The Holiness of God (Isaiah 6)

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

Because holiness is so essential to the Christian life, we will spend the next week examining God’s holiness and its relation to the believer. The Scriptures are replete with commands for Christians to separate themselves from the world and to grow in holiness. To ignore this foundational aspect of the Christian life is to put any professing Christian in a precarious position concerning his eternal state. The very concept of sanctification is based on holiness. It is the process in which the Christian, who has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, puts off corruption and grows in holiness. As obedient children, we are not to be conformed to our “former lusts … but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’ ” (1 Peter 1:14–15).

To understand the believer’s call to holiness, we need to understand the holiness of God. Holiness is not just a single attribute of our Lord, it describes His very essence.

Isaiah came face to face with the holiness of God, and it was so overwhelming, so beyond anything he had ever imagined, that all he could say was “Woe to me, for I am undone!” When Isaiah saw himself in the light of God’s perfection, in light of His holiness, he realized his own corruption and fell down before the Lord in fear and humility.

Isaiah 6 says that the robe of God filled the temple. In ancient days, the length of the monarch’s robe signified his stature and power. This vision of God’s robe filling the temple displayed the infinite magnitude of God’s glory. This is the God who dwells within, not just among, but within, His people. If so holy a Being has breathed life into our dead souls, how can we help but become holy in conformity to His likeness?

If we are truly renewed by His Spirit, we will necessarily grow in purity and holiness because He dwells in us, and His very essence is holiness. This is the God we serve, this is our heavenly Father, this is our holy King, and as His children we are to bear the likeness of our Father and that likeness is nothing less than purity and holiness—the kind that fills the temple in glory and humbles us before His presence.

Read Isaiah 6 slowly and thoroughly. Think about how you approached God when you went to worship yesterday. Did you come before Him filled with reverence and humility? If not, pray that you will be filled with a greater understanding of His holiness so that you will honor Him in worship.

Be Separate (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1)

"… let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Cor. 7:1)

The exhortation for the Corinthians to be holy is not confined to the subject of marriage but is a general command dealing with every association in life. Paul commanded the Corinthians to separate themselves from the unbelievers around them, to refrain from intimate, voluntary association with the wicked. He gives a number of reasons for this command. First, the very nature of God’s people prevents them from having intimate relationships with those who reject Christ. Christians are ruled by righteousness and subject to the kingship of Christ. Unbelievers have none of these principles ruling their lives. They reject Christ and follow the ways of folly and unrighteousness. For a Christian to associate with such a person would cause him to compromise his principles of righteousness.

Second, light has no fellowship with darkness. Too often Christians think of the world in better terms than they ought. Scripture does not soft-pedal the state of unbelievers; they are children of darkness whereas believers are children of light. “The attempt, therefore, of Christians to remain Christians and retain their inward state as such, and yet to enter voluntarily into intimate fellowship with the world, is as impossible as to combine light and darkness, holiness and sin, happiness and misery,” Hodge wrote.

Third, Christ has nothing in common with idols. To those who serve Christ, He is God, “the object of supreme reverence and love; to the other, He is a mere man,” Hodge wrote. “To the one, the great object of life is to promote the glory of Christ and to secure His favor; to the other, these are objects of indifference. Elements so discordant can never be united into a harmonious whole.”

Fourth, God is intimately related to His people. We are His temple, and He dwells in us. Therefore, we are bound to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. This means we do not love the world. We do not value what the world values. We do not take unbelievers into our confidence, and we certainly do not become intimately associated with those who reject God. We are God’s children, called to be separate in all situations. If we compromise this principle and set holiness aside, we will suffer the fate of the Israelites who became defiled by the world and received God’s judgment.

Holiness includes not only separation, but pursuit of moral excellence. Read 2 Corinthians 7:1. Why should you cleanse yourself from corruption? What does it mean to perfect holiness? What should your motivation be in pursuing holiness? What practical steps do you need to make to be more holy? Begin to put these in practice this week.

Open Your Hearts (2 Corinthians 6:11-13)

"You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections" (2 Cor. 6:12).

How many ministers of the Gospel have had to serve cold-hearted, unloving congregations? How many have struggled for years to deliver the truth in a loving and compassionate manner only to have their efforts repaid with stone-faced looks on Sunday mornings, with back-biting, and with scorn? While it is true that many congregations are subjected to the impotent ministrations of unfaithful ministers, it is no less true that faithful ministers are sometimes subjected to stubborn, unteachable congregations. It is not uncommon for Christian congregations to reject their pastors. This was quite often the case with Israel. God gave them shepherds and prophets, but the people refused to listen. They loved their sin too much to follow the leaders God had given them. The result was judgment. When God’s people refuse to submit to God-ordained authorities, when they refuse to repent of their sins, one way that God judges them is by removing faithful ministers from their midst.

Paul did not want this to happen to the Corinthians. They had used every excuse to justify their sin. They had even cast blame on Paul, but his ministry among them was blameless. The problem did not lie in him but in the hearts of the Corinthians. The apostle had opened his heart to them, but they refused to open theirs. This brought much grief to Paul as he struggled to serve them. Still they would not submit to his authority or embrace him in love. Here he passionately pleads with them, like a father to his children, that they return his love with the same love. We find this same kind of plea, or exhortation, in Hebrews 13:17: “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

Do not harden your heart against those who faithfully minister to you. Obey and submit joyfully to your elders. Show them honor as those who are entrusted with your spiritual welfare. Their work is difficult and filled with many trials. They deserve your love and your respect. Make their service one of joy by opening your heart to them, by respecting their authority, and by loving them, for they are a blessing from the Lord.

Is your pastor a faithful minister of the Gospel? If so, do you honestly respect him, submit to his authority, and love him as you ought? If not, confess to God today and write your pastor a note, admitting to him that you want to love and honor him as God has commanded. Tell him that you consider him to be a blessing from the Lord.

A Blameless Ministry (2 Corinthians 6:3-10)

"But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God" (2 Cor. 6:4).

In this passage, Paul gives one of the most eloquent and specific descriptions of a blameless ministry. As we examine some of the points Paul makes, ask yourself whether you exhibit any of these qualities in your own life. Can you say that you have endured afflictions with patience? Have you manifested the fruits and gifts of the Spirit and remained committed to the Word of truth at all times? Can you say with Paul that no matter what people think of you, you can rejoice in the Lord because you possess all things in Christ—happiness in the midst of sorrow, honor in the midst of accusation, spiritual riches in the midst of poverty? Ask yourself these things as you study this testimony of the “least of the apostles.”

Paul divides his marks of a blameless ministry into three categories: manifold trials (vv. 4, 5), graces and gifts (vv. 6, 7), and circumstances of evil and good report (vv. 8–10). Time and again, Paul proved himself a true minister of Christ by the fortitude with which he endured sufferings. No matter what the trial, whether afflictions and distresses, whippings or imprisonment, or working to support himself, watching his own heart or caring for the church’s needs, whatever the trial, he maintained a steadfast commitment to Christ.

How many men fall away under the temptations of the world, under the weight of trial, under the pressures that come from all directions to undermine the Gospel? Many have fallen, and many will continue to fall if they do not trust in the Lord, if they do not remain committed to serving Christ according to the truth, according to His purity and righteousness.

So many ministers fail, so many Christians ruin their testimony, because they are not morally upright or because they are not grounded in the truth. They give into error either in their doctrine or their life. When they falter in either respect, they cannot stand with confidence when accusations are brought against them, when chastisement comes by the hand of God. They fail because they do not follow the example of Paul, who lived solely for the glory of God. He could do nothing else because he knew that without Christ, he possessed nothing. But in Christ, even in the midst of affliction and sorrow, he possessed all things.

Read the verses below. What do these verses say about those called to minister to the people of God? How serious is this calling? Pray for your ministers today. Go through the list of marks of a blameless ministry that Paul gives in 2 Corinthians 6:3–10. Pray that your ministers will remain faithful before the Lord.

The Day of Salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).

Paul opens this sixth chapter with a perplexing exhortation: “We then, as workers with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” What does he mean by “not to receive the grace of God in vain”? First, he is not implying that some people can accept the atonement of Christ, which is described in the preceding chapter, and yet continue to live in sin. To receive the grace of God in vain does not mean a person may be justified while remaining unsanctified. Scripture never separates these two aspects of redemption. Those who are reconciled to God through Christ will certainly be sanctified. The pardoned believer cannot continue to live in sin as he or she did prior to the Holy Spirit’s regenerating work.

Second, Paul does not mean by this statement that Christians can lose their salvation. The “grace of God” that Paul is speaking about in this passage is not forgiveness of sins, nor is it the renewing, sanctifying influence of the Spirit. Some interpreters will try to use this passage to prove that Christians can lose their salvation, but this is not true to the teaching of Scripture. This statement by Paul is similar to that found in Gal. 2:21, “I do not frustrate the grace of God.” Each of these verses are not talking specifically about forgiveness of sin, but the favor of God in having made His Son sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

“The Lord Jesus Christ having died for our sins and procured eternal redemption for us, the apostle was most earnest in exhorting men not to allow this great favor, as regards them, to be in vain,” Charles Hodge wrote. Christ’s death was sufficient to save all who had heard the proclamation of the Gospel. The Corinthians had heard Paul’s teaching, and he urged them to grasp the “day of salvation.” He didn’t want the work of Christ to come to nothing in their case. Instead, he wanted the grace of God to be manifested in their lives; and with this goal in mind, he exhorted them fervently to be reconciled to God before it was too late.

This exhortation applies to all who hear the Gospel. Let us not put off what we can do today. Accept the grace of God, the offer of reconciliation in His Son, before the offer is revoked and the work of Christ is proved to be fruitless in its application to you.

There is urgency in Paul’s exhortation, just as there is in the verses below and those Scriptures that stress the importance of coming to Christ as a young person. Why is important to have this urgency when you share the Gospel? Today, pray specifically for someone you know to accept God’s offer in Christ before it is too late.