This message, titled Holiness, from Micah 1-1-7 was preached at Winchester Reformed Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Kansas. For more information, visit us at winchesterrp.com. Brothers and sisters, as we have previously been introduced to this prophecy, it was previously said that in many ways the name of the prophet, the name of the prophet is the message of this prophecy. If you remember, the name Micah is a name with significance. It is a name with meaning. And the meaning of the name Micah is simply this. It means, who is like the Lord? Who is like the Lord? And this prophecy, these seven chapters, communicate that message. The message that is primarily communicated by the prophet is the message of the supreme greatness and glory of the one true and living God. And that alone, brothers and sisters, that alone is sufficient to inform us that this prophecy is needed. That alone informs us that this prophecy ever and always remains relevant. It is relevant and it is needed because it serves as a corrective. A corrective to the often superficial, truncated, minimized views of God, wherein, many times, in the innate sinfulness of our own hearts, we want to drag God down to our level, to make God like us, to fashion God after my likeness, rather than being one who, by the ministry of the Spirit, is fashioned after His. This book, this prophecy offers a corrective as it seeks to extol the greatness of God. And without exaggeration this morning, I might begin simply by saying this without exaggeration is likely the greatest need for the Church of Jesus Christ today. You could probably go to any Christian bookstore or to many different Christian blogs and websites, and people will talk about what is the greatest need for the church today. But I believe it remains the need of the church in every generation. The greatest need of the church today is a faith-induced vision of the glory of God. And the message of Micah the prophet begins with that kind of vision. It begins with a vision of God. And we begin to see that immediately in the words recorded here. And as this vision of God is presented to us through the prophet, there really are, if you were to take stock of it, there really are several different aspects of God that come out in the words that we've read. We could probably look at these words and see something of the sovereignty of God. We could look at these words and see something of the omniscience of God, the way in which God knows all things. We could look at these words and see the power of God on display. We could read these words and be left with the impression of the just judgments of God. But brothers and sisters, as we come to these opening words of this message, really the epicenter of Micah's words here, the very heartbeat of the prophet, does not fall first and foremost on the sovereignty or the omniscience or the power or the justice of God, but the epicenter of Micah's message is the holiness of God. It is holiness that comes to the forefront. And it is this holiness that sets the tone for the whole of the prophet's message. And so this morning, I want to consider simply that subject. And to that end, I want to consider that subject under three points, a holy God, a holy place, and a holy demand. A holy God, a holy place, and a holy demand. And as I begin that subject this morning, I want to begin in the first place with a holy God. A holy God. I trust in some measure this morning that we are all familiar that holiness is a perfection that belongs to the very essence of God. Holiness is a perfection that belongs to the very nature of God. And so as we think about that, we often call holiness, among other things that the scriptures communicate, we call holiness an attribute of God, a characteristic of God, something that is true of his nature. It is an attribute. I remember years ago, it was probably 25 years ago that I began in my own life trying to form a habit of studying theology. To be transparent, it was not a habit that came easily to me. I'm not a natural reader. I'm not even much of a natural studier. But some 25 years ago, I thought to myself that this is important. Theology is what? It's the study of God. And if I'm going to be a Christian who owns the Christian faith, then I had better be one who is eager to study God. Whether that came easily to me, whether that came naturally to me, it seems to be the force of the scriptures that we are, brothers and sisters, as Christians, to know God. And 25 years ago, when I began that, I began with what I would characterize these days as a bit of a zealous arrogance. And what I mean by that is as I began to open different books on theology to study these topics, many of which often begin with the attributes of God, I thought to myself, you know, that's Sunday school material. I'm not going to bother with that. I want to get past that. I know all of that. God is good. God is love. God is just. God is this. God is that. And in my arrogance, I wanted desperately to get to what in my mind I was convinced. I want to get to the good stuff. of things that are good, doctrines like justification by faith alone, doctrines that nuance the points of Calvinism and the doctrines of grace, doctrines like the regulative principle of worship and the things that we believe concerning those. But as a young man, I needed to be confronted and I needed to be rebuked because there was a pride and an arrogance and one that I needed to repent of in thinking that studying the character of God and the attributes of God was something of Sunday school material while I needed all of these good things. And it wasn't until a number of years later where somebody