BY DR. JOHN SULLIVAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-TREASURER
FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION

Holiness of God calls to holy living

Any discussion of God must begin with His holiness. The holiness of God is a demand! He did not say, “Be as holy as I am,” but he did say, “Be holy for I am holy.”

Adrian Rogers in the book, Kingdom Authority, makes an interesting observation: “We often speak of commitment but the real issue is surrender!” With surrender you relinquish control to the holiness of God. You give up all personal preference at the cross.

The word “holy” is first used in Exodus 3:5 when Moses encounters God. Let me share an outline on God’s holiness:

I. HOLINESS DEFINED

1. Holiness is the essential nature of God.

(1) Not so much an attribute, but the complete foundation.

(2) Closely related to His majesty and mystery as it separates Him from all creation.

A. What is mystery? Mystery is holy. Mystery is authoritative. God reveals Himself as the great solution to all mystery.

B. Interestingly our chief knowledge of God’s holiness comes from our encounter with unholiness. We know what sin is, God is not that. We know what injustice is, God is not that. We know what evil is, God is not that. We know what hell is, God is not that.

2. Holiness is closely related to His moral/ethical dimension.

(1) Moral: what we are doing; daily we commit sins of thought, deed, words, which we often stop noticing. But holy God does not wink at them.

(2) Ethical: what we ought to be doing; In the pursuit of holiness these move closer together. Holiness will protect my reputation and serve God’s reputation, we must never get those turned around!

3. All holiness found in the world is God’s holiness. Were it not for the holiness of God, the world would be a dark black hole, “where all idealism would be drawn into the storm of our arrogance and lust for power.” (Calvin Miller)

II. THE HOLINESS OF GOD BOTH ATTRACTS AND REPELS

1. Moses was attracted, wanting to get as close as possible. (v.3)

(1) The burning bush is a great fascination. The flame is indicative of the actual presence of God. (Ex. 19:17-18; Ezekial 1:27; 1 Timothy 6:16)

A. When we deny the miracle of the bush we alter God’s holiness. His holiness must be attached to His miracles. Fascination with the event led to faith encounter for Moses. He could now see beyond the seeable and know beyond the knowable.

(2) The voice of God becomes a great affirmation. When vision begins to speak, the presence of deity is affirmed. (Isaiah 6:3)

A. Holiness comes to us as we immerse our faith in unknown circumstances. “We acquire maturity not in dingy lecture halls but on crosses.” (Calvin Miller) We are made strong by experience and inquiry.

B. Rapid change is happening in our busy world but the great affirmation is: In Him there is no variables or “shadow of turning.”

(3) Moses trembled indicating a great hesitation. (Acts 7:32) “Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled.”

A. The holiness of God demands reverence (3:5)

a. Moses took off his shoes in act of reverence to the lofty mystery. Some essential elements cannot be compromised in our intellectual system and can only be explained by symbolism.

b. Moses would not look

(4) Jesus is God’s final testimony of holiness; a great emancipation. (Hebrews 10:19)“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”

A. Holiness cannot help but recoil from guilt whether in the Garden of Eden or the Garden of Gethsemene.

a. Grace comes to us through Jesus Christ.

(a) We enter the holiness of God through the blood of Christ.

(b) Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. He was slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 5 “Who can open the book?”) “Holiness is not holiness until it goes out in love, seeks the sinner in grace and reacts on His sin by judging it.” (The Creative Theology of P. T. Forsyth: Samuel J. Mikolaski)

(c)The New Testament is concerned about the holiness of God as it reacts to man’s sin as grace and radiates to the world as love.

(d) God sees us as perfect in His son as He sees us through the blood.

(e) Jesus does not conform to a standard of holiness. He is the standard.

A person of faith can never change the world unless the holiness of God changes him or her. Our election is not a call to favoritism but a call to holy living. The gospel is God’s passion for the clarity of our lives.

I cannot answer all of the tension between sovereignty and freewill but I do know when my freedom is in sync with God’s sovereignty, holiness is the product of my life. When this happens the world does not need a microscope, telescope or horoscope to know that I am a citizen of a holy nation!

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You may contact Dr. John Sullivan at
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