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Called to Be Holy – A Topical Bible Study

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God’s Holiness

Isaiah 6:3-4 — “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

His transcendence means that He is wholly unlike us, wholly independent of the material universe. In many ways, He is unknown and unknowable. Any attempts to describe Him will come up woefully short. All we can do is scratch the surface. If God is like the vast ocean, then today perhaps we can dip our finger in and raise it up and know just a little bit more about one aspect of His nature.

God is transcendent. By our own efforts, He is unknowable. But in theology, there is another term for God, and that is that He is immanent. And that means that God, whom we couldn’t know by ourselves, chose to reveal Himself to us. He shows us as much as our little brains can grasp about who He is. God opened up the veil of heaven for a moment and allowed Isaiah get a glimpse of His very throne room. What Isaiah sees there is both awesome and terrifying.

God is on the throne. Yahweh is on His throne up there. Sometimes down here it is easy to forget this. He is sovereign. He is in control. And He has a plan for you. It says His throne is high and lifted up, above everything else, a physical reminder of His place as divine ruler over everything in the universe.

Above all, this glimpse into heaven shows us God’s holiness. In heaven we see the angels are saying, “holy, holy, holy.” They are not saying, “love, love, love.” They are not saying, “mercy, mercy, mercy.” God is these. But there is something significant in the fact that the focus in heaven is on God’s holiness. As people we are finite and imperfect. Our understanding of God comes in steps. For us, the starting point for understanding God is His holiness. Other aspects of God’s character will not make sense unless we see that He is completely different from us, without even a hint of sin or corruption. And that is what “holiness” means. Holiness means to be set apart. God is set apart from us.

Isaiah 59:2 — “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.”

What does it mean that God is holy? He cannot sin — God is not a man, that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). It is technically incorrect to say God can do everything. God cannot sin. His motives are pure. His actions are right. His plans are perfect. Since God cannot sin, we can trust Him completely.

He hates sin — “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). God does not tolerate sin. He hates it in every form. He hates laziness. He hates greed. He hates adultery. He hates gossip. He hates lust. The list goes on and on. Knowing His hatred of sin makes His grace and love toward us even more amazing. He could instantly judge each sinner, but instead He shows us patience and gives opportunities for repentance.

Application — Do you hate sin like God does? The answer of course is, “no.” We do not. We are far too tolerant of sin, especially the sin in our own lives. There are some sins that we enjoy. There are other sins that have become habits. About some sins we say, “that is just who I am.” Peter said “be holy as He is holy.” Hate sin like He does. This is easier said than done. How do we do this? Firstly, we need to have the right standards. When we compare ourselves to the sinful world around us, we don’t feel that we are very sinful. Our sins seem small and insignificant. But when we look into God’s throne room, like Isaiah did, then we realize how big our sin is. The closer we are to God, the more time we spend with Him, the more our hatred for sin will grow naturally.

He will judge sin — “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). God’s justice flows from His holiness. Because God is all-good He will one day judge all sin. One of two people will take the judgment for your sin, either you or Jesus.

— From Jason’s sermon “Isaiah 6 – God’s Holiness and Man’s Sinfulness”

Man’s Sinfulness Before a Holy God

Isaiah 6:5 — “And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'”

What Isaiah saw dwarfs any bucket-list destination in the world. He was given an amazing opportunity. But pay attention to his response. He wasn’t prideful that of all the people in the world, he was chosen for this privilege. His instant response was “Woe is me!” When he saw God’s holiness and glory, he was immediately overcome with the weight of his own sin.

When I share the good news, I often quote Romans 3:23 and then ask people, “Do you have sin?” Most people will answer, “Yes, I have sin.” Then I ask them “Is your sin serious?” And most people will say “no.” Why is it that most people think their sin is not very serious? The reason is that they are looking at the wrong standard. Their standard might be Joe next door. Or it might be popular opinion. We realize it is serious when we have the right standard — God’s holiness. Isaiah found the right standard. He compared himself to God’s standard and he came up woefully lacking. He wasn’t close. He wasn’t almost there. A couple of small tweaks wouldn’t solve this. By himself, he was completely hopeless.

