He is Holy, Righteous, and Just

God—Guide Five

Phil Benedict

Tahlequah, Oklahoma

United Indian Mission

Greeley, Colorado

These guides are designed to help you to study, to learn, to understand, and to live what God teaches us in his Word, the Bible. God gave us the Bible to teach us how to know and to walk with Him. We can enjoy God’s blessings forever, rather than experiencing his judgement. His Word is eternally true. Take time to carefully read and think about the Scriptures used in this guide. Meditate on them and the truths they teach. Learn to love God and his Word. Regularly ask God for a right understanding of Scriptural truths and then make them part of you. Absorb them. If you go over the material too quickly without much thought, it will have little or no lasting impact on your life. Commit yourself to making Biblical truths the foundation of your life and to putting them into practice every day of your life.

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." 1 Peter 1:14-16

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

Over and over in Scripture, God is defined as holy. When God describes Himself in Scripture, He uses the word "holy" more than any other characteristic. The whole plan of salvation is necessary because God is a holy God. If we are going to have even a most basic understanding of God, or how we as people can know and walk with God, we need to understand his holiness.

Holy is defined as pure, clean, set apart, separated from sin and separated unto God. Related words in the Bible are hallowed, sanctified, and saints. All believers are saints, or set apart to God.

The definition given above may be an academically correct definition; however, it does not begin to convey the depth and significance of the truth it states. God is free of even the slightest tint of evil. He has always been and always will be absolutely pure. He is never drawn to evil or sin. Sin is abhorrent to God. God’s holiness is in stark contrast to man, who is desperately wicked. (Jeremiah 17:9)

We are so surrounded and influenced by sin that we cannot begin to fathom what it would be like to be totally free from any hint of evil. Evil surrounds us on every side and it permeates the world we live in. Even as Christians, there is a side of us that is drawn to sin. It is hard for us to grasp the truth that God is totally and completely separate from sin.

How does it make you feel about God as you think about his holiness?

How close can you come to matching the goodness or holiness of God?

In Revelation 4:8, it describes a scene that takes place in heaven. What are the four living creatures continually saying?

What does 1 Samuel 2:2 say about the Lord?

God wants us to recognize and give praise for his holiness. The Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:5-15) includes a phrase "hallowed be thy name". This is an expression of praise for the holiness of God.

Now read Psalm 99. Why is God being praised in this Psalm?

The Scriptures set a very high standard of conduct for the Christian. Read Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:1-2, and Leviticus 20:7-8. In each of these verses, what is said about God?

In each of these verses, what is to be our response?

Now read 1 Peter 1:13-16. How should we respond to the holiness of God?

As Christians, we are to be holy like God. However, it is painfully obvious that each of us falls far short of this God given standard. However, it is also true that all who have genuinely put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and repented of sin have been given or credited with Christ’s own righteousness or holiness.

Read Romans 4:22-25 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 carefully.

Here we find that righteousness has been credited to our account. I have been made holy by God. I am not holy because I am sinless but because God gave me his own holiness. He sees me as absolutely pure. All of my sin has been taken away and replaced with his own righteousness. What a truth!!! We are holy because God gave us his own holiness!!! Now I can walk with God and fellowship with Him.

Carefully read Hebrews 10:8-14. From verse 10, what makes us holy?

Now read verse 14 again very carefully. Notice that in this verse we have been made perfect forever. Wow!!! However, the second part of the verse states that we are being made holy.

How can we be perfect and at the same time still be in the process of being made holy?

The answer to that question lies in the truth that our standing before God is one of absolute holiness. My sins are completely forgiven and I have an absolutely clean record. Now in light of what my standing before God is, with God’s help, I should start acting like one who has been made holy. My life should correspond with my clean record.

Holiness is living in conformity with the character of God; therefore all sin is serious. We have a tendency to catagorize sin. Some sins are serious but others are not very significant. I’m in a hurry so I will go a little over the speed limit. This doesn’t sound real serious; yet it is a violation of God’s law. It is serious, and there needs to be genuine repentance. We cannot catagorize sin as big or little and still live in obedience to God. God tells us to "Be holy in all that you do".

