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God is Holy
HOLINESS.
REASONS WHY THE BELIEVER
SHOULD BE HOLY.
Ⅰ. Because of what God is. “
I am holy.” Thomas Watson says
God is holy intrinsically. He is holy in His
nature; His very being is made up of holiness
as light is the essence of the
sun. He is holy in His word. The Word bears a stamp of His holiness upon it
as
the wax bears an impression of the seal. “ Thy Word is very times (Psalm 12:6).
Every line in the Word breathes sanctity; it encourages nothing but holiness.
God is holy in all His operations. All He does is holy; He cannot act but like
Himself; He can no more do an unrighteous action than the sun can darken. “ The
Lord in all His works” (Psalm 145:17).
Ⅱ. Because of what He has
done (Lev.11:45). Because God brought Israel out of Egypt
and delivered them
from Pharaoh
He had a claim upon their gratitude and obedience; even so has He
upon us. We love
because He first loved us; we serve
because He has served
us; we trust
because He has been true to us; we obey
because of His Word t
us; and we walk in His ways because of what He has done for us.
Ⅲ. Because He commands it
(Lev. 19:2). We are to be holy because the Lord tells us to be. He commands
and we must obey; for obedience is the life of holiness. It is not for us to
compromise
or question as King Saul did in relation to Agag (1.Samuel
15:20
21)
for to obey is better than sacrifice.
Ⅳ. Because of His
relationship to us. “ Sanctify yourselves
therefore
and be ye holy
for I am
the Lord your God” (Lev.20:7). Newberry
in the margin of his Bible
renders
the title
“ Lord
” “ Jehovah-Mekaddeshcem.” Wherever we get the title Jehovah
it brings before us God in covenant relationship. There are ten different
aspects in which God reveals Himself as Jehovah. He is Jehovah-Jireh
to
provide for us; Jehovah-Ropheca
to heal us; Johovah-Nissi
to enable us to
conquer; Jehovah-Shalom
to calm us; Jehovah- Tsebahoth
to lead us;
Jehovah-Rohi
to care for us; Jehovah-Shammah
who is with us; and
Jehovah-Mekaddeshcem
to sanctify us.
Ⅴ. Because of His choice of
us. “ And ye shall be holy unto Me
for I
the Lord
am holy
and have severed
you from other people
that ye should be Mine” (Lev.20:26). Why has He chosen
us? To save us from hell? Yes
but
more than that; we are chosen in Christ that we should be holy
and without
blame before Him in love. Talk not of election
if there is not the evidence of
it in holiness of life. For
if we are like the Ephraimite
who said that he
was not an Ephraimite
but when put to the test by the Gileadite
who told him
to say “ Shibboleth
” betrayed that he was what he said he was not; in like
manner our life will soon speak out what we are (Judges 12:6).
Ⅵ. Because of our
relationship to Him. “ They shall”—the priests—“ be holy unto their God” (
Lev.21:6). Aaron and his sons were to be holy because they were priests. We are
royal priests to shew forth the praises of Him
who has called us out of
darkness into His marvelous light for that express purpose. How careful in
demeanour
how courteous in manner
and constant in attendance the Queen’s
servants are. And why? Because they are the Queen’s servants. We are servants
of the King of kings
and that is the reason we are to be holy.
Ⅶ. Because He promises to do
it. “ He shall be holy unto thee
for I
the Lord
which sanctify you
am holy”
(Lev.21:8). We may be sure of this
that when God tells us to be
to do
and to
suffer
He will meet our need
even as in the case of Paul
who prayed thrice
that the thorn might be removed
but the Lord answered by saying
“ My grace is
sufficient for thee.”
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》