A People Holy To The Lord

Deuteronomy 13:16-14:2 – You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. That town is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt, and none of the condemned things are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors—because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes. You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

John 1:12-13 – Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Romans 8:14 – For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Deuteronomy 7:6 – For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

Leviticus 11:44 – I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

Exodus 3:5 – “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Exodus 19:5-6 – Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Application:

• ·         Membership in God’s family is by grace alone—the gift of God. It is never a human achievement; yet the imparting of the gift is dependent on human reception of it.
• ·         God is the Father of all in the sense that He created all and His love and providential care are extended to all. But not all are His children. People become children of God through faith in God’s unique Son, and being led by God’s Spirit is the hallmark of this relationship.
• ·         Holy means separated from all corrupting people or things and consecrated totally to the Lord.
• ·         Israel’s holiness was to be expressed in every aspect of her life, to the extent that all of life had a certain ceremonial quality. When God’s holiness is spoken of in the Bible, reference is to (1) His incomparably awesome majesty, and (2) His absolute moral virtue.
• ·         The ground was not holy by nature but was made so by the divine presence. Holiness involves being consecrated to the Lord’s service and thus being separated from the commonplace.
• ·         God’s people, both individually and collectively, are to be “set apart” to do His will.
• ·         Participation in the divine blessings is conditioned on obedience added to faith.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV