of these things before he can even approach the door? And why is it that only one man, one time of year, can go in past that veil and take the blood and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat?

Why?

Because I am holy, and the one who approaches me, I will be sanctified. And then when they didn't, God says, and here is the result. Now we go to the New Covenant. And people say, oh, the New Covenant is different.

Marcion, oh, the New Covenant is different. Yes! The New Covenant is different. Better priesthood. Better sacrifice. I call it the Papa John's Covenant. Better priesthood. Better sacrifice. New Covenant.

It is better. It is new.

But God has not changed.

And therefore, as the New Covenant is experiencing explosive growth, as men and women are coming to faith day by day, thousands upon thousands are coming into the church, they are being exposed to this holy God, and God shows them in an instant that He is still the same God of the Old Covenant.

And the one who approaches me, I will be recognized as holy. You see, the text does not say it, and I would never presume to add anything to the Word of God, but I can imagine that when Peter saw the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira, that on his mind and possibly even on his lips was the phrase, the one who approaches me must recognize that I am holy.

So with those two stories in our mind, I would like to at this moment give you the four ways which this should impact us. I gave you the outline earlier. I know I haven't given you the body of it yet, and I promise that that was not just introduction.

This is not going to take... I say, that was all introduction, I'll start preaching now. My church loves that joke, just saying. But here are four thoughts that I hope we can take away from this. Number one, the holiness of God should strike us.

The holiness of God should strike us. The immediate reaction of most of us to this story, as I said earlier, is we tend to have our emotions hurt because we side with the offender. And even that should strike us.

That should strike us that we don't side with God. By nature, we are not on God's side. We say, wait a minute, what about Nadab and Abihu? I heard they were good boys. Ananias and Sapphira, they just were saving for retirement.

We come up with some reason to justify. No, it strikes us and it should. The holiness of God should strike us. These events serve to remind us of the fire of God's holiness. Because too often we forget.

So often we forget. I watched a video the other day, a woman preacher, and she was saying in her TED talk, I'm not going to call it a sermon, but in her TED talk, she was saying to the people, and she was talking to God as it were, like she was preaching, but she was talking up.

And she said, God, consume us in the fire of your holiness.

And I said, wait, consider what thou asketh.

Did she really just say, she said, God, consume us in the fire of your holiness.

Mercy.

You don't want that. Nadab and Abihu called.

They said, you don't want it. Paul Washer said this, he said, you can't even look at the sun without being blinded, yet you think you'll casually stroll into the presence of God. Can't look at the sun without being blinded, but you think you're just going to stroll into the presence of God.

That's the attitude so many people have toward God. And that is why I say the holiness of God has been forgotten. The holiness of God has been overlooked because people just stroll into the presence of God.

They do not care because people aren't dropping left and right like Ananias and Sapphira and Nadab and Abihu. When I say we should be struck by the holiness of God, we should be struck like Isaiah was.

Struck.

Now, I was tempted just to preach Isaiah 6, but I knew as sure as I did somebody would say I was just parroting R .C. Sproul. So I didn't do that. But I loved R .C. Sproul. His church was about an hour north of here, and I would drive down and see him back when he was alive, and I would get to hear him preach.

I was there the day he said, what's wrong with you people? That's my claim to fame. I was in the audience. I said, that's never going to die. I said to my wife back there, I didn't, I looked at her, I said, that's going to live forever.

And I was right. He said about Isaiah 6, he said this passage is the quintessential passage on the holiness of God because we're reminded that the most holy man in all of Israel, Isaiah, when he was in the presence of God was struck.

And what did Isaiah say? Woe is me.

Woe is me.

The holiness of God is intended to strike us. These stories should strike us. That's the point. They should strike us. Number two, they should humble us because the reality of our condition comes into focus when we face God's holiness and realize that all of us have done far worse than Nadab, Abihu, Ananias, or Sapphira.

I've lived for 44 years on this earth, and I have failed to recognize the holiness of.

God so many times, and yet he's not consumed me yet because of his mere mercy and grace. And through that, I am humbled. It should strike us, but it should humble us. Thirdly, and this one's the hardest one, it should comfort us.

You say, how, how can this, how can this message comfort us? Because it reminds us that our very existence is dependent upon his grace and his grace is amazing. We live by the grace of God every day. You know what?

Again, I hate to keep quoting Dr. Sproul, but he was such a good teacher. He said, we sing amazing grace, but we don't believe it. Grace is assumed, not amazing. You know how grace is, you know why grace is assumed?

Because you sided with Ananias and Sapphira, Nadab and Bihu as soon as I read those stories. Grace is assumed. You read about Uzzah, and you side with Uzzah because grace is assumed. I remember years ago walking to my office, and I was struck with an overwhelming sense of the dependency of my life upon God.

And I remember this moment like just, it was such an amazing moment of clarity. I said to myself, I stopped where I was standing, I don't remember what I was doing that day, but I just remember standing in the hallway about three foot from my office door.

I stopped, I looked up, and I thought to myself, I only exist because of your mercy. I only exist because of your grace. I've done nothing to earn this, and if it so pleased you, you could wipe me out,.

And you would owe me no explanation.

And so I'm comforted by your grace. See if you don't understand the holiness of God, you will never appreciate the grace of God. And that's what leads us to number four. And that is, this holiness should transform us.

Because the holiness of God makes us a different person. Now, very clearly, I want to say, we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone through the forensic justification that comes because of the finished work of Christ on the cross, which is applied to us through double imputation.

My sin is imputed to him, his righteousness is given to me, whereby I stand, as the apostle Paul said, dressed in his righteousness alone. A righteousness that comes from the outside, not from the inside.

Paul said, he said, I have a righteousness that is not my own, but a righteousness which comes through faith in Jesus Christ. All of that is true. But let me tell you this, when you encounter the holy God, it will change you.

It will transform you. Think of Romans chapter 12. What does Romans 12 say? I beseech thee, brethren, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies a living sacrifice. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

The first way in which your mind is renewed is recognizing who God is and who you are. Recognizing his holiness, your sinfulness, and your desperate need for him. That will change everything about how you live.

It ain't going to make you perfect, because guess what? You're going to still continue to live in this flesh, you're still going to battle sin. All those things are true, but it will change the direction of your life.

As my old professor used to say, it's going to give you a new wanna. If you don't know what that is, I used to wanna a lot of things, but now I want to follow Jesus. That's how it changes you. See him for who he is.

Recognize yourself for who you are. And it changes your life. I have one final thing I want to say and then we'll close. Because I think I've exhausted my time. Years ago, I was walking into a Kmart. That's how long ago it was.

I was going to buy shoes at a Kmart. And as I walked in the store, I was handing out gospel tracts. And I'm a huge proponent of gospel tracts, believe in them, have used them for years. I call them paper missionaries.

You hand them out, let people read the gospel on them. And as I was walking in, there was the lady that was standing there greeting you as you come in. And so I walked in, I saw the lady, I handed her a gospel tract.

She said, thank you. I said, thanks for taking it. And I kept walking, didn't think anymore of it. I get back to the shoes. I'm looking through the tennis shoes. And she walks up to me. And she was very solemn, very frustrated look on her face.