It was a mark of the grace of
God that those people put up with me at least once a month
for those years. And I appreciate Jim for allowing
me to stand up there and declare the grace of God. It's a delight
to see you all, see some old friends and a couple of new friends,
It's just a delight to be here. This church means a great deal
to Debbie and I. We're so thankful for you in so many ways that
we can never really truly express your kindnesses, mercy, and help
to us over these years. Turn to your Bibles, please,
to Ezekiel chapter 43. I want to look at one verse of
Scripture. Ezekiel chapter 43 and verse
12. This is one of those statements that
stand out in Scripture that kind of stop you in your tracks when
you read it. This glorious gospel is set forth
in this word concerning the law of God's house. Verse 12, it says, This is the
law of the house. Upon the top of the mountain,
the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. Yeah, you read it right. That's
what it says. This is the law of the house
upon the top of the mountain, the whole limit thereof round
about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the
house. And there you have it. One of
the absolutes set forth by God. Now, I am holy, so I am comfortable
with that requirement. Now, when I said that, I am holy, be honest with me and yourself,
what was your immediate reaction immediate reaction to me when
I made that statement. I'm not talking about having
a few seconds to consider what you know and understand. But
the immediate reaction for a man to stand up in front of a group
of people and say, I am holy and I have no problem with this
law of God's house that says everything in it and everything
outside of it and everything around it is to be most holy,
most holy. Now this word from above cannot
be altered or appealed and there is no mitigating circumstance
by which it can in any way be disallowed. This is God's Word. One man said, I think it was
John Thornberry years ago, he said that God's law cannot be
bent. It can only be broken. It cannot
be bent. It can only be broken. Now, if
you were reading along with me in this passage, you saw that
there were divine bookends that enclosed the contents of this
verse. Everything therein is going to
be holy. Before he said that, he said,
is the law of this house. And he ended that phrase with,
Behold, this is the law of this house. Everything that falls
between these two bookends must adhere to this heavenly edict. Our Lord said, Be ye holy, for
I am holy. This verse embraces that absolute. that absolute, inalterable principle. And as all that is in this book
applies to the Lord Jesus Christ and His work, the house on the
hill here is none other than Zion's Hill, the church of the
living God. And the biblical concept of holiness
is often the subject of the preacher of God's sovereign grace. He's
not afraid to talk about it. He actually enjoys talking about
the concept of holiness. And the reason is that it is
often the subject of gospel preachers is that they understand what
it means. Not everybody does. The requirement
is precise. The command is exact. The fulfillment
is finished. The requirement, the law given,
the demand issued is that this house, this whole house, and
all things round about in it, be holy. Be holy. And the subject
is not broached much in false religion, in the preaching of
religion in this day. Men don't talk a lot about holiness,
mainly because they have no clue of what it is. But because they
have a conception of it, that they know if they talk about
it, they're probably going to make somebody mad. But I can
tell you, I can talk to anybody who has been saved by God's grace
through the perfect righteousness and shed blood and death of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I can talk about holiness all
day long and never make a man. The word holy brings about a
very visceral reaction when men hear it. You had a reaction.
little quirky smiles on your face when I said, what was your
immediate reaction? You know what I'm talking about.
There is a reaction that men have to the concept or the word
holy. It brings about something gut
in us. It's like the word righteousness.
the word righteousness. And like the word righteousness,
the word holiness garners numerous and entirely erroneous meanings
to the flesh. Everything the flesh believes
about holiness and everything the flesh believes about righteousness
is wrong, flat out, absolutely, without any doubt. The word righteous means equity. That's the basic meaning of the
word righteous. And its meaning cannot be separated
from the biblical doctrine of substitution. You cannot really
talk about righteous or righteousness without talking about the biblical
doctrine of substitution wherein God equitably justified the elect. He equitably justified the elect. Romans 3, verses 24 through 26,
God declares that He was righteous in the salvation of the elect.
