Let me ask you a question. What comes into your mind when you hear the word holy? I mean, what do you think of when you think God is holy? Is it candles? Is it incense?
Is it unattainable perfection?
Well here's the deal. How can we be holy if we can't even define it? Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge Chip Ingramgram. The mission of this daily program is to intentionally disciple Christians through the insightful Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.
Thanks for being with us as we dive back into his series, The Real God, How He Longs For You to See Him.
So far we've learned about God's goodness and sovereignty. And today he'll shed light on another attribute of God that reveals a part of his character you may not have thought about before.
So if you're ready, go to Hebrews chapter 12 in your Bible as we join Chip for his message, the holiness of God. I'd like to take you back. for just a moment. And imagine if you could that you are a camera crew and that God has suspended time. and he's going to allow you to film something.
And um Once you'd imagine that uh you're sort of that fly on the wall or that camera crew and You uh You had to really work on the set design because as you watch the children of Israel come through the Red Sea. It was just mind-boggling. And you've done multiple interviews with Uh teenagers and older people and They talked about the terror of watching all those plagues and the frogs and the Nile and And all these things that after literally 400 years, these Accent God's power. And I'd like to take you back to Exodus nineteen. And imagine if you literally were were filming and watching And think, I'm always, I guess, something about me is always drawn to.
When God does something the first time. Seems to me that it's very instructive. After 400 years, people don't have a clue of who God is. How does he introduce himself? What does he want them to know?
about him first. Exodus 19 opens up and it says, After two months, So they had been in the wilderness for sixty days. And God says to Moses, I want to introduce myself. to my people that I have redeemed. These will be my people.
And it's that picture. And if you can just imagine. You know, panning. with your camera. And seeing 2 million people, maybe you're up high, so you have a great view.
and two million people on this boundary. and then seeing this smoke billow. And then fire. And then, you know, it's hard to keep a good picture because the ground is shaking, because there's an earthquake. And you watch people fall on their face before God, and this thundering voice.
I guess I would ask you if you were doing a documentary. and some one said This God has just introduced himself to his people. What's he like? I'm guessing it would not be something like Oh, he's the man upstairs. He's my homeboy.
We have Embraced in evangelical Christianity and our desire to move away from dead ritual. in our desire to know that Jesus is our friend. And God though being transcendent is eminent. We have lost much in our tradition, and I would say even in our music. A sense of the holiness of God.
the purity of God. the righteousness of God. And when you see that he's holy, here's what you get. You're not. You're not at all.
Your righteousness is like filthy rags, and so is mine. Your motives, your thoughts, Your best days. The word holy, set apart. Distinct. Different.
Separate. The word literally means a cut above. He's in a category. The word holy is he is other. There's not a category for him.
And when you come into the presence of the holy God, you are undone. And I don't see many Christians or many churches. very often undone in the presence of God. I think some of the older traditions actually helped us grasp God's holiness. Unfortunately, he became a distant, cold God who we would reach him through significant rituals, which was never the intent.
But what you find out in church history is the pendulum swings this way, then it swings this way. Here's what I want to tell you: it needs to swing back this way. We need to know that Jesus is my friend, and that He loves me, and He accepts me just as I am, and He's tenderhearted and quick of sympathy. But the morality of the average Christian in the evangelical church would scream, I don't believe he's holy. I think I can do what I want, when I want, and God basically will give me a pass because, in the name of love, which now has sort of upped No matter what scripture says, oh, God is loving.
So, this kind of relationship must be okay. God is loving, so this kind of morality is okay. God is loving, so I get a pass on everything because a loving God just wants me to be happy. You know, you know all the statistics. I'm not going to go through all the areas of morality in America today that the average Christian and the average unbeliever.
look exactly the same. And that's, he said, we're a kingdom of priests. He said, be separate. He said, come out of the darkness. Not weird, separate.
Doesn't mean you dress funny, doesn't mean that you have just habits that make you look weird, it doesn't mean that you're, you know, not evolved in the culture, but separate from the inside out, that we're actually holy in. I remember praying in thought. word and deed against thy divine majesty. It was just memorized as I sat and knelt and stood. as an altar boy.