did confront me and said to me, you've got everything backwards, Kyle. Because God himself, God himself is the good stuff. And until you come to have a mind and a heart that is shaped by the knowledge of God, you can't get into all of those other issues of theology that you seem to be so excited about. And I say that this morning, brothers and sisters, I say that to put to you this morning, that without exaggeration and without hyperbole, the most significant question you can ever seek an answer to, the most important question you can ever seek an answer to is the question, what is God. What is God? And in many ways, this is one of the particular contributions of the prophets. Because perhaps with the exception of the Book of Psalms, and no doubt with the exception of the person and work of Jesus Christ, in whose face radiates the full glory of God, the prophets in particular seek to answer that question, not in a truncated, not in a superficial way, but answer it in a way that when we come to submit ourselves to it, gives to us a staggering picture of what God is. And as we seek to answer that question, inevitably we begin to deal with what this thing is, these things are, that we call His attributes. in particular, the way in which God has revealed himself to us so that while he is incomprehensible, while he cannot be fully grasped by us, he has revealed himself to us in a way by disclosing to us certain truths of his character in order that, brothers and sisters, we can know something of Him. And holiness, the holiness of God, is one of those attributes. Now, what is holiness? What is a definition of that? When we say God is holy, what do we mean when we ascribe that to the very character of God? Well, if you're familiar with biblical vocabulary, as I know some of you are, you probably know that the biblical word for holy is a word that quite literally means to separate, to be distinct, to be different from. In a very literal, very wooden sense, that is what the word holy means. It means to be separate. And when we apply that to God, when the scriptures apply holiness to God, it is being communicated to us that God is distinct from all things. God is distinct from all things. Who is like the Lord? The answer, of course, being there is none who is like the Lord. He is holy. He is distinct. He is different. He is separated from all of creation. Maybe you remember in Exodus chapter 15, after Israel had been redeemed from the household of slavery and bondage, led by the hand of God into the wilderness and they're coming up against the Red Sea and they look behind them and they see Pharaoh and his armies and of course that great miracle, that great redemptive act where God separates the Red Sea, and Israel walks across on dry ground, and then God causes the waters to close over Pharaoh and his men. And do you remember how it is that Moses responds in that moment? He responds by what we often call the Song of Moses. In Exodus chapter 15, in one sense, it is the most ancient song. It is the first song in a real sense that is recorded in the scriptures. And in Exodus chapter 15 verse 11, Moses declares this, he says, Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you in majestic holiness? Who is like you in majestic holiness? It's an emphatic expression. Majesty being honor or dignity. We often think of majesty in terms of royal dignity and royal honor. And Moses saying that's what the holiness of God is. The holiness of God in a real sense is his dignity. The holiness of God is his majesty. It's why the old Puritan writers often say that the mercies of God are his riches. But the crown that God wears upon his head is a crown of holiness. And Moses says, who is like you, Lord? You who are majestic in holiness. Moses is saying, you are distinct, you are different, you are separate from all others. But this distinction also has and we need to appreciate this, it also has what we might call an ethical aspect. An ethical aspect. And what I mean by that, in a real sense, what is it that makes God different? What is it that makes God distinct? What is it that makes God separate? In a very real sense, it is his moral excellence. His moral excellence which is found in that God is completely and entirely separate from sin. The prophet Habakkuk in the first chapter says that God is so holy, he cannot be in the presence of sin. The presence of sin cannot dwell equally, you might say, with God, Because he is a holy God who is separate from sin and evil, and he is separated by it, by his hatred for it. By his hatred for sin, by his hatred for evil. Sometimes I wonder if many of us have a biblical understanding of God that fits the concept of hatred into it. But the scriptures tell us that because God is holy, he hates sin. He hates evil. But not only is this moral excellency found in his hatred for evil, it is also found in his love and his will for his own moral purity. He loves and he wills what is right. And in many ways, when we combine then those two ideas, we begin to comprehend something of what holiness is. It is a distinction, it is a difference, it is a separation but one that carries ethical implications of hating sin and loving what is right. And God is a holy God. And we need to emphasize that this morning. We need to emphasize it for this reason. That in many ways, brothers and sisters, holiness is one of the attributes that most distinguish God. Now, I want to say that in many ways, and not to descend into all of the nuance, because I understand these things can get complex, but in a very real sense, it's not proper to speak of one attribute of God as being more central to him, or more at the core of his being, you