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 with Chip Ingram. 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 I want you to imagine
that you're sort of that fly on the wall or that
camera crew. You had to really work on the set
design because as you watched the children of
Israel come through the Red Sea, it was just
mind -boggling. And you've done multiple interviews
with teenagers and older people, and they talked
about the terror of watching all those plagues
and the frogs and the Nile and all these things
that after literally 400 years, Acts and God's
power. And I'd like to take you back to Exodus
19. And imagine if you literally 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've been in the wilderness for 60 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 two 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
someone 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 an
evangelical Christianity and our desire to move
away from dead ritual and our desire to know
that. Jesus is our friend, and God 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 a 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 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 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 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 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
our priests to Christ. Our priests came back,
and a movement of God inside our particular denomination
that was contrary to a lot of the form was birthed,
and people were coming to know the Lord. I'd
gone off to college, had trusted Christ, and
I came back. And what I would dream one day is
that we might grasp the greatness and the holiness
of God and 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
and a black robe and singing 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. 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, you were undone?
of the distance between what you know he's like
and how you begin to see yourself. Second, he
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 way
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, Zechariah, I just
put a few down. I mean, prophets' 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. We'll 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. Well, with 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 were always intervening.
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. 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? Because
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
and judgment. Acts chapter 5. Think about it.
The very first sin in the church was what? Remember?
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 Sapphira
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 CD 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? He died. Do you think
that sent a message through the early church?
Or, you know, I'm thinking about becoming a Christian.
You want to become in that group? 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. But what you see, it's just God declares
his holiness. See, we're 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? But really, 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 once it happens,
we're enough people, we look at one another,
and since we're all, quote, are 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, we're 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 wealthy would come and they would eat and
they would marginalize 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. And
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 that 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 the 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, I was 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 I remember hail 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 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. 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 it sounds
funny now, but it was terrifying then. But something,
what happened is the winds would start, but just
before they would start, you know, that you,
you have these sirens, you know, tornado warning,
you know, and then you'd go out and, you know,
I'd put my family in the bathroom, but I wanted
to see what was going on. And there'd be like
this sky would turn this really funky color of
pink. And then this sort of weird gray. And it
would be like this stillness. And it'd be like
eerie, terrifying, but really kind of beautiful.
And then the winds would come. It'd go. And 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, you 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 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 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. And I think it's 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 one through three.
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 livingontheedge
.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. We'll hear again
as 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 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, 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 today 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 appropriately. In Jesus'
name, amen. Amen. Thanks, Chip. 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
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visit livingontheedge .org. App listeners, tap
Donate. Well, from all of us here, I'm Dave Drewy,
thanking you for listening to this edition of
Living on the Edge, and I hope you'll join us
again next time.