Big Idea: God is always acting toward his own glory. Because God is the self-existent one, he operates free from any influence or pressure outside of himself and is wholly committed to the praise of His glory.
God the Father
3-1 There is but one living and true God,1 immanent, transcendent, infinite in being and perfection, pure spirit,2 invisible, immutable,3 eternal, almighty, all wise,4 most holy, most free…
God is ___________________________ Holy
Isaiah 6:3 (ESV) And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
“Probably the most common explanation of the term ‘holiness’ is that to be ‘holy’ means ‘to be separate from’, ‘to be cut off from’, ‘to be placed at a distance from’. And so we often say that God’s holiness means that he is separate from sin and therefore separate from us. There is a good measure of truth in this. But in my own view it starts from the wrong place. It describes the Creator’s attribute of holiness from the viewpoint of the creature; it describes his purity from the standpoint of the sinner. And ultimately that is to do our thinking the wrong way round…
Any description we give of what God is like in himself… must meet a simple test. For anything to be true of God as he is in himself it must be true quite apart from his work of creation, quite apart from our existence…It must be true of God simply as he always existed as the eternal Trinity… What then is God’s holiness? What do we mean when we say ‘Holy Father’ and ‘Holy Son’ and ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘Holy Trinity’? We mean the perfectly pure devotion of each of these three persons to the other two. We mean the attribute in the Trinity that corresponds to the ancient words that describe marriage: ‘forsaking all other, and cleaving only unto thee’ — absolute, permanent, exclusive, pure, irreversible, and fully expressed devotion.”
-Devoted to God; Sinclair Ferguson
Isaiah 42:8 (ESV) 8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
When we speak of God’s holiness we are saying in essence that God always acts in consistency with the praise of his glorious being.
Psalm 148:13 (ESV) — 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.
God’s is __________________________ Free.
Daniel 4:35 (ESV) — 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
When we say that God is the most free, what we mean to say is that God wills and acts apart from any outside influence, but acts only in relation to Himself.
Romans 6:6 (ESV) — 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
God extends his loving kindness and goodness to us because of who He is and not because of what we are.
Titus 3:4–5 (ESV) — 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy…
Questions to consider
What does it mean for God to be holy? How does this help you conceive of what God has called you to do in sanctification? In what ways can you think of your actions as for God?
Who is God calling you to love freely? How does the love of Christ compel you to do so? (2Cor. 5:14)
