Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

What quality of God do you like the most? You might say his mercy, his grace, his compassion, his love. What quality of God do you like the least? You might say his judgment. But I think personally, the quality of God that is perhaps the most frightening, the most awesome, the most majestic is his holiness.

From the word of God. We invite you to stay tuned for the next half hour as we bring you a message from the word of God, brought to us by the Reverend Ken Smith, minister of the Princeton Presbyterian Church in historic Princeton, New Jersey. Once again, here’s Ken Smith as he continues his message from the word of God.

Martin Luther spoke about the terror that he felt of the holiness of God. He said, with what tongue shall I address such majesty? Seeing that men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I that I should lift up my eyes or raise my hands to the divine majesty? The angels surround him. At his nod, the earth trembles. I am dust and ashes and full of sin. And I am speaking to the living, eternal, holy God. I want to talk with you about God’s holiness. What name is the worst name that someone could call you? What characterization is the most upsetting when someone calls you by that name? I believe a person who is known as holier than thou is the person that we. Ostrich ate is the person that we don’t want to have a lot to do with.

And we will do just about anything not to be considered holier than thou. There is something in the holy that frightens us. I think the reason we are frightened of the holy is because we are so unholy. Since 1960, we know that there have been 550,000 deaths related to drunken driving. There have been 47 million divorces. There have been 189 million serious crimes. There have been 366,000 murders. There have been 10 million illegitimate children born each year. According to government statistics, $87 billion a year is used through cheating, either on income tax or corporate taxes. 60% of Americans say that it is all right and in fact, have stolen from their employer. There are 10 million alcoholics. There are 17 million practicing homosexuals. 65% of our children today who are teenagers say that they have had sexual relations.

There are currently 20 million cases of uncontrollable venereal disease. Why are we so frightened of the holy? It is because we are so unholy. And even the allusion to holiness causes us to stand back and even tremble about the only reference that I hear today about the holy is when Robin says to Batman, holy cheeseburgers. We know more about holy cows and holy mackerels than we know about a holy God, and certainly more than we know about holy Christians. And yet the book of one, Peter, tells us, as he who called you is holy. Be yourselves holy in all of your conduct, since it is written you shall be holy, for I am holy. Contrast the general fear of the word holy in our culture with these words by Jonathan Edwards, president of Princeton University.

He said, this holiness appeared to me to be of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature, which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness, and ravishment to the soul. In other words, that it made the soul like a field or garden of God with all manner of pleasant flowers. Jonathan Edwards came to appreciate not only the holiness of God, but the call by God that he should live a holy life. And when he entered that holy living, he found there a refreshment, a joy. It was not frightening, but one that had great appeal and never lost that love through all of the days of his ministry. What does it mean to be holy? In simplest terms, it means separation. Holiness is separation. We read that God is holy, and God in his holiness is separate. He’s separate from his creation.

He is separate in power he’s separate in majesty. He is wholly separate. We read in Habakkuk 113 that God has such pure eyes that he cannot even look upon sin. He is that holy. We read in Isaiah 40 of the great power of God who separates himself from all other types of power. When we read, all the nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him as less than nothing. God is separate in his creative power. Lift up your eyes on high and behold who has created these things. We are told in Isaiah, to whom then will you compare me? That I should be like him, says the holy one. God, from Genesis to revelation is presented as a holy God, and he asks those who follow him to also be holy. God makes many things holy.

God in the beginning made his name holy, and Jesus, when he instructed us, said, pray like, hallowed be thy name, holy be thy name. That the name of God alone is a holy name. But God not only has made his name to be holy, but God has made days to be holy. So often when we think of holiness, what we think of is I am supposed to do this or not do that. But as you look at the scripture, you begin to see that holiness is much more encompassing. For example, as you look at the book of Genesis, you find the creation account. And there we usually think that what God was trying to do is finally get to that 6th day when he could create his crowning work, man. And that’s an interesting notion.

If the week were only six days long, but we know that there was a 7th day, what was the purpose, the crowning goal of God’s creation? It was not the creation of man. It was the creation of a holy consecrated Sabbath day. You say, well, what’s the point of that? The point is that as we go through our life as Christians, the Lord has said, there is one day, it is a holy day. It is a day that I have consecrated, I have set apart for my worship to hear the word, to enjoy the fellowship of coming together in the church. And that is a reminder, one day out of the week, of a day that’s coming, that will be an eternal Sabbath, an eternal day, an eternal period, that you and I will be, in fact, perpetually, wholly, perpetually enjoying that holy Sabbath.

And when we focus on the Sabbath day and say, well, you’re supposed to do this or you’re not supposed to do that, we have lost the understanding of what that Sabbath day was. God said, one day I make it separate its purpose to remind you of the day when you will spend an eternity in the eternal holy Sabbath. Humanism says that the goal of creation ended on the 6th day, that God’s goal and purpose was just simply to create man. And man then becomes the measure of everything else. And humanism is so compatible at moments with the Christian teaching of concern for our neighbor. But where it stops short is to think that the creation was purposefully geared towards that creation of man.

And that man becomes then the measure that is not the purpose of God’s creation goal is that 7th day, that holy Sabbath, a reminder to us of what we will enjoy forever. God not only makes a day holy, but he also makes places to be holy. RC Sproul talks about this and he asks the question, why is it that people go to Jerusalem? Is it because there is in Jerusalem such wonderful weather that it has great amusement attractions, great beaches? Why is it that Christians are interested in making a pilgrimage to that place? The reason is not because there is anything intrinsic in the land of Jerusalem, but rather that is the place that Jesus walked.