Isaiah understood the depth of his sin. Remember Isaiah is about to become a prophet. Compared to the people around him, he was holier and more righteous than most. But he didn’t become complacent in this. Seeing God, he came face to face with himself and he didn’t like what he saw. And he felt guilty. Guilt is not a nice feeling. In the world today, people try to avoid guilt. Rather than facing up to one’s own sins, people run away and try to escape, to lose themselves. They escape in movies. They escape in romance novels. They escape by thrill seeking. They escape through video games. People don’t want to be confronted with their guilt. They don’t want to think about the meaning of life. They don’t want to contemplate death or judgment or sin. So they escape. In the process they are more lost than ever.

Brothers and sisters, it’s time to come face to face with who we are. God has given us this mirror. It is His Word. His Word shows His standards and how we fall short. His Spirit convicts us of our sin and guilt.

Have you come to the point where you can say “Woe is me?” We are all there. We must come face to face with ourselves. Before we can move forward to the place God wants us to go, we must first like Isaiah say, “Woe is me! I am unclean.” But of course this is not the end of the story. God did not reveal this to Isaiah to rub him in his own guilt. He did it to show him the true way of escape. The only real way of escape is through God’s mercy and forgiveness.

— From Jason’s sermon “Isaiah 6 – God’s Holiness and Man’s Sinfulness”

God’s Forgiveness Makes Us Holy

Isaiah 6:6-7 — “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'”

It is good to come to the point where we can say “woe is me.” But God does not want us to stay there. He does not want us walking around constantly talking about our own sins and shortcomings. He does not want us to throw a pity party for ourselves. The prodigal son was feeding pigs and despairing at what he had done. But he left that place and went back and his father celebrated and made a feast. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” It is right to mourn over sin. But we don’t have to mourn forever.

That list of sin we just read out — gone, buried, burned. Isaiah was overwhelmed with guilt. He could not escape or get rid of it on his own. God took it away just like that. But note when God did this. He only took away Isaiah’s guilt after Isaiah confessed. Isaiah recognized it. He confessed it verbally. Then God forgave him. That is how we receive forgiveness.

1 John 1:9 — “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Application — Do you know that your sin is serious? Have you sought to minimize it or justify it or escape from confronting it? If you have never had your own Isaiah 6 moment, then come face to face with your sin today, and confess. Just tell the Lord, “I have sinned. I am unclean. I have fallen short of your holy standards.” He will remove your sin and take away your guilt. If you have confessed, then embrace God’s forgiveness. He has cleansed you. He has taken your sin away, as far as the east is from the west. Do not live in the past. Look forward, not backward. Thank Him for His awesome love and forgiveness.

People become like the God they worship. And our God is holy. He is not just one holy. He is “holy, holy, holy” for all eternity. His holiness is infinite. On the other hand, we have also seen our own sinfulness. We would drown in a sea of sin and guilt of our own making, but God in His infinite holiness takes away our sin if we ask Him to.

1 Peter 1:16 — “You shall be holy for I am holy.”

A seemingly impossible task. But He replaces our sin with His righteousness. And He gives us the strength to have victory over sin.

— From Jason’s sermon “Isaiah 6 – God’s Holiness and Man’s Sinfulness”

Called to Progressive Holiness

1 Peter 1:15-16 — “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.'”

This is God’s plan for us. He desires us to be 100% holy all the time. On this earth because of our old, sinful flesh we struggle for this holiness. Paul himself was in a constant tug of war between sin and righteousness (Romans 7). Holiness basically means to be separate. We are called to be separate from the world and from sin. We are to be different, set apart.

Are you different? Can people notice something different or even “weird” about you? If not, that is probably because you have not separated yourself from the world’s ways as you should.

Application — In what ways might believers tend to act like the world around them? In what ways do you need to start being different?