He was righteous in the salvation of the elect because Christ was
propitiation for them. And He declared His righteousness. He declared it that He was just
to justify them that believe. He asserts, Gary, that when He
saved you, you old wretch, when He saved you, He says, that was
the right thing to do. And that was the fair thing to
do. It was equitable. It was equitable. He declared His righteousness
in justifying sinners and was just to justify them. As sin
required death, our Lord supplied the death that sin required. He met that requirement when
He voluntarily gave up the ghost on Calvary Street. Since acceptance
before God must be right and ethical, I can't be accepted
if it isn't right. I can't be accepted before God
if it isn't equitable, if it isn't righteous. God made Christ
to be my righteousness. And He is my righteousness, my
only righteousness. And He did that to fill the vacuum
that was left when my sin was paid and my sin was annihilated
before a most holy God. Thus, our salvation is right. and equitable and fair and balanced
in the economy of God. Now the believer is glad to say
that because of the work of Christ. He is righteous, or better yet,
righteousness before God. But when natural man Natural
flesh hears the word righteous or righteousness applied to an
individual. His views are so skewed that
he immediately responds with a kind of an instant indignation. He does not think of equity. He thinks of arrogance. He does
not think of substitution, but rather his mind goes to notions
of personal merit which he discounts in everybody except himself. Nobody really cares much for
a righteous man. I've known many, and I'll be
honest with you, I don't care for them. They rub me the wrong
way. Even our Lord said, scarcely
would one die for a righteous man. There's likewise a gut reaction
with the word holy or holiness when it's applied to men. Rather
than indignation, however, the word holy or holiness, and again,
it's often employed by the preacher and the believer of grace, it
generally on some level invokes a feeling of guilt or discomfort
or uneasiness. Several years ago, I think I
was down in Shreveport, Louisiana, and I went to a museum with Brother
Ken Wymer. It was a museum of sculptures
by Remington or Russell or some great sculptor of western themes. But in the corner on one sculpture
there was this man who was about two feet tall. He was wearing
a hat, black and square at the top. He was wearing a coat that
came to mid-thigh and it was open. He was wearing a black
vest and a black shirt and black knickerbockers and black hose
and black buckled shoes. And he was sculpted walking in
a stride. And he had a kind of a harsh,
austere look on his face. And his shoulders were slumped
slightly forward like he was moving toward you. And the title
of that sculpture was The Puritan. And though it was just a sculpture,
it made me feel uneasy just looking at it. And this guilt or uneasiness
comes from what Bill Clark called regional sanctification. This guilt or uneasiness comes
from that. And it flows from what folks
were taught in the region that they live as to what it meant
to be holy. We were all taught things, weren't
we? It usually had to do with dress. Just the other day we
pulled into Richwood and we stopped and there was this big black
van, big black van with a little trailer thing on the back of
it. And out of it came a man and his two children and then
stepped out his wife and his daughter. And his wife and daughter
were Not wearing shorts or easy summer wear, they were wearing
long dresses and they had their hair in a bonnet of lace. And
my first word that came to my mind, holiness. That's the first
word. I was taught that way. One of
my dear neighbors, her husband was a rascal and drove a Cadillac. The only Cadillac convertible
coupe I ever saw. It was a 56 and I don't even
know what it's called. I'd like to get my hands on it.
It was a fine automobile. But he was a rascal. Probably
a rascal because his wife was a holiness. She always wore her
hair in a tight bun. She always wore black. She always
wore black clothes and really comfortable shoes. She was a
sweet lady who walked with her head down most of the time and
had kind of a somber countenance. But the way she dressed, many
people dressed in my town like that, and the word that came
to people's mind immediately was holiness. People have an
idea of holiness as to posture, how men carry themselves. If a man carries his Bible like
this, he's not very holy. But if he carries it like this,
oh my, he's up a level, isn't he? There's a holy man. A man's demeanor, his countenance,
if he's stern and somber, you think, this is a holy man. If
he laughs and cut ups like us fools do, there can't be no holiness
in that bunch. Up home we have go-to-hell sins. Back in the mountains of North
Carolina, these here, these cufflinks, this tie, this tie cuff, this
wedding ring, this other ring, those are go-to-hell sins. You
wear a man wears that, he's going to hell because the people who
don't wear that are holy. Denominations are called holiness. We used to talk about holy rollers,
which have since become known as charismatics. Holy people
generally do not get an invitation to the party because they're
simply no fun. And when graceless religion reads
words like these words in our text, Their mind immediately
runs to the regional convictions they grew up with and the carnal
baggage that attended their birth into this world. They speed with
all haste to what they call the Christian life. and look to self
and to works and to the works of men. And having a warped view
of the concept of holiness, they proceed to categorize actions
and list goals so they might judge who has made or missed
the mark. They come up with pseudo-theological
terms that suggest that the believer has a way to go in the matter
of holiness. That he can and must progress
in holiness. That's pseudo-theology. But they run to verses like 2
Corinthians chapter 7. Look over there if you will. In 2 Corinthians 7, they read
this with glee. Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Oh, they like that. They love
that verse. They love it. They jump on that
like a duck on a June bug. They get their aha moment and
they say things like, well, see there, what are you going to
do with that verse? What are you going to do with
that one? Perfecting holiness, as revealed in this verse, is about separation, which is
the base meaning of the word holiness. When we talk about
God being holy, sure, He's perfect and He's pure. And His eyes are
too pure to be holy. But that's not really a definition
of His holiness. The definition of God being holy
is He's out there and we're not. He's far away and we're here. His thoughts are high and ours
are not. His ways are high and ours are
not. And we can't even begin to imagine
His way. And really, I'm here to tell
you tonight, you really don't want to know what God is doing.