The truth that we are made righteous or holy by God means that we are to work hard to live in conformity with our exalted position in Christ. Walking with God or living a holy life takes effort on our part. It is work. God makes it possible for us to walk with Him, but we have to do the walking. When we do, we put ourselves in line for all the blessings He promises to his obedient followers.

If we decide to begin putting this into practice, we cannot expect to be liked by the world. Jesus lived a holy life and they crucified Him. Committed Christians, as a whole, are not popular with the world.

Most of us do not expect to be popular with the world; however, the part that hurts is that we are probably not going to be respected by many in the church. Even Christians may think you are a little strange or odd. We will have to rise above the average Christian life if we are going to be committed to living a holy Godly life.

Carefully read and think about 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. Take some time to digest this passage. What is at the heart of these verses?

Now carefully read 1 Thessalonians 5:19-24. Again take some time to digest these verses. This is a loaded passage.

What is the heart of these verses?

What is meant by "sanctify entirely" or "sanctify through and through"?

While these verses in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19-24 do not mention holiness, they emphasize the God given truth that we are to be separate from the world, avoiding every kind of evil. To be holy is to be morally blameless. Our life is to be dedicated to God and therefore separate from sin. To live holy lives is to live lives separate from sin. Genuine followers of Jesus Christ are going to be different from the world. We will not be popular with the world. The world hated Jesus when He was on earth and they still hate Him. It’s OK to talk about God, but distasteful to unbelievers when we talk about Jesus and salvation from sin and living a life that honors God.

Many Christians want to live or conform to the pattern of the world as close as they possibly can and still identify themselves as a follower of Jesus. Many live and act in such a way that the holy character of God is smeared and discredited. We watch TV programs that wallow in sin, we read God dishonoring literature, and we play music that exalts sin, and we still claim to love God.

Some even act like the world and play music that closely resembles the world’s music so they can "win the world to Christ". This writer believes this whole approach is an insult to the holiness of God. God instructs us to conform to his own image, not to the image of the world. Overall, the evangelical church in the United States has chosen to conform to the pattern of the world and, with some notable exceptions, we are pathetically poor ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 are not popular verses in the Christian church today. In most churches they are seldom read or preached. However, they are still in God’s Word and God expects us to be obedient to them. The simple fact is that if we are going to be like Christ, we will be clearly and completely distinct from the world.

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8. When we refuse to listen to God’s instructions to live a holy life, who are we rejecting?

Closely tied to the holiness of God is his righteousness and his justice.

Righteous is being and doing what is right according to God’s own law.

Being just means that God’s laws and his actions are fair and right. He rewards obedience to his laws and punishes disobedience. His laws are equally applied to all people.

Holiness, righteousness, and justice are all closely tied together. Righteousness and justice come from the same Greek root words. In Scripture they are often used together in the same verse or phrase. They are characteristics of God. God is righteous and God is just. He always acts righteously and with justice. He also loves to see people act righteously and justly. Actions that are not right and just anger God.

God is holy; therefore He always does what is right and just. In a sense we could say that holy describes what He is and righteous and just describe how He acts. They are all tied together. Righteous and just are the natural results of his holiness.

Read Isaiah 5:16 carefully. Notice the phrase, "the Lord God will show himself holy by his righteousness". God demonstrated his holiness by his righteousness.

The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. Psalm 33:5

As we have already seen in our study of holiness, God’s gives righteousness to those who believe in Him. Because of that, we have a clean record. We have been justified. We have eternal life. Because of this, now we need to act right. We need to put righteousness into practice.

In Jeremiah 9:24, what three things make God happy?

From Psalm 45:7, what does God love? What does God hate?

In Psalm 89:14, righteousness and justice are described as what?

Read Psalm 33:5. In these verses, what does God love?

Read Ezra 9:15. How is God described?

How does Ezra respond to the righteousness of God?

From Psalm 111:3, how long will God’s righteousness last?

How is God described in Psalm 116:5?

In John 17:25, how does Jesus address his Father?

Read Hebrews 1:8-9 carefully. How is righteousness related to Jesus (the Son)?

In verse 9, what does He love and what does He hate?

In 1 John 2:1, what is Jesus called?

The righteousness of God is in stark contrast to the man without God. Carefully read

Romans 3:10-18. What does verse 10 say about natural man?

How is man without God described in Isaiah 64:6?

In this verse, how is man’s own righteousness described?

Man has no righteousness of his own. Natural man cannot please God with his own goodness. Thank God for His own righteousness that He gives us so that we can please and honor Him and receive the blessings promised to those who receive Him.

In Psalm 11:7, what does God love?

In Psalm 99:4, what does God love and what does He do?

We might think that because God is a God of justice, He is always stern, unyielding, and out to punish us. In Isaiah 30:18 God is described as a God of justice, yet what does He long to do?

In 2 Thessalonians 1:6, what will God do because He is just?

In 1 John 1:9, what two things will God do because He is faithful and just?

In Isaiah 61:8, what does God love? What two things does God hate? What will God do?

Isaiah 42:3 is a precious verse. Individuals who are suffering are identified as a "bruised reed".

Individuals who feel as though they have had about all they can take and don’t have much more left in them are described as a "smoldering wick". Most of us have felt like this at some point in our life. We were at the end of ourselves and had little left in us. In this verse it states that God will faithfully bring forth justice. In times of deep distress we might feel like God is whacking us hard and wonder if He is about ready to take away whatever we have left in us.

However, what does God say He will not do to the "broken reed" and the "smoldering wick"?

In 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul is looking forward to seeing God. How does he describe God?

Carefully read Romans 2:1-11. These are sobering verses. There are two classes of people in these verses. There are those reject God and are storing up wrath against themselves and there are those who know God and are persistent in their walk with Him. Here we see two sides of God’s justice. He rewards those who serve Him, and He is angry with and condemns those who do not.

Carefully read Romans 12 17-21. How should knowing that God will righteously judge all people affect our own desire to get revenge for something done in the past?

How sure is it that God will repay the evil someone does to another person?

How would it affect our ability to forgive someone?

It is because of God’s love and his justice that Jesus Christ had to die on the cross. Because He is just, He could not simply overlook or excuse sin. The penalty of death pronounced on sin had to be paid and the only one who could pay it for us was God himself. Therefore, because He loved us, Jesus Christ died on the cross, paying the penalty for our sin, making it possible for God to grant forgiveness for our sin.

If we have trusted in Christ as our Savior from the penalty of sin, we will not be judged as to whether or not we are saved. That is all taken care of. We will, however, be judged and rewarded for our service to Him.

How does knowing that we are going to be judged by God affect the way we live?

Read Romans 14:12 and 2 Corinthians 5:10.

These are sobering verses addressed to believers. Again, these verses are not saying that if we do not measure up we lose our salvation and will be sent to hell. The issue of our salvation has already been settled when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, at some point we will have to give an account of ourselves to God.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 tells us that God is going to test our works with fire. Work done for the wrong reasons will be burned up. Work done for the right reasons will be rewarded. Notice in verse 15 that Christians whose work is burned up will not lose their salvation.

These verses and many others that promise rewards for service to the Lord Jesus Christ should make us want to live for Him, being led and strengthened by the Spirit of God. This is a growing process that should start when we are saved and continue until we go home to be with Him.

Now read Revelation 20:11-15. Here unsaved people stand before God and are judged. They too are judged according to their works. However, the result is very different from the judgement of believers. There will be no rewards given at this judgement. Instead, all those who have not put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be condemned to an eternal hell where they will be forever punished for the sins they have committed. It is important to remember that there will be no Christians taking part in this judgement. At this point they are already all with God, enjoying all that God has promised to those who believe in Him.

If you had to face God right now, would you face Him as a guilty person or as a forgiven person?

Revelation 4:8

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October, 2001