Unfortunately, The people who taught me to say that didn't know the Lord personally. And I grew up in a very traditional church that didn't teach the Bible, and our priest. On a sort of a good Samaritan trip. went to Alaska. In to preach the social gospel and bring electricity to the Eskimos.
But some missionaries got there before he did. And those Eskimos knew the Lord. And those Eskimos led uh are priests to Christ. Our priest came back. and a movement of God inside our particular denomination.
that was contrary to a lot of the form was birth and people were coming to know the Lord. I had gone off to college, had trusted Christ. And I came back. And what I would dream one day is that we... That we might grasp the greatness and the holiness of God in some of the richest traditions.
but not lose the intimacy. of what it means to have Jesus as our friend. You'll notice on the front of your notes, Tozer would write, We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. I mean, there's a lot of uns in there.
The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God's power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine. The first time we see this concept of holiness is right after The Red Sea is parted, and there's a song that Moses sings. And this song we'll learn later is sung currently in heaven. And notice the song is: Who among the gods is like you, O Yahweh?
Who is like you? Answer no one. Majestic in what's the first word? Holiness. The word majestic is the idea of exponential multiplying in holiness.
Awesome in glory. Working wonders. My best personal definition of holiness is: it's both His Majesty and moral purity. It's the absolute absence of evil. It encompasses What's pure, holy, righteous.
The English root word for holiness has the idea of wholeness Or soundness. It encompasses the idea of health. And so to be holy isn't just candles in a black robe and singing, you know. Special songs with a very low voice with low lights. It's about The wholeness or the purity of the universe that brings life and brings health, because as God is, He wants us to become.
And so, not obviously in his essence, but in our character that we would be holy like he's holy. How has God revealed His holiness? In English, when we want to talk about degrees, We say someone is good, and then we say, oh, someone else is better, and then we say someone else is best. Good, better, best. In Hebrew, the way you talk about things is you repeat it.
So in Hebrew, only one time God has called something holy. Holy Holy. You see it in Isaiah 6, you see it in Revelation 4, you see it in Revelation 5. The outstanding character of God is His otherness, His complete purity, His unapproachable light. He's holy, holy, holy.
When angelic beings that Have never sinned, are in his presence. They cover their eyes, they cover their feet, and they fly, and they perpetually say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come. And so I just want you to get this majestic picture, and then I'm going to just highlight how it shows up in Scripture. And I've given you the passages for your study. First, through supernatural encounters, Moses meets God, John meets God, Daniel meets God, Isaiah meets God.
And here's all I want to say. Whenever you see someone meet God in scripture, they're undone. Bam, they're on their face. They're undone. And so, the question I have to ask myself and you is: when is the last time you were in the presence of God and just Yeah.
You were undone. Of the distance between what you know he's like and how you begin to see yourself. Second, he's not going to be able to do that. Yeah. reveals his holiness through places.
What you need to know is wherever God is, it instantly becomes holy. It can be a bush, it's holy. It can be just a tent, you call it a tabernacle, and his presence comes, it's holy. It can be a temple that people build, it's holy. Wherever God's presence is, it becomes holy.
Third, what he reveals his holiness is through the law. The first four commands are all about the distinctiveness, the holiness of God. Have no other gods because there aren't any. And then, no graven images. Don't reduce me.
Don't make a picture of me. Don't have an idol. Don't in any way try and reduce me in some form. My name is holy because it's my character. Don't misuse my name.
Don't make vows in my name. This Sabbath, there's this gift I've given to man that supernaturally, when I got done, I stopped to pause, and for 24 hours, I want you to know I'm giving you a gift so that you will be separate, you'll be distinct, you'll be different. You'll accomplish in six days what takes other people seven. And you will rest and pause so that you'll know the last six days were my hand upon you, and you will pause to remember. This is God.
Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. And then the next six commands on the second tablet are about health and holiness in relationships. In other words, the path of holiness, Isaiah would talk about the highway of holiness. There's a path of holiness that you walk on, but the result is health. and wholeness.
for you and for relationships.
