Knocked flat in the presence of a holy God

The other day a Christian friend mentioned that her sister's getting married next year and is planning a big wedding.  Then she added in a caviler manner that the future bride is considering becoming pregnant as soon as possible as she may have to undergo a hysterectomy.  She and her fiancé want to have a child "before it's too late."  My friend said to me, "She wants a baby so badly.  I'm sure God will understand."  As the words rolled oh so easily off her tongue, I was reminded that God forbids sexual immorality, for any reason whatsoever.  The Bible tells us that morality is grounded in God.  God is unchanging and His morality is unchanging.  Morality doesn't come from within the individual, morality is completely apart from His human creation. 

My friend is a professed Christian, yet she doesn't understand that we serve a holy God.  An explanation was necessary.

In Isaiah 6:1 the Prophet Isaiah sees a vision of the Lord God Almighty, seated on His throne "high and exalted."  Hovering above the Almighty are a number of six-winged angels, a special class of celestial attendants called the Seraph.  The Seraph are powerful angelic beings whose description challenges the imagination.  We know that these mighty angels cannot look upon God's brightness and purity for we are told, "With two wings they cover their faces..." As the Seraphim guard the holiness of God they cry continually to one another, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 

"The loss of the traditional vision of God as holy is now manifested everywhere in the evangelical world. It is the key to understanding why sin and grace have become such empty terms. What depth or meaning, P. T. Forsyth asked, can these terms have except in relation to the holiness of God? Divorced from the holiness of God, sin is merely self-defeating behavior or a breach in etiquette. Divorced from the holiness of God, grace is merely empty rhetoric, pious window dressing for the modern technique by which sinners work out their own salvation. Divorced from the holiness of God, our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of a host of alternative self-help doctrines. Divorced from the holiness of God, our public morality is reduced to little more than an accumulation of trade-offs between competing private interests. Divorced from the holiness of God, our worship becomes mere entertainment. The holiness of God is the very cornerstone of Christian faith, for it is the foundation of reality. Sin is defiance of God's holiness, the Cross is the outworking and victory of God's holiness, and faith is the recognition of God's holiness. Knowing that God is holy is therefore the key to knowing life as it truly is, knowing Christ as he truly is, knowing why he came, and knowing how life will end." [1]

Have you ever run over a dead skunk in the road?  I have.  The disgusting odor hung in the air of our stuffy garage for days!  To God, the stench of sin is far, far greater than the foul odor of a dead skunk. 

God hates sin.  If you have any doubt, grab your Bible and read First and Second Kings.  It's chilling.  Just to give you an idea, in chapter 16, God says to Baasha who's one of Israel's evil kings, "I lifted you up from the dust and made you leader of my people Israel, but you walked in the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people to sin and to provoke me to anger by their sins.  So I am about to consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat.  Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the
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