Though we are in a constant struggle for holiness, it is something that we cannot achieve on this earth. Through the process of sanctification and consciously putting off and repenting of our sin, we can get nearer this target, but will never reach it until we face God and He finally wipes away all our sin. Yet the author still calls believers holy. Why? In God’s sight that is what we are. When God looks at us, He sees not our own sins, but the righteousness of Christ who swapped Himself for us. This is something like the love of a parent, who always looks at the positive side of his children and not the weaknesses. Did you ever meet a parent who was constantly praising their child as being practically an angel and you thought, “Really?” Parents tend to view their kids in the best possible light.

When Christ looks at us it is similar. Only in our case He actually replaces our sins and clothes us with His righteousness. Knowing that God looks at you as holy, how should you respond?

— From our Bible study on Hebrews 3

A Kingdom of Priests, a Holy Nation

Exodus 19:5-6 — “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Here God affirms His plan to make Israel a holy nation. This is the essence of His covenant with them. Here I think we can really see God’s goal as to why He chose them. He wanted the nation to be special, to be holy. Firstly, priests are consecrated. They are purified and sanctified. They are set apart from the people. God wanted the nation to be pure, to be consecrated for His work just like priests. Secondly, priests are consecrated for the purpose of representing people to God. I believe God wanted the nation of Israel to be His chosen messengers to represent all the other people of the earth to God. If they followed God’s will perfectly, this would have been the result. Of course, the problem was that they didn’t. They weren’t consecrated or set apart, and they became like the people around them.

God wanted to make them a holy nation. This reaffirms His desire for them to be pure and holy. He didn’t want them to be the same as the other nations. They were supposed to be different. All idols and any hint of immorality or evil were to be removed from their midst.

In the same way, God chooses us out of the whole earth to be His very own possession. Once He chooses us, we are His. We belong to Him in a special way. God also wants us to be His priests. All believers are priests because we represent God to the people and people to God AND because we go directly into God’s presence without any barriers. God wants us to be different than the world, to commit ourselves to Him fully and not be tainted with evil. If we are sanctified like this, God will use us mightily. But if we allow sin to reign, God may choose other ways to accomplish His work.

Application — Be holy as God is holy. Consecrate ourselves. Hate sin as God hates it. Thank God that although He is transcendent and over all the earth He still loves us.

— From our Bible study on Exodus 19

Keeping a Clean Camp

Deuteronomy 23:9 — “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.”

One of the key themes of the Old Testament law reviewed in Deuteronomy is the importance of keeping away from evil. God called His people to be holy. We are to be like Him.

Reflect — In what ways might it be more challenging to keep away from evil now than in the Old Testament times?

Throughout all eras and in all civilizations, people are basically the same. People were sinners three thousand years ago and they are still sinners today. From that perspective, it is always difficult to keep from sin. From some aspects though, it can be more challenging today. In this period of the Old Testament, there was generally a significant geographical separation between the Jews and other nations. In our day and age, there is little separation between the church and the world. Mobile phones, televisions, and the internet can bring every type of thing straight to our eyes in a moment’s notice.

Application — What are some practical ways to protect yourself against temptations? How can you be in the world but not of the world?

Cleansing with water shows a deeper spiritual reality. When a person did become unclean, he was to go outside the camp. That physical movement reminded him of the spiritual barrier that uncleanness creates between people and God. The unclean person was to wash himself with water. This washing is full of symbolism. It is an outward picture of the spiritual reality that we need our sins to be washed away if we want to be in fellowship with the Lord. The tabernacle had a basin for washing. The priests had to wash their hands every single time they entered. That is a reminder that sanctification is a continual process.

Application — The only way to have the filth of sin removed is for us to confess our sins to the Lord and ask Him to cleanse us. Because we sin on a regular basis, we also need to come to Him for cleansing regularly. It is not enough to confess once a month. We should be in the habit of frequent confession. Do you confess every day? If not, why not?

Moses reminded people in very vivid terms that the Lord Himself walked in the midst of the camp. That knowledge should strongly motivate them to keep things clean and tidy. They should keep the camp clean enough to be able to happily invite the Lord to take a stroll together through the camp without being embarrassed about anything.

Reflect — If Jesus called you right now and said He wanted to come for a visit in ten minutes, what would you do? Is there anything you would want to fix, clean, or deal with before He arrives?

