Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” What hinders us from denying self, taking up our cross (crucifying our sin) daily and following Jesus in total dedication and devotion in holy sanctification? What is still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us? A.W. Tozer writes that it is the veil of our fleshly, fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated, an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our spiritual progress. This veil is woven of the fine threads of the self-life, the hyphenated sins of the human spirit. To be specific, the self-sins are self-confidence, self-pity, self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-indulgent, self-love, with self-opinion and a host of others. They are not something we do, they are something we are, and therein lies both their subtlety an their power. Edwards adds that Self-love and its lusts keep the eyes so caught up only upon themselves that their minds are taken up with self and the admiration of their experiences. What they are chiefly excited about is not the glory of God or the beauty of Christ but the thrill of their own experiences. The fundamental object of holy gracious spiritual affections is the glory of God, so in no way can these affections be conceived to bear any relation to self or self-interest. The fundamental basis of holy gracious affections is the transcendent excellence and loveable nature of divine things. Christian love particularly is the spring of all gracious affections. Yet it is the divine moral excellency and glory of God in Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the works of God and the ways of God that are the primary reason a true saint loves these things. By the moral perfections of God they mean those attributes which God exercises as a moral agent: His righteousness, truth, faithfulness, justice, mercy, grace, goodness, love and holiness (What He does). By God’s natural attributes, according to the way of conceiving Him, that consists of His greatness, His omnipotent power, omniscient knowledge, His eternal being, His omnipresence, and His awesome majesty (Who He is). The moral excellence of an intelligent being, when it is true and real, and not merely external or counterfeit, is ‘holiness’. It is the only true virtue.
1 Peter 1:13-16 “So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Holy is defined as (1) Regarded as inviolate from ordinary use and set apart for religious observance; sacred; consecrated; dedicated. (2) Free of sin; untainted by sin. (3) Of persons ; devoted to God; religious, saintly, innocent. Holiness in man is but the image of God’s holiness. A love for the supreme excellence of divine things, for the beauty of their moral excellent or holinesss, is the beginning and spring of all holy affections. Not that the saints (Believers)love God only for His holiness. All His attributes are attractive and glorious to them. They delight in every divine perfection. But their love of God for His holiness is what is most fundamental and essential in their love. It is here that true love of God begins. All other holy love for divine things flows from this. A true love of God must commence with a delight in His holiness. No other attribute is truly lovely without it. Those that do not see the glory of God’s holiness cannot see anything of the true glory of His mercy and grace. Herein consists the beauty of the saints that they are holy ones. The moral image of God in them is their beauty and their holiness. The Christian faith is beautiful because is holy. The excellence and love of the Word of God is in its pure holiness. The glory of the gospel is largely that it is a holy gospel, the bright expression of the holy beauty of God in Jesus Christ. The way os salvation is a holy way. The glory of heaven is that it is the habitation of God’s holiness. A new spiritual sense is given to those that are regenerated. This is different from all the other five senses that we naturally have. This is nothing other than the beauty of holiness; the great object of a spiritual taste, and appetite. It is a holy love of a holy object; the love of what is holy.
Revelation 4:8 “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
And so above all else, the holy nature of God, Christ, the Word of God and the other divine things must be consistent with the holiness of the saints; living for Christ, walking in the Spirit, trusting and obeying God. Likewise, what is sinful has enmity hostility in the heart) against God. So what is carnal (the sinful desires of the flesh) is against the holy things, against God, against the law of God, and also against the people of God. They have contrary natures. Wickedness hates holiness and holiness delights in holiness. The saints on earth (those who are sanctified) admire and extol (praise) all His attributes, seeing the loveliness of His holiness. This when they praise God for His power, His holiness is the beauty which motivates them. Likewise, they praise Him for His justice and awful majesty. They praise God for His mercy, grace and faithfulness. The test of affections, particularly love and joy, lies in whether or not holiness is the foundation of the affections. The sovereign power of God and the excellence of His holiness captivates their hearts and delights the saints above all things. By this you may examine your love to God and to Jesus Christ and to His word, and your joy in them, and your love also to the people of God, and your desires after heaven. This is the real test. This is the difference between saints and natural man. Instead of being terrified they will rejoice and praise God. They see the beauty of His holiness to live for today, their salvation by faith in the finished work of Jesus for their sins and the blessed assurance of their eternal home, not the terror.
Psalm 97:11-12 “Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.”
Revelation 15:4 “Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Give all diligence to growing in grace by adding to faith, virtue, and so on for “making our calling and election sure and for having an entrance into Chris’s everlasting kingdom ministered to us abundantly” (2 Peter 1-5-11). God is able to convict those who practice false affections and reject good rules; His grace is not limited in anything. Such moral rules may help real Christians detect what are false affections, which they may have mingled with true. God’s holy Word, Will, and Way will help their faith become purer, like gold tried in the fire.
Genesis 17:1 “The LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.”
Deuteronomy 10:12 “What does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul."
Holy is the Lord, God Almighty. The earth is filled with His glory!
In Christ, Brian
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