Isaiah 6 and verse 3, And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. if I was to give you a piece of paper with all the attributes of God written on them and ask you to put them in order of importance, what would be at the top and what would be at the bottom. Well, a minister did that once and the results are probably fairly typical of what most congregations would produce. At the top was God's love and at the bottom was God's holiness. I wonder if that would reflect your own view of the characteristics, the attributes of God. Now in some ways it's not a fair question because who is able to tell which attribute is more important, if any, are more important than others, but if there is one attribute that stands above them all, it would be the holiness of God. We say that for two reasons. One is because it is the most used adjective of God in the Bible. God is called by many adjectives in the Bible, merciful, loving, wise, powerful, but holy is the adjective used more than any other to describe God. And the second reason is that it appears to be the most used adjective of God in heaven. And we get that from here, this little insight into heaven in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 3. We see into heaven and what is being said around the throne. Is it love, love, love? Is it power, power, power? Is it wisdom, wisdom, wisdom? No. It's holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The theologian, Louis Berkhoff, said this, It does not seem proper to speak of one attribute of God as being more central and fundamental than another. But, if this were permissible, the scriptural emphasis on the holiness of God would seem to justify its selection. I would like to look then this morning at the holiness of God. I would like to look first of all at the categories of God's holiness. Then we'd like to look at the characteristics of God's holiness. Then we shall examine the consequences of God's holiness. And then finally at the Christ of God's holiness. First of all, we'd like to look at the categories of God's holiness. What is holiness? Well, there are two categories, two divisions that we have to keep in mind when we are thinking of the holiness of God. There is majesty holiness and there is moral holiness. What do these terms mean? Well, first of all, think of majesty holiness. The words in the Hebrew and the Greek from which we get the word holiness can be traced back to roots meaning to separate, to divide, to cut off. And that's the essential meaning of holiness, is to separate, to cut off, to divide. And so when we think of the holiness of God, we're not thinking initially at least of moral or ethical qualities, but it's more about position and relationship. In other words, we're saying here is God and here is us. And God's holiness means division. It means separation. It means these two are far apart. This has been described by one theologian as the God being wholly other. Now, wholly there is not H-O-L-Y, but W-H. Wholly. Completely. He is wholly other. He is completely He is separate. He is utterly distinct. He is high. He is lifted up. He is utterly unapproachable. He dwells in the light. And this is the first way that holiness is spoken of in the Bible. In terms of position and relationship. In terms of distance. It's the majesty, holiness of God. that creates an awe and a tremor in us. And the reaction to it is, I am insignificant. I am nothing compared to the great and majestic holiness of God. Just like Isaiah here responded. He said, I am undone. He says, I am disintegrating. I am falling apart at the seams as it were. My being cannot cope with this. Or as John in Revelation who saw the exalted Christ in all his holiness, I fell at his feet as dead. This is the impact of majesty, holiness. Hodge said of this, This is his transcendently august and venerable majesty which is the result of all his harmonious and blended perfections in one perfection of absolute and infinite excellence. Stephen Charnock said this, this is the greatest title of honour in this doth the majesty and venerableness of his name appear. And then there is secondly the moral holiness of God. By this we think of two sides as it were of one coin. There is a negative and a positive side. Negative, God is separate from sin. His majesty holiness is saying, I am separate from all others, all my creation. His moral holiness is saying, I am separate from sin, from all defilement, from all immorality, from all that is unethical. And then there is the positive side of Him being filled with all moral excellences. and virtues and perfections and goodness. Berkhoff says this, this is that perfection of God in virtue of which he eternally wills and maintains his own moral excellence. He abhors sin and demands purity in his moral creatures. And if the majesty holiness of God is to create a sense of undoneness, I am nothing, I am insignificant. The moral holiness of God is to create in us, I am a sinner. I am insignificant and I am a sinner. And again we have this here in Isaiah's reaction. Woe is me, I am undone. because I'm a man of unclean lips." We have the two responses to the two categories of the holiness of God. So, this is not some theoretical, academic subject. is something, as we'll see later, that should have a tremendous impact upon us, something which we should react to and respond to. It should make us seek these two experiences. If we know the holiness of God, if we have truly experienced it, we will be like Isaiah, Woe is me, I am undone. Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips. Does that characterise you? Do you know God? Does this categorise churches in general? Worship? This is the true God. And this is the true response to Him. But then secondly, let us consider the characteristics of God's holiness. We do this by looking at what in Scripture is described as holy. I think, for example, of the holy nature of God, His essence, His substance, His innermost being is holy, he is holy as it were to the core of his being. As John said, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Search his whole nature, that infinite, immeasurable, awesome nature and we find not one spot or atom of darkness. Everywhere we look, we see majesty and morality. This is how Isaiah responds, holy, holy, holy. He's holy in his nature. He's also holy in his persons. Some people look at this in Isaiah 6 and say that three holies may refer to the three persons of the Godhead, Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy Spirit. This is unlikely, because obviously God, we are told in another part of Scripture, no man can see, this is speaking of the Father, The Spirit, of course, cannot be seen. The only person of the Godhead who is seeable is the Son. In the Old Testament, He is seeable in various Christophanies and Theophanies, appearing as an angel at times, appearing as a cloud of smoke at times, and in other various forms, and in the New Testament, obviously, seeable in human flesh. And here it would appear, Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus. That's what we're told in John chapter 12, verse 41. John refers to Isaiah 6 and he says, Isaiah saw His, speaking of Christ's, glory and spoke of Him. This is His pre-incarnate glory. and His glory is His holiness. And so the three times holy here, it's not Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy Spirit. We often find in Hebrew three adjectives used, not to describe three things, but one thing in a superlative way, saying this is holy above everything else that ever could possibly be. But that's not to say the three persons are not, each of them, holy. They are. Jesus describes His Father in John 17 as the Holy Father. We have, of course, the Spirit. 99 times out of 100 described as the Holy Spirit. And then we find the Son. Here described as holy. and even in the womb of the Virgin Mary, described as holy. When he was conceived, the Holy Spirit tells Mary that what is in her is a holy thing, or the Holy One. So, whenever we look at the Father, at the Son, or at the Spirit, we see majesty and moral holiness. So we see it in His persons and in His name. But where else do we see this? Well, surely also we see the holiness of God in His places. There are various things we could look at in the Bible which communicate the holiness of God, various things and places that God made in order to communicate His holiness. Think of the sacrificial system. Here is the tabernacle, this tented structure, separate from the rest of the camp, different from the rest of the camp. with restricted access, strange sounds, strange smells, strange appearance, all emphasizing this is something uncommon, this place of the dwelling of God amongst Israel. Then we go nearer. What do we see? We see right as we enter the door, we see a huge laver, a huge bath. full of water, which anyone coming in to sacrifice, the priests, they have to go through this and wash. And then we see the priests, and what are they wearing? They're wearing white linen. And then we see somebody bringing a lamb. It's spotless, pure white. We see them killing it, draining the blood. And then it's raised up onto the burnt offering. the altar of burnt offering and it's burned up. And then we see the priest going into the holy place, some strange separate place that very few people are allowed into. There's a strange light in it, strange shadows in it. And then once a year we see one of the highest priests going into the most holy place and we've heard about it. People talk about it, we've never seen it. But inside there's the golden cherubim with their stretched out arms. And there's the Ark of the Covenant. And there's a strange shining, a glorious Shekinah in the midst of it. And there's the priest going into this quiet, holy, most holy place. What do all these things say? Wherever we look, this place that God chose specially to dwell in, wherever we look, it's saying God is holy. God is majestic. God is moral. The bath, the priests, the lamb, the priests with the lamb, the burning. These holy and most holy places. all echoing forth, Israel, God is holy. We also see, though, characteristics of God's holiness in His works, His works of creation as originally made. He looked at it all and He said, Very good. Perfect. It reflected God in his majesty and in his morality. And we see the holiness of God in his providence, his work of providence. We see his anger being expressed against sin. We see his judgements coming down, nationally and internationally. And perhaps when we're reading about these things and And we maybe try to make links between the providence, the earthquake, the tsunami, the bombs or whatever, and immorality that has provoked them, wickedness, false religion that may have provoked them. We look at these things and we say, God is holy. But it's much harder, isn't it, when it becomes