So if you want healthy, whole relationships, honor your mom and dad, don't lie, don't steal, don't commit adultery, and don't covet. Those are the parameters around holy relationships with one another. For the health of God's universe and his people. The prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zachariah, I just put a few down. I mean, you can.
Prophet's job was pretty simple. Stop worshiping idols. Name your prophet. Here's the message. Stop worshiping idols.
Because we all do. You're listening to Living on the Edge. Return you to today's message in just a second, but let me quickly ask you: do you often find it difficult to read and understand God's Word? If so, join us after today's program as Chip talks about our useful resource, Daily Discipleship, with Chip. This tool has helped tens of thousands of people study the Bible and develop a deeper connection to God.
Stick around to learn how to sign up. Over that, let's rejoin Chip for the remainder of his message. But God is holy, he's distinct. And so the prophet's job was simple. to afflict the comfortable.
and to comfort the afflicted. They always intervene. You don't understand. God's available. It's your sin, it's what's happened, it's where you are.
He wants to help. That's what the prophets kept saying. And to the people who acted like they didn't need him, They had some pretty harsh stuff. Through wrath and judgment, this may sound odd, but the holiness of God demands. That just like a great surgeon would see cancer that needs to be operated on, I'm telling you, These doctors, they're heartless.
They really are. My wife had cancer. That guy didn't feel bad. He took a little sharp knife, zip. He's got a huge scar.
Pulled out that, pulled out a bunch of lymph glands. He didn't feel bad about it at all. Why? 'Cause it was killing her. God, when He sees that which is killing you, killing a nation, destroying what He has made, He brings His righteous wrath in judgment.
Acts chapter 5. Think about it that the very first sin in the church was what? Member? It was hiding money, but the heart of it was hypocrisy. It was their money.
They didn't have to do anything with it. But remember, the goal was Barnabas had given a generous gift from the heart, and a lot of people were going, isn't Barnabas wonderful? And I think Ananias and Safari said: we want our cake and eat it too. We want people to think this about us, but we don't want to be that generous. And so, what we're going to do is, we're going to make up a story that, you know, we sold it for X amount and we gave it all.
And the fact of the matter is, you know, we put the other in a C D over here. Relatively speaking. And I mean now think of this. It's the very first sin recorded in the New Testament. Why did Satan cause you, you know, to lie to the Holy Spirit?
Satan has filled your heart. What was the consequences? It died. You think that sent a message through the early church? Or, you know, I'm thinking about becoming a Christian.
You want to become a microphone? I don't know. I'll tell you what. Authenticity was a pretty high value in the early church. You don't have to have it together, but you better not fake it.
See, but what you see, it's just God declares his holiness. See, we are living in a day where we actually think. That the commands of God are like an optional kind of vending machine or salad bar. You know, 10 commandments, I'm good with. One, two, four, seven, and nine.
Could I get that to go? Yeah. It's like we've got a whole generation in evangelical churches with one of those little knives that, well, you know, this one about sexual purity, that's pretty Victorian. You know, on this one about greed, I mean, you know, we're, no, we're not. And so what once it happens where enough people We look at one another.
And since we're all quote our sort of fudging. And people that we respect, well, I really respect so-and-so, and he or they do this, or they do that, and then pretty soon it's like a little cancer and disease. And then the culture of God's people were no longer distinct. And what I can tell you is, part of what God will do is, He'll bring that velvet vice. I mean, 1 Corinthians 11, this isn't new.
Some in the early church the the wealthy would come and and they would eat and they would Marginalized the poor and they were disgracing the Lord's table. And 1 Corinthians 11 says, For this reason, some of you are sick. Judgment, and some of you are asleep. It's a technical term in the New Testament for a believer who's died. I'll tell you what, if you were in a church where some people died because of their greed and lack of concern for other believers with the Lord's Supper, I'll tell you what, my behavior would change.
