Passionate for God's Holiness - Part 3 — John Piper

God's Holiness as Unique Moral Perfection

Incomparable in every other good way, but incomparable in His unique, incomparable, divine, moral perfection. So His grace is holy, His love is holy, His wisdom is holy to the degree that that grace, that love and all of His other attributes are unique in the universe and incomparable in the universe in their divine, moral perfection.

The Rarity, Permanence, and Accessibility of God's Value

And that's not enough of a definition either. We need to take it one more step. When something is unique, it's really rare. It's absolutely rare. So I asked Noelle on Friday night, my wife, why is gold used as the standard of our money?

Why do we prize gold so highly? And she said, accurately, because it's rare. I said, yeah, but there are fish, there are fish that are really rare. And she said, gold has some permanence. Fish rot, get smelly.

They can't be the standard of anything, no matter how rare they are. I said, that's right. So you've got rare and you've got permanence. And I would add accessibility. There are rocks probably under this field so far down, way more rare than gold, but you can't get at them.

So they're useless. They're no help to being the monetary standard at all. And there are fish in the bottom of the sea nobody's ever caught or even classified and they're no use either. So you've got rare, you've got permanence, and you've got accessibility.

And I think the uniqueness of God is all of that. He's the rarest of all beings. He has absolute permanence in Jesus Christ. He's made himself accessible. And therefore, I draw this as my concluding definition.

Will you allow me a definition of the indefinable? God is infinitely valuable. So here's my total definition. God's holiness is his infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, permanent person that he is and who by grace has made himself accessible.

His infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, permanent person that he is. And now my prayer for the generation becomes not simply that you become a generation impassioned for, passionate for God's holiness, but that you become a generation passionate for God's supreme infinite value.

The Gospel Centered on God's Glory Rather Than Human Worth

That will sever the root of all Judas' joys. One last obstacle I would mention to becoming that generation, and I feel bad about this one because it's my generation's fault. We have not served you well.

I'm 57. I'm old enough to be some of yours, grandfather probably, and all of your father. I think in terms of these generations, not only do you have a hard time living with a passion for the glory of God because you don't know what it is because it's so hard to define, which is not all your fault because he's God, but also because we have taught you so wrongly about the gospel.

We have made the gospel, my generation, the generation of the self and the me, have made you the center of the gospel. We've made you the center of God's saving and redeeming work, not the display of his glory for the nations.

And if you wonder what's the relationship between glory and holiness, I'll put it in a little easy phrase. The glory of God is the radiance, the streaming forth of his intrinsic holiness. Holiness is his infinite value and his moral perfection as the unique and incomparable person that he is.

His glory is when that goes public for people to see and fall down before. And we have said to you, the gospel is about you and your worth. The cross is about you and your worth. That's what my generation has delivered in 10 ,000 ways to you.

And I would be surprised today, apart from a marvelous grace in your home church, that you don't believe that. God's passion. Have you ever heard a sequence of thought like this? Before you ever came on the scene or this universe ever existed, God was holy, infinitely valuable, incomparable, absolutely unique.

God's Eternal Self-Satisfaction Before Creation

And he knew it. And he loved it. And he treasured it. Because he's wise and righteous. And a righteous person always values what is most valuable. Therefore, before you ever came on the scene, God valued God above all things.

He saw the perfections of himself shining out of his own infinitely glorious divine Son. And he loved his Son. And the Son loved the Father. And the Holy Spirit powerfully, personally radiated between the Father and the Son.

Before you were ever on the scene, there was a gladsumness in reality. And then you came, and I'll tell you something, nothing changed.