You don't want to know, because I guarantee you 99% of it you
would not like at all. You wouldn't. Providence is not
your natural friend. It is your spiritual friend,
but it ain't your natural friend. God does some harsh things, harsh
things, and they're all good. But they're painful. He might
take from you what you love most. And that'll hurt. But what if He took it from you
and said, I'm doing this so I can save some old drunk derelict
down the road? Wait a minute, Lord. We don't
want to know what God's doing. Why? Because He's separate. That's
what that word means. He's separate. He's out of control. He's out of our control. He's
out of control. He does exactly, precisely what He pleases in
heaven and earth and under the sea and in the sea and all the
deep places. None can stay His hand. None can even ask the question,
What are you doing? Why are you doing? You can't
even ask. Because He's out there. He's separate. That's the meaning
of this verse. Perfecting holiness has to do
with separation, and that separation is declared from what it is declared
is found in chapter 6 and verses 14 through 18. Be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion with light
and darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? And what
part hath the believer with an infidel? And what agreement hath
the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Wherefore, because I am your God, and you are My people, come
out from among them." What's that? Separate. Now, I'm not
talking about separating from sinners. That's not what he's
talking about either. And be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you,
and I will be your father, and you shall be my son and daughter,
saith the Lord Almighty. Boy, some precious promises,
aren't they? Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved,
dearly beloved, whatever the meaning of the remainder of verse
1, is inextricably bonded to and based on and centered in
the fact that those who are spoken to have the promises of God. What does that mean? Well, it
means they have the Lord Jesus Christ. They possess and therefore
believe the aforementioned promises. They are not looking to gain
or progress in any way, shape, or form concerning the promises.
They have them. They have the promises. You don't
hope to get what you already got. That's just silly, isn't
it? The word promise is throughout
Scripture linked to Christ. And according to Scripture, all
the promises of God are yea, and they are amen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the admonition here is to
cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. The filthiness of the flesh and
the spirit. And therein is the definition
of perfecting holiness. Perfecting holiness in the fear
of the Lord. And the fear there is not slavish,
superstitious, scariness. It's reverence, praise and thanksgiving,
love and worship. The word filthiness is an interesting
word. It means an action or contact
by which anything is defiled. An action or a contact by which
anything is defiled. Or doing or touching something
that results in defilement or by which you are defiled. Now
we know from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ that defilement
does not come from without, but from within. That's what he said.
Nothing you take in your body can defile you, but what comes
out of your heart, murders, in-beings, evil eyes, so forth, those things
defile the man. And this is not a contradiction
of the words of our Lord. This defilement or filthiness
comes from a word that means to pollute or stain. to pollute
or stain. A thing is stained by coming
in contact with something of a polluting nature, something
nasty, something corrupt, something poisonous. And the nasty filthiness
that is spoken of here has to do with contact or proximity
or association with something. And clearly, this filthiness
is in opposition to the promises of Christ. The believer is not
stained by association with sinners like himself. That doesn't stain
us. We are commanded to preach the
gospel to every creature. And Christ set the example for
us concerning sinners, concerning associations. He was the friend
of publicans and sinners, the worst kind of people. Most men's idea of holy means
we can't have nothing to do with them people. We've got to stay
away from them people. That's not what the Lord did.