So where's that God today? I don't think he's changed. I would suggest that. We as Christians often blame the media, education.
some political party When the salt gets unsalty and when the light gets dim, the culture just follows. The shift in the culture is not going to happen externally. It's going to happen like it always has inside out. It'll be normal people like us that live holy lives. And then we all have little networks of relationships, and some of you have really big ones.
And you'll just get bold. And by the way, pretty soon it's not going to matter.
So you might as well be bold now. They're going to whack you. You're going to become more and more unpopular. And by the way, what we know historically is probably good. When they got rid of all the missionaries in China and they were persecuted, they went from a few million to 100, 120 million today.
In Greece, Germany. We have some very important relationships there. What's happening among the refugees because of ISIS? I am telling you, tens of thousands of people are coming to Christ. Christians who are persecuted.
This is historically always true. God will purify his church. And he's probably going to do that to some degree and maybe to a big degree in America.
So we need to get our chin strap on and realize this is the spiritual NFL and we want to gain yards and people who want to gain yards realize when you come through and if it's a good little hole, bam, you get hit by a linebacker.
Well, you don't go, oh, what happened? We got to quit thinking that somehow we are living in a culture that is positive toward our faith and our belief, and now we're going to have to learn to love people and be kind to people and respond to people because good is more powerful than evil as we lay out our convictions. and live out a life. that's radically different than probably ever before. Because The America that you live in now is not.
The America that was 50, 60 years ago. That was very sympathetic, that shared the values. You're now intolerant, narrow bigots. because you believe Jesus. is the answer and that there's absolute truth.
and there's absolute truth about life and about eternity and about morality.
Now the danger is championing that in a way where you're Hard-headed Legalistic, self-righteous, saying that we're better than other people. We've done that before. That didn't work. We need to do it the way Jesus did. We need to live this amazing life before our world that's pure and righteous.
and take a strong stand. And then have people who think that we're the enemies be absolutely astounded. Why are we driving them to the doctor? Why are we loving people that? Outwardly hate us.
Why do we give good instead of evil? Because that is what turns the life. around. And that's how holiness brings health. His son, obviously, the Lord Jesus, a holy birth.
His pure sinless life We get the sneak preview of His Holiness where Transfiguration. His unholy death You understand that All, I mean, this is a great theological truth. 2 Corinthians 5:21 is that when Jesus was hanging on the cross and he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Do you understand what was happening? For the first time in all eternity.
God the Father Turned away from God the Son, and there was a break in the fellowship. In the singular God, but in the person of the Father and the person of the Son, because in that Moment of time, your sin and my sin, and the sin of all people of all time was placed on Christ, and He became our sin offering, and He became sin on our behalf. He carried the weight of it all. And then the just wrath of God. The just anger of God for all sin of all people was placed on Christ and He atoned, He covered it.
I've often longed for an illustration to try and Get my arms around holiness because doesn't it feel like it's this. It's here and then it's here and it's here, but how do you get your arms around it? The best picture of a young pastor in Texas. And I lived in the Dallas area. And if you know, between Dallas and Oklahoma, it's Tornado Alley.
So, I mean, we had tornadoes all the time. And we had, I remember Hale would come down, sometimes golf ball, sometimes like a baseball. I mean, it was. All my cars had little dents all over them or big dents and And we had just a very simple little like 1,200 square feet house and three small little bedrooms and no basement, which is not good when tornadoes come. And so they, on the radio, they would tell you, you know, if you have that kind of house, but we had a bathroom in the center of the house, and I get my wife, and I only had three kids, three kids that I put them in the bathroom, and now you get a mattress.
And then, when all this starts happening, and then you take the mattress, and everyone gets in the bathtub, and you put the mattress over you, and you. Pray like crazy that one, it doesn't hit your house, and two, if it does, that the house goes and you don't. And um It sounds funny now, but it was terrifying then. And but something would happen is the winds would start, but just before they would start, you know, that you had these sirens, you know, tornado warning, you know. And then you'd go out, and you know, my, I'd put my family in the bathroom, but I wanted to see what was going on.