Application — Jesus is with you all the time. He is watching over your shoulder when you are browsing the internet. He is next to you when you are watching a movie. He sees you when you are interacting with your children and spouse at home. Remember this and act accordingly.

— From our Bible study on Deuteronomy 23

Solomon’s Slow Slide

1 Kings 11:1-2 — “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love.”

Solomon is an example of a person who started well, but he didn’t finish well. He was extremely wise. He knew the commands in the Old Testament about intermarriage. He not only knew them. He told/taught others about them. Solomon’s sin was not a sin of ignorance. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Perhaps Solomon’s sin was a sin of pride. People came from all over the world to visit Solomon and see the splendor of his kingdom. He was revered for his great wisdom. Perhaps he thought that he could handle it. He could outsmart his wives. He could “win” them over to worshiping the true God.

This is the sin of willful disobedience. Solomon knew what was right, but he didn’t do it. He loved the women more than God. It was an idol in his heart that he wasn’t willing to give up. Perhaps he thought that he could segment his life, meaning he could keep serving God in other areas while doing his own thing in this area. But sin is sneaky. It doesn’t just stay inside of a container you put it in. It will seep and creep and spread until it infects everything. In that way it is similar to a small piece of mold on bread.

Sin is a step by step progression. We see with Solomon it started off when he made a political alliance marriage. But it got bigger and bigger until the situation was out of control and he had over 1000 wives/concubines. Solomon followed all of these false gods. These are not things he planned to do. He didn’t wake up one day after following God faithfully and say “I am going to go worship Ashtoreth today instead of YHWH.” It was a process.

Application — Discuss what kinds of slippery slopes Christians today may slide down: same as Solomon (women, lust), stopping reading the Bible little by little, stopping going to fellowship little by little, drinking, laziness at work, marriage relationship problems. Almost any sin can be like this.

Solomon’s sin kept getting worse and worse. He not only married these women. Then he worshipped their gods. Then he built their gods. This influenced all the people of Israel to worship these gods, which many did for hundreds of years after this. You see, you can’t put a lid on sin. You can’t contain it. The only hope is to get rid of it completely.

— From our Bible study on 1 Kings 11

Approaching Holy Ground

Joshua 5:15 — “And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.”

Joshua was near Jericho. Perhaps he was surveying the land and thinking of how they would conquer this city. The walls were tall and thick and strong. Joshua needed divine guidance. And when he needed help, God sent it.

Joshua worships him by falling on his face and he doesn’t tell Joshua to get up. Instead he tells Joshua to remove his sandals. This would seem to indicate that this was the pre-incarnate Jesus since an angel would not have accepted worship.

He tells Joshua to take off his sandals and Joshua obeys. The concept is not hard for Easterners to understand. In most Asian countries it is considered highly rude to wear shoes inside other people’s homes. A visitor should politely remove his shoes first. These are the dirtiest parts of a person’s attire. And if we are to remove the dirtiest things before visiting people, how much more so before we visit God. God is holy. He hates sin. It is a complete perversion and revulsion in His sight. Can we bring our sin into His presence? Should not the first thing we do in prayer is confess our sins to Him so that we can enter with clean hands and a clean heart?

Reflect — Do you approach God casually? He is the holy Creator of the universe and we must respect Him above all else.

— From our Bible study on Joshua 5

We hope you enjoyed this Bible study on holiness. May God use His Word to speak into your life and give you strength to follow it. Please take some time to reflect on the questions below and consider leaving a comment with your key takeaway or insight.

Reflection Questions

• Do you hate sin like God does?
• Have you sought to minimize it or justify it or escape from confronting it?
• In what ways might believers tend to act like the world around them? In what ways do you need to start being different?
• What are some practical ways to protect yourself against temptations? How can you be in the world but not of the world?
• Do you confess every day? If not, why not?
• If Jesus called you right now and said He wanted to come for a visit in ten minutes, what would you do?
• Discuss what kinds of slippery slopes Christians today may slide down.
• How can we keep our heart from turning away from God?
• Do you approach God casually?
• Knowing that God looks at you as holy, how should you respond?
• How can you, a sinner, approach a holy God?