Our Lord had them sit down to supper with Him. He ate and drank
with them. The believer is however stained
and often polluted, he gets his feet dirty in association with
what? What's spoken of. in verses 14-16
of chapter 6 in association with false, legalistic, mixture religion. The epistles of Galatians and
Colossians were written in warning against that very thing. And
we have examples of that stain in the action of Peter, James,
and Barnabas at Antioch in which Paul said, You've destroyed the
gospel. You mess with the truth of the gospel. You've disgraced
God. You've disgraced the gospel. We are to cleanse ourselves from
that which would pollute us or spot our garment. We're to despise
the garment spotted with the flesh, it says in Jude. This
cleansing has to do with the flesh and the spirit. This does
not refer to the old man and the new man, or the spirit and
the flesh that are always contrary to one another, or the war that
goes on in our members to bring every consideration and thought
to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is quite simply,
since it has to do with filthy contact, it has to do with proximity. We are to cleanse ourselves from
the filthiness by keeping ourselves from that
which would stain us. That simple. That is perfecting
holiness. That's what Paul calls perfecting
holiness. And this word perfecting means
to put a finish to, or to bring to an end, or to end, or to be
done with. And the word holiness finds its
primary meaning, as I said, in separation. Perfecting holiness
then is finishing the matter of separation. And to find what
that means, we have but to look at the context in which it is
written. What fellowship hath light and darkness? What
concord? has Christ with Belial. What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? We are not to join hands with
those who oppose Christ and His gospel. We are not to mind the
things that they espouse as necessary for holiness before God. The
truth of the matter is that in order to perfect holiness, we
must reject the holiness that they espouse. Their religion
is a polluting stain that we are to neither saddle up to,
embrace, touch, or entertain in our minds. We are not to be
yoke fellows with them, fellowship with them, have communion with
them, be in accord or agreement with them on any level. We don't
separate from them by paying attention to them. Paul would
not give them an hour of his time. He said, I did not give
them the space of an hour. We separate from them by separation
unto something else. Paul said in Romans chapter 1
and verse 6, we are separated unto the gospel. Unto the gospel. In short, Having
therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
or separation in the fear of the Lord." Now back to our text
in Ezekiel. Boy, that's a long introduction,
preacher. By the time you got started, I'm about finished. The text reads this way. Let
me read it again. This is the law of the house.
Upon the top of the mountain, the whole limit thereof round
about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the
house. Holiness has to do with the state
of being before God. So-called holiness before men
rests in what men deem as holy. Holiness before God is being
separate from all that is unholy and separated from it. And there
are no degrees to holiness. Well, he preaches some truth.
No, he preaches no truth. Well, they do some good things.
No, they do unholy things. The primary meaning of the holiness,
as I said, is separation. And this jives with the context
as God has charged His people here in this context. And He's
talking about the elements of the temple and so forth. He's
charged them with whoredoms. With whoredoms. He said, My house
ain't going to be like this. And whoredoms always in Scripture
represent idolatry, the worship of false gods. Babylon. Natural religion is called the
great whore. The mountain is Mount Zion. The
church is the body of Christ, the assembly of the saints. And
this is the law of the church at the beginning and the end,
at the start and the finish, at the alpha and the omega. The
language is inclusive and all-encompassing. This is the law of the house.
The whole limit thereof round about shall be Most holy. The church is made of the scraps
of society. The off-scouring of the universe.
And not one member of the whole roundabout would lay any claim
to personal holiness. Not one of them would. Holy and
revered is the name of God. Yet, right here in plain English,
the law of this house is that everything in it and about it
shall be most holy. And since this law, as all laws
do, condemns everyone in nature, if this requirement is to be
met, it must be met by someone with whom the law has nothing
to do. A perfect someone. That someone that Paul spoke
of to Timothy, speaking of him saying, the law is not for the
righteous man. How did Jesus Christ keep the
law? He didn't keep it in its commandments. He fulfilled it. How did He keep
the law? He died. That's how you're going
to keep it, too. The only way. You're going to
die. The Scriptures declare that Jesus
Christ fulfilled and kept that law. And by Him, the whole shooting match, from
top to bottom, from beginning to end, is holy. The Scriptures declare this to
be the case. Look back with me at Exodus chapter 28. Exodus
chapter 28. Now here our Lord is setting
forth the priestly garments of the high priest. And in verse 36, He says, And thou shalt make
a plate of pure gold. Engrave upon it like the engravings
of a signet. Notice this is all in really
big letters. Holiness. I don't believe anywhere
in Scripture are the letters as big as these letters are.
Holiness to, toward, unto. Holiness to Jehovah the Lord. Now, he's talking about this
plate is to be placed on the mitre, but it's not a mitre,
it's a turban. The priests didn't wear mitres.
The priests in the Roman church wore mitres. But those mitres
are Dagon's head. They're a fish head. That's what
they are. Like that. That's a fish head.
