The Holy Bible

Part 2 of “Faith Comes by Hearing”

What does it mean when the Bible says that we are to be holy?

True story: Long Beach, CA. A couple went to KFC, ordered their chicken and the employee accidently handed them a bucket with the previous day's cash.  After arriving to their destination, the couple realized the mistake and decided to return the bucket of money. The KFC manager was amazed at this man's honesty and wanted to call the radio stations and the TV stations to call him a modern day "hero."  But the man said "Please, do not do that." When the KFC manager asked why, the man said, "Because the woman I'm with is not my wife."

On the outside, the man looked holy. But not on the inside.

 ⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.

 ¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.

 ¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:9-11

The Holy Bible. The word “Bible” simply means “book.”

But what sets apart the Holy Bible from any other book is the word “Holy.”

The Holy Bible is called the “Holy” Bible for a reason.

It is God’s Holy Word and it challenges you and I to live a Holy life!

Why is it holy? Because it comes from a Holy God!

1) The Holy Bible is the Word from a Holy God.

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do”  I Peter 1:15

Yes, there were about 40 human writers of the books of the Bible, but they were all inspired by a Holy God!

Today, I believe what you and I need is to catch a vision of the holiness of the Lord.

There are approximately 135 verses in the Bible describing the holiness of God.

But what does the word “holy” mean?

The word “holy” means “set apart,” “sacred,” “unique,” and “special.”

So when we refer to God as being holy, we are – in essence – saying that he is set apart from everything and everyone else.

His sacrifice is better than any other sacrifice!

His forgiveness is more forgiving than any other forgiveness!

His love is more powerful than any other love!

His power is greater than any other power!

He is God! And He is holy!

It is very difficult to define what is meant by the Holiness of God.

I have attempted to do so in the following way  . . .

The holiness of God is the sacred glory of God that reflects His purity from sin, His perfection of character, and His standard of righteousness.

He is sacred because He is “set apart.”

His purity from sin means that He is without sin. And this sets Him apart from all of mankind.

His perfection of character means that He is the only perfect One.

His standard of righteousness means that He sets the standard.

Why do we often sing songs in worship like, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

Or “Holy is Your Name.”   Or “Holy is the Lord.”

And I love the way Isaiah describes the song that we sing today: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty.”  Revelation 4:8 refers to the worship in heaven, where we will be singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Why is the word “holy” repeated three times?

The Bible never words the characteristics of God by saying that He is love, love, love.

Or that God is light, light, light.

Or that God is truth, truth, truth.

Or that God is merciful, merciful, merciful.

But the Bible does refer to God as being Holy, holy, holy.

Why? I believe that it is because God wants us to understand the great importance of His holiness.

The Holy Bible is the Word of a Holy God.

2) The Holy Bible calls us to live a Holy Life

Some people often think that God is a mean God because when we serve God, we are to live holy. We are not to get drunk, or have sexual relations outside of marriage, or speak lies to people, or involve ourselves with physical abuse or emotional abuse or sexual abuse, or use profanity and take the Name of the Lord God in vain, or watch pornography, etc.

Some people think – God is a mean God.

But I want you to understand why God sets forth the laws of holiness.

Here is the reason: God wants to protect you from the consequences of sin.

The reason God says you must allow your eyes to see pornography is because He knows the damage it will do to your mind, and your emotions. And some people are never able to shake it off.

The reason God says you must not have any sexual relations outside the bounds of marriage is because God knows the damage that does to a person’s heart, to a person’s future, to a person’s family, and on and on. The damage is huge! And God simply wants to protect you from that.

The reason God says that you must not drink to get drunk is because God knows the damage drinking can do. A drunk person cannot think properly. He cannot speak properly. He cannot drive properly. He cannot function properly.

Now, aren’t you glad that God wants to protect us from that kind of junk?

The Holy Bible calls us to live a Holy Life!

I Thessalonians 4:7 says, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”

Romans 12:1 tells us that our physical bodies are to be holy. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

I Thess. 3:13  tells us that the Lord will strengthen us to be holy. “May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father . . .”

How important is holiness?

Do you realize that holiness determines whether you go to heaven and see the Lord?

Hebrews 12:14 tells us this.  “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

We’ve sung the song, “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord.” The second verse says, “Holy, Holy, Holy, I want to see You.”