might say, than another attribute. Nor is it proper to hold the attributes of God in some kind of conflict. He's more of this, and he's a little less of that, even though he has some of this, but he has a lot of that. It's improper to speak of the attributes of God in that way. Maybe you remember in Exodus chapter 3, as Moses comes to the burning bush and God reveals his name, God speaks his name. Moses says, who is it that is sending me to Pharaoh? Who should I say sends me? And God names himself and he says, I am that I am. An utterly profound and foundational revealed name that is hard for human logic to come to terms with, but God declaring all that I am, I am. I am what I am. And so we need to be careful when we think of the attributes of God to pit this attribute against that one or to say, you know, this one really is the defining attribute of God because God is what he is. But I would also say this morning that if we could, in a sense, ascribe an attribute that in the Bible most commonly distinguishes God, It would be His holiness. It would be His holiness. And why? Because there's no escaping the biblical data that the Bible emphasizes His holiness more than any other attribute. More than any other attribute The Bible ascribes holiness to God, and there's a plethora of examples, but perhaps the one, and some of your minds may be running there this morning, perhaps the most clear example is Isaiah chapter six. If you remember that the prophet Isaiah, who's actually a contemporary of the prophet Micah, in Isaiah chapter six, the prophet says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated in the temple and the train of his robe filled the temple with glory. And if you remember in that spot what it is, as Isaiah beholds the throne room of God, he speaks of the seraphim and the cherubim that are there with veiled faces, And in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3, what is it that the seraphim continually ascribe to God? They say, if you're familiar, you know these words, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And that triplet, the holy, holy, holy, it's a Hebraism, for lack of a better word, a Hebraism that is seeking to emphasize something. He's not only holy, he is holy, holy. He's not only holy, holy, he is holy, holy, holy. He is holiness raised to the third degree. And there is no other attribute of God that is emphasized in that manner and in that way in all the pages of scripture. Never do we read that God is eternal, eternal, eternal, even though he is the eternal God. Never do we read that God is love, love, love, even though we read that God is love. But the very epicenter of heaven's worship, the seraphim who veil their faces in the presence of God, to the third degree, he is holy, holy, holy. He is an entirely distinct and separate God, distinguished by his love of what is right, and his utter hatred and detestation of sin. And this is the God of the prophet Micah. This is the God of the Bible. This is the God disclosed to us in the face of Jesus Christ. He is a God of holiness. But let me continue this subject this morning with the place of holiness, the place of holiness. Micah says in verse two, hear you peoples, all of you, pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord, from his holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places the earth you notice there that the prophet Micah speaks of the place of God and what is the place of God there in verse 2 it is his holy temple his holy temple his temple that is holy And there is some discussion, not to get into the details, because I don't think they're that important. There is some discussion as to what temple, what temple is Micah referring to here? Is Micah thinking here of the temple that is in the heavens? Is Micah thinking of the brick and mortar temple that was existent at that time in Jerusalem for the Old Testament church? Which temple is it that Micah perceives the Lord coming out of? And I say it's a bit of an irrelevant question for this reason, that the point here is not a particular geographical space, you might say. And what I mean by that is what really is at the heart of Micah's message here is not the temple in a sense literally conceived. Well, is it the brick and mortar? Is it the temple in the heavenly places? Micah's concern here is for what it is that the temple signifies. What it is that is symbolically true of the temple. Whether it's the earthly temple that was made with brick and mortar that in time was torn down and raised completely by the Babylonians, whether it is the temple above in which God himself is seated, whether it's the temple that the New Testament tells us that as the gathered church, we are, we ourselves are the temple of God being built together, the apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter two, being built together with living stones to be the habitation of God. The idea of a temple is deeply significant and deeply symbolic. And so what is the symbolism? What is the significance of this holy place? Well, this holy place, this temple, as you probably know, is a place of worship. It's a place of worship. When you think of the Old Testament, And you think of the way in which God at that time in history for the church in that period, God directed that David's son should build a temple. And God gave very intricate blueprints and very intricate instructions for exactly how the tabernacle before it and the temple after it were to be constructed and all of the things that were to be involved in that, all of the ordinances. All of the minute details, but the temple became the place of worship for the Old Testament church. It was really