And And there'd be like the sky would turn this really funky color of pink. And then this sort of weird gray, and there would be like this stillness. And it'd be like eerie, terrifying, but really kind of beautiful. And then the winds would come. He'd go, So I remember, you know, you'd see trees, you know, not, I mean, the ones that are around, like, they were just completely bent over, and then often the hail would come down.
So I would be in the bathroom like this. But it was so beautiful. There was something that would draw you. Because it was so amazing and so powerful and so terrifying and so beautiful at the same time. And so, you know, I.
I need to check and see if it's safe yet. And I would go out there and I would just see the trees and hail coming down, and it's just like this. And that's my best picture of the holiness of God. There's something so beautiful, so powerful. It's like, you know, you know, about the hurricane, in the very center of the hurricane, there's this absolute stillness and quiet.
And there's something about the holiness of God that just. It scares you to death. There's such... power and yet there's beauty Beauty. And I think that's what the men and women of old.
when they got a snapshot of God. And it changed them. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, The Holiness of God, from our series, The Real God. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. You know, we've all unintentionally projected some of humanity's worst qualities into our Creator.
Many view God as moody, weak, unfair, impatient, and merciless. But those ideas couldn't be further from the truth. Through this series, Chip explores key Bible passages to reveal seven fundamental characteristics of our Heavenly Father, attributes that reflect the very essence of His divine nature. Join Chip on this journey to reshape your perspective toward God, which will deepen your relationship with Him like never before. You won't want to miss a single part of this study.
Well, before we go on, Chip's joined me in studio now to share something with all of you. Thanks, Dave. I'll be right back to share a few final thoughts for this message. But let me pause and ask you a direct question. How do you see yourself?
And more importantly, How do you think God sees you?
So often we believe lies about ourselves based in shame and guilt or insecurities. And I want to give you a divine mirror to see yourself. The way God sees you. Let me encourage you to sign up for our daily discipleship series, Discover Your True Self. based in Ephesians chapters 1 through 3.
This is a free video resource where you and I will study the word together for 20 minutes a day, 10 minutes with me, and then 10 minutes on your own. I promise that if you'll join me on this 20-day adventure through Ephesians, you'll break through the lies that we all believe about ourselves. You'll get God's perspective on who you really are, and you'll build a life-changing habit of meeting with God. I sure hope you'll check it out. Thanks, Chip.
To learn more about our Daily Discipleship with Chip series, discover your true self, go to livingonthege.org. This free video tool will help you ignore the lies the enemy tries to tell you and embrace the unique, cherished person God created. Again, to sign up for this or any of our other daily discipleship series, go to livingontheedge.org. App Listeners Tap Discipleship.
Well, here again is Chip with a few final words to wrap up this program. I don't know about you, but Tozer's words haunt me. He said, We know nothing. like the Divine Holiness. Left to myself, I reduce God, and I take this high and holy and majestic God, and and I make him small.
and instead of comparing myself to His holiness, I tend to find other Christians that are a little less holy than me, and I compare myself to them. And yet when I gaze, when I get those brief moments where I gaze into the absolute purity and the sinlessness and the power of a holy God, Uh it crushes me. How about you? What went through your mind when I described what the human heart is like? What mid-course corrections might you need to make?
in light of the holiness and the purity of God. You know, maybe you're like me. And maybe you need to repent of a low, casual view of God that you don't mean to have, but you've just slipped into. Maybe you need to remember that though God is eager to be our friend, That he is immortal. invisible, the only wise God, that he dwells in unapproachable light.
and he and he alone. is holy. Almighty God, would you please forgive us to day? As you listen to our voice at this moment for reducing you, for making you like us. Lord, we say that you are totally other and pure, and we ask today that you would help us to see you accurately and then live approaching.
Appropriately. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thanks, Chip. Well, let me take a quick second before we go and thank the generous people who support this ministry every month.
Your faithful gifts help us inspire Christians to live like Christians. If you haven't partnered with us, would you prayerfully consider joining the Living on the Edge team? You can set up a monthly donation at livingonthege.org or by calling 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or visit livingonthege.org. App listeners tap Donate.
Well, from all of us here, I'm Dave Druy, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge, and I hope you'll join us again next time.