And because he walked there, because he was born there, because he died there, because he rose from the dead, it takes on a special meaning, nothing intrinsic to the land, but just simply the fact that Jesus was there makes it in a special way. As you look at the Old Testament, you find many references to the Lord making places holy, reminding people of what has happened. As Joshua leads the people across the Jordan, the instruction is given, take some stones, pile them a day’s journey away. And when you do that and the people see it, that is to be a reminder to them of what has happened. It is a special place. It’s a holy place. Not because the stones have any special value, but because those stones remind us the Lord was here.

Remember in college, going with my father across the Hudson river in a kayak? We got to the other side, and we started to walk underneath the palisades. And as we made our way slowly up that bank, there was a pile of large boulders that had fallen off of the face of the Palisades. My father said, you know, 50 years ago, I was over here and I brought a chisel, and I chiselled my initials one of those boulders. And so we spent an hour and we jumped from rock to rock looking, and he was over 50 yards away, and he said, come on over here. I found it. And there, carved, chiselled in an old rock. T. R. S. That’s a special place. It’s a special rock. Do you worship the rock?

No, but it’s simply the fact there was a time that my father was here, and it has a special meaning. The Lord has consecrated, made holy certain places. Don’t you have them? Isn’t there a place where you quietly can go pray to the Lord? A place where you meditate on him? Maybe it’s a little room. Maybe it’s a part of your yard. Maybe it’s the home of a friend somewhere that in a special way is separate, holy. The Lord not only makes places, but he makes time. There are certain times that he wants us to remember as a particularly holy moment. He said to Moses, go to the pharaoh and say, let my people go. When he was done with that, did he say then to Moses, listen, forget everything I said. Don’t ever remind the people of anything that I’ve said.

Don’t ever have them remember the Passover. No. What the Lord said was, remember this day. And the Lord wanted a time to be made holy. But the Lord also makes people holy. He takes people who in themselves are unholy, and he sets them apart and makes them holy. He does that through Jesus Christ. He does it by asking us and telling us, come to my son. Receive that holiness that only he can give. He makes people holy. And then he asks us to live holy. Lives, lives that are separate, that are different from the normal life that’s being lived. You have been called, and I have been called by a holy God to live a holy life. The only way we can do that is through the power of Jesus Christ.

But in contrast to that which is holy is that which is profane, that which takes the holy and turns it on its head and begins to profane the truth. Profanity is taking the name of God which is holy and using it in an unholy way. Profanity is taking the Lord’s day, a day that was consecrated by God for holy use and using it as another day of commerce. Profanity is a church that lives in hypocrisy, a church that only listens to the truth but does not follow it. Profanity is God’s people who have been called by God and made holy, who don’t live holy lives. Perhaps there is nothing more disturbing than to see that which is holy to be used in an unholy way. I think that’s one of the reasons that young people do not understand.

But older people understand very well that a building where they worship makes a difference. Is it that building is, in a special way, holy? No. But when they see the children running up and down the aisles and bouncing off the walls, and they begin to speak a word of concern about what those children are doing, is it just simply to criticize children? No. It’s because the children don’t understand that this place is a holy place, because it was in this place that person made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. It was in that pew that a person committed their life to Christ and prayed a prayer that helped to direct their life. It was in that church, that building, that place they were married. It was in that place that they buried their husband, their wife, their children. Do they worship the building?

No. But they remember a holy place, a holy moment, and that place becomes special. RC Sproul tells about a class where he was teaching on the subject of the sacraments, and somewhere from the midst of the students assembled. One student just quickly raised his hand, and he says, well, what’s all this stuff about the sacraments anyway? I mean, couldn’t the Lord have just simply made holy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and coke? Why did he have to choose bread and wine? Miss Barl says, I felt a rage that this student took something that was so holy that Jesus Christ, on the night before he was betrayed, took these common elements, and he made them holy. He separated them from their common use. And he said, from this day, as you come together, eat this, drink this in remembrance of me.

Jesus was saying, this bread, this cup is holy. It’s special. Sproul said to the student, the reason that we don’t use peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Coca Cola in communion is because God did not consecrate peanut butter and jelly or Coca Cola. He consecrated. He made holy bread. Why did God save you? Why did he allow you to hear about Jesus Christ? He did it. He says, so that you and I would be holy, that we would not profane the truth. He says to you, he says to me, I am holy, you be holy and follow me.

That’s a challenge for holiness in our personal lives, isn’t it? Thank you, Ken, for pointing out our reluctance even to consider holiness as an attribute of God. We need to understand may our lives be different because of what we’ve heard today. This has been the Sunday morning message of the Reverend Ken Smith, minister of the Princeton Presbyterian Church, which meets each Sunday morning at eleven in the John Witherspoon Middle School on Walnut Lane in Princeton, New Jersey. We’d be delighted to have you visit us next Sunday. If you’d like information on securing a cassette of today’s message entitled God’s Holiness and yours, just write to us at this address from the word of God, box 3003, Princeton, New Jersey 08540. If you’d like to speak directly with Pastor Ken Smith, you may call him at area code 60992 110 20. That’s nine, 2110 20.

Do tell your friends about this broadcast and plan to join us again next week. Until then, this is your announcer, Joe Springer, thanking you for listening and praying for you. God’s very best.

Thank you for listening to affirm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s Princeton Ministries, post Office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you, and Doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from you.