1. Holiness Lesson 4
Holiness and Love for God
by Rodney N. Shaw

2. Introduction
A. Definition of holiness
Holiness is separation from the world and dedication to God.
B. Holiness as covenant
1. God has chosen us and set us apart (election).
2. Holiness is primarily about our new identity, not about a list of rules.
3. You cannot maintain two identities; you cannot leave something with-
out going to something else.
I Peter 2:9-11: "{9} But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
{10} Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of
God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. {11}
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."
Love and Holiness
A. Walking in holiness begins with loving God, not prohibitions.
B. The demands of love
1. Love is at the same time the most liberating and the most demanding
force.
2. Love will always surpass the requirements of law but for different rea-
sons.
Notes

3. On the one hand, "Nothing will keep a Christian more immature than try-
ing to keep a list." —Charles Swindoll
On the other hand, nothing will keep a Christian more occupied than lov-
ing God and neighbor.
C. Israel
1. Love is the bond of covenant.
Deuteronomy 7:7–9: "{7} The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor
choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye
were the fewest of all people: {8} but because the LORD loved you, and
because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers,
hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you
out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
{9} Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep
his commandments to a thousand generations."
2. The nature of love in covenant
Deuteronomy 6:4–9: "{4} Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD:
{5} And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy might. {6} And these words, which I com-
mand thee this day, shall be in thine heart: {7} and thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when
thou liest down, and when thou risest up. {8} And thou shalt bind them
for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine
eyes. {9} And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on
thy gates." (See also Deuteronomy 11:13–23.)

4. 3. Love requires faithfulness.
Deuteronomy 13:1–4: "{1} If there arise among you a prophet, or a
dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, {2} and the sign
or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us
go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
{3} thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know
whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul. {4} Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and
keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him,
and cleave unto him.”
The Greatest Commandment
A. The greatest commandment is to love God.
Matthew 22:35–39: "{35} Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked
him a question, tempting him, and saying, {36} Master, which is the great
commandment in the law? {37} Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind. {38} This is the first and great commandment. {39} And the second
is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
B. Loving God is the fundamental issue.
I John 2:15–16: "{15} Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. {16}
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
C. Loving God does not relieve us from the call to holiness; rather, it obligates
us to the life of holiness.
1. We will always be attracted to the fence unless we value what is inside
the fence more than what is outside the fence.
2. John 14:15: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
3. John 14:23: "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he
will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode with him."
D. What God requires in covenant
Deuteronomy 10:12–13: "{12} And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy
God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways,
and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul. {13} To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes,
which I command thee this day for thy good?"