It was a turban that the priest wore. It shall be put on blue
lace because it's golden. It speaks of the royal king of
kings. Because it's the blue-laced speech
of the heavenly King of Kings. That it may be upon the miter,
upon the forefront of the miter of the turbine. So it was right
here, right here, right on his forehead. It was on his head. Who's the head of the church?
Christ is the head of the church. Who wears the crown? The King
of Kings. Now this is a priest. Can he
wear a crown? This very thing is called the
Holy Crown in the next chapter. The Royal Crown. It's going to
be right on the front. Now there's a reason why it's
there. Because this is not to the people. They see the other
garments he's wearing. They see the breastplate with
their names upon it, the ouches with their names upon it. They
see the length of the road, the blue ribbon around it. They see
how He's girded. They see all that. But this is
not for them. This is a signet that says, holiness
to the Lord. So it's the Lord who sees this. And there's a reason for that.
Surrounded outside that tabernacle, outside that temple, were people
watching for the smoke. This is your kind of glory. Watching
for the priest to go into the Holy of Holies on that most sacred
day, on the Day of Atonement, waiting for Him to come out.
And they were all sinners. But they loved God. They did.
As much as they knew about Him, they loved Him. And they wanted
to be a part. And they were glad that priest
went in there for them. Some say he even tied a rope
to his leg in case he died in there, they could drag him back
out again. But it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may
bear the iniquity of the holy things. Now what are these holy
things that have iniquity? They are our holy things. Now,
what that means, things that we have hallowed unto the Lord. We have, as best as we are able,
presented our bodies as living sacrifices unto God. But we are
sinners. And our gifts, as willingly and
as generously as they are given, are still full of sin. God looks
at our gifts. No. What is He looking at? What does he see? Holiness coming
my way. Holiness unto me. That's what
he sees. Holiness unto the Lord. Holiness
unto the Lord. Holiness unto the Lord. To bear
the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel
shall hallow in all their holy gifts. And it shall be always
upon His forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. How are you accepted? In the
great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is holiness unto
God. Everything in this house is holy.
Why? Because it is sanctified, and
that means holy. Because God has made, according
to I Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30, God has made Christ
to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. How are they sanctified? By the
will of God. Hebrews chapter 10. And in Christ,
by His substitutionary, propitiatory, law-fulfilling sacrifice, God
declares of His church, the whole limit thereof, the whole limit
thereof round about is most holy. Is most holy. And I say holy
with a smile. Because holy is happy. Holy is
joy. It's just not stern. It's not
austere. You don't have to drop your voice
an octave to say the word. Holy is joy in Christ. Holy is the sacrifice of praise
and thanksgiving. One other passage and we'll quit. Nehemiah. DMI chapter 8. They're reading
the law. Now, in verse 7, there's a whole
lot of names that I'm not going to try to pronounce. But we'll
start reading with verse 5. And Ezra opened the book in the
sight of all the people. For he was above, standing above
the people. When he opened it, all the people
stood up to listen. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God. Notice L-O-R-D is capitalized,
Jehovah. And all the people answered,
Amen. Amen. With lifting up of their hands,
and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground. When he read those words, they
were full of worship. And then these fellows, Jeshua,
Cherubiah and Jamin and all of those fellows. They, according
to the last phrase of verse 7, caused the people to understand
the Law. And the people stood in their
place. So they read in the book of the Law of God distinctly
and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.
Nehemiah, which is the Tershatha, the governor, and Ezra the priest
and the scribe, the Levites that taught the people, said unto
the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn
not, nor weep. For all the people wept when
they heard the words of the law. And he said, Now don't cry. Don't
be sad. Don't be depressed. Don't be
down. Don't weep. Don't weep. Don't mourn. Why? Then He said unto them, Go your
way. What did Christ say to the people
whom He healed? Go your way. And what did they
do? In one case, He says, and they
followed Him. Go your way. Eat the fat feast, and drink
the sweet. and send portions unto them that
have nothing." Take care of the household of faith. For this
day is holy unto your Lord. Underline this. The next time
you think of the word holy, underline this. Neither be ye sorry, for
the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the
people, stopped them from crying, saying, Now hold your peace,
for this day is holy, neither be you grieved. And the result
was, and all the people went their way to eat and to drink
and to send portions and to make great mirth. Mirth. because they had understood
the words that were declared unto them. This is the law of
the house. Everything here shall be holy. God bless you.