personal. Providence in the paper? God is holy. Providence in our persons? Harder to see. We choke on it. We find it harder to clear God. There was a man who once lost a child. in very tragic circumstances. And he said that the first words that came to him and that stayed with him and that kept him sane were these, The Lord is just in all his ways. and holy in His works, each one. His holy providence. And what about His work of redemption? God doesn't save by overlooking sin. God doesn't save by compromising His holiness. How can God be just? and justify the ungodly? How can God be holy and save unholy sinners? Not by overlooking sin, but by punishing it. Not in the sinner, but in the sinless One, Jesus Christ. Here we see God's holiness in a remarkable way. And of course we will see God's holiness in his work of judgement at the end of time. When he separates the sheep from the goats, when he says to the goats, depart from me, I never knew you. And when he says to his sheep, enter into my joy, what will be the cry? This is wrong, this is unjust, this is unfair. It will be holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. We see God's holiness also in His Word, His holy Word. And God has given us certain things in this world to test our response to and our understanding of His holiness. And one of these things is His Word. Another of these things is His name. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Why? Because it is a holy name. It is to be kept separate. So we have his holy word and his holy name and his holy day, the Sabbath day. These things are great tests. God is saying to his church, show me how much you understand my holiness. Show me that you know I am majestic. Show me that you know I am separate. And here's how. How do you treat my word? How do you use my name? And how do you use my day? Do these things say, when we use God's word, when we use God's name and we use God's day, what are they saying? Are they showing forth this characteristic of God? As people look at us and listen to us and observe us as Christians, In the way we use the word, the name and the day of God, what's their conclusion? Is it this? God is holy. Or is it this? God doesn't care. God has no strong views on these things. God's not so high. God's not so different. He must be really quite like ourselves. Psalm 50 tells us that's how the Old Testament Church at times used these things and they were punished accordingly. Psalm 50. We see God's holiness also in His Holy Kingdom. He sits on a throne of holiness. A holy throne. A holy king. Here we see Him lifted up. He says, Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. In Revelation 4 verse 8, we again see the similar scene. The four beasts, full of eyes, resting not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. And His Holy Kingdom is seen especially in who is in it and who is not. In 1 Corinthians 6, 9-10 we read, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." It's so clear, isn't it? Signposts, as it were, all around the door of heaven, barring entry to the unholy, to those who are unrepentant in their sins, and who have no desire to be free of them. Here are the characteristics of God's holiness seen in His holy nature, His holy persons, His holy places, His holy word, His holy works, His holy kingdom. So, thirdly, let us consider the consequences of God's holiness. What does this mean for us? Well, the first thing is this, we should think about it. Now, that doesn't come easily. A. W. Tozer says this, we know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, incomprehensible, unapproachable and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God's power and admire his wisdom, but his holiness he cannot even imagine. So this is not going to come naturally to us when we are converted, when we are saved. And so great effort must be put into this. Job says, acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace, thereby good shall come unto thee. He's saying knowledge of God will bring good into your life. Acquaint yourself with him. This strangeness of God, this part of God, this attribute of God that we are strangers to, that's alien to us, that cannot be grasped by us by nature, has to be made a subject of study and consideration and meditation. Take one of the characteristics of God's holiness each day and meditate upon it. His holy name maybe, His holy book, His holy day, His holy son, and so on. So let us think. Secondly, let us tremble. Is this not what Isaiah did? Is this not what Daniel did? Is this not what Ezekiel did? Is this not what the Apostle John did? When all these godly men saw the Lord. Tremble his face before, says the psalmist. Surely we ought to repent of our carelessness, of our tremor-less-ness in the worship of God. When we pick up the book of God, as we live throughout the day of God, as we take up the name of God in our lips, O that holy, holy, holy would be written over it all. Psalm 89 verse 7 says, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him. Is there more reverence and awe here than in Buckingham Palace? Is there more awe and reverence when you go to pray to God on your knees than when you maybe go to meet an important person? The psalmist says, He is to be had in reverence above all others. Let us tremble. Thirdly, let us tell. Let us tell of God's holiness. In so many churches, it's like a secret. Don't tell people God is holy. That will frighten people. So