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-24-
The God Who Is
APPLICATIONS
First, since God is holy, how exceedingly evil and wicked is sin! It is treason against the crown rights of the Creator. It is daring rebellion against the will and the authority of God, and it is staged before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. It is daring insult to Him who is good. Every act of sin is like the actions of Julian the Apostate, who threw his dagger into the air to challenge God to fight. Each sinful act is an open challenge to God. It is no wonder that sin is subject to His wrath.
Second, since God is holy, we ought to be holy. We ought to mirror His nature. "Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD" (Psalm 105:3). We will be holy if the God we serve is holy.
"Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness" (Psalm 30:4). If we are indeed God's children, if Christ is our elder Brother, we ought to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates; and if our life is not so characterized, what reason do we have to think we are His children?
In Psalm 97, in verse 10, the Bible declares, "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil." Christian love in our day is expressed most often as effeminate, and without any real conviction, but all who love the Lord hate evil; and the more fervent their love for the Lord, the more fervent their hatred of evil.
This is the reason David, the man after God's own heart, wrote, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me" (Psalm 101:3). "Through thy precepts I get under-standing: therefore I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:104). "I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love" (verse 113). "I hate and abhor lying; but thy law do I love" (163).
Psalm 139 is a blessed psalm. Many people revel in part of it and quote selected portions such as verses 23 and 24: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Yet, few people will talk about, much less quote, verses 19-22; yet they are just as inspired, and as much the Word of God, as verses 23 and 24.
Here David says, "Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies."
God Is Our Pattern Of Holiness. To be "holy" is to be like God. If we resemble our earthly fathers, we ought to resemble our Heavenly Father. God is our pattern of holiness.
God's Will Is The Rule Of Our Holiness. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). We are holy when we do His will. The Bible has more to say about holiness than it does about love because holiness is the basic attribute of God.
Reader, do you want to be holy? Do what God wants you to do. He reveals His will in the Bible. We are holy, when from our heart, we do the will of God; when we willingly do His pleasure. They are not holy who do God's will only because they are afraid of what He will do to them if they do not do His will.