the center of the religious life of Israel. It was the place where they would gather. It was the place that they would observe the ordinances. It was the place where they would offer the sacrifices. In the three great feasts that were held year by year, it was the place that all the men of Israel would sojourn to in order to keep the feasts of God. It was a place of worship, a place where the people of God gathered to exclaim his praises and to honor him. The temple was a place of worship. The temple was also a place of grace. It was a place of grace. Sometimes when you read the instructions of the Old Testament and all of the minute details, the fact that the temple was the place where God put his grace on display, sometimes it's easy to forget that. You have all these ordinances and all of these minute instructions for what needs to happen in this case, in that case, and here's what you need to do, and here's how the priests need to approach me, and here's what happens when they don't approach me in this way, and on and on and on. But we can't lose sight of the fact, brothers and sisters, that the entire apparatus of the temple was intended by God to manifest to the people of Israel His grace. You just think, for example, this morning of the sacrifices that were offered there at the temple, the offerings that were made. The very way in which, even in that complex sacrificial system, what is intended to be communicated to the people of Israel is the graciousness of God. The way, for example, that they would take that lamb and they would find the lamb that was without blemish, they would find that lamb, they would present it there to the priest. The priest would go through the ritual, all of it being symbolic, all of it being a picture, but the priest would lay his hand upon that lamb, signifying, in a real sense, just picturing for the people of Israel the reality that their sins needed to be borne by another. And then that bloody ceremony of actually sacrificing that lamb and spilling its blood and burning its flesh. But all of it what? All of it actually a picture of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of it pointing forward, pointing beyond itself. to the atoning sacrifice, to the propitiation of Jesus Christ, of the spilling of His blood for the sake of sins that were not personally His own but were counted against Him for the sake of His elect. And you could go on and on with all the parts and all the corners and all the ordinances of the temple Every single one of them proclaiming the grace of God. That God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. A God who delights and rejoices and glorifies himself as a God who forgives sin through the shedding of blood. The temple was a place of worship. It was a place of grace. But the temple was also, brothers and sisters, it was the place of God's dwelling. The temple was not, if I can put it this way, this morning, in its ideal state, it was not the empty shell of a building, but it was actually the habitation of God. And we know that from the scriptures because we know, if you remember, if you remember the very architecture of the temple, it was really to have three distinct spaces. There was the porch, the portico, there was the sanctuary, and then there was, if you remember the detailed blueprints, there was the Holy of Holies. And it was the Holy of Holies that housed what? It housed The Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant that was a cedar box that was overlaid with gold and the lid of it, the lid of that box being known as what? Being known as the Mercy Seat. And we read in the Scriptures that the very glory, the very Shekinah glory, the very presence of God would manifest itself above the Mercy Seat. that their God dwelt in the midst of his people. Their God was. He was present with his people above the mercy seat in this temple. It was the place of his presence. And brothers and sisters, because it was the place of his presence, it became a place of holiness. It was a holy temple because everything about that temple in a very real sense came into contact with the holy God. And so it was distinguished as a place of holiness because God was in the midst of it. It was a place that was to demonstrate, yes, it was to demonstrate the grace of God, but it was a place that was intended to display and manifest holiness, a hatred and a detestation of sin and a love of what is right good and and and in a real sense before putting off this point this morning brothers and sisters in a very real sense what was true of that brick-and-mortar temple of the Old Testament for the Old Testament Church ought to be true of us you know we don't look we don't look nor do we expect that a brick-and-mortar temple will ever or should ever be built again. Christ has brought an end to that. He has brought an end to those ways. But as I said, that the New Testament teaches us in Ephesians chapter 2 that what? That we are being built together as a temple. We are being built. We, the gathered people, the worshiping people of God, We are a temple, a habitation, Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, a habitation for God by his spirit. So that when we gather together, when we worship together as the people of God, when we come to the ordinary means of grace, and God through the spirit is communicating his gospel grace to us, we are to be a place of holiness. To be a distinct place set apart from this world, set apart from sin. And we are to be a place that loves that which is right and loves that which is good. Which brings me then to the conclusion of this subject for this morning. And that is a holy demand. A holy demand. The holy