it should. And without that, there is no hope of true conversion. Can anyone taste of the love of God, the mercy of God and the grace of God who has never tasted of the holiness of God? No. Because there's no need of it. Insofar as we appreciate, value and understand the holiness of God, that far and no further will we value the grace, the love and the mercy of God. Without the holiness of God, salvation doesn't make sense. Sin doesn't make sense. Mercy doesn't make sense. The cross doesn't make sense. Only when holiness is made known do all these things, as it were, fit into the jigsaw. And so, what is our message as we go out? Is it God is love? That's part of it. But it's not the first part. The first part is God is holy. God is holy. Until that sense of the awesome, majestic and moral holiness of God is impressed upon the soul, there will never be a, what must I do to be saved? Therefore, in our witnessing, let us place this where the Bible places it. At the front. At the first. In the foremost place. God is holy. In Exodus, I think it's 19, we have Israel keen to serve the Lord and they come to Moses and they say, we will do all these things. We will serve him. What does Moses do? Well, if he was seeker sensitive, surely he would have given every encouragement. He said, carry on. On you go. To the front. He said, stop right there. You don't know who you're dealing with. You don't know that God is holy. Ought there not to be more of this? Let us tell of it. But also let us thank. Let us thank God for His holiness. How can you thank God for His holiness? It seems so off-putting to many. Well, in Psalm 99, we have, Let them praise thy great and terrible name. Why? For it is holy. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at His footstool, for He is holy. In 2 Chronicles 20, when Jehoshaphat is sending forth his armies into battle, what does he send them forth with? The first flanks is not their power. He appoints singers unto the Lord that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army. the beauty of holiness. Only the saved soul can put their amen to that. Oh, as Christians, yes, we tremble. We fear. We're awed. Oh, but we are thankful. Yes, God's holiness at times threatens us. and crushes us, and makes us undone. But there are also times, even perhaps in these times, and maybe especially in these times, when we are thankful for the holiness of God. And we can say, yes, the beauty of holiness. The beauty of holiness. Let us thank God for it. And let's try to be holy. Perhaps one of the most awesome statements in the Bible, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if we can grasp this, I am holy of God, then there will be more of being ye holy in our lives. But just in the last couple of minutes, we'd like to focus, fourthly, on the Christ of God's holiness. We've seen holy categories, holy characteristics, holy consequences. Fourthly, the Holy Christ. We've seen him here already pre-incarnate. holy. And we can see him in Revelation post-incarnate holy. His exalted self unveiled to John in all his glory and causing John to fall at his feet as dead. But it's his incarnate holiness that is surely the greatest wonder to be holy in heaven before he came, to be holy in heaven after he came. We can praise him for that, we can wonder at that. But to be holy when he came? Well, surely he came in an angelic nature. No. He came in human nature. With a true body and a reasonable soul. A soul and a body. A true, a real human nature. Well, that didn't last long, surely. Yes, when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he was called that holy thing. But surely as he grew up, well, what does the Bible say? Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. No one mingled with sinners more. No one was more sinless. What a wonder! Peter, when he saw it, said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. question you may wish to ponder. Was, in Christ's incarnate state, God's majestic holiness or moral holiness in any way veiled to any degree? You might want to think about that. But think about this above all, because where we see the holiness of God more than any other place is at the cross. We see it, yes, in Christ's holy responses to all he was undergoing. Not one word of rebellion against God, not one hateful word under such duress and pressure and stress He remained holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, surrounded by the most devilish of men, surrounded by the devil and demons of hell. Perfect, spotless holiness under the greatest of provocations. But the climax is surely his words towards heaven. Stephen Charnock put it like this, never did divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Saviour's countenance was most marred in the midst of his dying groans. This he acknowledges in Psalm 22, when God had turned his smiling face from him and thrust his sharp knife into his heart which forced that terrible cry from him, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He immediately adores this perfection and says, thou art holy. brilliant light in the midst of deepest darkness. Let us worship the Holy Christ and let us pray. Holy, holy, holy art thou, O Lord God Almighty. Give us the ability to understand, to grasp this, and to respond to this appropriately. Thou art holy. and show us our need of Thy holy salvation from our unholy hearts through the Holy Son of God. In His name we pray. Amen.