The problem with many believers today is that they do not have a genuine conversion when they come to Christ. They say a few words with their mouth, but they don’t have a genuine transformation of the heart. I don’t mind someone saying, “Lord, Jesus forgive me of my sins. I have done wrong. I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died on the cross for my sins. I ask You to come into my heart. I want to serve You for the rest of my life.” I don’t mind someone saying that with their mouth as long as they mean it from their heart.

Many of have made resolutions to lose weight or to read the Word of God more or to tithe or to have daily devotions.  But can I challenge you to resolve to live a holy life?

3) The Holy Bible gives us instructions about being in God’s Holy Presence.  Exodus 3:3 tells us about Moses’ encounter with the presence of God in the form of a burning bush. “Do not come any closer,” God said, Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

God also gave Moses specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was to be a place where God would meet with the people. But God laid down the law and said coming into My presence must be done in a holy way. That’s why He referred to the intimate place of His presence in the inner court as “The Holy of Holies.”

4) The Holy Bible tells us that the tithe is holy. Leviticus 27:30 says, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.”

The tithe is holy.  Many people don’t realize that the resources they are blessed with – especially the 10% - is holy unto God!  It’s not a good thing to play around with the things that God calls “holy.”

5) The Holy Bible calls us to a Holy Fast. Joel 1:14 says, “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.”

We’ve done that before here at Fortress Church. What makes a Fast holy is when we not only deny ourselves certain things of the flesh, but when we receive the things of the Spirit. Reading the Word. Listening to the Word. Meditating on the Word. Praying to the Lord. Calling out to God. It goes way beyond skipping a meal.

6) The Holy Bible reminds us that the foundation of serving is holiness.

2 Timothy 2:20, 21 says this,  ²⁰In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. ²¹If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

The number one reason people give for not committing their life to Jesus Christ is because of the bad testimonies from people who call themselves Christians. Can you imagine how many people would come to Christ if we were to live a holy life? If we were to have a good testimony?

Holiness will give you a platform for serving in the kingdom of God.

A man was sitting at a stop light. The lady in front of him was going through papers on the seat of her car, and when the light changed to green she did not move. When the light turned to red, and she had still not moved, he began (with his windows up) screaming and beating on his steering wheel. His expressions of distress were interrupted by a policeman, gun drawn, tapping on his window. Against his protestations of, "You can’t arrest me for hollering in my car," the officer ordered him into the back seat of his patrol car. After about two hours in a holding cell, the arresting officer advised him he was free to go. He said, "I knew you couldn’t arrest me for what I was yelling in my own car. You haven’t heard the last of this." The officer replied, "I didn’t arrest you for shouting in your car. I was directly behind you at the light. I saw you screaming and beating your steering wheel, and I said to myself, "This man has no self control. But there is nothing I can do to him for throwing a fit in his own car. Then I noticed the ’Cross’ hanging from your rear view mirror, the Jesus is Coming Soon’ bumper sticker, and the Fish symbol, and I thought you must have stolen the car."

7) The Holy Bible calls us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  In Matthew 3:16, John the Baptist says, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

I try to work out regularly at the gym.

For the last few months, I’ve been getting on the Elyptical machine. When my schedule allows, I am on that machine for one hour. For the last few months, I noticed that after my workout, I wasn’t sweating as much I used to.
Well, my first thought was: “Hmm, I must be getting pretty buff.

But then, I realized that I had fallen into a comfort zone.

I got into a routine of getting on the machine, pushing the buttons to level 7.

Well, I realized that I needed to take my work out to a higher level.

So, the other day, I did Level 8 for one hour and I noticed a slight difference.  A little bit more of a challenge.

Well, yesterday, I got on the machine and set it on level 10.

Wow! That one hour on Level 10 was much harder. At about 30 minutes, I wanted to quit, but I didn’t. After one hour at Level 10, I was drenching with sweat, and I thought to myself, “Now, that was a workout.”

What I needed was to get out of my comfort zone. Level 7 was my comfort zone.

What I needed was to go to a higher level.

Today, God is challenging you to get out of your spiritual comfort zone.

It’s time to take your spiritual life to a higher level.

Declaration:

Lord Jesus, today I resolve to be committed to the Holy Bible.

I resolve to live a Holy Life that will honor a Holy God!

I ask You, Lord, to forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

I repent of my sins and will do them no more.

I thank You for Your Word that speaks conviction to my heart. Amen.