God dwells in his holy temple, and the demand that is laid upon the Church of the Old Testament, the demand that continues to be placed upon us, brothers and sisters, is that we would be a holy people. The prophet Ezekiel, in Ezekiel chapter 43, pictures what was often called Ezekiel's temple. This was after the brick-and-mortar temple, the temple of Solomon, had been destroyed by the Babylonians. And Ezekiel prophesies, he foresees the building of another temple, which is the church of Jesus Christ. And in Ezekiel chapter 23, the prophet declares, he says, this is the law of the temple, that all must be holy. The law of the temple is that all must be holy. And if you want to think in these terms this morning, that the demand that is put upon us as the people of God, the demand that is put upon the church in all ages, is that we are to reflect something of the holiness of God. You might think after the pattern this morning of the way in which the moon, the moon does not shine with its own light. It doesn't shine with its own brightness. It shines by the brightness of the sun. And in that sense, brothers and sisters, as we gather as the Church of Jesus Christ, as we gather as the people of God, there is a demand upon us that we shine with the brightness of the holiness of God. And when I say that this morning, I don't mean in a superficial sense. That is always the nagging temptation. I remember years ago, I was visiting a church. And afterwards, there was a fellowship meal, and I went downstairs, and there was a man sitting by himself, and I got my plate of food, and I thought, well, he's by himself, I don't know a lot of people, I'll go and sit with him. And I struck up a conversation, and the conversation went in the direction that this man began to bemoan the fact that holiness does not characterize the church today. And of course, I think many of us could agree with that. Holiness doesn't characterize many who claim to be Christians, even many churches that claim to serve the living God. The holiness that scripture wants and demands. And I looked at the man and said, well, what do you think the remedy is? How do you change that? How do you work to make the church a holy place? And he said to me, he said to me, he said, well, I think it's going to begin by all of us wearing black clothes to church. I said, what? And he said, well, black is a holier color than any other color on the spectrum. And I imagine you're responding yourself this morning the way that I responded, scratching my head thinking, what on earth makes black a holier color? And I know that's low-hanging fruit, but it is, brothers and sisters, it is symptomatic of a problem in most of all of our hearts. That we want to think of holiness after rules and regulations, self-imposed standards and traditions. You know, the Pharisees were phenomenal at that. Let's wear the long hemmed robes to show everybody how holy we are. Let the phylacteries that are between our eyes just be massive so that when people see them, they're like, wow, there's a holy person. When I say, brothers and sisters, that there is a demand upon us, that there is a demand upon the church in all ages and in all generations to radiate the holiness of God, I don't mean it in a superficial way. What I mean is what the Bible means, that brothers and sisters, we need to be a people who hate sin, who are separate from it. who denounce sin and evil wherever we find it in our hearts, who bear testimony against it, and not only to be known for our hatred of sin, but to be holy in loving what is good. In loving what is good. What those things are that are according to God's will, His standard, and His law. To love the good will of God. That's the kind of holiness, brothers and sisters, that is demanded. It is demanded. And I raised that point this morning because as we're going to see, and we're going to get more into this next week, if the Lord is willing, this was Jerusalem and Samaria's problem. The problem of Jerusalem and Samaria, the problem of the Church of the Old Testament, the promise of the people whom Micah is prophesying against in this book is that they were a people who had forsaken holiness. And in particular, they were a people who had forsaken holiness in the worship of God. No longer hating that which was evil. No longer loving that which God had commanded for their worship. But by inventing and introducing, and actually the language of the scriptures is corrupting the worship of God. They no longer met the demand for holiness. And so what happens is the prophet comes, and in a last appeal of mercy, in a last appeal of God's grace, he warns them with this word, God is leaving his holy temple, and he is coming against you. And when he comes against you, he will bring an end to all of your corrupt practices, to all of your perversions of worship, God will bring a definitive end. This really is to be read as the pleading of the Holy Spirit with His church to say to them, to say to us, Will you not be a holy people? This is the very means that the spirit uses to cultivate in us brothers and sisters as we hear this word, the holiness that God demands. And Micah's message begins that the holy God will have a holy worship by a holy people. And if the spirit is willing, may we brothers and sisters have a zeal for such as this by studying the holiness of God, by studying the holiness of worship, by being zealous to be a holy people. By the ministry of the spirit, may he kindle such a fire in our hearts that we should not only maintain what we have here, but ever by the word of God to continually reform ourselves and our worship, to hate what is evil, to love what is good. Let's pray.